In which I rant about FEMINISM

As I was busily procrastinating this afternoon, I happened upon a Twitter slam of Shailene Woodley. The Tweetosphere was mad about her claims in TIME that she is "not a feminist" and the fact that she generally sounded kind of like a moron. Also that as a "role model for teen girls," she ought not to sound so stupid.

Well, folks, according to Wikipedia, our adorable Shailene at 22, "attended" (does not say she graduated) Simi Valley High School, started modeling at the age of four and, in her teens, played a knocked-up teenager on a popular but achingly poorly written Family Channel television series (the script of which may have been her most consistent reading matter for those years).

I don't have a Wikipedia entry but I'll tell you now that my two eldest sons are 19 and 17, not much younger than Shailene herself and they are, each in his own inimitable way, naive, pompous, self-righteous and judgmental from time to time. They are also loving, hopeful and fans of some of the worst, stupidest movies you will ever see. And, good or bad, the reasons they choose things are hilarious. They've both watched THE NOTEBOOK because they thought it'd help them get girls to kiss them. They read Twilight for the same reason. These are kids who get As in school. One is in college, the other is taking two honors and two AP courses in high school right now. But, they, even with their stable family life and (possibly) superior education, are fit to be ROLE MODELS for NOBODY!

So, yeah, I get it, Shailene came off as a dumb bunny, anti-feminist in TIME. But she's 22 and, despite navigating an impressive career trajectory, what we SHOULD BE TELLING OUR DAUGHTERS (and sons) is this:

Celebrities, athletes and (some? many?) politicians 

SHOULD NOT BE LOOKED UP TO AS ROLE MODELS.

These are people whose LIFE GOAL is FAME and/or POWER. 

They live strange, atypical existences surrounded by people whose own livelihoods depend on flattering and agreeing with them.

Choose better role models than the people you see on television. 

Even if they are pretty, buff or wearing a well-cut suit. Even if they act in a movie version of a book by John Green. For that matter, he's a better role model (even if I, as a midlist writer, am wildly jealous of his success) (and even if he is a dude--it's not like he chose to be born with that Y chromosome)!

I say, cheers to Shailene for trying and SOMEBODY GET THAT GIRL SOME BOOKS (along with more education and life experience in general).

PS: With respect to the term FEMINISM itself, I'm not even gonna GO there because whatever I say will certainly get me in Twitter trouble. However, I believe in dignity and equality for ALL people regardless of race, gender, sexual preference and unfortunate quotes in Time magazine.

My Holiday Break Reading Adventures

First, please note that I SKIED DOWN MY FIRST BLACK DIAMOND RUN on January 2nd.  Staring down a snowy cliff side was an amazing rush. I hope to put some of that feeling into fiction work this year. When I wasn't on the ski hill, recovering from skiing, or playing board games with my family, I made my way through three novels. Not all that impressive but, well, two of them were LONG!

I will comment on the short novel, Kate DiCamillo's enchanting FLORA & ULYSES, in another post. Today, some thoughts on the two YA "biggies" (and yes, I'm late to the table with these)...

While one is set in a dystopian future Chicago, and the other in a paranormal 1920s New York, both novels explored a factionalized society. In DIVERGENT, individuals have a choice of belonging to one of five groups, each of which values a different human attribute. In THE DIVINERS, money and ethnicity force people to live in different sorts of homes, live different sorts of lives.

The novels align in the way they depict the rebel-thinker: the person who has qualities that make fitting into one of the boxes defined by his or her society an impossibility. In DIVERGENT, Tris realizes that her nonconformist thought patterns make her both vulnerable and powerful. In THE DIVINERS, Evie struggles to come to terms with her psychic ability (won't tell what it is here), using it both as a social-climbing parlor trick and in a quest for fight true evil. How these evolutions of self-understanding play out counterpoint what is happening in the worlds around Tris and Evie.

