Last year, when I was speaking in San Francisco, I met a fellow author of Young Adult fiction, who told me that he liked to work on multiple projects -- three or more -- all at the same time.
And I was, like, Are you insane? How can you possibly do that?
He assured me that working on multiple projects simultaneously was the only way to go -- that he'd never have it any other way.
I mention this because I currently find myself well into writing two completely different things (and by "well into," I mean, like 100 pages) at the same time. As I suspected, it's making me insane, and I'm beginning to feel like writing two things at once -- combined -- is going to take more time overall than writing one thing first, and a second thing... um... second.
So I'm finding myself, in the mornings, opening up two files and skipping back and forth. Oh, and these two things couldn't possibly be more unlike one another if I tried. So it kind of feels like skipping back and forth between worlds, kind of like a certain character I know in a book that's coming out in November.
And it's making me crazy, so I am trying to decide which world to ignore for a while.
Now, since I am rambling, and it's Mother's Day, which means nobody is going to be sitting at home reading rambling blog posts, I have a couple random thoughts about writing YA.
A while ago I was talking to another writer and I mentioned that I wrote Young Adult fiction. Then the other writer asked me, Oh, what kind of YA? Vampires or Fantasy?
Not kidding.
My answer was that I write the kind of YA where girls get even with boys for being shallow and dumb.
Second random YA thought: It has to do with yesterday's post and comments, and these generalized boxes we often pack YA into. I was reading a review (I'm carefully going to avoid being too specific regarding titles, etc.) about a recent YA novel that is getting some good press about girls who try to get even with boys for dumping them (kind of like Fatal Attraction but without the psycho element). The reviewer lavished heaps of appreciation for books that portray teen girls as taking charge and being in control. Well... come on now, there aren't too many YA books that paint a contrary picture, are there? And, just for the fun of it, why don't we start listing all the YA titles that portray boys as being dumb, worthy of punishment for dumping or ignoring girls who think their futures are all clearly planned out at the age of seventeen, or boys who are just the mindless objects of girls' summertime obsessions?
4 comments:
I often work on two things at time, but usually only one novel at a time, and a children's chapter book at the other. I find the two different styles of writing and storytelling don't conflict me too much. But two novels would test my sanity.
Secondly, I totally agree. The current mass entertainment portrays boys as immature overgrown children...and though I see the need for strong intelligent female characters, it shouldn't be at the expense of boys. The current generation of teenage boys have little or no good models of what it means to be a responsible male.
The thing is, too, that if anyone ever did the reverse... write a book about girls being shallow and dumb, or a book about boys plotting to get even with girls because they caught them "making out" with other guys, well... you know what would happen. And I'm definitely not advocating that it should be done. Lame-ass books that ascribe shallowness and tired gender stereotyping to any group are... well... lame-ass books.
When books are written from the female perspective there tends to be either the stupid boy or the mysterious brooding type. I was neither of those. I was the geeky comic book nerd that thought if monsters were unleashed upon earth I would be the only one with the info to save the girl. Unfortunately, the girl would want to date the monster because he is a tortured soul that she could save with her love. Too bad for her, he would snap and gobble her up.
I am working on two mg books and comic book right now. Insane. But I manage to find a way to do it. Who knows if I am doing it well though. I guess we will find out.
One of these days, I swear I'm going to try writing an MG book. I love reading them (good ones, that is).
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