TAGGED! The Next Big Thing

by S. L. Duncan

So, nearly two months ago, Wendy Orr (NIM’S ISLAND, THE NIM STORIES) tagged me for this sort of blog chain letter called The Next Big Thing. As I am a complete slackass, I totally got tied up in the new job and have neglected all things writerly.

But no longer, I tells ya!

So, while I object to the implication that what I’ve written might be ‘the next big thing,’ I’ll play along.  Here’s my interview on how my first book, The Revelation Saga (Medallion Press, 2014) came to be!

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I was living in Birmingham and had graduated from college with this geographically useless film / broadcasting degree that was tethered to an equally useless lack of ambition and direction. Also, I was totally chickenshit when it came to the idea that I may have to move to LA or New York to make my dreams come true.

Instead of taking a leap of faith, I ended up in law school. In – no surprise here – Birmingham. Something about the sterile nature of legal writing for the classes I attended caused my creative inner self to revolt. At the same time, I was having this moment where my religious upbringing didn’t match with what I perceived in the real world. I began researching canonical and non-canonical religious texts, trying to figure it all out, and just got inspired. Basically, I wondered what would happen if the books of the Bible were compiled in error, and the one book that might hold the key to surviving the second war between the angels and demons had been purged by Constantine’s Rome in the homogenization of the religion. After living in England for a semester abroad, Gabriel Adam’s story began to materialize. Then it was just a matter of getting it down on paper.

In hindsight, I probably should have been studying Con Law or something.

What genre does your book fall under?

It’s a Young Adult Adventure / Thriller.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I’m going to go with Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin, Bindi Irwin, and Gerard Butler. I promise I didn’t steal this answer from Wendy Orr.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Seventeen-year-old Gabriel Adam learns he is the Archangel Gabriel born human and sent to stop the second war between Heaven and Hell.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Altogether, probably a year. I false started a lot. These days, I’m running about four months on a draft. The long hours come in editing.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Really, the experience inspired itself. It was fun, and that created a momentum until that last day when I typed “The End.”

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

My agent, John Rudolph of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management pitched the book as RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK meets some of the fantastical elements of HARRY POTTER.

Also, there may or may not be a dragon in it. 

_______

I'm tagging agency siblings Shandy Lawson (THE LOOP, Disney/Hyperion April 30th, 2013), Andrew Smith (WINGER, Simon & Schuster May 14th, 2013), and Rachele Alpine (CANARY, Medallion Press August 1st, 2013).

YA in Music Video? M83's MIDNIGHT CITY

Many of you might not recall what a music video is.  Little hint: it's what used to be on MTV before they dropped the "Music" from the "M."  Anyway, I found this awesome M83 video called Midnight City.  I swear, it's straight out of the brilliance of some YA author.  (Hope it wasn't stolen.)

Give it a listen.  Great song, great video.

What's Next?

Now that summer is in the rear view window, with respect to slicked-back hair, Wayfarers, and Don Henley, the publishing industry is moving once again at full speed ahead.

So, what's the next thing?  More vampires?  Werewolves?  Steampunk?  Angels?

Really, nobody knows.  It's like trying to predict the weather.  But it's fun to guess.  One good way to do that is to look at what's popular now and what's coming in the near future.  My agent, John Rudolph has just posted a nice blog entry at the Dystel & Goderich website about the Young Adult Library Services Association's (YALSA) 2011 Teens' Top Ten. It seems paranormal and fantasy are still going strong.

Which, ahem, is very good news.



But what is on the shelves right now doesn't necessarily translate to what's going to be on the shelf tomorrow.  You have to look at what is being pitched to do that.  Luckily, John and his cohorts have just posted the DGLM Childrens Newsletter for Upcoming Submissions.  There are some awesome titles coming up by some talented authors.  And be on the lookout for a special appearance by yours truly.  How I convinced them to let me into that party, I'll never know.

Lauren Myracle's SHINE: Wronged

Today news broke that one of the finalists for the National Book Awards was announced in error. 

Think about that for a minute: you as an author being told you are nominated for the most prestigious book award - the Oscar of literature - only to be told, "Oops.  Our bad."

Publishers Weekly reported that Lauren Myracle’s finalist spot in the Young People Literature category for her book SHINE had been intended for Franny Billingsley’s CHIME, a mistake made when a member of the National Book Foundation staff misheard a judge’s announcement over the phone . 

The mix-up was not caught until last Wednesday’s radio announcement.

Myracle decided to withdraw her book as a finalist after being asked by the NBF.  She was told that by doing so she would “preserve the integrity of the award and of the judges work.”  

What a shocking embarrassment for the National Book Foundation.  And what a horrible thing for Myracle to have gone through.  Frankly, I’ve never been much of a fan of quantifying the value of one’s artistic work over another’s, but I’ve always been somewhat eased by the fact that, whether it’s the Oscars, Grammy’s, or the NBA, there was a professional, competent group of people running the show.

I have to say, my confidence in the National Book Foundation has been shaken.

