I had the pleasure of talking to G.’s/the ICS sophomores on Friday about writing as a career. They had some great questions (including, “What’s it like to live with [G.]?”) I was not at all nervous during the lead-up to this, or even when I walked in the building. But when I walked into the classroom, instant panic. You teens have no idea the power you wield and the terror you inspire! But ultimately it was fun, and especially worth it to find out later that two members of the class, inspired by the talk, approached G. about writing a female-character-based spin-off of A Separate Peace, which they are now reading for G.’s English class. I think I used the words “suck” and “crap” too much in my talk, though, considering it’s a Christian school. (e.g. “There are a lot of times you worry about sucking, or that your work is crap.”)
Today, I finally had a big enough chunk of time available in which to finish Atonement. I so admire Ian McEwan and his way with language. Yes, there were pages in this book (as well as in Saturday) that I skimmed, but only because I cared enough about the story to want to get back to it right away and did not have time or patience for three-page descriptions of a war march or, in Saturday, 18-page descriptions of a squash game. I know the point of that book was to take a whole book to tell the story of one day, however, though you can delight in language and relish description, reading is ultimately about finding out what happens next. In Atonement, the rejection letter Briony receives speaks to this very issue, and is great advice for any writer. I’m not sure how I feel about the epilogue, but now I’ve read it and there’s no going back.
In other blog news:
Bennett Madison needs your blonde jokes, but not the really mean or vulgar ones.
Due to technical issues, Cynthia Leitich Smith has temporarily moved to http://www.greglsblog.blogspot.com (or http://greglsblog.livejournal.com if you are at LJ). This is tres inconvenent for Cyn as it is merely two weeks from the release of her latest novel, Tantalize. So add Greg’s blog to your feed or LJ friends list so you don’t miss any of the news!
Is “scrotum” a bad word? Some school librarians who won’t carry the Newbery-winning The Higher Power of Lucky seem to think so. In the book, the offending scrotum appears in the context of a dog being bit (where it hurts, apparently) by a snake. This is the kind of illogic of censorship As If! tries to bring awareness to and dialog about in hopes of getting folks to think critically, rather than reactionarily. (That was a poorly constructed sentence with words of questionable origin, but don’t let that stop you from visiting the As If! blog now and then to join the dialog.)
Justine Larbalestier (I did it! I did it!) has a deliciously cranky response for Maureen Dowd. Thank you, Justine. Really, when will the YA-bashing stop?
2 comments for this post
actually mean and vulgar are fine as long as no women get maimed for being blonde.
[Reply]
[...] Hey! Cynthia Leitich Smith’s blogs are back up, so hurray for that! I’m very excited to read her new novel, Tantalize. Gothic horror! In a restaurant! Also, remember when I mentioned scrotums the other day? Now everyone is talking about them! Read about it in the NYT, and weigh in with your opinion over at the AS IF! blog. As many other bloggers have pointed out, one of the oddest sentences in the NYT article is, Authors of children’s books sometimes sneak in a single touchy word or paragraph, leaving librarians to choose whether to ban an entire book over one offending phrase. “Sneak in.” It’s true. Kind of like subliminal advertising, you know? We just like to see what we can get away with. I like to really be tricky, like, “Bobby’s mother explained how their house was in escrow. ‘Tummy ache?’ she asked, when Bobby made a face.” See how I did that? Sneaky! But really, we are not even talking about a bad word, here. And in case you didn’t already know this, the scrotum in question in the book is a dog’s. You can Google scrotum lucky to find lots of blog posts about this issue, and also information about cute little purses they make in Australia. [...]
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