March 29, 2010

Do Libraries Really Matter?

It's a question politicians are asking, and their answer is clear with every library closure and pink slip. Last week, the LA Unified School District was giving librarians pink slips — this is after a decision to cut the library acquisitions budget to 0% this year. The frightening thing is LAUSD is not alone. Libraries are being closed around the country. If libraries are lucky enough to remain open, acquisition budgets are slashed, and the double doors are only open long enough to kick a few librarians out. Librarians all over the country are finding themselves homeless, in both the literal and metaphoric sense. Because any librarian can tell you: A librarian without a library truly has no home.

Which leads me to the question: Do libraries really matter?

YES!! As a teacher, not a writer, let me tell you why.

1) ACCESS

Libraries provide every child (and person) with an equal playing field. There are children & teens, all over this country, who live in homes without a single book. Their families may be too poor to buy them, their parents are often illiterate or foreign speakers, or they may not value books at all. The only way kids from those environments can access books is through their school or public library. Denying them that access is  equivalent to racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic segregation. As a country, we complain about the level of illiteracy, unemployment, and crime — yet we are denying people the one thing that will allow them to rise above these conditions — education. To pursue or further one's own education, you need books.

2) OPPORTUNITY

Without access and education, there is no opportunity in the most basic sense. Books allow you to expand your understanding of the world, and with that understanding comes choice and opportunity. That's the way a kid who grows up with nothing becomes a doctor, an astronaut, a member of Congress, maybe even a writer. When I taught in the inner city in DC, most of my students had never been to a bookstore. Libraries were the only place they could find the books that showed them a bigger world than the one they experienced every day. A world filled with possibilities beyond their imagination. In many ways, the books they read gave them the tools to imagine. When we take away the books, we take away take away opportunity.

3) IDENTITY

The person you are — your identity — is shaped by thousands of variables. I believe one of those variables is books. Even with the most impressive libraries, are nothing without librarians. Librarians are the ones who find the right book for every kid. You know, the book about game design for the gamer. Graphic novels and sketchbooks of famous artists, for the kid who loves to draw. Ray Bradbury for the sci-fi lover and Stephen King for the kid who loves horror movies. The possibilities are endless. And no one can navigate the complicated labyrinth of shelves like a librarian. They give us the books.

The right book, at the right time, can save your life — or change it.

Maybe the world, one book at a time.

* If you want to help save libraries & librarians, write your local legislature and public school system. If you're on Twitter or Facebook, add this banner to your profile picture. Support Save Libraries, add a #twibbon to your avatar now!

March 10, 2010

The Rules of Writing

I got a really interesting e-mail from a reader/writer the other day, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. This writer was involved in a debate with some of her critique partners about the importance of following certain "rules" when writing fiction. The writer who e-mailed me argued that there are no hard-fast rules anymore for writing fiction that will: a) interest an agent or publisher or b) be accepted by readers. She asked me what I thought, since BEAUTIFUL CREATURES apparently broke several of these rules (who knew?).

Here are the rules BC broke (although I'm sure I've personally broken more rules in my life):

• Editors hate debut novels with a preface.
• Your first YA novel should be under 80,000 words. *
• Never start the story start with a dream.
• Start with a lot of action.

* We really broke this one!

So what can I say when our book: has a prologue, is well over 100,000 words, stretches out slowly, and chapter one opens with a dream? I'd love to say that I knew all about these rules & pulled the sheet of paper they were written on out of my typewriter and tore them up. The truth? I had no idea they existed. When you co-write a book on a dare from seven teenagers, who are riding you nightly for chapters, there's no time to do a lot of research on how to write a book. And when you're writing a story for seven teenagers and the idea of publishing it (or even finishing it) hasn't crossed your mind, you aren't worried about whether or not you're doing it right.

I thought about my students and how badly some of them want to write, but how terrified they are to try. I would argue that a lot of adults who are aspiring writers feel the same way, and I can understand why. How can you start writing if you're afraid you may do it wrong? As if there's one way to write — some magical formula that will result in the perfect book. IF YOU FOLLOW THE RULES.

I did a little research, and I found a few more rules:

1) Learn about the craft of writing. You can do this by reading books for beginning writers and taking writing classes.

What does this even mean? Learn about the craft of writing? Which part — the discipline of actually writing, the paralyzing fear that no one will want to read anything you write, or are we talking about things like grammar and plot structure? And I'm relieved to know that I will not have any competition from inferior writers who do not have an MFA or a bookshelf full of dog-eared books about the craft of writing (Oh, wait! I'm one of those inferior writers. Damn.) I'm not saying there's anything wrong with getting your MFA or reading great books about writing. What I'm saying is you don't have to do either of these things to be a writer, or write a book people will want to read.

2) Write every day.

OK. This is a big one. I don't write every day. Period. When Margie and I draft, we write constantly for about 12 weeks. And by constantly, I mean 8-12 hours, 7 days a week. Then we may not write a word for a month. Some writers couldn't stand to write that way. Clive Barker told me that he writes first thing in the morning, every single day, until he hits a certain page count. Ray Bradbury wrote FAHRENHEIT 451during his lunch breaks. You don't have to write every day. You just have to write. And you have to figure out what works for you, not me, or Clive Barker, or Ray Bradbury.

3) Make an outline.

Margie and I do outline — on white boards with colored dry erase markers that smell like grape and strawberry. We like to start out that way. Do we always stick to our outline? No way. Is it the only way to do it? Hardly. Some writers type up their outlines, others outline on index cards, and some — wait for it — DON'T outline at all! Outline if it helps you. Don't it doesn't. Outline on your hand, your window, your dog, or not at all.

