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From: Ellen Levine <ellenlev>
Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2003 02:55:53 -0500
Source notes, bibliography, and other forms of documentation of our research are fundamental to writing nonfiction (our delicious addiction as Sandra calls it), whether or not read. If read, they're important as an example, as Marc suggests, to young people who are first learning about the research process. We want to engage the reader in our text, the whole text. Our intended reader, that is. And herein lies my concern. I'm troubled when reviewers spend more time talking about back matter than the main text. And even though we write trying not to think about the critics, we're as keenly aware as our editors of the attention paid to "documentation" by reviewers. When I've prepared chronologies and who's who listings, and bibliographic material, I do it because I believe it to be an integral part of the book. And I write, hoping at least some young readers will glance at the material and be even momentarily hooked. Nonetheless, it is distracting and discouraging to know that some reviewer may scorch the work based not on "center" but
"back" matter.
Ellen Levine ("Freedom's Children,""Darkness Over Denmark," etc.)
Received on Fri 03 Jan 2003 01:55:53 AM CST
Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2003 02:55:53 -0500
Source notes, bibliography, and other forms of documentation of our research are fundamental to writing nonfiction (our delicious addiction as Sandra calls it), whether or not read. If read, they're important as an example, as Marc suggests, to young people who are first learning about the research process. We want to engage the reader in our text, the whole text. Our intended reader, that is. And herein lies my concern. I'm troubled when reviewers spend more time talking about back matter than the main text. And even though we write trying not to think about the critics, we're as keenly aware as our editors of the attention paid to "documentation" by reviewers. When I've prepared chronologies and who's who listings, and bibliographic material, I do it because I believe it to be an integral part of the book. And I write, hoping at least some young readers will glance at the material and be even momentarily hooked. Nonetheless, it is distracting and discouraging to know that some reviewer may scorch the work based not on "center" but
"back" matter.
Ellen Levine ("Freedom's Children,""Darkness Over Denmark," etc.)
Received on Fri 03 Jan 2003 01:55:53 AM CST
