Point-Counter-Point: Censorship
Statements compiled by Roxyanne Young
Book banning is serious business. If you're a writer, you might get excited to know that your book is on the banned list, because that means a lot of attention to your work as the lists make the rounds and the First Amendment Advocates go to work, but it also means that for every school district that bans your book from its shelves, several more will likely shy away from buying it in the first place.
In researching this story, I've listened to religious fundamentalists who literally burn books on a fairly regular basis. (Harry Potter is just the one that makes the evening news.) I've heard from an author who was shunned at booksignings in her own community and has had her books purposely shelved in the wrong places because the bookstore management doesn't believe children should be able to read books having to do with fortune telling and magic. I've heard from teachers, some of whose statements you'll read below, who have to deal with varying degrees of parental outrage over the most inocuous titles (Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, for instance!), and I've heard from one mother in Fayetteville, Arkansas, whose disgust with the sexual content of books in her child's high school lead her to do a survey of all the books in the school library system. She came away with a list of 72 titles that she and her friends believe should be removed to a parental permission only, restricted section of the school libraries because of inappropriate language, sexual situations, and so on. Her statement is below, as well, alongside a statement from a leader with the National Coalition Against Censorship.
This is not a black and white issue and there are no easy answers. This is serious business that affects millions of students and other readers. It deserves more sensible discussion than heated debate, but I find myself wondering of the various sides of this battle can really come together at all.
For myself, I believe that we should leave the decisions about school reading choices to the professionals - the educators trained in how to teach children's literature in a thoughtful, relevant way, and the librarians trained in seeking out the best children's books for their particular school population. With education budgets being slashed all around us, school library funding is in peril, and classroom library monies are practically non-existent to begin with. (A brief, unscientific survey of teachers found that they spend between $600 - $1200 of THEIR OWN MONEY on classroom supplies and books every year!) I think we should trust these professionals to do their jobs.
This month Kathleen Duey is celebrating the publication of a very important book. She's the author of several commercially-successful paperback chapterbook series for boys and girls, but after a decade in the industry, after dozens of published books, after traveling the world teaching writing workshops and conference sessions, this is Kathleen's first hard cover book, and her first foray into darker fantasy. I asked Kathleen about her new book, and the twists and turns her career has taken to bring her to this crook in her path.
SWJ: Besides being a real departure from the
books you've written before, A Resurrection of Magic: Skin Hunger is the first
in a trilogy. What is the inspiration for this story?
KD:
The basic idea came from knowing a fanatic a long time ago-the strongest
and most fragile person I had ever encountered.
But this story has been simmering for a long time and it has changed
over the years. There is a three hundred page, incomplete, technically strained,
weak version somewhere in my drawers, written 15 years ago. I am refusing to look for it.
SWJ: Tell us about the characters in Skin
Hunger. You introduce each with such powerful imagery, it seems they spring
fully drawn from the pages. How did these young people come to you?
KD: I
never "create" characters. It has never
worked for me. They have to just appear. I have learned how to open the door for
them. I have constructed elaborate strategies
to coax them into talking to me. Then, if I can just stay out of their way, they
usually have a good story to tell. It's a relatively big cast. And it is
character-driven, so they are all very important to making the plot work.
SWJ: You told me a few weeks ago that this
is the book it took you almost fifteen years to write, that when the idea came
to you, you didn't have the writing skills to match the project. Explain what
you meant by that.
KD: It's very complex structurally. It's two
alternating stories, separated by 200 years, each with its own protagonist.
There are two voices, two protagonists, two plots that eventually intersect,
and strong supporting characters in both stories. The timeline over the trilogy
is almost circular. The stories have to mesh like gears or it falls apart.
When
I was just learning how to write, it was
beyond me. Then, for over a decade, earning a living became my single-minded priority. I wrote original series most of that
time. I couldn't afford to work on a
book I knew would take a year or more to write-and that I wasn't entirely sure
I could write-let alone sell.
SWJ: Tell us about the incredible artwork
for the cover. That's a neat story in itself.
KD: I
had such a distinct vision for this whole project. From the beginning, I wanted the cover to portray the emotion, not
the events, of the story. The art
director was kind enough to let me suggest a wonderful artist I found on the
internet-after days and days of sifting through hundreds of artist sites. I was looped in on the art direction and my
ideas were used. It was wonderful to be
involved. The cover is eye-stopping and perfect for the book. It's on my website: http://www.kathleenduey.com/content/blogcategory/12/11/
SWJ: You've had some great commentary from
some powerful children's and YA fantasy writers. How does that make you feel
about your work here?
