Is It Dark In Here, Or Is It Just the YA?

By now I'm sure anyone remotely involved in the YA market has heard of this article published in the Wall Street Journal, which lamented the prevalence of dark material available for teens. There were reactions aplenty, one of which involved the hashtag #YAsaves on Twitter, as well as a plethora of blog posts from writers, readers and agents alike.

A lot of the reaction involved people addressing the obvious—hey, there's plenty of lighter material as well. And I don't have a lot of add to that other than ... uh, yeah. Instead, I want to agree (to a point)—there IS a lot of dark stuff going on in YA these days. And you know what? Good.

I admit, when I first started my job as a YA librarian I was more than a little taken aback by what I could find in the pages of the books I was processing. Then I took a look at my patrons and began to understand. My best readers are what people would term "troubled kids." They need to escape from God knows what is going on in their lives, and part of that escape involves relating to what's going on in the pages. So they connect with that first, dark story that mirrors their own lives and (in my experience) a few things come from this.

1) They find out that reading isn't all dry Victorian classics or kiddo stories about hiding a puppy in your basement and hoping your mom doesn't find out. No—there are books about sex, drugs, & rock n' roll. There are also books about sexual abuse, addiction, and getting wasted way too often with your band. If my librarian senses ring true (and they often do) the kid who said, "I hate reading. Books suck," will come back a little shame-faced and ask, "You got any more like that one?" Yeah, baby. Sometimes that dark material is a gateway drug—to a new habit called reading.

2) They find out that whatever is going on in their life—be it abuse, addiction, depression, questioning their sexuality, or self-harm—it is NOT unspeakable. There are books about it. People talk about it. I can't tell you how often "dark" books have opened a door for kids, a door that leads to a room where they can TALK.

One of my jobs involves inventory. At the end of the year, I tally up what's on the shelves, what's checked out and what's ... "walked off." Without fail we've lost a few really popular series books here and there, and many, many titles of a darker nature.

Books like IDENTICAL by Ellen Hopkins and SUCH A PRETTY GIRL by Laura Weiss, which deal with parental sexual abuse, or SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson, SAFE by Susan Shaw, STOLEN by Lucy Christopher and LIVING DEAD GIRL by Elizabeth Scott, all books that center around rape victims. Gutsy authors like Brian James and Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson deal with the still-taboo subject of male rape with their titles DIRTY LIAR and TARGET, respectively.

Lauren Myracle's KISSING KATE and KEEPING YOU A SECRET by Julie Anne Peters, as well as David Levithan and John Green's WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON deal with teens who are questioning their sexuality.

HANGING ONTO MAX by Margaret Bechard, THE FIRST PART LAST by Angela Johnson, and AFTER by Amy Efaw all deal with teen pregnancy—go walk down a high school hallway and tell me those aren't necessary.

Drugs? Yeah, we've got those (or rather, by the end of the year, we usually don't) in the form of SMACK by Melvin Burgess, CRANK & GLASS by Ellen Hopkins, SHOOTING STAR by Frederick McKissack, BOOST by Cathy Mackel—the last two dealing with teen athletes looking for an edge.

SCARS by Cheryl Rainfield and CUT by Patricia McCormick address the very real problem of self-harm among teens.

BLACK BOX by Julie Schumacher and the now famous autobiography of Susanna Kaysen—GIRL, INTERRUPTED, deal with depression, and apparently kleptomania is a side-effect because I keep having to mark them "Lost" in inventory.

And that's alright. If a kid is too ashamed or embarrassed to check a book out because of the topic, it's okay. Go ahead and steal it.

I'll buy another one.

The Necessity of Fresh Eyes

I'm giving in to the idea of self-sufficiency.

Yes, I know I can buy my own pickles cheaply. Yes, it does make my kitchen hot and steamy when I'm canning. Yes, sometimes things go wrong and shit explodes everywhere and you end up with welts. But I'm still very into the idea of making my own food, and its not because I want everything organic or that I'm afraid of chemicals and preservatives.

It's because I want to look smug when the end of civilization comes and I'm doing alright :)

If you want to learn more about my survival strategies, check out my video below from about survival... and black jelly beans.

Recently I decided it was time to expand from vegetables and canning into an herb garden. I had a nice spot picked out in the side yard and was waiting to borrow my mother's tiller to make the dream a reality, when ugly necessity reared its head.

I have a stone path following the fence around my pond. The area immediately to the left of the path has been a weedy, troublesome problem for three years, mostly because the rocks themselves sat there for a good long while and encouraged all kinds of weed growth and simultaneously discouraged mower blades.

So I got the tiller, and prioritized. The weeds were an eyesore, a shoulder-height testament to my inabilities as a lawn owner. The combined energies of my wrath, a mower and a Mantis took the smirk off their little green faces, but by then I had realized that I didn't have any grass seed and wouldn't have time to get any until the weeds had recouped and mounted their second assault. Meanwhile, my herbs were setting on the back porch, drooping dejectedly as they waited for their home away from Lowe's.