Structurally, the novels differ greatly. DIVERGENT is an intense, present narrative presented by the protagonist, Tris. THE DIVINERS is a sprawling, multi-perspective, epic-style tale lightly anchored by Evie but, perhaps more importantly, showing the places and times of many characters, from Diviners to scholars to victims. Both authors are sure-handed in their style focus, adding to the pleasure of reading their work.

Each novel is also faithful to its genre. In the back matter of the DIVERGENT paperback, author Veronica Roth muses that people who like dystopian fiction like to consider "what-if" scenarios in a world populated by people like themselves whereas readers of fantasy/paranormal fiction such as THE DIVINERS prefer exploring challenges in a world where people have different abilities from we "non-fiction humans." I think this is a well-reasoned distinction. However, in the end what I most appreciated about both novels seems to be found in the crossover space between the genres. What I loved most about Roth's book was the edges of utopianism she sketched in the creation of her divided society--her portagonist's struggle to look outside the lines of their factions to see the limits of each.  Meanwhile, I was fascinated by Bray's evil-ridden, dark 1920s America--its own kind of dystopia within which her characters strive to quell evil as her protagonist comes to recognize darkness both within her own soul and outside, in the city.

Fantastic back-to-back reads!

Did you come back from holiday break with any new reading recs?

REFLECTING ON READING

Through grade school, high school, college and grad school…at writing conferences and seminars…on author websites and educators blogs…one encounters the old saw that if one wants to be a good writer, they have to be a good READER.

Sometimes hearing that lesson gets annoying.  Even if I enjoy reading, being TOLD to do something kind of takes away my ownership of the act--even if I choose the books (which I don’t, always, since I read a lot for work). Two of my sons are dyslexic and telling them to be “good readers” is fraught on so many levels. One of those boys is a terrific writer, too, but reading a novel takes him an epic amount of time. So, it’s asking a lot.

Here’s the thing, though: Reading does help me as a writer. It helps me appreciate beautiful words strung together. It helps me grasp concepts like pacing, and develop strategies for presenting dialogue, that are nearly impossible to understand without good examples. When I’m not being nagged, I do love reading.

I love that feeling of racing to the end of a great book all the while dreading that last page because then it’ll be over and you’ll have to say goodbye to those characters who are breathing in your heart.

I love the way men and women all around the world put fingers to keyboard (or pen to paper) to tell their stories, leave a mark on the world, share an idea. I love to bear witness to that act by turning pages.

For the next 10 Mondays, I’ll be posting a series called WHY I'M INSPIRED BY… in which I share quotes from authors whose work I admire and from whom I have learned (and basically behave like a shameless fangirl).

Feel free to join me by leaving a comment and I’ll pop by your blog and say hello!

Bookanistas: WHY I CAN'T WATCH THE MOVIE of LIFE OF PI

I feel I can say what I am going to say because I am a writer of sorts. A reader in earnest. And, in both capacities, I keep list of books that reveal something of the soul of humankind. Books I know in my deepest heart I could never even attempt to write. Books that nonetheless goad me on because they shine an almost other-worldly incandescent glow on the possibility that one can use words to affirm an existence that is more than the sum of our biology, our theology, our actions.

As a college student, I would have topped this list with OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham. As a twenty-something pregnant woman on bedrest, it was E. Annie Proulx's THE SHIPPING NEWS that spoke to my heart. Over the years, I have added Henry Taylor's THE FLYING CHANGE, Neil Gaiman's THE GRAVEYARD BOOK and other titles to this list.

I believe that this list is different for everyone. And that sometimes it's not just the words on the page, but the moment in time at which the reader meets these words that creates deep meaning.

That said, as a thirty-something struggling with the terrifying stasis of at-home-mom existence (no worries, I am over it and kind of love it now), it was LIFE OF PI.

For me, PI is a story of the way people invent narratives so that they can bear to live with the truths of their lives. It is about the way we weave happenstances (being named Piscine), ethical conundrums (having charge of captive animals) and our actions in real or metaphorically life-threatening situations (shipwreck) into a costume that shows us to the world as someone essential good--someone we want to be even if this is not our identity at all.