KD: Profoundly and gratefully relieved. I thought it might be pretty good. I wasn't sure. It's so hard to assess your own work. People
seem to like the title, too. I struggled to find it, we were running out of
time. But when it finally came to me, it was perfect. Skin Hunger is a
psychological term for what happens to humans-neglected babies, widows and
widowers, sequestered monks, isolated prisoners-when they are deprived of kind
human touch. Kirkus has selected the
book for inclusion in their SF/Fantasy issue. I can only shiver and quake,
awaiting the reviews.
SWJ: You're judging the midgrade category
for the 2007 Write It Now! Competition, but what other projects are you working
on now?
KD: I
am finishing Annie and Ginger, my eleventh historical horse book for
Dutton/Puffin. The horse-girls write lots of fan mail, so I am trying to keep
up with them. I will soon be focusing entirely
on the wrapping up the first draft for the next volume in A Resurrection of
Magic. I am working with a packager on a truly lovely 24-title book and DVD animal series for 2-6 year olds. I am writing
audio scripts for the DVD and text for the books. I am beginning negotiations
for six high-action-reluctant-reader-boy-bait-books that I really hope will
work out. I want literate men in the
next generation.
SWJ:
Anything else you'd like to mention?
KD: There are three or four other things on
the horizon, including a graphic novel and an animation project. And I have another
oddly structured novel to write, sort of a SF/fantasy hybrid. Like this
trilogy, it's an idea that was born long ago, before I ever started thinking
about the commerciality (or not) of my projects. I am trying to find my way
back to that well. But I have to earn a
living, too, so I will continue writing less exhausting projects. This is a conundrum
that has absorbed me for years. My workshop for SCBWI's Summer 07 conference in LA is titled:
The Uneasy Marriage of Art and Commerce. That seems to be my current task, finding a
way to mediate that marriage.
1. Prepare the students by having them read (or be familiar with) the author's books. This seems obvious, but doesn't always happen. When students don't know anything about the "guest speaker," it's a lost opportunity to encourage writing and reading. ...
Laurie Taylor of Fayetteville, Arkansas: A Mother on a Mission
The following is excerpted directly from her email to me, in its entirety, and with her permission. The lists of 72 books are attached as well, also with her permission, and exactly as they were sent to me.
"As for as my position on the subject of book banning and censorship:
My objective in this matter is to inform parents of what material is available and accessible to their children. At no time have I asked for a book to be banned.
Censorship is a word that is thrown around negatively by those who have (in my opinion) an agenda of a “free for all” system. Censorship in a viable negative realm is something impressed upon us by the government, which I would also be up in arms over; but censorship by a community concerning the material available to our students in a public school system is not only reasonable but extremely responsible; the librarians censor everyday, they decide what is put into the library and what is not (I know this because every book that has ever been written does not appear in our library.) Librarians censor for a living.
In the public arena we (citizens) censor our children everyday; we rate movies and TV; we set drinking age, driving age, voting age; they aren’t allowed to purchase cigarettes, guns or pornography, to participate in sex. And the list goes on.
There are societal standards that we (Americans and other western cultures) have established for the protection and safety of our children, I submit that the attached books malign those standards and promote language, attitudes, thought processes and actions that are not only irresponsible but exceptionally dangerous not to mention prohibited at school and some illegal.
I would also submit that by this explicit material being available to children without the knowledge or permission of their parents, that the child parent relationship is being damaged and parental authority circumvented. I am sure that you would agree with me that parents, not teachers or librarians, should have absolute authority over their children and their efforts to raise those children with certain views, ethics and morals should not be thwarted.
My proposal to relocate this material provides a suitable solution for all. To place these books in an area where students must have parental permission to secure them, (parental authority is paramount), students whose parents want them to have access are served while those who subscribe to a more conservative ideology are protected and served as well.
If you choose to print this response I request that you do it in it’s entirety or for you to send me your intended version so that what I have said here is not misrepresented. If you have any questions or would like to speak further on the matter please feel free to contact me.
(Editorial note: These are Word .doc files, just as Ms. Taylor sent them. These files have not been altered or edited in any way and contain content that may be considered mature by some, x-rated by others; namely, Ms. Taylor and her group have excerpted the objectionable bits and typed them out here. These should not be opened with young children in the room, but may be a good catalyst for thoughtful discussion of the topic of censorship and what is appropriate content with older children. - R. Young)
The School Board in Fayetteville will be meeting on September 13 to discuss this issue.
