How You Got That Story: Thoughts for the Writer Seeking It

 

The house stood in the middle of Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago and was owned by a priestly family known as Katros. When Romans destroyed the city in 70 CE, the house burned to the ground, like many others. Archeologists who discovered it in the 1970s called it Burnt House, and I first heard of it on a trip to the city in my twenties.

The story itself was intriguing, but what attracted me most was the idea of using the archeological site surrounding the house as a setting for a new play. I thought about it the entire day after being there, and when I came home, I started writing dialogue.

My story went its own many-tentacled way beyond the facts, but Burnt House offered a rich background for the tale I wanted to tell — which was about a family in our own times. I know I wouldn’t have even thought of it without discovering the house. As a writer, I’ve learned to look for moments like these because they spark our creative storylines in unexpected, out-of-the-ordinary ways.

While travel is one of the best ways to encounter story lines, there are plenty of them waiting for us at home. I was visiting a friend’s church once at Eastertime when his daughter noticed a woman ahead of us in a black blazer. A white thread was spread across her back, curving at one end. The woman was completely oblivious to it.

My friend had the perfect answer to his daughter’s questions about the blazer and thread. “Maybe it’s something you can write a story about when we get home,” he said. “Think up reasons for how that thread got on there.”

That’s how you can tell if someone is a great writer, I thought. It isn’t just about being observant of what’s around you. It’s about having the ability to imagine what happened before and after you encounter any given moment where something new is presented — and preferably, that something is surprising and unusual.

Read more--

Talk. Write. Show. Don't Preach! Writing for Young People

 

The first play I saw in a theater as a child had a princess in it. Much as I wanted to like it, I was soon bored. I had already been fascinated by movies like The Wizard of Oz, shown every year on Thanksgiving. Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West were far more fascinating.

Other movies, plays and stories drew me in with dinosaurs, ghosts, horses and adventures. I wasn’t a writer then, but I knew that certain stories were thrilling — and others, not so much.

Safe stories with plots that appeared to go wrong for a minute or two and then righted themselves, seemed fake in ways I couldn’t have explained at six or seven years old. I knew when something happened that seemed genuine — and that is always what I look for, since.

I've written a number of plays for children, and each theater has its own, fairly large audiences. Subjects ranged from historical to folk tale adaptations with hints of magic and fantasy to a young teen satire. I also wrote a three-book, middle-grade historical series about the Beat Generation in 1958.

I decided to set the Beat Street series in the 1950s because I thought Beats sparked what we later called the hippie era and a new way of looking at art. I didn’t always know I wanted to be an artist, but I had a feeling that artists were more like me than doctors, lawyers, or CEOs. And part of me knew that, as someone who loved making up stories, I was headed for a creative life.

Early on, I learned that telling a story to children is like telling any other story: we need to show, not tell; share, not preach, and most of all, create stories and plot lines to captivate readers and audiences, no matter how old or young they are. Yes, there are things we don't want to show to a three-year-old. At the same time, we don't want the three-year-old to be so bored she wanders off--or worse, falls asleep.

Read more here.

 

All Grown Up and Reading Middle-School Books? Me, Too

Yes, I read fiction and nonfiction for adults all the time — but I’ve been reading middle school and young adult (YA) novels for a while. I started thinking about young readers after going to work at Scholastic Choices Magazine. It was one of the more fun jobs I had — and I loved meeting seventh and eighth graders and finding out what they thought about the world.

Still, as an adult, many people say you’re not supposed to read middle school or young-adult fiction. When I was in my twenties, it was unheard of — and if you did, you wouldn’t tell anyone for fear of them judging you as a reader and a person.

What people may not realize if they don’t read this genre is how spectacular some of the authors are — and how much you miss by not reading them. They also may not know that middle school and YA books can help us understand our kids better — if we have them.

My own situation led me to younger readers’ books after I had to leave Scholastic Magazine to move to the Midwest due to family job changes. Luckily, I was able to write articles for Scholastic as a freelancer. I wrote about budgets, cooking, teen marriage, and much more — along with expanding to another Scholastic magazine focused on current events. I didn’t think about middle school books, though, until my friend Tori became a copy editor in the book division.

Read more on Medium.

New Year, New Notebook? Motivating Resolution

My notebook is a mess. If I'm being honest, I've had five notebooks over the past few years and they've all been a mess. 