For me, LIFE OF PI is not the story of a tiger.

So, the sparkly CGI of the movie trailer makes me a little bit queasy. I've been told by those who have seen the film that space has been left for my interpretation (I won't get any more specific because I hate spoilers). Still, I haven't been able to make myself watch it.

Sometimes, no matter what you're told about the movie version, you want to hold the book close to your heart and never see the pictures that dance in some other filmmaking reader's head.

LIFE OF PI isn't categorized as YA, though the bulk of the narrative features the main character as a teen. But I believe it makes a great older teen read, which is why I allowed myself to finally write this post as a Bookanista entry.

IS THERE A MOVIE VERSION OF A BOOK THAT YOU CAN'T BRING YOURSELF TO WATCH? WHY?

Here are more Bookanista goodies for you...

Nikki Katz is delighted by CHARM AND STRANGE by Stephanie Kuehn

Jessica Love has cheers for CHALKLINE by Jane Mitchell

Gretchen McNeil  sings out for SECOND VERSE by Jennifer Walkup

Shari Arnold adores ALSO KNOWN AS (AKA) by Robin Benway
Tracy Banghart delves into TOUCHING THE SURFACE by Kimberly Sabatini
Christine Fonseca is held captive by ABANDON by Elana Johnson
Katy Upperman shines a light on THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE by Jennifer E. Smith

Fiction Friday: ON MY NIGHTSTAND...

...sits THE GHOSTWRITER by Philip Roth, MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins (yep, still haven't finished it), and THE HAUNTING OF CHARLES DICKENS by Lewis Buzbee (arc). Those are just the newest ones. I'm not going to waste your time with any title on whose cover I can write my name in the dust.


Number of manuscripts I need to read for work between now and December? 6.

Odds of my finishing the books on my nightstand before Christmas? LOW (best I can do--not so great at math)

Now, I'm a fast reader and often go through several books in a week. However, I have not given myself any sort of real writing break since I began revisions on AUDITION this summer. I don't really want to though, occasionally, I wonder if I'm burning myself out. Problem is that there are only so many hours in the day and I'm lately giving most of them to writing. Thinking about getting back onto a strict regimen of reading at least one non-work title per week to kind of force myself to look away from my manuscript every once in awhile.

Can you read while you're doing intense revisions? Do you worry about writing burnout? Should I try to get back into a reading regimen? Are my questions bugging you yet...?

FICTION FRIDAY: Too exhausted...

...for originality.  Especially after multiple trips to the bookstore before MOCKINGJAY finally arrived :)  So, I'm borrowing some humor from writer and dramatist Gene Fowler...

Writing is easy:

All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper

until drops of blood form on your forehead.

Seriously, though.  I sent my revisions to my editor on Monday night and worked insanely the rest of the week to meet a freelance deadline.  This weekend I am going to READ words I have neither written nor been assigned.  Hopefully, I will make a dent in the pile of books by my bedside table and, next Friday, have something actually insightful to say about fiction!  Have a great weekend!

FICTION FRIDAY: Is there such a thing as too much reading? And upcoming blog events.

Okay, I've got a ridiculous number of freelance projects to finish up before the big EDITORIAL LETTER arrives from Viking (I've been warned it's coming soon). Plus, I'm closing in on the 1.5th draft (okay, so I've got a weird numbering system) of my new ms which I know I'll have to abandon for a bit when I start revising AUDITION, so I'd like to get it to something of a neat and tidy place.

Don't know about you, but I just can't handle reading much YA while I'm head-down writing. Sure, the occasional grow-up mystery is nice for sitting in the sun (I like modern broads-who-write-Brits like Martha Grimes and Elizabeth George, or classics like Josephine Tey and Dorothy Sayers), but that's about it besides stuff I have to read for work. Otherwise, my head gets into a funny place and it takes me too much time to ease into my own writing. So, for the next few weeks, Fiction Fridays will be a bit of a smorgasbord.

