Banned Book Week

It's banned book week, where once again the librarians and book lovers make people aware about the challenges to reading that go on in libraries and schools.

I think we can all agree that books banning = bad.

And that censorship = bad.

And when I see that someone wants to remove A Wrinkle in Time or Adventures of Tom Sawyer from a school or public library, I'm troubled by that.

But, I'm going to go against the tide here. Sometimes what is lumped under book banning includes requests to remove a book from a required reading list.

I see it this way:

To tell someone else they may not read or have access to a book is bad. But it is not quite the same as saying that they are not required to read it.

Now there are times when a book is an integral part of the curriculum and the reason someone wants it removed is based on some bias or other and it doesn't really seem fair to make a school adjust a curriculum based on one biased individual.

But removing a book from the curriculum does not mean that a child is forbidden to read that book, it simply means they are not required to. And sometimes these challenges are to have a book removed from a "recommended" reading list. While it is true that fewer people may be aware of the book that way, all it is really doing is ending a school's endorsement of a book. It does not prevent anyone from reading it or accessing it.

Once again - to prevent someone else from having access to a book is bad.

But is it fair to call 'not requiring' someone to read a book censorship?

I don't think this is always a completely cut-and-dried issue.

Looking at the reasons why some books are challenged. I often see that one of the reasons is "not age appropriate." But it doesn't include any more details. Because I think there are some books that are not appropriate for all ages. Most people agree that it's a good thing for places that sell magazines to keep the ones with "adult" content away from kids. And most people don't call that censorship.

And if you are talking about a book written for teens, one that if made into a movie would have an R 0r even PG-13-rating, maybe that book shouldn't be in an elementary school library. I also think that most elementary school librarians take their jobs very seriously and are not in the habit of ordering books for their school that would not appeal to the age group there.

As far as I'm concerned "age appropriate" should be a non-issue in middle school or high schools. I wish those lists were a little more clear. Because if someone wants a book that has "sexually explicit content" removed from an elementary school (and by this I am thinking of a school that goes up to 5th grade) I think they may have a legitimate point - and without more details it's hard to get riled up about it.

It's very difficult to pinpoint what book is appropriate for what children at what age, etc. But I think that most people (including the authors of the books) will agree that books written for teens are not intended to be appropriate for elementary school children.

Here's my personal dilemma:

When my daughter was in 5th grade (three years ago) she was in a 7th-grade language arts program. There were six children in the class (all 5th graders). It was a novel-based program, meaning that the class read a novel, answered questions about it, had literature circle where they discussed it and did a project on it before moving on to the next novel. (I give the details to show that while reading an alternate book is an option, it's not really practical under the circumstances.) The books were chosen (from a selection offered by the teacher) by the students in a majority-rules vote (based on back-cover description of book.)

Some of the books she didn't like. Too boring. Not realistic. Not my type of book. Yeah, that happens. Not all books are for all people. You deal with it and you move on. But then they read two books that my daughter (and some of her classmates) didn't like for another reason: they were age inappropriate. This was partly due to subject matter, but mostly due to the fact that these books were YA books. They were absolutely, positively written with a teen audience in mind. These kids were ten.

She read the books, and moved on, but not only couldn't relate to most of the story, it also made her uncomfortable. If it was a book she had picked up at the library she would have stopped reading way before she got to the end. (Please note here, I would have let her pick it up. I also would have let her put it down - which she couldn't do as part of the classroom assignment.) I wondered if I should have mentioned something to the teacher, but didn't.

Fast forward three years. My son is now in 5th grade and in the same program, with the same teacher. Those two books are on the list of books they can chose from. He's told his classmates not to vote for them, that his sister thinks they are too old for them - and maybe they won't. But I'm thinking maybe I ought to say something.

But if I do, do I then become a poster child for banning books? I don't want these books banned. I have no problem with them being in a school library, or even used as part of the curriculum for older students. But I do have an objection to my ten-year-old reading them if it will make him uncomfortable. They were not written for ten-year-olds.

I'll even take that one step further. If a ten-year-old could relate to these books, because her life experiences were such that she had been exposed to the issues involved and these books helped her deal with it, I have no problem with a ten-year-old reading them. But it seems to me that there are plenty of books for advanced readers that aren't geared so specifically to teens that could be used as classroom reading.