It hasn't always been that way. I used to have notebooks where you could just turn the pages and if it was chaotic, at least there was a title for every new thought - idea or asterisks or some way to just page though and see what I was thinking. 

Then, something happened and who knows what drove me down this stupid path? I was here, I was there, I was anywhere, but I didn't have my notebook with me because I got tired of lugging it. So instead of writing IN my notebook, I scribbled something on a piece of paper and shoved it into the notebook when I got home.

Now if I want to page through, I have to make sure dozens of little paper notes don't come flittering out of the main notebook. And the last third of my notebook still has all these blank pages, begging for me to write in them. (Only writers can hear a blank page when it begs, and it's not pretty, I promise you).

So what do I do? The only solution, as far as I can see, is to bring that notebook with me everywhere again--my rule for most of my life (which I also made my character Ruby do in The Beat on Ruby's Street and which I did myself when writing Crooked Lines: A Single Mom's Jewish Journey. But I'm just not doing right now,  so I can't make this a new year's resolution. 

Use the note feature on the phone? I do, and it's not a bad solution. I like paper, but at least I have my phone with me, most of the time. 

Meanwhile -- here's another resolution I might be able to keep, a more motivating one.

Be Not Afraid is the name of a book written by Jan Pawel, or Pope John Paul II (formerly Karol Wojtyla). I call him Jan Pawel because the Polish people do and after writing a play on the Solidarity union, I preferred the Polish title. Jan Pawel also wrote one of my favorite plays, The Jeweler's Shop.

I'm sharing this because whatever your religion (or non-religiion) might be, I'd still recommend a glance at these books -- for the writing alone. I'd also recommend them because they talk about courage and love--two things everyone needs more of. Which brings me to that resolution thing -- to be less afraid in 2023.

I think I had enough fear in the past three years for a lifetime--and there's more where that came from and lots more before that. So, my hard-line goal (because resolutions always break) is to get less afraid - a little less every day. How does that sound? Am I asking you? Not really. I'm telling me instead.

Little by little. Walking, driving, talking, writing. Little less fear every day, including fear of lugging around that notebook.

That's all she wrote this morning.

Happy New Year.

This Magazine is My Favorite Phone Read

Are you reading my blog through your phone? What else are you reading on there? I'm not asking to judge. I'm asking because I'm reading a lot on my phone, too. I'm just curious.

Wait.

I'm not "just curious." I'm curious about WHAT you're reading. 

I read the news every day (or at least the part that's not subscription only, because --
*inflation* 
-- to say the least.

But after reading all the news I can stand, I turn to something else - and read a lot of it. And no, you won't guess.

Apartment Therapy.

You read that right. I promise.

I don't live in an apartment, and I always hated housebeautiful type spreads because who has the money for them? In fact, I've been known to throw them down in waiting rooms.

But. I love this digital magazine (though it may be in print too, who knows?) Reading about all the different things you can do with each room and space - especially if you don't have a lot of space -- makes me feel relaxed in ways I don't usually get to experience. 

Scrolling through Apartment Therapy, I can see the new colors of the year (I love all of them.) I can figure out how to furnish a kitchen that's on the small side. I can find an apartment (or two) I would actually want to live in. I can figure out how to make a bathroom look a lot better than mine does (knowing I picked absolutely the wrong color to paint it last year).

I didn't even realize how much I liked this magazine until it started showing up nearly first on my news feed. At first I felt a little weird, as in, "What are you doing here again?" And then I thought, well, is that so bad if it shows up more than say, WashPo?

Even if it is bad, I don't care. Apartment Therapy, you're good for me. 

And though you're not asking, second choice are the travel blogs that showcase tiny houses. 

Which brings me back to asking you.

What are you reading on your phone? 

Photo by Spacejoy on Unsplash

Octopus Prize

Friends who know me well know I'm a headline hunter, hungry for headlines that don't necessarily make me stop and read-- but DO have a chance of sparking a conversation (and even better, a brief one.)

First prize headline this week:

Octopuses torture and eat themselves after mating (and scientists finally know why)

Don't we all? (Torture and eat ourselves, not knowing why)?

Other headlines catching my eye right now:

Why the Depp-Heard trial is so much worse than you realize

Nope. No. I already realize. Can't read.

Is Garlic Getting Easier to Peel? A Slate Investigation

Does this mean it's time for Tik Tok?

