Hi all! Jessica Vitalis, author of The Wolf's Curse (out Sept. 21 from Greenwillow/HarperCollins) here with a guest post on writing about grief for a middle grade audience. Welcome, Jessica! --Shreya Reinventing the Grim Reaper–Why Children Need Books about Death and GriefMy family went camping recently; it was our first big outing in nearly a year and we were in high spirits as we left the house. A few hours later, we were cruising down a back road with the music blasting when the traffic in front of us slowed and then came to a standstill. Eventually, we inched forward and discovered the source of the slowdown: an accident. A car was wrapped around a utility pole, but that’s not what caught our attention––it was the man frantically administering CPR to a body next to the car. In a second, the mood in our car shifted, and we were all made aware of our own mortality.
We were reminded of this again later in the trip when we discovered a rattlesnake near our campsite. While the odds of a deadly encounter with this reptile were slim, we were once again faced with an uncomfortable reminder of how fast things can change. You might be wondering why I’m sharing all of this with you––allow me to explain. My debut novel, The Wolf’s Curse, releases in September. It’s a middle grade twist on our traditional Grim Reaper mythology, and one of the questions I get asked most frequently is why I chose to tackle such a heavy subject for middle grade readers. My answer is this: no matter how much we want to protect children from pain and suffering, the reality is that we live in a world where that’s impossible. Even if we weren’t at what I hope will be the tail end of a global pandemic, children still live with the reality of school shootings, and the traumas of drugs, hunger, and violence are all too real for far too many kids. Even if they never experience these traumas directly, they’re exposed to them indirectly––through classmates, through the news, through social media, while on camping trips with their family. And all of them will one day face loss in some form or another. We have a responsibility to acknowledge that the world can sometimes be a frightening place and offer youth the tools they need to process the world around them. For the youngest of children, books such as You’ll Find Me by Amanda Rawson Hill and Big Cat, Little Cat by Elisha Cooper can help. Older readers can explore these topics in realistic stories such as Glitter Gets Everywhere by Yvette Clark, The Line Tender by Kate Allen, and The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart. My own book, The Wolf’s Curse, tackles death head on, but it’s within the context of a fantastical setting and an adventure that will make these topics both accessible and entertaining for even the most reluctant of readers. Death and grief will never be easy, but through stories we can help prepare kids to for the difficulties they are likely to one day face––to make sure their first encounters aren’t traumatic, to show them they aren’t alone, and hopefully infuse to them with the sense that no matter how sad or difficult the circumstances in which they might find themselves, there is always room for hope and healing.
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Hi all! Dave Cole, author of The Window (out February 2nd from Dancing Lemur Press) here with a guest post on writing the future. Welcome, Dave! --Shreya Looking Forward“I can’t wait to see you,” I recently told a friend, knowing we were hundreds of millions of vaccinations away from that happening. Still, it was true that I was looking forward to the reunion. We are always looking forward because our optimism tells us the future is bright (maybe so bright we have to wear shades). But what if it isn’t? What if the future is a glimpse into hell? If you had the chance to see when you were going to die, would you want to know? Or think back to early 2020—if you could have foreseen what was coming, would you really have looked forward to it? Stories about seeing into the future aren’t new—Stephen King’s The Dead Zone, Philip K. Dick’s stories Minority Report and The Golden Man (basis of the movie Next) and, of course, Macbeth by William Shakespeare. One of the common themes in these prescient stories is the question of predestination versus free will. Is the future preordained or is there something we can do to change it? A subset of this theme is subtle, but crucial. If we can indeed change what is to come, should we? What is the price we will pay for a new future? Could altering the future make things worse? The YA novel The Window takes on the broad theme of predestination versus free as well as first love, teenage angst, and what we are willing to sacrifice for a friend. Through a mysterious window that only Brian Bingham can see, he gains a portal into the future. It’s a narrow view, his foresight strictly limited to what he can see out of the small octagonal window in his attic. When the window reveals his best friend’s horrific death, Brian’s world is turned upside down. Already burdened with his parents constantly fighting, his plummeting grades, and his new relationship with Charlotte, a girl way out of his league, the vision of the death of his friend is almost more than he can handle. Brian must find a way to change the future…or die trying. Sounds straightforward but stories, like life, often take surprising turns. First, while the window’s predictions are accurate down to the smallest detail, they are frustratingly vague on when things will happen. Brian’s only clues are the color of the grass in his front yard and what people are wearing as they walk past his house. Second, if it is possible for him to alter the future, isn’t it equally feasible for someone (or something) to undo his changes? What is this window that grants him a view into the future? Why does Brian sometimes see only gray beyond the glass? What is the window hiding from him? When Brian finally understands the power of the window, is it too late for him? Has he really changed anything or was he merely a pawn in a game with a preordained finish? A dark window to the future… Everything changed the day Brian Bingham looked out the attic window and saw something that wouldn't happen for another week. Through a mysterious window no one else can see, Brian gains a portal into the future. But the future is not always something he wants to see. Brian has enough troubles in the present without worrying about the future. His parents are constantly fighting, his grades are plummeting, and his new relationship with Charlotte, a girl way out of his league, is in jeopardy. When the window reveals his best friend's brutal death, Brian’s world is turned upside down. He must find a way to change the future…or die trying. Hi all! Rebecca Sullivan, author of Night Owls and Summer Skies (out June 30 from Wattpad Books) here with a guest post on staying motivated as a writer. Welcome, Rebecca! --Shreya Getting Over Writer’s Block, Some Tips to Keep MotivatedI get asked all the time, how do I get motivation to write? Here’s what works for me and what may work for you.