I got all pouty, drank some ice tea, and my mom came over to see how the herb garden was coming. I told her all my problems - the feisty weeds, the depressed herbs, the unbroken lawn waiting to become a garden, my lack of grass seed. She looked at me and said:

"So why don't you just put your herb garden in the ground you tilled up instead of grass?"

And the clouds parted, the Hallelujah Chorus played, and I saw all the advantages: I could harvest my herbs from my little stone path, I had much easier access to water than in the side yard, converting that ground to garden meant less mowing around the steeply sloped banks of the pond, and... (BONUS) it was already tilled, I wouldn't have to buy grass seed, and my herbs would be happy.

The only addition my mom had was, "Well, duh."

I needed mom's fresh eyes to alert me to the lack of common sense I was displaying, and sometimes we need that in writing too. As writers, we'll have our heart set on certain actions, dialogue, even events, that simply aren't what's best for the story itself in the big picture.

We need our beta readers and crit buddies to say to us, "Hey, why not try this?"

And, if they tack on, "Well, duh," try to remember you love them for a reason.

Blogging With Once Upon A Time

I’ve ran across a lot of really awesome people, and culled an enormous amount of information from blogs. As I raided my brain – yes, I picture myself on the prow of a Viking ship, approaching my own gray matter – for more people I’d like to interview, it repeatedly offered up names of bloggers. And so, the third series; Bloggers of Awesome. Yeah, it’s the BOA.

The BOA guest today is Cristina Dos Santos whose blog, Once Upon A Time, is a great place to visit for writing musings, tips, and lots of great book reviews. Cristina is a writer living in CT with her husband and their two boys.  She suffers from a serious book addiction, and when she's not reading she is busy drinking coffee and working on her first novel.

So you run an excellent blog over at Once Upon A Time. What made you decide to take the approach you do on your blog?

Aw, thank you for having me.  My first blog was a mommy blog and it was super fun. But soon after starting it, I realized what I really craved was a space of my own; I mean I love my children and all, but I already spend 24/7 with them,  so writing about their antics, funny as they may be... well, it was overload.

So I created Once Upon a Time, where I get to explore my passion for  books and writing.  Sometimes my children and husband might weasel themselves in, but for the most part, it's about me and my writing.

I know a lot of aspiring writers who are intimidated by the idea of blogging.  They want to, but they are worried it will cut into their (already precious) writing time.  You're a prolific blogger - how do you recommend one be both a successful blogger and writer?

It's definitely a challenge.  I started with posting whenever inspiration struck, but that only led to inconsistency. I also used to spend countless hours reading blogs, because they are so addicting. As you can imagine, not much time was left for actual writing.

So, for me, it's about time management and scheduling. I now post twice a week (or try to), and allow myself an hour a day to read blogs and comment.

It looks like you’re a big reader - do you set aside time for that?

Honestly, finding time to read is the one thing that comes easy, and maybe it's because I don't think I could live without it. 

I read 2-4 hours a day. And now that my little devils are a bit older and don't require my undivided attention all day long, some days I get more time in. 

I watch little TV and... well I think this is a big one...

I don't have internet access on my phone, gasp! What?! I know, I know.. but hear me out.. I see it everywhere, people are glued to their phones; at check out lines, at the playground, during dinner at a restaurant, while walking down the street, on the train ride home. People are addicted, and I would be too if I had such easy access;  and you might not notice it, but time adds up. So,  instead of the internet, I choose to carry a book and a notebook with me.

You do a lot of reviews. Have you ever given a bad review? Why or why not?

No. I don't post bad reviews. It's all so subjective, so I'd rather spend my time sharing my favorite reads. At the end of each month I post my favorite for the month and encourage my readers to share theirs with me. 

Do you think blogging is a helpful self-marketing tool?

Yes, it can be. There's definitely the potential to reach a large audience, but you have to do the work and reach out.

What other websites / resources can you recommend for writers?

One of my top favorite blogs is http://blog.janicehardy.com/. It is full of amazing articles on the craft of writing, and she posts every single day. 

My other recommendation for anyone who aspires to become a better writer are the collection of writing books from Writer's Digest. They cover everything, from how to write dialogue, to description, point of view... they are truly a great resource.

What is your genre, and what led you to it? Does your genre influence the style of your blog?

I love reading YA and I write YA, so that's what you'll find on my blog. There's a sense of freedom, a sense of 'anything can happen' in YA that I often find missing in adult fiction. Adults have replaced endless and imaginable possibilities with rules and boundaries. YA on the other hand, are still willing to go there with you, you just have to make sure that you treat them with the same level of respect you would an adult audience.

Any words of inspiration for aspiring writers?

Well, not that I'm an expert, far from it actually.. but if writing is what you want to do, then writing is what you need to do. Writing isn't easy, at least for most writers, and it's easy to give in to the inner voices that tell you you suck.. tell them to shut it. Push through the hard days, put in the work and you'll see yourself grow as a writer.

A question for my followers: Is it hard for you tell the inner voices to shut it? Or can you block them out pretty easily, and make the ink flow?