4 Healthy Eating Habits Tom Cruise Follows To Feel Great at 59

1. Money 2. Money 3. Money 4. Money

But the Octopus Prize for all headlines this week goes to

Putin losing power, Russia officials think Ukraine war is lost 

I'm in. Completely.

Octopus photo: Ed Bierman

The Silent (Letter) Treatment

Are you trying to teach your child to spell? For me, that meant loads of repetition and a new understanding of why English is said to be the hardest language.

Why are these poor letters being dragged out if they're not going to do anything? A shy b here, embarrassed h there, an unassuming l. To say nothing of a nervous l and hidden t, and a ton of others:

• B: climb, comb
• H: heir, honest
• K: knife, know
• L: calf, talk
• O: colonel
• S: debris, island
• T: ballet, listen
• U: guess, guilt
• W: answer, two

It's like being invited to a party and not being able to tell anyone your name or what you're thinking.  When my son asked me why the letters were in these words, I had no explanation; none. 

Eventually I looked it up and told him the silent letters were originally pronounced. Google told me that since the language evolved across different continents, different cultures changed the way things sounded. When the changes occurred, some letters became silent, but I guess people didn't have the heart to throw them off the word?

Two other reasons I found:

2. The expansion of the British Empire led to words being borrowed from a variety of languages. The words used the original spellings, and if a letter didn't exist, substitutes were used. (That seems like the first point I made, but the website I consulted it thought it was a whole new point, so whatever).

Lastly, silent letters were supposedly introduced to help us differentiate between two words that sound similar or to provide pronunciation guidance. This sounds completely silly, so I think we should just use my original explanation and leave it at that. 

As for helping your child with spelling, I would just break the word up in syllables, go through it slowly with them, and go over it with them at least three times. Yes, I know this is time consuming and if you're at work you need some sort of robot (Alexa)? to help? 

Other thoughts I found on helping children spell, silent letters or no:

Five Ways to Teach Your Kid to Spell Words

How to Teach Spelling So Kids Will Remember

Parents Can Try Any of These 11 Strategies to Help a Child Struggling with Spelling

Spelling sign: J E Theriot

Resonating Quotes

 

Someone asked me this week if there are particular passages or sections of books that stay with me. Though I like to think of reading a book as a river that brings me from my own world to another, I do tend to land on sections that stick in my mind and that I return to now and again, just because. 

I thought I'd share a few with you today to see if any resonate. 

"When the gods want to punish us, they answer our prayers." Though Oscar Wilde may have been one of the first people who said this, I heard it first watching Out of Africa and then again in The West Wing. I have a few things/situations I really want and have gotten a few of them, too. In one case, I did experience a punishing aftermath and in the other case, things went well and even gloriously. 

It's an interesting thing to think of, though, gods chittering away somewhere scheming to punish you. Of course, we sow the seeds of our own destruction--but like humans everywhere, need to blame it on someone else.

"Beware my lord of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on." Shakespeare's Othello play wouldn't pack the punch it has were it not for it's villain Iago, whose plot against his master is so carefully devised it's impossible to resist--so meets its target precisely. 

The green-eyed monster is a persistent disease and I've been stricken by it too many times not to know it preys on insecurity and must at all costs be avoided. Shakespeare, on the other hand, knew how tall an order that was--and frames it as beautifully as a bull's eye.

"The cake it Otello." This is not from a book, but instead is what a Russian friend said after eating cake with me at a wedding. He put his hands around his throat to show how the cake was choking him and I loved it so much, I put the moment into a play. 

Writers.

"Becoming drunk is a journey that generally elates him in the early stages—he's good company, expansive, mischievous and fun, the famous old poet, almost as happy listening as talking. But once the destination is met, once established up there on that unsunny plateau, a fully qualified drunk, the nastier muses, the goblins of aggression, paranoia, self-pity take control. The expectation now is that an evening with John will go bad somehow, unless everyone around is prepared to toil at humouring and flattering and hours of frozen-faced listening. No one will be.”

Ian McEwan's book Saturday is in my top-five list of favorite books and I hope this passage will encourage you to read more. His description of a relative instantly made me think of someone I knew, but more to the point, every word is a gem and that's true of the entire book and most everything else he writes. So-- there.

“I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung my out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. 

That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, but because he's more myself than I am. What ever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire." 

