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From: Meg Medina <meg6000_at_aol.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 10:38:01 -0400
First, thank you so much for inviting me to join this conversation. I am often a quiet listener every month, learning quite a lot as your librarians chat. I feel really honored to be here today.
So, first, to Ed’s comment about the upcoming NCTE panel, about which I’m very excited. I think it’s a strong collection of authors and moderators, and we’ll each be talking about a particular aspect of writing realism for teens. My piece has to do with writing an honest antagonist..and how to build dread around that person. I’ll be talking about Yaqui Delgado herself, who only appears in the novel three times, I think, and yet she is on every page, squeezing out Piddy’s sense of safety. I hope those of you who’ll be at NCTE will join us.
Now to Megan on Joey as a character. Well, he is a handful, isn’t he? Yes, he did tap me on the shoulder as many of my characters do since I don’t outline. He first appeared as one line…a neighbor who lives downstairs, in this case, and then he elbowed in with his personality.
I modeled Joey from a few sources. I grew up in a building in Queens, like Piddy’s, and we had a family who lived downstairs from us whose lives filtered up through the heating pipes. It was sad and scary…and oddly a building-wide “secret” of sorts. All these years later, I still think about them.
Joey is a “bad boy,” always a fascination (go figure), but I liked that he used a harsh exterior as a form of protection. Personally, I think he also offers young women a lot to think about in terms of relationships. Sure, he is handsome and at his core decent, but he poses a dark side, too. He barges into Piddy’s apartment after she has told him, “no.” He also speaks to her at times in gruff ways. So, the questions I think he poses to young readers, especially young women are these: How do we expect to be treated? What allowances, if any at all, do you make for a boy's thoughtless behavior? How can you spot a time bomb? Joey offers a way to consider the issues that young women face in their real dating lives. Partners will come to them with their immaturity, with sexual demands, with their own insecurities and problems, and, of course, with their good points, too. Joey offers them a way to consider their own boundaries.
Meg Medina www.megmedina.com www.girlsofsummerlist.wordpress.com twitter.com/Meg_Medina
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (Candlewick Press; Winner 2014 Pura Belpré Award; 2013 CYBILS Award in Fiction; Internat’l Latino Children’s Book Award) The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind (Candlewick Press) Tía Isa Wants a Car (Candlewick Press; Winner 2012 Ezra Jack Keats Award) Milagros: Girl From Away (now available as an Amazon e-book)
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Received on Wed 30 Jul 2014 09:38:40 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 10:38:01 -0400
First, thank you so much for inviting me to join this conversation. I am often a quiet listener every month, learning quite a lot as your librarians chat. I feel really honored to be here today.
So, first, to Ed’s comment about the upcoming NCTE panel, about which I’m very excited. I think it’s a strong collection of authors and moderators, and we’ll each be talking about a particular aspect of writing realism for teens. My piece has to do with writing an honest antagonist..and how to build dread around that person. I’ll be talking about Yaqui Delgado herself, who only appears in the novel three times, I think, and yet she is on every page, squeezing out Piddy’s sense of safety. I hope those of you who’ll be at NCTE will join us.
Now to Megan on Joey as a character. Well, he is a handful, isn’t he? Yes, he did tap me on the shoulder as many of my characters do since I don’t outline. He first appeared as one line…a neighbor who lives downstairs, in this case, and then he elbowed in with his personality.
I modeled Joey from a few sources. I grew up in a building in Queens, like Piddy’s, and we had a family who lived downstairs from us whose lives filtered up through the heating pipes. It was sad and scary…and oddly a building-wide “secret” of sorts. All these years later, I still think about them.
Joey is a “bad boy,” always a fascination (go figure), but I liked that he used a harsh exterior as a form of protection. Personally, I think he also offers young women a lot to think about in terms of relationships. Sure, he is handsome and at his core decent, but he poses a dark side, too. He barges into Piddy’s apartment after she has told him, “no.” He also speaks to her at times in gruff ways. So, the questions I think he poses to young readers, especially young women are these: How do we expect to be treated? What allowances, if any at all, do you make for a boy's thoughtless behavior? How can you spot a time bomb? Joey offers a way to consider the issues that young women face in their real dating lives. Partners will come to them with their immaturity, with sexual demands, with their own insecurities and problems, and, of course, with their good points, too. Joey offers them a way to consider their own boundaries.
Meg Medina www.megmedina.com www.girlsofsummerlist.wordpress.com twitter.com/Meg_Medina
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass (Candlewick Press; Winner 2014 Pura Belpré Award; 2013 CYBILS Award in Fiction; Internat’l Latino Children’s Book Award) The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind (Candlewick Press) Tía Isa Wants a Car (Candlewick Press; Winner 2012 Ezra Jack Keats Award) Milagros: Girl From Away (now available as an Amazon e-book)
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Received on Wed 30 Jul 2014 09:38:40 AM CDT