Bruce Hale's wacky gecko gumshoe is back with Case #5 of the Chet Gecko Mysteries, The Hamster of the Baskervilles. SWJ caught up with Bruce Hale during his Southern California book tour.
Joan Bertin, Taking Up the Fight for the First Amendment
Taylor doesn't just advocate for parental control. She wants schools and libraries to make certain judgments about content and she wants to force parental involvement. 1) By tagging certain books and topics as "inappropriate" for minors, she's urging schools to engage in viewpoint discrimination against certain kinds of information and ideas. This is the chief evil the First Amendment targets. 2) By requiring parents to be involved in their children's reading choices, whether they want to or not, she's restricting, not expanding, parental control. Benign neglect - the preference of many thoughtful parents - is no longer an option.
Obviously, any parent who wants to supervise their minor children's library activities is, and always has been, free to accompany them to the library. There's no need to involve the school in "helping" parents fulfill their parental duties, as Taylor conceives of them.
Joan E. Bertin, Executive Director
National Coalition Against Censorship
Please read this open letter to Dr. Bobby New, Superintendent of Schools in Fayetteville, from the NCAC, NCTE and others. It is in response to Taylor's efforts, but applies to school districts and libraries everywhere: http://www.ncac.org/issues/Fayetteville.htm
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is an alliance of 50 national non-profit organizations, including religious, educational, professional, artistic, labor, and civil rights groups, committed to defending freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression. For more
information about NCAC, visit us on-line at www.ncac.org.
When Richard Simon founded Simon & Schuster (with Max Schuster) in 1924, he dreamt of bringing the best in literature to readers around the world. When his daughter, singer/songwriter Carly Simon, joined the Simon & Schuster ranks as an author, creating "Midnight Farm" in 1997, it was like coming home to that dream...
Writing has the reputation of being lonely craft, but even though the writing itself is usually a solitary gig (unless we work collaboratively), professionals do have many opportunities to reach out make contact with other professionals through online writing workshops, listservs and chat groups, and the occasional face-to-face writing group in our own hometowns. There are also a host of industry conventions and workshops around the country, as well, and if we’re fortunate enough to attend, we very often come away with new friends and professional contacts that will benefit our own careers...
From the Teachers and Librarians, Professionals on the Frontlines of the Battle
I am a reading consultant in an elementary school and have had two books challenged by parents: The Egypt Game and (would you believe) Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The Egypt Game was challenged because the parent had some concerns about children in the book playing a game that included idol worship.
The class had almost completed reading The Egypt Game when the objection was raised. The book was being used in conjunction with a unit on Egypt. I listened to the parent's concerns and, while I felt that they were somewhat exaggerated, I did eliminate the book from my curriculum. I had heard similar parent objections from other reading consultants and chose to retire the book.
The concern about Alexander was the use of the word "hate" - as in "I hate lima beans." The parent wrote the teacher (and me) a scathing three page letter condemning teachers (that would be me) who would use a book with such language. She also had her mother add another letter to the condemnation. We spoke to the child and explained the difference between hating people and hating objects. We didn't hear from the parent again.
Do you have any idea of how many books we would have to eliminate if we had to take out every one that had the word "hate" in it? I started counting one day and lost track.
Marlene Greene
Gladstone Street School
Cranston, Rhode Island
Several years ago when the Harry Potter books were first becoming popular, our county (Bradford County, FL) had a group of parents (mostly from one religious organization) that wanted the books banned from all school libraries because they believed the books were teaching their children witchcraft.
Our school board formed a commitee to read the book and make a decision. The committe included school board members, parents, members of the religious organization and school librarians. The committe voted to allow the books to stay in the libraries and remain accessable to all students. If a parent did not want their child to check out the books, they had to write a letter to the school principal which would then be shared with the librarian. Those children would not be able to check out the books but all others could. I believe we only recieved 2 or 3 letters asking that their child not be able to check out Harry Potter books. Teachers were also asked not to use the books as class read-alouds.
Why can't people just enjoy a good story?
Debbie Powell
Starke Elementary School
Starke, FL
I heard a great comment from Brad Strickland, who writes scary stories for kids. When asked, why do you write such scary stories for children?, he replied "Because they need a safe place in which to learn to deal with fear." I think a similar focus should be taken when we talk about censorship. How else are our children going to learn to deal with issues in the world unless we read and talk about them?