I included part of this quote in another blog about my favorite quotes on God, but couldn't leave it out here. Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights has always been a kind of mirror for me, echoing so much of the way I feel about love, God and living that I can hardly stand it. Yet if I'm being honest, I need to say I haven't lived this way, but love the romantic heights and depths in which the characters travel so effortlessly. And the first few sentences are exactly, truly, deeply how I feel about death.

Do you have any favorite quotes that are still in your mind after months or years of putting down a book? Send your thoughts in the comment section or contact me via my website at jennazark.com.

Reading #Burnout

How much do you read every day? I'm not talking about books you read for enjoyment. I'm talking about news, texts, social media, emails, letters and everything else that comes your way, including ads.

I'm asking because I've been in a reading burnout for years, and I don't think I'm alone. While I love picking up a book at the end of the day, I'm often tired of reading all the other stuff on my phone and email--and I know some of it's actually important. 

Example: I got a text yesterday saying my Go-Phone provider is changing to 3G and my phone has to be "adjusted" -- whatever that means. While it's the last thing I feel like dealing with right now, at least it's useful information.

My g-mail account, meanwhile, at least tries to sort things into useful or primary information, social emails and promotional ones. Then there's my Outlook email at work, which doesn't sort at all. 

I can hardly stand sifting through all of it, but sift I must. I have decided surveys on how my experience was using a product or going to a hair salon or doctor should be illegal, at the very least. Seeing them is an instant DELETE for me.

We all know what a time-trap social media can be, let alone news channels. Snail mail still has to be opened every day or it piles up. So how do we deal with all the endless and mostly unwanted information bombarding us? 

I try to do a quick triage every time I look at email with the aim of discarding superfluous copy. That helps a little, but not much. My husband hardly ever looks at email, but he's in the trucking business, so doesn't have to. Writers aren't as lucky.

I'm starting to wonder if this could be a new business opportunity? Get paid to sift through people's emails. Of course, you'd still have to read your own, but at least you'd get paid for most of the burnout. I'm not at the point where I'd hire someone, but I may get there some day, who knows?

At this point I am truly tired of not getting walk time or bike time or just plain me time because I'm stuck inside reading information I don't need from people I don't know or even want to know.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Now that's an email I will read.

Burnout photo: Erica Firment

Neighborhood Watch

Most people who read The Beat on Ruby's Street or Fool's Errand assume my favorite part of New York is Greenwich Village. Is is one of my favorites, yes. I'll always love it there--having had too many wonderful times there (with my first breakthrough at Circle Rep there, too).

There are also a few other neighborhoods where I always wanted to live (and btw I never lived in Greenwich Village). 

One is Roosevelt Island, which had less expensive apartments (and a very long waiting list) and water all around it (which is why I wanted to be there). Unfortunately, I had to give up due to said waiting list.) There's a great movie set on the island called Dark Water, but after seeing it, you may not want to go to Roosevelt Island, even for a visit. (Of course, I hope you'll ignore the movie and go).

Another is Riverdale, where a dear friend lives now. I admit, I was initially attracted to it because of the Archie/Riverdale comics, but the pictures my friend posts on Instagram and or sends to me have tempted me sorely, and I can see why she loves living there.

Last but not least is the Upper East Side, which has long been known as a snooty enclave but which I liked anyway, because it was always a much quieter part of town. You won't find all the clockin' and bangin' of the West Side and Midtown or Downtown there. When I worked at The Dramatists Guild, they used to send me on errands on the East Side and that's when I first got to know it a little.

The row houses are beautiful, with small trees outside and pretty shops lining the streets. I am positive you have to be super rich to live there, though there is a famous hotel called The Barbizon that was originally built as a young women's hotel. Famous writers, actors and others lived there, including Sylvia Plath, who included it in her novel The Bell Jar.

Now, the hotel has been converted to expensive condos, but I read there are still a few holdouts from earlier days paying $150 a month. I think there are places like that all over the city, which has had rent controlled apartments for decades. It's the only way people with regular incomes could even hope to afford to living in New York.

The Village itself became unaffordable decades ago, too, though my sister had some kind of rent control when she lived there. In fact, her apartment on Perry Street is where my character Ruby lived with her family in book one of the Beat Street Series. 

At this point, my sister and her husband live in a rent-controlled place on the Upper West Side. It's a great place (how could you go wrong being a block away from Zabar's)? My fantasy neighborhood will always be on the East Side, though -- tied pretty tightly with Riverdale.

