Francisco Stork’s Blog

The rain on this April evening reminds of my grandfather’s house in Tampico, Mexico, where I grew up. It is the sound of the rain on the roof of the house. The soft light of the lamp falling on the book. Mostly I think the memories come from the combination of sound and warmth. In my grandfather’s house, la casa de mi abuelito, the roof was made of tin and so the rain made sounds that, depending on the force of the rain, resembled anything from dozen ballerinas tip toeing to a million marbles dropping out of a big bag in the sky. Even as a six-year-old, I liked the rain. I liked it when it rained so hard that the noise absorbed all my thoughts and there was this delicious mixture of fear and safety. Inevitably, during those hard rain storms, the lights would go out. Then, the kerosene lamps were lit and there was complete immersion in all the senses: the sound of the rain, the smell of kerosene, the shadows cast by the flickering flames. If it was too early to go to sleep, then we would all sit in the living room, listening, maybe saying a word here and there. A word or two now and then was all that was needed.

For the past month or so I have been working on the final edits to my third novel, Marcelo in the Real World. Today we finished the copyediting process. It is a funny feeling to see my work “corrected” that way. It is a humbling experience to see all that I missed despite the reading and re-reading and revising that I did before sending the manuscript off to publishers. It made me realize how much I need others with different skills to bring a book to completion. Even though the book is different now than the first submission, it is still very much my own. It is as if the initial vision of the work lay hidden and the editing cleared the way for it to emerge. This, I think, is what a good editor does - she opens the way so that the beauty and the light of the work can shine forth. Marcelo was very fortunate to have found an editor like Cheryl Klein at Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic. It is truly beautiful when a book and an editor are made for each other - when the characters and ideas in a book resonate with the sensitivities of the editor and when the editor has such kinship with the book’s meaning that she can articulate for the author what the author dimly feels. Publishing a book is such hard work. And in the midst of the hard work there is the element of “luck” or “fate” or “grace” - some mystery that cannot be accounted for in rational terms. Dozens of people read a manuscript and one likes it. Why that person? It is a mystery - like love.

Not that I’m jealous or anything, but the authors that I list below are not only good writers (you’ll enjoy reading their books as much as I did - I guarantee it!) but they also have really good websites. As opposed to, you know, this one, which is kind of on the serious side. (Serious sounds so much better than boring, don’t you think?). But, seriously, these author’s websites are full of information that you will find interesting. They are “generous” websites. Their websites don’t just talk about the authors or their books but they provide lots of helpful information to young adults and adults and they are lots of fun. Check them out (and read their wonderful books).

K.L. Going Klgoing.com
Lauren Grodstein www.laurengrodstein.com
Mary Hogan www.maryhogan.com
Blake Nelson www.blakenelsonbooks.com
Allison Van Diepen www.allisonvandiepen.com

Here is something written by a fourteen-year-old girl:

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.”

The girl’s name was Anne Frank and she wrote that the 23rd of February 1944. Are young people different now than they were in Anne’s time? Do fourteen-year-olds think and feel like her? My experience is that many do. Perhaps not as eloquently or with the incredible sensitivity of Anne Frank . . . but yes, they do. It is my experience that a fourteen-year-old is capable of the same depth of vision, the same questioning, the same emotional life as an adult. This is specially the case where the young person has experienced hardship in his or her life. (For great examples of this, read: The Freedom Writers Diary)

I write this now because there are so many books for young adults that underestimate the young person’s ability to understand, to feel, to wonder and perceive - abilities which, if anything, probably diminish as the young person grows into adulthood and is numbed into conformity. Annie Dillard, one of my favorite authors, wrote that you should write as if you were terminally ill and did not have that much more to live. And you should write for readers who are similarly terminally ill. What would you say if you had a year to live? What would you read? One of the reasons that Anne Frank’s diary is so beautiful and poignant is because Anne is aware that at any moment the Gestapo could be forcing open the bookcase that hid the entrance to the “secret annex.”

All of this is not to say that young adult literature should not be humorous and suspenseful and, well, fun. Nor is this to say that young adult literature should always have a “message”. Literature that the author would like young adults to read (I like that description much better than “Young Adult Literature” which is full of marketing connotations) ought to be truthful. Truthful in the sense that the author has pushed his questioning to the limits beyond which there is only mystery. Truthful in that the author has done all he or she can to be honest with himself and his readers in what he says and how he says it.

By this I mean blogging. I mean, I am probably bad at many other things but for the sake of my self-image, let’s just take one at a time. When Behind the Eyes came out, I was told by my publisher that I needed to have a site where I could communicate with readers. Ideally, she said, you should be writing a blog at least once a week. Once a week? I don’t have enough to write once a year. Look at the last time I wrote something here and you’ll see what I’m talking about. If I were to write once a week, I would have to resort to telling my imaginary readers (And I’m a one hundred percent certain that there are no real, live and kicking, actual persons who ever read this webpage) about the snow on my driveway and how hard it is to shovel it. Nevertheless, I’ve decided that in 2008 I’m going to be more relaxed about blogging. No longer will I wait to write something useful or inspiring. From now on, I’ll write about the books I read, the movies I see, the music I hear, the people I meet, the candidates I like, TV shows, video games, the weather, celebrities, my dreams, restaurants, food. I am in so in awe of those good writers who can blog almost every day about the most common things which they somehow turn into subjects that are not just personal but communal. How wonderful it would be to have such freedom, such humility and lack of inhibition. Okay, in 2008 I will be more open and try as hard as I can to make universal bread from the dough of the particular.