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[CCBC-Net] Re; Just the story, etc.
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From: Nancegar at aol.com <Nancegar>
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 12:01:44 EDT
It's true that lots of YAs, especially, these days, are written in the first person and use some approximation of trendy teen-speak. And it's true that as a result some of them do sound alike, and that certainly can be annoying. But there are plenty of books that don't follow that pattern, and although it's true that there are "trends" from time to time in children's books toward certain kinds of approaches, I don't know of any editor who forces or who even suggest to writers that they follow them just for the sake of following them. Certainly the editors I work with don't! Some stories are better told in the first-person from the point of view of the main character, and when that main character is a kid, as of course is almost always the case in a kids' book, that character's voice has to sound authentic--has to sound like a kid. When one chooses to use that approach, one is faced with its limitations, and one of those limitations usually involves a book that sounds less literary, or even is less literary, than a book written in the third person might be. That isn't necessarily the case, though; in real life, not every teenager sounds like every other teenager, so not every fictional teenager HAS to sound like every other fictional teenager! The choice of first-person or third person, and the choice of what kind of person one's main character is to be are choices probably made much more often by writers than by editors, except in those situations where the editor asks a writer to write a certain kind of book--a book in a particular series, for example -- or in those situations where an author hasn't quite struck the right tone in the story she is trying to tell, or when an author is genuinely struggling with characterization and/or point of view. There are plenty of books that are author-initiated, not editor (or packager) initiated--even, as a matter of fact, some series books. I'm not sure of the statistics here, and I do think there are many more books now than there used to be that are coming from packagers -- and that may be what Cassie and Linda are seeing and being (I agree, rightly) disturbed by. I'd just like to reassure them that not ALL books are being done that way, and that there are still those of us who are free to write what we want as we want to write it -- as long as it works.
Nancy (Garden)
____________________________________________ Please visit my website at www.nancygarden.com ENDGAME is now available. See website for an excerpt. GOOD MOON RISING is back in print!
Received on Thu 10 Aug 2006 11:01:44 AM CDT
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 12:01:44 EDT
It's true that lots of YAs, especially, these days, are written in the first person and use some approximation of trendy teen-speak. And it's true that as a result some of them do sound alike, and that certainly can be annoying. But there are plenty of books that don't follow that pattern, and although it's true that there are "trends" from time to time in children's books toward certain kinds of approaches, I don't know of any editor who forces or who even suggest to writers that they follow them just for the sake of following them. Certainly the editors I work with don't! Some stories are better told in the first-person from the point of view of the main character, and when that main character is a kid, as of course is almost always the case in a kids' book, that character's voice has to sound authentic--has to sound like a kid. When one chooses to use that approach, one is faced with its limitations, and one of those limitations usually involves a book that sounds less literary, or even is less literary, than a book written in the third person might be. That isn't necessarily the case, though; in real life, not every teenager sounds like every other teenager, so not every fictional teenager HAS to sound like every other fictional teenager! The choice of first-person or third person, and the choice of what kind of person one's main character is to be are choices probably made much more often by writers than by editors, except in those situations where the editor asks a writer to write a certain kind of book--a book in a particular series, for example -- or in those situations where an author hasn't quite struck the right tone in the story she is trying to tell, or when an author is genuinely struggling with characterization and/or point of view. There are plenty of books that are author-initiated, not editor (or packager) initiated--even, as a matter of fact, some series books. I'm not sure of the statistics here, and I do think there are many more books now than there used to be that are coming from packagers -- and that may be what Cassie and Linda are seeing and being (I agree, rightly) disturbed by. I'd just like to reassure them that not ALL books are being done that way, and that there are still those of us who are free to write what we want as we want to write it -- as long as it works.
Nancy (Garden)
____________________________________________ Please visit my website at www.nancygarden.com ENDGAME is now available. See website for an excerpt. GOOD MOON RISING is back in print!
Received on Thu 10 Aug 2006 11:01:44 AM CDT