What this tells me is that I love the city but really want to live in the country--which must be why I liked the quieter neighborhoods? I haven't quite got that all figured out yet--and New York is way out of my price range anyway--BUT.

It's fun to write about Ruby living in the Village because she and her family were bohemians and most of the time, scrounging around for food and whatever else they could find., because that's how the Village was until they chased the artists out.

I want us to remember the artists and a time when the Village was really cool--not where you lived for status reasons. And if you ever go, I really hope you'll see the ghosts of the artists who lived and worked there--in a city so much greater than the sum of its parts.

Greenwich Village street: Robert Huffstutter

Book Year

What books did you turn to this past year? I wanted to share the ones that took me away from the turmoil of 2020. While the "want to reads" were published this past year, the books I read are all over the map in terms of when they were published.

1. Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser--Having adored Fraser's book on Marie Antoinette, I was pleased and excited to receive this as a gift. I'm only quarter of the way through but can tell you Fraser puts you in the center of Mary's passions and though I want her to succeed, I'm racing along trying to figure out each wrong turn and how it led to tragedy.

2. The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg--Edie Middlestein is physically and emotionally larger than any real-life woman would be, but if anyone in your family is remotely like her, you can see the parallels everywhere. Meanwhile, the effect she has on her daughter, ex-husband and grandchildren is riveting, to say the least.

3. Risking the Rapids: How My Wilderness Adventure Healed My Childhood by Irene O'Garden--I am a long-time fan of this author, and keep coming back because she nails every journey so viscerally. (Check out her newest publication Glad to Be Human, which was published this year, as well). Digging into family stories from the safety of one's home is one thing; but risking one's life while taking on rapids in Montana quite another. What she conveys, in brilliant prose, is how growing up in a dysfunctional family was a much more dangerous journey, and how it could only and best be understood by facing down physical danger and understanding that she had the courage to be a survivor.

Want to Reads from 2020

The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel--the only reason I haven't jumped on this book about Thomas Cromwell's endgame is that I'm still reading Mary Queen of Scots, and I've also spent way more time binge watching this year. I devoured Mantel's first two books and anticipate I'll do the same with this one.

Want by Lynn Steger Strong--The years I spent in Park Slope (which changed in a long, lockstep march from an artists' haven to artisan hell) pulled me into this novel and after reading just a few pages, pulled it onto my wish list. One woman's struggle to keep her family afloat in a city that measures everyone by how well they're doing is yet another parallel to our lives. Even the title reeled me in--and I hope to let you know what I think after I read it.

Of course while I'm reading, I'm writing too, and just started sitting down to begin part three of the Beat Street Series (book two was published in 2018). It's taken me a while to get to it because I wrote another book (for adults) that I'm hoping to send out to agents and publishers this year. I'll let you know what it's about, I promise. But not now.

Redhead reading photo: Frank Kovalchek

For My Strangers

 "I write for myself and strangers," said Gertrude Stein, and she's right that she is not writing for friends. Because friends already know us a certain way; some know more than others, and we are not trying to reach them with our writing. In some unexplainable way, perhaps, we are trying to reach ourselves.

In another way, perhaps, strangers are our friends too. They are the people we talk to when writing; imaginary friends who will always understand. When I write my Beat Street books, or plays, or anything else, I am in fact writing to people I can see clearly in my mind's eye; and I know exactly what they look like when I'm talking to them.

For Beat Street books, my goal is to set the the narrator (Ruby) right next to you, chatting away as you walk thought the streets of Greenwich Village in 1958. You are the invisible but essential stranger she's never known, living in the present, but looking in on her and rooting for her to win. 

In the book I'm working on now, I also want to walk down the street with you and if we find a nice café, steer you inside for coffee or wine.  As a reader, you are supporting me in a way that a friend can't, just by taking the time to open my book or sit through my play. I'm reaching out in the dark to see if you'll take my hand, and when you do, it's worth the journey--even if you disagree with what I'm saying.

The only thing I don't get is what you're thinking--and I don't mean reviewing the book, necessarily, though reviews can shed light on what I'm putting out there. What I'd love to know more about is YOU. 

When I read something that resonates, or knocks me out, or makes me stop reading just to react to what I just read, the moment kind of transcends itself. It takes me out of time into something deeper that compels me to look at my own life, and see where it connects to what I'm reading about. 