4) Be aware of what is popular in your genre.

This one is tricky. Are you supposed to know what's popular so you can write something that will fit into that particular box of knights or wizards or home shoppers? I'm hoping whoever came up with this rule was suggesting the opposite. I want to know what's popular so I can write something different. If everyone is writing about snake charmers, I want to know because I'm going to write about pickpockets or basket weavers or cobras. And the good news is readers don't want you to write about anything except the story you have to tell. The one YOU want to tell. Even if it's about the cobra.

The bottom line is the rules are — there are no rules. At least none you have to follow. Write what you want, the way you want to write it. Trust your voice. Don't try to be like anyone else or sound like anyone else.

And if you need a little inspiration, here are a few of my favorite rule breakers:

   

          Eleanor Roosevelt                          Flannery O' Connor                            Jackson Pollock

          Queen Elizabeth I                            Sir Issac Newton                        

"I have written a great many stories and I still don't know how to go about it except to write it and take my chances…"

- John Steinbeck

March 8, 2010

Do Writers Need Journals?

Margie and I are both huge believers in journals & journaling. I've always written in big "feel them in your hands" journals. In high school, I filled more than 50 spiral notebooks and sketchbooks with poetry. Take a look.

Here's a trip back in the time machine of my journals:

And you can see a photo of me at 16 HERE. (This qualifies as the only kind of photo I allowed to be taken of me around this time.)

But when we do presentations, Margie always holds up her tiny moleskin journal – the one she keeps in her purse – and says, "Every writer needs one of these. A place to write down your ideas before you forget them exactly 3 minutes later."

I always feel pathetic when she waves her little black journal. I don't have one in my purse. I end up writing all my epiphanies at stoplights, on the backs of receipts or in my checkbook.

So a few days ago, guess what Margie, the-best-writing-partner-ever, gave me…

My own little red notebook! Now I feel like a real writer.

I'll still write in my "big" journals because there are a lot of ideas that are just too big for a tiny notebook. And, in the interest of full disclosure, I have gigantic serial killer handwriting so I need lots of room. My journals consist of everything from:

• poems — mine & other people's
• songs & song lyrics I love
• phrases I can't get out of my head
• lists of names & places
• photos or pictures torn out of magazines — everything from houses and landscapes to paintings and clothes — I like to imagine everything about my characters from the music they love to the clothes they wear
• drawings & doodles
• scenes

Here are a few of my favorite journals, of the larger variety…

 

 

THE TRUE & THE QUESTIONS by Sabrina Ward Harrison & her book SPILLING OPEN – for journaling inspiration.

 

 WALLS NOTEBOOK by Sherwood Forlee

 

WRECK THIS JOURNAL by Keri Smith & the Back of Caster Girl 25's Back Cover

See more examples at: www.wreckthisjournal.com

 

LISTOGRAPHY by & MUSIC LISTOGRAPHY by Lisa Nola & Nathaniel Russell

Or you can stick with my high school brand of choice, available at your local drugstore.

  If you do anly journaling of your own, include a link in your comment or post it on CasterGirls.com.

March 1, 2010

Songs as Stories

  

This morning @BNBooksClubs tweeted this: Songs as Short Stories – What Songs Do You Think Tell a Great Story?

It got me thinking. Doesn't every song tell a story? I'm not talking about the story the songwriter is telling… I'm talking about the story YOU hear when you listen to it. The memories, the moments, the feelings it calls up in you.

People always ask if I listen to music when I write.

The answer is no.

I write in complete silence because I actually hear the characters, like I'm eavesdropping on a private conversation they're having. But I do listen to music before and after I write – and it becomes the soundtrack for the book, scene, or character I'm writing.

As someone who wrote poetry for most of her life, I know that most songwriters consider their lyrics poetry. Take a look at the journals of Henry Rollins (Black Flag) or Kurt Cobain (Nirvana). They're filled with poems that morphed into songs. And every one of them tells a story. Billy Corgan, the lead singer of The Smashing Pumpkins, published BLINKING WITH FISTS, one of my favorite poetry books. And Green Day wrote the album American Idiot as a rock opera, the songs unfolding to create one story.

I used to paint professionally – paintings, not houses. In my last show, all the pieces were untitled. I wanted the viewer to find the story within the work, without the influence of my interpretation. I always wondered about the stories other people saw in them, and if they changed over time.

Here are some songs that hold stories for me, or inspire them:

"Everybody Hurts" – REM

"Pictures of You" – The Cure

"In Between Days" – The Cure

"Wish You Were Here" – Pink Floyd

"The Dark Side of the Moon" – Pink Floyd

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" – Green Day

"Sweet Child O' Mine" – Guns & Roses

"Stay" – U2

"Home" – Foo Fighters

"Still" Foo Fighters

"Tiny Dancer" – Elton John

"Personal Jesus" – Depeche Mode

"Bring on the Dancing Horses" – Echo & the Bunnymen

"Teenage Wasteland" – The Who

"The Beautiful Ones" – Prince

"Who Knew" – Pink

"In Your Eyes" – Peter Gabriel

"Over the Hills and Far Away" – Led Zeppelin

"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" – The Smiths

"London Calling" – The Clash

"Fell on Black Days" – Soundgarden

There are hundreds more. They change all the time, but some are constants – the way I find a particular feeling or memory, just when I need it most.