reading

You Think You Know Me?

No, I’m not talking about you knowing me. The title above is a question asked by our characters. But I also don’t exactly mean knowing our characters on an individual level—their likes and dislikes, personality quirks, deeper values, etc. (Incidentally, though, From the Write Angle recently had a couple of great posts on that. Here’s one. And here’s the other.)

My question is related, yet different. A more global perspective—more demographic, maybe—where knowing our characters and knowing our audience overlap.

When you write about teenagers, and teenagers are your target audience, this is kind of important.

Everyone knows generalizations are ridiculous. You can’t say, “All teenagers are like this.” You can’t even say ‘most’ are. The opposite, though—where you’re pretty sure no teenager would say or do something, or act a particular way—that can happen. When teens read the story, they don’t have to think, “Every character’s just like me,” but they should identify the characters as real … like some teenagers somewhere.

How do you make that happen?

I consider myself lucky. I’m surrounded by the target audience throughout the workweek. A pretty good cross-section of personalities and backgrounds, too. That definitely helps. Not a possibility for everyone, though. And not a necessity.

What are the other options? Believe what TV and movies would have us believe about teenagers?

I grew up with the running joke of actors pushing (and pulling) thirty playing teenagers on 90210. So, um, no.

Better option for those who don’t have a lot of teens in their everyday lives (or even those who do): READ.

Unlike when I was a teen, there are a ton of great YA books out there. Even better is the wide variety of character types you can find. They’re not all perfect—some Mary-Sues, some clichés and stereotypes—but if you look carefully and read (a LOT), you can get a feel for the modern teen character.

Personally, I can’t imagine trying to write a YA novel without reading stacks of them first.

And if you can find some brutally honest teens willing to beta-read for you and call you out when the adult-writer is overpowering the teen-character … so much the better.

Any other ideas about getting that reader-character synergy? Experiences where you got it right on … or way wrong?

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Audience ID

Know your audience.  Sounds simple enough.  It occurs to me that there are two types of audiences, though—the general audience that’s likely to enjoy the book, and the narrower audience that’s likely to think the book is the best ever.

At its broadest, my general audience is teenagers.  Throw in adults who like smart YA work, too, and there you go.  To get a little more specific, I think my novel appeals especially to girls who like math or science, and/or have a bit of tomboy in them.

While at Best Buy with my sister yesterday, I found a succinct description of the sub-population who would most enjoy my work:

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While Waiting: Part 2

A few months ago, I posted a list of things to do while waiting on an agent.  Agent #1 still has the full, and now two more agents have it as well.  (My latest attempt at a query letter actually has legs!)  So, more waiting.  Here’s what I have gotten/am getting done, and it’s nice to see some of these are progressions from the first list.

• Finished Book 2 in the series and Book 3 is well underway.
• Wrote two “real” short stories that I’m working on submitting.
• Packed up my classroom to be relocated this fall when they renovate half our building.
• Helped my dad with yard work, woodworking projects, and whatever else he needed a slave for.
• Got elevated to Round 3 in WEbook’s PageToFame system.
• Worked with my sister to design two covers, seen here (just for fun, and in case I end up self-pubbing).
• Hung out with my awesomely awesome friend for a weekend (rare treat since she now lives 2000 miles away).
• Read a lot of books (Darkest Powers trilogy, Mortal Instruments trilogy, first two books in The Hunger Games trilogy … is Mockingjay out yet?)

A lot of that looks like work.  Here are some additions for the To Do list:

• Figure out how and when to get together with the inimitable T.L Tyson (in my country, hers, or another one altogether … doesn’t matter)
• Possibly find time to visit my cousin in Mississippi (though the humidity might scare me off)
• Plan a trip to Rochester, NY to visit the friend mentioned above, plus anyone else I knew back in grad school that’s still there.

Hmm, all of that involves travel and interacting with humans outside of cyberspace.  That might be a clue.

Anyone else have fun ways of keeping your mind off the waiting game?

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English Class #1: Required Reading

A couple days ago I was eavesdropping on the weekly YALitChat on Twitter.  It’s too bad I was too busy to pick up more than just the comments from people I already follow, since the topic was how teachers influence what teens read.  Some statements about required reading lists, curriculum, etc. caught my attention.

I thought back to my own experiences as a student.  Honestly, I don’t remember most of what I was required to read back then.  I remember reading some Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice) and A Tale of Two Cities in ninth grade.  My teacher that year was smart enough to discuss the themes in a modern context so the books weren’t just old and dusty to us.  (There was a particularly heated discussion when he insisted that arranged marriages were the only intelligent way to do things.)

The rest of high school, though?  I remember packets of short stories, but I don’t remember titles, authors, or the stories themselves.  There were probably worksheets involved.

You know what else I don’t remember?  The popular books for teens at the time.  I don’t think I read them … too stuck in sci-fi land back then.  Can anyone help me out?  What was hot in YA back in the mid- to late-90s?  Was there YA as such?  I never considered myself a “normal” teenager, so I have no idea what was considered “normal” to read.

Is it the same story now?  Nothing but classics, no current works?  From the transcript of the chat, it seems to vary widely.  I can only talk about what I know firsthand, at my current school.

We’re lucky for a few reasons.  Our classes are tiny (I think eight students is the biggest), so if teachers want to order copies of a current book, it’s not a financial hardship.  This year we started giving students two Language Arts classes – one for reading and one for writing.  This means a lot more time for covering more novels.  I know one of my colleagues tends to alternate – a book from the curriculum list, then one the students choose.

How do I influence my students’ reading, especially as a math teacher?  We have twenty minutes of required silent reading time after lunch every day.  For that, I’m in the “I don’t care what they read as long as they read something” camp, particularly because I have struggling readers that period.  I happily help one girl understand the articles in fashion magazines and explain new words to a boy who reads online graphic novels.

Other than that, I keep a shelf of loaner YA books (which no one seems to expect from the MATH teacher).  They see me reading them, and it’s fun to discuss what they did and didn’t like after they finish each book.  The kids like series, so I’ve got Uglies, Hunger Games, Darkest Powers, and Mortal Instruments sitting up there.

And of course, students keep telling me to get mine published and add it to the collection.

I’m working on it. 🙂

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