Cathy Puett Miller
Independent Literacy Consultant
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
www.readingisforeveryone.org
From the UK it has been absolutely appalling to read on the subject of the censoring the reading of children according to narrow, and possibly minority, "Christian principles." I have been shaken to my core by the entire debate. We, in the UK, have not got so far down the fundamentalist road as yet, and hopefully we won't. I believe that a school in the UK would continue to use and suggest a really popular mainstream book like the Harry Potter books on the grounds that, whilst they may not be great literature, at least everyone (boys included) wants to read them. I believe a school would ride out a fundamentalist complaint and attempt at censorship such as the ones you describe, and appear to have to bow under. I hope it would be sympathetically managed but, I also hope and expect, such a situation would be dealt with on a firmly secular, strictly educational basis.
I am truly, deeply shocked to read, again (we often seem to), how dictatorial "Christianity" has become, and how powerful it is in the US. This was not the message I took from my reading of the book when I believed. It was rather a message of inclusive love and mutual respect. Of such strength in faith that generosity was possible and indeed demanded.
A faith which is likely to be shaken by a Harry Potter book is assuredly not a worthy faith and a faith which seeks to prevent others reading such a book is demonstrating petulant, vicious, narrow-minded weakness as well, of course, as absolutely fundamental error.
Jesus would certainly not approve (in my opinion, of course - it's all a matter of opinion)! I do not recognise the censorships you have been coming up against as actions informed by genuinely Christian thinking. I think they should be formally challenged on two grounds. First, non-believers or different-believers have rights which it is utterly immoral (and un-Christian) to override, and second, it seems obvious from here that real believers in the US urgently need to reclaim their faith from the bigots. As a non-Christian, in other words, I would be deeply offended by the casual rinsing away of my fundamental rights and were I a Christian I would be even more incensed by the high handed and stiff-necked reducing of my faith to bitter, virulent, narrow, introverted, timid and backward-looking authoritarianism.
Washington-based author Chris Crutcher has been writing coming of age fiction since 1981 - longer than most of his targeted readers have been alive. And yet, whether you crack the cover of "Running Loose," his first novel for HarperCollins Greenwillow imprint, or "Whale Talk," his eighth, the same intuitive energy will radiate from every chapter...
Jesse Dirkhising was somebody's classmate at Lincoln Middle School.
Dirkhising, 13, died in 1999 in Rogers. He suffocated while gagged, sedated, tied up and left on a mattress. Two men were convicted of rape and murder in that case.
Fewer than 100 books with sexual content, scattered along the rows in five Fayetteville school libraries, are stirring up more fuss about risks to children than Dirkhising's death did.
I've been criticized for trying to change the subject that Fayetteville School District parent Laurie Taylor raised, from "pornography" in library books to the rape of children.
Well, yeah. I'm trying to change the subject from gnats to camels. Mrs. Taylor has every right to speak up for the protection of children who remain innocent, even in high school. Her issue's going to get a school district-sponsored town meeting. Somebody, however, ought to say something for kids robbed of their innocence, and repeatedly robbed of the dignity of their persons. The child in danger needs help more than the child who might decide for himself to just read about it.
I brought up the subject with a former prosecutor, one who tried incest and child rape cases. I knew the problem of child sexual abuse was serious. He'd researched the subject.
One out of every four girls. One out of every 10 boys. That's how many people under 18 have some adult force themselves upon them. We're not talking about fanny slapping or winking or feels, either. We're talking about contact serious enough, in theory, to put the adult in jail.
Those villains are not being turned in to police. Rather simple-mindedly, I think there might be a connection between this silence and the unwillingness of people to even let a book on such themes sit on shelf where kids can get to it.
It's not an issue appropriate for children, I'm told. Excuse me, but the issue here is children. If somebody's child doesn't think it's all right to talk about this, nobody's going to jail.
Child sexual abuse is not a problem schools can solve. It's not a problem police, courts and prisons can solve, either, if nobody talks about it. Putting a book like "Push" in school libraries, a novel about how an abused girl gets away and finds she's stronger than she thought, is one of the pitifully few things we've ever done to broach the subject.
William Wagner was somebody's classmate, too. He was the gay student at Fayetteville schools who was beaten up in 1996. Not for the first time, understand, but the most serious time. His nose was broken and he had a kidney bruised from being kicked, as I recall. Other kids his age were convicted for it.