And no, I won't say what books they are, because that really doesn't matter. I've never seen either on a list of challenged or banned books. They are not controversial. They are simply books geared toward older teens. I will say that these two books were not chosen because they were integral to any curriculum issue. They looked interesting to the teacher and that is why she offered them - at least one of them she had not read before the children started to read it. And agreed with their assessment at the time that maybe it was too old for them - which of course makes me wonder why it's still on the list of choices.

Another thing - there are books on their list that do appear on lists of challenged or banned books. Books like The Giver and A Wrinkle in Time. And right now their class is reading Fever 1793 by Laure Halse Anderson. And I'm delighted with all of those selections.

So, now I pose the question to you. Is it ever appropriate to question the book choices in a school? And more specifically, should I say something to this teacher?

And if you are a YA author, would you feel comfortable with ten-year-olds being assigned to read your books?

First Pages---The Hook

                                                         


As both a writer and reviewer I learned you have to hook the reader at the start. At numerous conferences the first thing most agents/editors say is you need to hook them at the very beginning of the story. Some even say the first sentence!

I remember a few years ago at a SCBWI Editor’s Day event, my own first page being read out loud. I was nervous. But one editor commented on how much he liked it and wanted to read more! The sentence?

The dead have a way of stumbling in on me, of messing up my life.

CROSSED OUT.

One class I took at UCI extension was The Intermediate Novel taught by the fab Lou Nelson who helped mentor me when I first started writing EARRINGS OF IXTUMEA. Some of her advice deals with hooking in the reader and in this case also editors and agents:

What is a hook? It’s provides a compelling reason for readers (agents and editors) to read further. A hook is something exciting, fascinating, curious, horrific or otherwise attention-grabbing that makes reader wonder. Curious what’s going to happen next, compels readers to continue reading.

Remember most agents and editors have only so much time to go over requests. You have to hook them in on that first page and even the first paragraph. Leave the back-story for later or better yet weave it throughout the story.

More from Lou Nelson:

Start with a lead hook. After the reader reads this they should wonder-in regard to the event as well as the outcome—WHY, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and/or HOW.

Here are some examples of great first lines from some YA books:

Emma Woodhouse-handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition-had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress her. Until the vampire attacks began.

--EMMA AND THE VAMPIRES by Jane Austen and Wayne Josephson

The demon exploded in a shower of ichor and guts.

--CLOCKWORK ANGEL by Cassandra Clare

From up high, everything seems to spill from itself.

--DANGEROUS NEIGHBORS by Beth Kephart

Strangers never walk down this road, the sisters thought in unison as the man trudged toward them.

--SISTERS RED by Jackson Pearce



I'm sitting alone on the other side of the world talking to a sea turtle that might be my mom. The boy I love is with the girl he loves, and the girl he loves may not be me. If I was halfway to crazy before, I fully arrived now.

--SEA by Heidi Kling





Anyone want to share their own favorite one liners?

Description vs Setting / Author vs Reader

Do you pay attention to descriptions in books? I don’t. Well, not always. Then again, frequently I do. It depends on who I am at the moment, and what we’re talking about. So what are we talking about?

Right about now I should be doing the dreaded, “Before We Begin, Let’s Define Our Terms. What is Description? What is Setting? What color is my hat?”

However, I refuse to do these things on the grounds that it’s boring. I would have to do stuff like look in the mirror to see what hat I’m wearing. (Author or Reader?) I would have to look up words. Scan through paper or online dictionaries. Root around inside how-to-write books like,

“The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy” by Darin Park and Tom Dullemond,
or perhaps,
“How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy” by Orso Scott Card.

Or, Google for meta-descriptions of description-writing at websites like:
Jeff Gerke’s “Where The Map Ends” (http://www.wherethemapends.com/writerstools/writers_tools_pages/tip_of_the_week.htm):
• Description, Part 1—Introduction
• Description, Part 2—The Establishing Shot
• Description, Part 3—The Full Sensory Sweep
• Description, Part 4—Comparisons


By gum, I’m not gonna do that!

Having disposed of the official definitions created by people who know of which they write, when -I- think about the building blocks of settings, I think in terms of descriptions of:
1. miscellaneous characters (Sometimes—but not always—this kind of description is really an aspect of characterization. When it is largely characterization, it doesn’t belong here so we can drop it. (Clang!)
2. a room or any kind of interior space (One type of setting)
3. an exterior space, usually part of nature. (Another type of setting)
4. “space, the final frontier” –but only if you’re a Trekkie. (Clang!)
5. objects decorating either indoor or outdoor space. Play and film set designers cleverly call this “set decoration”.


