Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Reading and Writing a Child’s Voice

A few weeks ago, I was on a panel of MG fantasy writers at Books of Wonder in NYC, and one of the attendees asked:

How do you manage to write in a voice that engages a child’s interest when all of you (he inserted a half-apologetic smile and shrug here) are well past being children yourselves?

The panel members answered the question individually, but basically we all had the same answer, in slightly different words:

In our heads, we are still children.

To be completely honest, I think that answer should have been obvious. I was, after all, sitting next to a grown man wearing a cardboard Pharaoh’s headdress.

To be a writer of children’s books, you need to be a child inside. You need to write like a child would write (except with the skill of an adult), and you need to read what your child-self wants to read. I’m not saying that I never read adult books, but the vast majority of what I read is chosen to entertain my child-self, not my adult-self.

In fact, an elderly librarian recently confronted me on my reading selections. I had just checked-in a stack of MG fantasy and adventure books and was checking-out more of the same. She looked up at me, squinting in puzzlement, and asked: “This is what you read?”

Behind her, a librarian who knew me cringed in embarrassment. For my part, I was rather shocked by her question. I said, “This is what I write, and this is what I read.”

At first, I thought that was going to suffice, but then she asked, “Why? So you can find ideas?”

I bit back my first thought: Right. I have to steal ideas from other books. Instead of being sarcastic, I gave her a better, truthful answer. “No. This is what I like to read.” I wasn't picking out these books as research or to learn the market or assess the competition. I wanted to read them.

She clucked her tongue and promptly suggested other titles I should try – all of them adult memoirs or literary fiction. The kind of books that makes my child-self want to say, “Yuck. Sounds booooooring.” But I didn’t. Because I respected her reading choices in a way that she wasn’t respecting mine.

For all I know, maybe this librarian comments on everybody’s choices. “Thrillers? Is that what you read? Basket weaving? Is that what you read?” But I doubt it. She disapproved of an adult woman coming into the library and checking out nothing but children’s books and she thought she could improve me by suggesting something of supposed greater value.

That’s exactly the kind of person who cannot write children’s books and who will never capture a voice that engages child readers. The best children’s literature is written by adults who think they are still children, not by adults who want to "help" children grow up.

I am proud of my reading choices. But I do regret that I didn’t snag one of those Pharaoh headdresses from Michael Northrop to wear the next time I visit the library.



13 comments:

  1. I can't help wondering if I get away with the books I check out - mix of YA and MG - because I have my ten year old with me. Of course, the librarians don't know I'm the one devouring all the books and sharing the MG stories with my kid.

    I like the point you make about how you capture the children's voice to engage kid readers. My child-self agrees :-)

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    1. My CP Krystalyn Drown says one of her local libraries WON'T ALLOW adults into the children's room unless they are accompanied by a child. How messed up is that?

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  2. Great post, Diane! My reading is heavily skewed toward YA and MG, but I do read a fair amount of adult fiction and nonfiction as well. I love this line: "You need to write like a child would write (except with the skill of an adult)", and I bet Michael would give you one of those headdresses!! :-)

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    1. Thanks, Paul! Yeah, I think he would have let me have one. I forgot to ask.

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  3. I love this!

    Fortunately, I have never been grilled by a librarian in this way. I doubt I would have been as diplomatic as you were. (But then again, I would probably have taken the easy path and claimed I was checking them out for my children.)

    Yes! A child at heart, always!!!

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    1. I should point out that MOST of the librarians at this branch are lovely. And even this one was friendly. She just wanted to "help" me.

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    2. As my father-in-law is fond of saying: "Help strikes again."

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  4. Great post, Dianne! I love your simultaneous graciousness and feistiness toward your librarian. I too read a lot of MG and YA and I began writing MG because of Anne Lamott's recommendation: "Write what you would love to come upon." Great advice.

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    1. Thanks, Joanna! I write what I wanted to read as a child, but it turns out I still want to read the same things now!

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  5. What a fun post. And this is so true, Dianne. I know a few people who need to read this. :)

    I've worked in both a bookstore and a library and I hope I never tried to steer people away from the choices they'd already made. Egad! Of course, I've always read MG and YA too, so more likely I would have gotten excited by their choices and said, "Oh, this is great! You'll love it!"

    And I think I've always been 12 inside.

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    1. LOL, Joanne. After our conversation tonight in the parking lot of the Kennett Square library, I know exactly who you refer to. Still shaking my head over that!

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  6. Dianne, this line says it all: You need to write like a child would write (except with the skill of an adult), and you need to read what your child-self wants to read. And fortunately I have a 12-year old son who I share books with and can get his scoop on why a book is good or not.

    My favorite books are the ones I still re-read from childhood so it's no wonder I like to write for tweens and teens. I read somewhere that adults who write for MG/YA still have unresolved issues from their own childhood. Ha! Not sure if true but it's fun to relive being a kid in our writing - and for me, then the magic never ends. I keep creating it.

    When I was a kid we didn't have MG/YA categories and I was reading Sidney Sheldon, Stephen King, Danielle Steele, V.C. Andrews. Now, we have those categories (look how Harry Potter changed much of this) and it seems folks of all ages are reading them but you do get the occasional doubter there like you got!

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  7. Unresolved issues? For pity's sake ...

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Thanks for adding to the mayhem!