Some of the books in this debate are considered offensive, in part, because they declare that being gay is all right.
There's another former student of Arkansas public schools I think about a lot these days. I met her more than 10 years ago. Her stepfather wouldn't leave her alone. Finally, she mustered the courage to tell somebody. Stepdaddy was convicted of rape and sentenced to prison. Unfortunately, that's not the key part of the story.
Momma had a high school education and no work skills worth mentioning. She had more than one child to feed, too. She couldn't stay afloat financially.
Stepdad was a villain, but he knew a good trade.
Momma begged her oldest daughter, please recant your testimony so stepfather can get out of prison. Then he can work and support us. The girl refused.
If that's the kind of pressure exploited kids are under after they get the villain put away, I can't imagine what it's like before then.
If kids suffering from this kind of exploitation want to read about the subject, much less do something about it, they aren't exactly covered up with options.
Ronald Gene Simmons' kids didn't get out much. They were somebody's classmates too. That was about all they were, as far as the community went. They would go to school and then home. That was it.
Simmons was the man convicted of 16 counts of murder after killing off his family, among others, in Russellville over the Christmas holidays in 1987. Apparently, one of the things that really set off the spree was that his favorite daughter had grown up and left him.
At his trial, he listened without flinching to descriptions of his murdering. He punched the prosecutor, however, in full view of the packed courtroom and the jury, after the prosecutor called witnesses about Simmons' "relationship" with that daughter.
Talking about sex is dangerous anywhere, it seems.
For just over 40 years, a quiet tenacity has driven Kevin Henkes. It kept him afloat as the youngest of four loving, lively Henkes children growing up in Wisconsin. It helped him survive the arrival of a fifth, after six years of being "the baby." It helped him perfect his skills as an artist. And it helped him make real his dream of writing and illustrating children's books...
Chris Crutcher does not shy away from writing about the darker realities of life. He's seen a lot in his family practice in Spokane and as a teacher and administrator at an alternative school in Oakland. He knows what some of our children face in their everyday lives. He knows they need a lifeline to help them cope, help them survive, and he knows that books can be that lifeline when a kid has nowhere else to turn. But there are a lot of people who want his books, and others that deal with the dark side, removed from library shelves and not made available to children.
I called Crutcher and talked to him about his books and his having the dubious distinction of being one of the most challenged authors in America today.
Click here to download the audio interview in MP3 format. COMING SOON
Block is one of the most successful and distinctive voices in young adult literature today, with more than a dozen novels and anthologies -- "Weetzie Bat," "I Was a Teenage Fairy," "Violet and Claire," "The Rose and the Beast," and "Echo" to name only a few -- under her belt. And yet she audibly rejects the restrictive YA yoke, insisting her readers transcend artificially imposed barriers.
Writing Goal 1: Setting Your Goals
by Roxyanne Young
Ready...
In August 2006 I joined the faculty at a local technical college as a writing instructor. As part of my course planning, I adapted a Tony Robbins goal setting exercise that I would like to share with you all. It's an easy free writing exercise, so go get some paper and a pen, or open a new document on your computer. You'll also need a clock with a five-minute timer.
Set... Here's what I
want you to do: for a full five minutes, list everything you want to
accomplish in your writing life. Every task you want to complete. Every action
you'd like to take. Every thing you'd like to learn. Every person you'd
like to meet.
Nothing stands in your way. Money is not a factor. Experience, or lack of experience, doesn't matter. Geography is not a challenge here. Time is irrelevent to this list. Nothing stands in your way. List as many writing-related goals as you can think of. Don't dwell on details. Just hit the highlights, unless your goal involves something really specific.
One caveat: focus on things which YOU control. You might want to win a major award or competition, for instance, but you don't control the awards committee or the judges. You can, however, make sure you've submitted your very best work to that competition. Similarly, you can't grant yourself a book contract, but you can make sure your manuscript gets seen by the best, most qualified editors at the houses most likely to publish your work.
Thing big, think small, but don't stop writing. Five minutes.
Go!
And stop. Time's up. Okay, now that you've got a nice, long list, take a look at each item and assign an "I can do this in X amount of time number." If it's writing your new novel, it might be one year. If it's writing a character profile, it might be one week. If it's learning a new language, well, that could take you a couple of months or a couple of years, depending. If it's attending a particular writing workhop or conference, that's dependent on when the event takes place. Give every item a number.