Update to YA Gender Divide

Just a quick update on last week’s YA Gender Divide post before I return from Vacation Hiatus.

Over at Absolute Write, I polled the members with a question on what can be done to increase teenage boys’ participation in YA reading.

The premise for the question was that 1) teenage boys aren’t drawn to YA as much as teenage girls, and 2) is there anything that can be done (marketing or otherwise) that would make YA seem more appealing to teenage boys?

Well, as often happens on internet discussions, the conversation quickly devolved into a passionate argument about the sexes – not something I wanted, but perhaps should have anticipated.

What struck me as strange were the couple of YA authors that chimed in with the basic notion, to hell with the boys.  It was a sort of defensive posture that someone might take over property that was about to be removed from their possession.  I mean, these were authors basically taking the position that if boys were too stupid or emotionally shallow to appreciate their work, then that’s their problem!

So is YA destined to become owned by the fairer sex, leaving boys with sci-fi and fantasy?  Maybe YA means something different these days than simply young adult.  I don’t know.  All I want is for boys to read and be interested in literature as much as girls.

And I am open for suggestions on how to make that happen.

New posts next week!  In the meantime, check out those awesome blogs to the left of the post.

The Great (YA Gender) Divide

***AN ABRIDGED HISTORY***

Once, boys and girls both read, and read often.

So, I’m a guy. A dude. I play sports, grill meat, and sometimes, under the influence of beer-flavored beer, I’ve even been known to chest bump.

But I also write fiction.  And not just fiction – young adult fiction. 

On the way to becoming a YA author, I noticed something strange about my masculine circumstance.  When I first started out – learning to query, learning to write and edit – I stumbled into these e-relationships online with others who were endeavoring to take the same path.  We found common ground, usually in genre, and supported each other in the journey toward publication.

***AN OBSERVATION***

Ninety percent of my YA author e-relationships are with women.

I know, that really isn’t evidence of anything, but it got me thinking.  What about the male-oriented stories?  A quick browsing of the YA section of any bookstore will show you just how feminine the genre has become.

This isn’t a bad thing, but for me it is slightly alarming on a business level.  Publishers publish to make money, but if the balance of YA books being published is overwhelmingly for teenage girls, does that mean teenage boys aren’t reading?

***A CONFESSION***

I didn’t read much as a teenager.

Sure, I took in the occasional Crichton book and tried to understand Clancy military thrillers, but I was more drawn to Spielberg movies and comic books.  Today, there are even more distractions with video games and the internet.

As I've aged, my reading habits have changed, grown.  Right now, I’m reading Alexa Martin’s GIRL WONDER.  Alexa is a good friend and has written an amazing account of what it must be like to be the new girl at a new high school.

***A REASURING ANNOUNCEMENT***

I like girl-oriented YA.

Though Alexa would definitely welcome me, and even though a guy like me can enjoy and see the literary merit of GIRL WONDER, I am probably not among Alexa’s target audience, though it begs the question - do I need to relate to the subject matter of a book to enjoy it, and if not, why not target me as a potential reader?

Looking at the many amazing books in the YA section makes me wonder if teenage boys would read more if they were targeted more.

Certainly, these thoughts are void of the complications and economics of marketing, but still...

***HERE IS A SMALL FACT***

Teenage boys like to read.

Some authors know this.  And some of them are men.  Look at the works of John Green or Andrew Smith.  Heck, even J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was aimed at boys.  So then, what about YA is so standoffish to teenage boys?  Is it marketing?  Is it this new feminine cultural definition of YA?  Is it the more boyish distractions of video games and sports?  

I’m not certain, honestly.  But I think this is an issue that needs to be addressed.  There is a bigger market out there that would support more teenage boy readers.  We just need new ideas on how to approach them.

(Paragraph headings are totally "borrowed" from Markus Zusak’s THE BOOK THIEF.  I'll give them back.  I promise.  Premise was inspired by Andrew Smith's recent observations of gender in YA.)

Parental Guidance Suggested

Over at Dystel & Goderich’s website, my agent John Rudolph ran a post about the WSJ fallout over an article that attacked YA fiction as being too dark, too depraved.  John posed an interesting question as to whom amongst the gatekeepers bear the responsibility for disseminating such material to the children and young adults – the publishers or the bookstores?

Personally, I sort of have a stake in this discussion as I expect my series, The Revelation Saga, to garner a certain amount of attention for being controversial on its take on certain religious subjects. 

I remember the late 80s when some pop groups began to surface that used explicit lyrics in their songs.  There was the inevitable, and perhaps even justified, response from parental groups that objected to the sale of these records to children under a certain age.  They demanded labels be placed on packaging and that selling the explicit material to a minor become a criminal offense.  In fact, I believe here in Alabama a sales clerk was actually charged for selling one of these records to a minor.

Is this where we’re heading with YA books?  Admittedly, even experts remain muddled on the definition on what is YA and what isn’t.  Heck, you’re lucky if YA gets separated from other children’s books in certain bookstores.  Truthfully, I’m of two minds on ratings.  On one hand, I want to help parents know what they are putting in their kid’s hands when they buy my book. But this concern assumes that the parent is still the gatekeeper on what their children read.  With digital access and every kid with a smart phone in their pocket, is this even possible? 