When I have my Reader Hat on, I pay far more attention to the details of internal settings like living rooms, deep wells, classrooms and belfries, than I do exterior settings. I’m particularly entranced by objects that fall under the category of set decoration.

Descriptions of the outside world usually have my eyes glazing over when I’m reading them. That practice gets me into a heap of trouble later on when it becomes important to remember that the mountain chain blocking the protagonists from their goal runs north-to-south, not west-to-east, and the characters are currently on the –west- side of the mountains. (Oh! That’s why they have to creep through the Mines of Moria! Gotcha!)

When reading another author’s physical descriptions of characters as part of setting, my Reader Hat must slip down over my eyes. For example, several chapters after beginning one of Andre Norton’s juveniles years ago, I realized that a woman I thought was middle-aged was actually in her teens. Andre may possibly have messed up but more likely, I had let my attention slip for a second and decided out of nowhere that the character had grey hair.


When I have my Author Hat on, I spend great gobs of time describing most everything. Within the limits of a given scene, if my Author hat is screwed on –really- tight, I’ll even make an effort at hitting as many of the Five Senses as possible. For instance, I –love- creating new species of trees and wild animals—the colors and textures, and even the scents and sounds. (Yes, trees make sounds and animals have scents.)

Once, I spent an inordinate amount of time on a rug. I mean, describing a rug! This random bit of piling detail on detail probably had readers thinking the rug was going to be significant in the future. Well, sorry. Not so much. (I understand when readers get put out about this kind of writing.)

Over all, I’m more likely to provide detailed descriptions of furniture, people, animals and trees than I am to mention any wall-floor-ceiling or the broad geographic layout of the land. This may come from being myopic.

Recently, I’ve been serving as a beta reader for a UK author named Malcolm Cowen. After a short interlude near the young protagonist’s home, Malcolm describes a scene in which “Mary” stands on a road with a steep drop to her left and an even steeper natural stone wall to her right. He eventually takes us up that fiercesomely slanted height. Mary finds herself in the middle of a mountainous landscape that seems to scroll on forever as our character travels through it, climbing slopes, riding down into valleys to find hidden pools beyond the bushes, turning sharply past rocky walls to find totally unexpected vistas—waterfalls, forests, villages—before her.

I was and am deeply enthralled by Malcolm’s descriptions. Why? Because waiting expectantly for the next bit of scenery to come into view around a curve or over a rise in Malcolm’s manuscript reminded me of weekend rides in the car when I was a kid—long before the Interstate. You never knew what would be around the next curve in the road, thanks frequently to the foliage blocking the view. It was always such an adventure, even when we had travelled that way many times before. The adventure of discovering settings through a door, up a staircase, and around the far side of a great tree are something we owe our readers.

I think it’s time for me to start wearing Author’s Glasses, so I’ll remember to describe the –distant- countryside.


What setting descriptions do you most enjoy reading—or do you skip right past them?

On what kind of descriptions do you focus as an author? What do you tend to ignore, in order to get on with the story or for other reasons?

Thanks for reading!

Sherry Thompson, author of the YA fantasy “Narentan Tumults” novels from Gryphonwood:

Seabird (Paperback) http://amzn.to/90QXDA
Earthbow Vol.1 (Paperback) http://amzn.to/cvK2hD
Earthbow Vol.2 (Paperback -- due out at any time)
Earthbow V.1&2 combined in electronic format http://amzn.to/aimTRk

Inspired by...

I don’t take pictures often, but when I do, I always have a few that puzzle people. Mainly because the pictures are usually of rocks and/or trees. I get story ideas from the strangest things, I know. There’s just something about an interesting tree or odd rock shape.


Gloria Oliver took a picture for me of a tree in a park in Portland, OR. That particular tree seemed to have an opening that resembled a maw in its base – and where would that maw lead to (unless it really is a mouth on a particularly hungry and evil tree?

So a recent trip to New Zealand and Australia for two science fiction conventions (Au Contraire and Aussiecon/Worldcon) recently resulted in the usual – more pictures of trees. And some rocks.

But really, who could resist taking a picture of the path (in a nature reserve called Zealandia) winding between two trees? Not I. One of my friends pointed out that it’s similar to a scene in The Crystal Throne – the hidden entrance to an elf village. But I was getting several other story ideas when I saw it. Time will tell which ones will win out.