Now organize them by those dates. If you've got your calendar for the month, for the year, for the decade, fill it out and get going. It helps, too, to put these things in writing on a list you can hang above your work space.
Schedule a monthly or quarterly meeting with yourself to review your goals and make adjustments if you need to. Your future is your own to create!
Though we've yet to see the fruits of his labor, writer/illustrator David Kirk signed a contract with Universal Studios in February of 1997. The deal? Exclusive rights to Kirk's "Miss Spider" character for motion picture, theme park, home video, music and CD-ROM applications. Eventually, Miss Spider is destined to become a multi-media star...
We are a diverse bunch, the eight of us. We hail from the balsam scented forests in the Adirondacks of upstate New York to sunny California with a few southern stops along the way. We are various religions. Races- we don't know and who cares. Only a couple of us have met face to face. We are mothers, grandmothers, retired teachers, a lawyer, a Web designer, and a school district employee. What do we have in common? Our love of writing for children.
The eight of us - we call ourselves The Story Board - huddle around our computers every Tuesday night to share our thoughts about another's work submitted to the group the week before. True, this is a critique group, but oh, so much more.
In the past two years we have shared our dreams, hopes, family problems and health worries. What started out as a group of strangers hoping to be published has turned into a sisterhood that truly cares about one another. We try to shape one another's work into a publishable masterpiece. We may not always agree, because we love our words so much, but we do appreciate the advice. We share publishing information in hopes that it will be the right house for a member's manuscript. We even share our rejections, usually responding with "What does that editor know? It was their loss."
Recently, one member of the group challenged all of us to enter the Highlights Fiction Contest. A few of the members who write long felt intimidated by the 800-word limit. They rose to the occasion though, each submitting a different take on the "friendship" theme from the historical to the contemporary. Each submission seems like a winner to me. They sent goose bumps up my spine and elicited a "wow" at the end. Even if none of us wins we are all winners in that we encouraged each other to write and submit.
If you aren't a member of a critique group join one soon, real soon. It is the best thing you can do for your writing career.
Thank you Storyboarders for being my writing soul. Now onto the next challenge: the Pockets fiction writing contest.
Syrl Ann Kazlo writes children's fiction and non-fiction in beautiful upstate New York and is a charter member of The Story Board, which has been meeting weekly since March 2001.
Millions of young readers have drifted away into a frosty arctic vision thanks to Jean Craighead George's Newbery Award-winning novel, "Julie of the Wolves." The story of a young Eskimo girl adopted and raised by wolves inspired a sequel, "Julie" and a third spin off title, "Julie's Wolf Pack," just in time for Julie's 25th anniversary...
Writing Goal 2: Finish the Book
By Candie
Moonshower
On my desk, I have the remnants of some
sticky notes that read: "Dreams exercise the spirit. Goals exercise the
mind."
(I don't know who or what company to give
credit to for this nugget of wisdom, because my daughter tore the back cover off
the pad and hole-punched several designs in them, too. It doesn't matter,
though, because I learned this lesson several years ago in a personal way, and
it's imprinted on my brain.)
Dreams are good. To dream of spending your
days writing, or finishing your manuscript—to dream of publication—all good. But dreams don't get the job
done.
I learned years ago that I could dream all
the livelong day—and dream the days away. Meanwhile, my writing life was not
progressing. Manuscripts were never completed. Stories never came to a
satisfying conclusion. And I was constantly
frustrated.
So when I decided, on New Year's Day of
2001, to get serious about writing fiction, I gave a lot of thought as to why,
though I'd wanted to write fiction since I learned to read in the first grade,
I'd never finished a sustained project. Meanwhile, my nonfiction work—my paying
freelance work—I always finished, on deadline, and with excellent
results.
I realized that it wasn't about the goals, it was about the expectations behind the goals. With
paying freelance work, there is someone else, out there, expecting the work. With
fiction, before you make that sale, there is no someone
else.
I decided that I had to set just as high a
priority on my own expectations as I do on other people and their expectations
of me. And I learned that just as I do with my freelance work, I had to approach
my fiction in a step-by-step method.
For example, a goal of "Write my novel by
June 1" is overwhelming and self-defeating. The days fly by. And before you know
it, it's almost June 1, and the novel is nowhere near completion. It may not
have even gotten off the ground.