1. Write Every Day or Create a Steady Routine That Works for You The hardest part of writing is sitting down and starting. One trick that has worked for me is making writing a part of my routine. The more you use that writing muscle, the easier it will be to find that creative space inside your head. The biggest challenge is that sudden surge of inspiration to write an entire novel one day and the next being disappointed that you’re not writing as quickly as you would like. Any progress is progress. Once you’ve set aside time for yourself, make a realistic goal. Maybe one day you can spend one-hour writing, so aim accordingly. Another day you might have fifteen minutes. It’s important to not compare your progress one day to the next. 2. Write First. Edit later. This is a mistake I’ve made a few times but I’m learning! Editing and writing uses different parts of your brain. If you’re constantly swapping between these modes, you will run out of steam and creative juices. At least, that’s what happens to me. Finish the draft, enjoy the process, try and ignore that editor’s voices in the back of your head until the words are on paper and then tackle the beast all you want. 3. Get Rid of Distractions Now this comes back to formulating a routine that works for you. Do you need some background noise like music when you write? Do you enjoy a cup of tea or like to snack on something while you write? Get those things ready before you sit down and begin to write. There’s nothing worse than when you’re writing something that’s going exactly the way you want and then you notice the painful silence or the rumbling of your stomach. It’s a distraction and distractions can be avoided. Now we all heard this advice before, but it works, I promise. Turn your phone on silent and turn it upside-down. Set an alarm and only look at your phone when the alarm goes off. What works for me is, half an hour writing, five-minute phone time, half an hour writing. Do what works for you! 4. Breaks Are Important I know I mentioned creating a routine, getting rid of distractions, and the hardest part of writing is sitting down and beginning, but sometimes, writer’s block can hold us hostage or we’re not in the proper headspace to produce anything on paper. That’s okay! There is absolutely no shame in taking a break from your book and the world you created for a few days. Sometimes a break can jump start your ideas and passion for your project. What if you take a break and still can’t get back into the story? Sometimes, a writer’s block can be because of your routine too. Change the font on your computer or the page colours or the environment you picked to write. Sure, routines are great, but that’s no reason not to have fun too. 5. Your System Everyone is different. Play around with different ways to help motivate yourself and if something doesn’t work for you? Move onto something new. Hi all! Matt Harry, author of Sorcery for Beginners, is here today with a guest post, in advance of my review for its sequel, Cryptozoology for Beginners. Welcome, Matt! --Shreya Death to the Chosen OnesI’m sick of chosen ones.
I’m also tired of prophecies, once-in-a-generation types, and any story in which a person’s bloodline is what makes them special. Sure, I’ve enjoyed a good “chosen one” yarn in the past, whether it stars Harry Potter, Daenerys Targaryen, or James Bond. But now, I say enough is enough. I’m done with exceptionalism. Death to the chosen ones! I understand the fascination with stories of this type. For thousands of years, we’ve been told these tales. We’ve been taught that strong narratives have to feature “special” people at the center of them. Extraordinary people. We like to imagine ourselves as extraordinary, too. Any of us would love to get an acceptance letter from Hogwarts or a surprise DNA test revealing that we are secretly royalty. Great people, as we’ve been told time and again in both stories and real life, usually start off great in some way. One only has to look to history to see this in action. There are far more “heroes of exceptionalism” — queens, messiahs, demigods — than there are ordinary folks who became great. Average Joes achieving the incredible feels like a pretty recent phenomenon. There are several reasons for this. First, up until about fifty years ago, privilege begat privilege. The only people who had access to knowledge, weapons, quests, and transportation were those were already had access to those things. It’s pretty hard to read a prophecy if, like many people back in the day, you couldn’t read at all. So being part of the aristocratic ruling class made it much easier to distinguish yourself. Secondly, the stories we were told for thousands of years were mostly written by chosen ones, too — people who were familiar with the same privilege their heroes enjoyed, be it blood, education, or grooming. Of course they were more likely to chronicle these stories — the ones that supported and validated their own successes — than to highlight someone who succeeded despite the lack of these virtues. It’s easy to applaud triples when you too were born on third base. Finally — and this is the most insidious reason for the love of these stories — if there’s a chosen one out there, it lets the rest of us off the hook. “Only the seventh son of a seventh son can defeat the forces of evil?” we’ll ask, wide-eyed. “Great, then I can go home and play video games. Good Luck, O Exalted One!” Chosen ones make the rest of us lazy. And so, again, I say no more chosen ones. The trope is bad for stories and for readers. In my books Sorcery for Beginners and Cryptozoology for Beginners, I bent over backwards to ensure that the main characters were ordinary kids thrust into an extraordinary situation. They are the heroes of the stories not because of their lineage, or a prophecy, or an elite school, but because they saw an injustice in the world and wanted to fix it. Yes, they have some magic help guides and adult sorcerers to assist them, but even those allies don’t provide easy answers. In the world of my novels, magic is like physics or calculus — it can do great things, but first it has to be studied and perfected. I would encourage all my fellow authors and readers to demand the same. To reject story lines that celebrate exceptionalism or lionize great people who were already pretty great. I think elevating the ordinary makes for more exciting stories and I think it will encourage all us readers to engage more with the world. To become our own heroes. If we must have chosen ones, let us choose ourselves. |
The BaronessHey, I'm Shreya! I love to read, write, travel, and drink tea. Disclosure: I am an affiliate of bookshop.org and I will earn a small commission if you click the above link and make a purchase.
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