And then there’s this interesting tree with numerous branches along one side. I'm definitely going to have to describe this tree in a story at some point.

The whole length of pebbled beach and the nearby cliff face is all gray but yet just a bit off shore is a collection of red rocks. There’s a story idea there that will probably be moved to an alien planet.

 

The lichen on the rocks in this rock garden reminded me of Jeanne's solution in Talking to Trees.

The fallen tree supported by the big branches of the second tree suggested one idea. However, the green of the orchids growing along the fallen tree resembled a garden that some arboral or avian species could use.

So, when I'm asked 'Where do you get your ideas?', there are times when I can point to a picture. And then I'll get stranger looks than usual.

Writing the Book You Want to Read

I was browsing the shelves of Colliseum Bookstore back in 1988. Not sure how many of you ever heard of this gone-but-never-forgotten Grandis Libris Domus. I feel sad for those who never experienced it. The classic browsing place. I was flipping through titles in the "Psychedelic New Age Science Fiction Rock & Roll Romps" section with Tim Leary and Jimi Page. There was a single book. It was called Milky Way Marmalade. I bought the book and strolled over to Central park, sat on a giant brass mushroom in the Alice in Wonderland sculpture. Beside me a dwarf was smoking from a huka. I read the entire tome aloud and he did a little dance and said "Yes my friend. There is nothing else to read."

Ok- maybe that didn't really happen. Milky Way Marmalade was not in print in 1988. It was published in 2003 and I was the author.

But the feeling I get from writing it and the feeling I get from knowing it exists fills me with utter joy. I honestly, with all humility tossed out the nearest stained glass window, feel that Milky Way Marmalade is the greatest book ever written. Keep your Bible and your Mahabarata and Harry Potter. Milky Way Marmalade is THE BOOK I wish I had when I was in high school. It would have one-upped its inspiration - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. If I pick up a copy of it now and flip to a random section I laugh out loud. I feel wonderful.

THIS is the feeling you must all go for as authors. Write the book you dream of reading. Stop trying to write a bestseller. The book you write should be on the top of your own favorite reads list.

Now I did get amazing reviews. It won a Dream Realm award which no one ever heard of but felt nice. It has not sold too many copies but that is because I did not give it the push it deserves. I will. It will one day be an amazing motion picture with the greatest classic rock soundtrack.

Then again it may remain in the farthest depths of Amazon print on demand jungle. No matter. I love the book with all my heart and soul. I makes me smile just thinking about it.

You are cheating yourself if you never strive for this feeling. Use the Joseph Campbell philosophy. Write Your Bliss. There will be people out there who will get it. Who will love it. I will never forget the amazing feeling I felt when I discovered someone had listed it as their favorite book on Facebook. A COMPLETE stranger! Then again- someone else said it sucked like a Hoover. But what do they know. I wrote it and I know Milky Way Marmalade is the greatest book ever written.

Write your best ever...

Complete Your Draft 2010

I've been a part of the Complete Your Draft 2010 challenge.  I've made it a goal to try to finish the sequel to CROSSED OUT by the end of this month. This site not only gives an extra push to finish our drafts but has some authors sharing tips and suggestions on the writing process.  Check them out!  I'll also be sharing with a guest post sometime soon!
http://lesleysays.livejournal.com/10678.html

Not only that but I'm donating a signed copy of CROSSED OUT with some pretty cool swag at the end of the month to some lucky winner.

New Release - The Fane Queen

It's officially released! Book 11 of The Guardians of Glede YA fantasy series. Here is the blurb:

Attempting to escape one’s past can have devastating consequences.

Ask Tavin Sylvain, who is trying to forget all about the abuse he suffered at the hands of the trolls six months earlier.

Ask Kitiara, who would like to escape her sordid past in Kartonn, where she was known as the Princess of Pleasure.

Or ask King Jansson van Tannen, who would like nothing better than to keep his family intact and not have to face the possibility of losing one of his own beloved children to fate.

When the past rears its ugly head, all three are thrown into turmoil. Tavin, Brann and Kitiara are lost in Karsaba, without magic, without direction, without hope. And in the middle of a troll invasion. In a race against time, King Jansson and King Kyel gather their closest friends and allies to find the children before the trolls find them first.

I posted a teaser earlier on, but you can read a larger excerpt on my homepage at: JennaKay Francis and you can read the entire first chapter on my publishers page at: Readers Eden

Enjoy!

Jenna