As I begin the revision journey with my editor, I've been thinking a lot about the many relationships and dialogues involved in book publishing. So, I've decided that August here at the blog will feature the theme "Writing in Tandem" and include interviews with some (awesome!) author teams and fun give-aways.

In October, I'm trying something new. This will be a contest for published or soon-to-be published authors (anything from picture book to YA--published or upcoming 2010 or 2011 titles). The prize will be a reading guide (10 discussion questions; 10 writing and related activities). I've written many of these for Simon & Schuster, Random House, Penguin, Tor Books, and other publishers for a fee, but this one will be on me.

So, back to work now. Hectic but fascinating times. Oh, and still waiting to hear from Missy--otherwise I'll draw an alternate prize winner for the Summer Spectacular swag.

THIS WEEK WE ARE READING...the sublimely surreal

When I went to the library this week, I grabbed two books I've been meaning to read for some time: Neil Gaiman's Newbery-winning THE GRAVEYARD BOOK (2008) and Francesca Lisa Block's 1989 debut WEETZIE BAT. Though at first they seemed an odd pairing, I discovered that (beyond both being terrific, interesting reads) the books made sense together on many levels.

Not going to overdo the synopses here (note: these aren't exactly spoilers but skip this paragraph if you don't want any hints about endings) but, in short, WEETZIE BAT is the story of a young woman who lives with her gay best friend, has a child out of wedlock, confronts AIDS and death, and winds up finding happiness in a mythic 1980s Los Angeles. THE GRAVEYARD BOOK follows Nobody Owens ("Bod") who, as a toddler, escapes being murdered with the rest of his family by wandering into a graveyard where he is raised and protected by the dead until reaching young adulthood and eagerly stepping out into the world to live his life. Neither novel shies away from challenging subject matter but instead integrates it into sublimely surreal yet urgently compelling worlds filled with death and life, grief and joy.

Names and naming are important in both novels. Gaiman's protagonist, "Nobody" is also "Bod"--the only living, embodied denizen of his graveyard home. Bod's many dead friends are identified by both name and headstone inscription (this is actually quite amusing at times) which both date and characterize them. Bod's enemy is "the man Jack." In Block's imagistic tale, Weetzie's partner is known only as "My Secret Agent Lover Man" while her own name is unique, inexplicable, a sound more than a word. Her best friend's boyfriend is a "duck" (cute guy) named Duck. One child is lovingly, tolerantly known as "Witch Baby."

Both Gaiman and Block delight in wordplay and recognize the power and importance of character names and chapter titles. Both are keenly aware of the ways prosaic structure (and, in Gaiman's case you've also got to note the elegant, organic interweaving of illustration into the book's format and design) can drive a story forward. Both create complete, absorbing yet fantastical worlds into which the reader is immersed. And both, in the end, find beauty in wounds that can't be healed and, be it Tinsel Town or a last resting place, hope in places that will never be perfect.

Read these two books as a study in structure and style and to see two master wordsmith's at work.

Reading Instead of Writing

Perhaps it’s not the oldest trick in the book but, for me, substituting reading for writing definitely feels like cheating. After spending the morning putting final touches on the dances for Bugsy Malone, I “took myself out to lunch” at Barnes & Noble. Three (expensive) writing magazines and a grande decaf mocha later, I had discovered several intriguing playwriting workshops, some neat fiction contests, and a screenwriting software bargain BUT could make use of none of these because I had created NO LITERARY PRODUCT. This brings me to the Writer-on-the-Side dilemma du jour: What is the best way to divide your time between creative writing, career development research and education, and the unlovable task of self-promotion? I find it to be a real chicken-or-egg equation. You must discover the contest/publisher/program before you can submit to it but the time and effort required to research such matters eats substantially into the time needed to create quality material to send. (And don't let's even begin to discuss the time it takes to maintain a blog!) I’ve tried daily rules, like “Write 5 pages first, then find 5 places to send work,” and weekly protocols, such as “Write on weekdays, submit on weekends.” The perfect formula continues to elude me. If you’ve found one, you should definitely right a book about it!