A smaller goal, such as, "Write 25 pages a
month until the draft is finished," is manageable. Or, even better, set weekly
or daily or hourly goals, depending on how you work best. Setting smaller
goals—as small as you need to—produces verifiable and visible progress toward a
larger pay-off.
Instead of setting goals that turn out to be
impossible to reach, decide now to set goals that you know are attainable, but
which, over the course of the year, build on each other. Success at one easy
goal leads to the next, bigger success at a harder goal—and so on—until December
31 has arrived and you have tangible evidence of your many
successes.
Here's to everyone's writing successes in
the upcoming year!
For years, Joan Lowery Nixon practiced a writer's craft far removed from the novels of suspense ("The Haunting") and historical fiction ("Orphan Train" books) for which she's become famous...
Writing Goal 3: Find a God-like Mentor
By Kelly Milner Halls
Before his first novel, Skate, was released in October 2006,
Michael Harmon was like any would-be writer. He dreamed of success. He
read good books. He wrote and revised and continued to write. He talked
to other writers.
Typical, typical, typical, typical; but there was one important distinction.
The instant one of the writers he questioned – bestseller Chris
Crutcher -- responded with enthusiasm, Harmon went from typical to
exceptional. He listened.
He dug down and resisted his fragile ego and his fear of success, to
move toward publication, and more, he and Crutcher forged a
relationship between a student and a mentor.
Skate by Michael Harmon
Knopf, October 2006
How was the relationship born? “He found out there was a published
writer in town that didn't live far from him,” Crutcher says. “So he
called me and asked if we could meet. I'm not much of a teacher, but I
knew from his first drafts, he was good."
Dozens of writers ask professionals for help, without developing the
will or determination to accept it. But Crutcher knew almost
immediately that Harmon was different – serious about his goals.
“Actually, I knew within about five minutes,” he admits. “The first
day we were to meet, his car wouldn't start. It was miserable outside
and he ran about two miles with his manuscript to get to Great Harvest
before I left. No running shoes; I don't even know if he had a coat.
NObody puts themselves out that much to see ME, so I knew it was the
passion for writing.”
Harmon credits that meeting with moving him from desire to full-out
action. “I loved writing, but I didn’t know if I was good at it from
the standpoint of the craft. Chris Crutcher was the first person who
actually said I was, and as I put in the acknowledgments of SKATE, he
really believed it. He’s not the kind of guy that shines you on.”
Michael Harmon, fishing on the dock featured in the book
Like most first time novelists, Harmon’s critical reviews have been
mixed. Kirkus Review, a respected trade publication geared toward book
sellers and educational professionals said, “This remarkable first
novel features a rebellious, smart outcast who's battling life as he
struggles to take care of his little brother…a marvelous debut.”
School Library Journal, another professional trade publication said
Harmon had, “created a main character who [was] confident and tragic,”
but wished the novel had a little more “zip.”
Because novelists often see their works as newborns upon release, less
than glowing reviews can leave a mark, as Harmon admits. Even short
negative comments can send a new writer into full retreat, and inspire
them to consider “living in a cave,” he says.
Mentor extraordinaire Chris Crutcher
After nearly 25 years of experience, Crutcher knows that sting, but has
learned to take it in stride. “Critics are as varied as readers, and
who you get to review your book has a lot to do with the luck of the
draw,” he says. “So you take the hit, set it aside, then go back and
read it after the sting goes away to see if you think the writer had a
valid point.
“You have to remember, if one critic likes it and another doesn’t, it
proves their reviews are as subjective as any target readership,” he
continues. “Besides, no one critic ever ended anyone’s career – that I
know of.”
Considering Skate is the first of three novels Knopf has
agreed to publish, Harmon has plenty of time to prove his work has
enough “zip” to be consistently “marvelous.” And Crutcher still has
Harmon’s back.
“I’ve written thirteen books in the last five or so years,” Harmon
says. “Chris has given feedback on most of them. But he once told me
he wasn’t teaching me anything I didn’t already know. He said he was
simply showing me how to understand it. His belief in my craft has been
inspiring, and I can only hope to pass to other writers.
“We’re friends now,” Harmon concludes, “But he’ll still set me straight when I need it.”
Kelly Milner Halls is the author of twenty books for children,
including the upcoming Mysteries of the Mummy Kids (Darby Creek, March
2006). Visit her on the Web at www.KellyMilnerHalls.com.
Kathleen Duey Resurrects Magic
te-and that I wasn't entirely sure
I could write-let alone sell. 
