From: Sneed B. Collard III <collard>
Date: Fri, 08 Jul 2005 11:40:29 -0600

Hello Everyone,

With the help of several friends, I heard about and, despite a deteriorating brain, managed to locate this discussion. If I may, I'd like to chime in on the question of greatest challenges in science writing.

For me, this does vary tremendously from book to book. For younger science picture books, for instance, finding the right voice is always a challenge*albeit a fun one. When I was writing my first "whimsical science book," ANIMAL DADS, I wrote at least 8 or 9 versions of the main text before I hit upon a voice that flowed well, yet conveyed the feeling I was looking for. When I've written about more dramatic topics, such as tropical cloud forests or the deep-sea floor, finding a voice that captures the awe and inherent mystery of the topic can take a lot of experimentation. Sometimes, I never do find the right feel and shelve a project. Other times, the subject seems to speak to me and a beautiful, often unexpected, rhythm pours out. That happened with one of my newest picture books, A PLATYPUS, PROBABLY. In that case, my brief encounter with a wild platypus 17 years ago just inspired a mood that carried the entire book.

With older science books, voice is still important, but there are additional challenges as well. I think for these older books it is especially important to do original research. For these books, library research is almost never adequate to do the topic justice. To bring science alive, it's vitally important to go directly to the source*usually, the scientists themselves. Of course, this is part of what makes these books so fun to write, too! In the past dozen years, I've been on research trips to Costa Rica, Australia, the deep-sea floor, and most recently, Iowa. Okay, now if you're laughing about the "Iowa" inclusion, let me just rush to Iowa's defense! I actually had a wonderful time there, spending time with some of the most dedicated scientists I've ever met. Also, for the first time, I got to immerse myself in the world of the tallgrass prairie, learning about the animals and plants, photographing them, and interviewing people who are passionately working to preserve this priceless ecosystem. And that's perhaps an important message that can be shared with young writers. Research doesn't always have to be to exotic locations. It can be right in your own backyard. But it's that direct research that brings a subject to life with perspective and information a straight library-researched book would never provide. My Iowa book, THE PRAIRIE BUILDERS, just came out and I don't think I've ever been more proud of a book*even though it was researched in humble Iowa.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention a huge challenge in all science writing today: the shortage of trade publishers willing to publish science books. This has been a problem ever since I began my career in the early 90s. In the 70s and 80s, there seemed to be a fair number of trade publishers who would publish top-notch science books for older readers. By the time my career began, the trend had dramatically reversed. Most of my career, in fact, has been forged on science picture books because those are the only books trade publishers have been willing to publish. For more in?pth books, I've had to turn to the library or institutional publishers. This is a big problem because library publishers are often more interested in publishing titles than books. What I mean by that is that, for a variety of reasons, the standards often are not as high for library publishers. For one thing, they pay their writers so poorly that a writer does not have the luxury of spending enough time researching and writing a book to bring it up to top grade. Also, production values are often lower among library publishers than they are in trade.
  Now there are exceptions. I've recently been working with Benchmark Publishing and they are doing an outstanding job on my books. I also have hopes that other library publishers will bring up their standards*and improve their treatment of writers! To my knowledge, however, about the only big trade publishers willing to tackle older science on a regular basis is Houghton Mifflin/Clarion. Houghton Mifflin's "Scientists in the Field" series is top-notch in every way, and I love many of Clarion's individual older titles as well. Other trade publishers are beginning to flirt with older science. The new publisher Darby Creek has put out some nice books recently and Charlesbridge is beginning to move into middle-grade science, too.
  So, despite a dismal past decade or so, I am hopeful that things are looking up in the children's science world.
Received on Fri 08 Jul 2005 12:40:29 PM CDT