So. Strangers, but not. I like having you in my life and I'd love to know you better. But not too much, because then we wouldn't be the kind of readers and writers we are to each other.

Anyway, thank you for being my strangers and listening to me rattle on here. Happy reading! And writing, too.

Girl with secret: Katie Tegtmeyer

Kindle-licious

First, I want to let you know I will be hosting a middle-grade book chat on Twitter Monday, September 28 at 9 p.m. Eastern time (8 p.m. Central) at #MGBookChat on Twitter.

Here's a poster and everything:

Hope you can make it! Meanwhile--

 --my Kindle's battery has worn down; a sad sign that I am not doing much traveling these days. I do read on it at home, but it had become a fixture of my life whenever I went on a trip for work or vacation. It's been so long that I picked it up, I had forgotten what I had on there.

A quick search showed me two books I had really been looking forward to reading: One Day in December by Josie Silver and Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner.

I also found Ian McEwan's novel Nutshell, the only one I haven't finished; This Close to Happy by Daphne Merkin; and Loner in the Garrett: a Writer's Companion by Jennifer Hubbard in my unread pile. 

Clearly, I need to travel again. Or else, pretend I'm traveling. Fiction writers are supposed to be good at pretending, and I can at least so that much after so many months without going anywhere (and barely leaving the house when I think about it, except for walks or shopping.

Luckily, a friend sent a paperback about Mary Queen of Scots and I am also reading a book about three Victorian sisters. There really is something to that heft in your hand when you're reading a "real" book--and I think that's what has kept me from returning to my Kindle.

Still, there are a lot of good books on there I want to get to. In my defense, my neck has been in a lot of pain due to too much time at the computer, which makes it harder to sit and read a Kindle. I have to figure that out. Or get rid of the neck pain which I'd be happy to do if I could.

In any case, I feel a little like I found some new treasures, having forgotten what I had on my device. (I wanted to say devices, but I refuse to sit and read anything on a phone.)

I must also admit to you I've been watching far too much TV for anyone's good, though I have found some extremely binge-worthy stuff, which is probably another reason I haven't been into the Kindle. And as winter looms with no travel possibilities in sight, I am glad I have these two paperbacks to keep me company.

I do realize I'll have to get more paperbacks to get through the winter. Or, pretend I'm on a plane and turn on my Kindle. That's starting to sound like a better and better idea.

Books photo: Jay Cross

Likeable? Strong? Bringing Both Traits to Your Characters

 

When I was starting to write plays, one of my main aims was to write strong women characters. What I ran into here and there were a lot of people saying, "Don't you want your character to be likable?"

This drove me crazy, because why do women always have to be likeable? Can't they be "like" everyone else?

What I found though, was that if my heroines were considered "too" dark or angry, the plays didn't go anywhere. This also drove me crazy, but then I started thinking on it a little.

What I arrived at, eventually, is that when people open a book or see a play or movie they are kinda-sorta looking for someone to identify with as a kindred spirit. Someone in that book/play/film is the stand-in for who they see themselves to be--or want to be.

I don't know if that's what we're looking for in leaders, or great supreme court justices (cue the crowds chanting RBG's name). But in fiction, we are, and if we don't get it--we can be pretty unforgiving about that.

I decided to keep writing strong women characters, but add a little more kindness or perception or sensitivity or humor or something to them--whatever I wanted to see in a friend. When I did that, it seemed to make a difference in how the play I was writing was received. That difference was positive, so I thought--hmm. Yeah. Okay.

When I think about this now, I wonder if the word likability is misplaced. Maybe what we are really looking for is connectability--someone we connect with on a deep enough level to carry us through an entire book/film/story. Someone who would do the things we would--if we only could.

Creating main characters that people can connect to emotionally is crucial if you're going to succeed in writing. They don't have to be perfect people--in fact it's better if they're not--but they do have to be compelling enough so even if they do something "bad," you can still relate to them.

For more on this, I found a few resources:

What Makes a Character Likable?

The First Rule of Creating Likable Characters

How to Make Unlikeable Characters Likeble

Photo of young woman (maybe Ruby)? by Christina Welsh

What's OK for Your Middle Schooler to Read?

