Writing while Young

This is a blog for readers. But out of any group of readers, you will find a few--or more than a few--who aren’t content to just read, who want to try out the craft themselves and become writers.

Writers burn slowly. Writing takes a long time to master and very few writers get off to a quick start when they are very young. More often they are heavy chunks of coal at the center of the fire, the ones that took forever to light but then crackled on through the night and were still glowing just a little the next morning. Why writers are so slow to mature compared to, say, musicians or mathematicians or chess players (fields in which prodigy is virtually a requirement) is an area for speculation. Where sheer passion and brilliance can fuel a musician or chess genius, good writing, it seems, requires more emotional experience behind it.

Which isn't to say a writer can't write a lot of great stuff while young, and some have launched careers even in their teens. Just be forewarned. These writers are the exception rather than the rule. If you are a young writer looking to make a mark in the world, look to these examples as inspiration, but not as a goal to mark your progress against.

Fatherhood, Spenser style: Early Autumn

Since the death of Robert B. Parker in January 2010, I've been re-reading his Spenser novels. The earliest ones, written in the 1970s and 80s, staked out his moral as well as physical territory, revolving around classical ideas of masculinity coming into conflict with the more modern world. And in 1981's Early Autumn, Spenser demonstrates how his code is built and applied in the life of a clueless teenage boy. It's a book of its time in the particulars of setting, plot and society, but it touches on universal ideas that may be more applicable than ever.

Twitter: 1906 - Novels in Three Lines

Short is in these days. Letter writing fell by the wayside long ago, but today’s teens have moved on even from phone calls and email.  For staying in touch with friends, the text is king.  According to a new study from the Pew Research Center “fully two-thirds of teen texters say they are more likely to use their cell phones to text friends than to talk to them by cell phone” and “half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day.”  Though teens haven’t taken to Twitter as widely as adults, roughly 10% of high schoolers are tweeting their lives.

In this landscape of 140-character limits, a French writer from the early 1900s has unexpectedly regained relevance.  Throughout 1906, Félix Fénéon anonymously contributed short blurbs of reportage to the Parisian newspaper Le Matin, filling in space in the paper’s layout.  No more than a sentence or two apiece, these micro-stories offered glimpses into the curiosities and excitement of day-to-day life; murders, celebrations, and romantic misadventure were all common themes.  In the 1940s, after Fénéon's death, some thousand of these items were published as Novels in Three Lines (Nouvelles en Trois Lignes - in translation the title loses its pun; the French nouvelles signifies both novels and news).  (Also discussed from a different angle here!) Read in collection, they offer up a surprisingly comprehensive panorama of turn-of-the-century life.

Reading Jeeves

Reading a book about a butler named Jeeves may strike you as a bit dull.
Don't butlers just stand around and open doors?
Well, there's a lot more to it, of course, including -- rich uncles, angry aunts, lovesick pals, crooks, cronies, choir boys, newts, nuts and wildly preposterous schemes cooked up by Jeeves himself.
But, yes, there are doors to be opened and Jeeves has a way of making even this dramatic, funny or both.
Or perhaps I should say the author, P. G. Wodehouse (pronounced Woodhouse) has a way. But that would be an understatement.

Teen Survey: Myles, Senior Year

In June 2008, I interviewed Myles, a then-sophomore who had just become a regular customer at my store. We soon bonded over a love of books and music. (Read the old survey.)

Two years later, he is older, taller, and about to graduate from high school. Myles still counts Amelia Atwater-Rhodes among his favorite authors, and he comes by the store at least three times a week. If you were to come by the shop while we were talking, you would probably hear one or both of us break into laughter at some point.

No, not "probably." Make that "definitely."

Before Myles moves across the country to attend college, where he will undoubtedly acquire a new accent and grow rather fond of brick buildings, I thought we'd discuss how his literary preferences have changed since we posted that first survey, and celebrate his successes as a writer.

Little Willow: How have your tastes in books changed since you were a sophomore?

Myles: I'm off the vampire phase. The concept is still appealing, but that genre of books no longer interests me because their new appeal is single teenage girls. I like urban fantasy, I still love thrillers, and I have increasing appreciation for realistic literary young adult fiction.

Little Willow: You have written poetry, short stories, and plays, and intend to also write novels someday. How has your writing changed in the past two years?

Noir Gets the Graphic Novel Treatment

I was really impressed recently with You Have Killed Me, a new graphic novel from Jamie S. Rich and Joelle Jones. This one has it all, and it starts with the first-rate design by Oni Press. The cover is awesome (please, feel free to judge this one by the cover), but it’s the story that really sings -- and for fans of the genre in particular, it is an absolute killer.