On the other hand, and I’m almost hesitant to admit this, but getting a Parental Advisory label slapped on my book practically ensures a greater interest from some consumers.  Going back to the 80s, my friends and I, teenagers at the time, flocked to the record store to grab 2 Live Crew’s album the minute it became parental contraband.  And yet, having my work reduced to a short list of warning descriptors on a label gives me a very uneasy feeling and no doubt diminishes the value of the work as a whole.

To see the possible future of book ratings, one only has to look at the video game market.  Mass Effect, a wildly successful game, fell into the crosshairs of parental groups when it was labeled as having sexual content.  Examination of the content in question would reveal that it was arguably no worse than situations found in many primetime network television programs, and hardly even rose to the level of soft core, yet outrage ensued.  But the game sold millions.  Did the outrage hurt sales?  Not likely.  It seems to have perhaps enhanced them.

So, what is the answer when it comes to adult content in YA books?  Publishers I believe should be free to publish, without the oversight of censorship shadowing their efforts.  And shelf space is a finite resource in bookstores.  It may not be feasible to categorize for content. 

Is a rating system the answer?  What are your thoughts?

In Defense of Andrew Smith

On Saturday, June 4^th, 2011, an article was published in Wall Street Journal that sought to do what has become almost thematic for Rupert Murdoch's American news reporting media outlets – attack a segment of pop culture as being unwholesome or depraved, similar in tone to their recent campaign against rapper Common’s visit to the White House. 

Darkness Too Visible, Meghan Cox Gurdon’s article, the title of which could have been that from a book by Madeleine L’Engle, takes aim at young adult novels, siting the entire genre as “a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is.”  Take that, Harry and Bella!

Specifically, Gurdon points to the works of several popular authors, one of them INK ROCK follower Andrew Smith (The Marbury Lens 2010, Stick Coming 2011), and compares their books to those of yesteryear, noting a supposed meteoric rise in profanity, instances of rape, drug use, sexual deviance, and self mutilation, to name a few.  Sadly, no objection to Rock and Roll or dancing was mentioned and Kevin Bacon could not be reached for comment.

Without a doubt, there is some heavy material out there in the world of YA.  Dystopia and vampires reign, and some of the contemporary fare describe very harsh realities.  When Fox News and the WSJ, both owned by Murdoch's News Corp., rallied together to launch outrage at rapper Common’s poetry reading at the White House, they did so in a similar fashion as Ms. Gurdon – without any consideration to the circumstance and reality that inspired the art.  It seems Gurdon would rather look through a pair of her own magical glasses than see the world for how it is.  Perhaps Andrew Smith could arrange something. 

Also, is it just me that found humor as to where this article was published?  Such irony is almost unbearable where a newspaper named The Wall Street Journal objects to stories of dystopian cities and blood suckers as being too dark.  I mean, seriously.  If you want to talk dark, allow me to grab my black kettle and let's discuss the economy.

So, what is the alternative here that would satisfy those like Fox News and Ms. Gurdon?  Should we listen to them when they point to the narrow road of “Main Street USA,” with its picket fences, white neighbors, Ken and Barbie couples, and children playing outside on the swing set, and say, “Live here.  This is the American Dream.”  Or, should we acknowledge that it is only a dream, a fantasy, and that there is a bigger, richer, more connected world out there worth living in, warts and all.  Instead of burying our heads in the sand, isn’t it better to admit that there are bad things going on in the world and start talking or writing about them?  If these issues aren’t being discussed, then they are being ignored.  And if they are being ignored, then how can anyone afflicted by them be helped? 

By the way, as an aside, I’ve lived on “Main Street USA.”  The picket fences have termites, Ken is sleeping with one of the white neighbors – everyone suspects it’s Bob, and the kids are sniffing glue they’ve stolen from their underfunded school because Barbie is too numb on gin and Xanax to know what’s going on.  Just so you know.  Careful what you wish for.

My point is, art and literature don’t happen in a vacuum.  They are a product of the environment.  As are your kids.  You’ll notice you never hear outrage from the intended readers of these books.  That’s because they are smarter than those like Gurdon give them credit for.  Authors like Andrew Smith and Lauren Myracle, another singled out by the WSJ article, already know this, which is why they are wildly popular with their audience.  One thing about young adults and kids - they know what's true, what's real.  And they can weed out bullshit like a cadaver dog can a body.  What?  Too dark?

I’m hopeful that Gurdon’s ultimate point to her misguided article is that parents need to parent, and that they are the best censor for their children.  Everyone agrees on that point.  However, I’m disappointed that she failed to find or acknowledge the value of these works and how they fit into the environment of reality.  Also, articles like this flirt with the idea of banning material, even where doing so isn’t explicitly discussed.  You don’t have to be a historian to know what burning books did for 1930’s Europe.