Set in 1939, the plot centers around P.I. Mercer and two women -- one who has hired him, and one who is missing. Mercer has a long, complicated involvement with the missing woman and her family, so this one is personal. All too fast, his questions find him with more clues than he can believe. There is the upcoming marriage to the wrong guy, the gambling habit that has drawn the attention of the powerful bad guy, and the attraction for the black trumpet player who had to know he had no real shot with the rich white dame (but tried anyway). Mercer gets beat to hell and back -- the story actually opens with him getting shot, and then flashes back -- and the twists and turns are perfection. From cops who push him around, to a murder at the racetrack, to revelations hidden behind wide, innocent-looking eyes, "classic" does not even begin to describe this book. And don’t think you have it figured out, because trust me, you don’t.

Special things of note: the black-and-white drawings are crisp and clean, and Jones is to be commended in particular for how much emotion she conveys on these faces. The dialog is snappy (it’s 1939; of course it’s snappy!), the slang right out of every good late-night movie you’ve ever seen, and the use of text boxes to carry Mercer’s thoughts forward -- even as dialogue bubbles surround him -- effectively keeps everything straight for the reader. A lot of work went into making this a first-class reading experience, and it shows. True to its nature, bold in its design, and classic in each and every word and picture You Have Killed Me is the introduction to noir that any reader will embrace. The coolest kids in class will be reading this one, trust me. And when you’re done with it, please watch Key Largo -- proof that noir doesn’t have to exist in a big city to be flat-out awesome. (High-school age only on this one -- it’s written for adults, and would best suit the fifteen-and-up crowd.)

Cross posted from my April column at Bookslut.

Youth Poetry in Awesome Austin

Background: When I was fourteen my parents found my poetry journal. It wasn't more than a little stick-in-your-pocket book. Tiny. I'd write poems in different colors. You know, the way the real artists did it. It vaporized from my toolbox/hiding place, leaving the tools and other camo in place. I wish I remembered any, ANY of those poems. I know they were powerful, I know they were from my heart. Part of my heart went with them, to whichever landfill bequeathed.

Swim the Fly by Don Calame

Every summer, Matt and his two best friends, Cooper and Sean, set a goal for themselves and compete to be the first to achieve it. In the past, they’ve done pretty random, useless things, like collecting a thousand golf balls. This summer, the guys are fifteen years old and their goal is to see a naked girl. In person. A real girl, not a picture from a magazine or online.

A guy could easily get himself into some embarrassing situations trying to do this. Then again, maybe volunteering to swim in a 100-yard butterfly race in an attempt to impress a girl although you can't actually do the butterfly could lead to even more humiliation.

If Swim the Fly by Don Calame was a movie and Ben Stiller could play a fifteen-year-old guy, he’d be Matt, and I think this describes this book pretty well. It's funny in a wince-inducing, how-many-more-embarrassing-situations-can-this-kid-find-himself-in? way that includes bodily functions, awkward moments involving relatives, and more. Fast-paced, with short chapters, this would be a great pick for teens looking for something fun to read, and especially for reluctant readers. And folks who are already fans of Swim the Fly will be pleased to know that a "quasi-sequel to Swim the Fly told from Cooper’s point of view" is in the works.

WE ARE A SELLOUT!!!!!!!!!!

For everyone who has participated in the GLW/Operation TBD event to get books to the students on the Navajo Nation and White Mountain Apache Reservation, please know that we have sold out! Through your support, 772 books were bought for Ojo Encino Day School & Alchesay High. I can not begin to thank you. I will talk to both schools on Monday and report back with their thoughts. This is amazing!!

Behind the cut, see the schools' initial response and what many folks have sent.

Every Intelligent Being Must Sooner or Later Explore Its Options: The Planiverse

By the time I was thirteen, discussions at my house about what I would or should "do" when I grew up became more serious, and "movie director" was no longer an acceptable answer.

The going assumption was that I'd be best suited for "something with computers." I enjoyed tinkering with my Commodore 64 and Apple II, though it was hardly a pure love; I made my own video games when we couldn't afford the commercial ones. I developed bridge controls from the Enterprise, text adventures, even a few science applications. I entered programs from magazines like Ahoy! and Compute, line by tedious line. I learned to incrementally isolate and solve problems, one error at a time.

I'll admit that the prospect of growing up to isolate and solve problems under the green glow of a computer screen did not inspire me to race headlong into maturity. I dragged my feet as long as I could, hiding in my books, goofing off in school, hoping something might yet save me for a life of imagination.

And then I read A.K. Dewdney's The Planiverse. There, I discovered the answer to the age-old choice between right-brained and left-brained, imagination and reason, creativity and science, English and Engineering.

The answer was, "Yes, both, please."