I just watched a scene between a teen and a child that knocked me out. I've come to admire much of the writing on Fear the Walking Dead (who'd a thunk it)? --as well as the first series The Walking Dead until they got tiresome with endless fighting. Hopefully Fear won't go down that road, and keep characters in its sights in every episode.

This scene happened between Alicia, who I believe is in her late teens, and an 11-year-old girl named Charlie, after some very violent scenes that resulted in tragedy. 

The scene and entire episode involves a storm in which both Alicia and Charlie take shelter in the same house. Alicia first tries to get Charlie to leave, and then leaves herself, but has to return when the storm becomes a hurricane. Charlie is obviously frightened and will not speak to Alicia, who says she will never forgive Charlie for destroying her family. Alicia also says she wants Charlie to live a long time so she will live with what she did. 

What struck me about this episode was the youth of both protagonists, and how they may have navigated playing their respective roles. In writing my own middle grade and Y/A fiction, I hear adults say that some of the choices my 12-year-old character Ruby makes seem risky at times. I think my character does take risks, though I believe young readers are seeing far riskier things in the news every day.

For example, Ruby leaves home and lies about it to her parents., Accompanied by her brother's 16 year old girlfriend,  Ruby goes halfway across the country to help a friend. As the author, it was important to me to make sure an older teenager was there with Ruby, and that she wasn't running off by herself. 

I do believe it's up to each and every parent to judge what he or she is going to allow their child to read or see. I would not recommend children watching any of the Walking Dead shows. But some of the actors are children, and they go through some pretty hair-raising things. If I were a parent, I think I would allow my child to act in the series. I say that because I cannot help but think our kids see and understand a lot of serious and scary stuff these days, and they need a way to deal with it.

On the other hand, timing is everything, and it's up to each parent to decide what books or movies or games they want to share with their children. All I can say is I think young people are brave, layered and resilient, and it's a very great privilege to write for them.

Illustration: Scott Rolfs

Reading the Bad Boys

Last week, a friend tagged me to share seven covers of my favorite books.  I liked not having to explain why I like them, because I'm not sure you ever really can explain why you like something.  To me, it's that the elements line up in your mind, and something that becomes a favorite is, as an agent once said, "striking a chord with you."

One book I shared was Phillip Roth's Pastoral, and while I love that book, I also love a lot of his writing because he explores so many layers and contradictions about what it means to be an American Jew. He also takes on the Israeli viewpoint here and there, and uses an exceptional amount of humor in looking at both.

There, I guess I did kinda-sorta tell you why I like him. But the main reason I'm telling you this is that for many years, I wasn't reading Phillip Roth's work because so many people were dissing him. Feminists were bothered by his weak female characters and endless descriptions of sexual encounters. Ex-wives wrote books about him being abusive and cruel. 

When I did pick up my first Phillip Roth book (The Counterlife), I can't even tell you why I did it. It might have been that reading a review piqued my curiosity. I think I remember staying at the home of a producer during a playwriting workshop, and I needed something to read before going to bed. I picked up the book and within seconds, was enthralled. 

I haven't read a ton of Roth's books, but the ones I have read have definitely stricken all kinds of chords. If he is going on and on about hopping into bed, I must be skipping those books; but the Jewish content is firing on all cylinders, and I can only say more power to him, for that.

The other writer I was not supposed to like was Norman Mailer. Though his book The Deer Park didn't make my top favorites, it is definitely way up there and one I loved reading in college. It was a favorite of a friend, and her recommendation was enough to get me to open it. The characters were so intensely real and the story of Palm Springs Hollywood folk so compelling I was truly grateful for the recommendation.

Both these authors are considered "bad boy writers" and are typically disliked by feminists. Though I consider myself feminist too, I am very glad I read Roth and Mailer. The other author who was an essential part of my reading life was Dostoevsky, whose books I carried around with me like a pilgrim for many, many years.

In some ways reading him is more problematic than Mailer and Roth, because Dostoevsky was anti-Semitic. I absolutely hate that, and there's simply no excuse for it. Yet, if I hadn't read his work, I feel I would definitely missed out horribly on my education as a writer. 

Mainly, what I'm saying here is there will always be artists you disagree with and some may even be despicable. But, in the end, it's important to read as much as you can by as many people as you can, because if they are good at what they do, you can learn a lot from them. And even if you despise their personalities, you may still find something in their writing that really strikes a chord.

That chord is what every writer needs to nourish. That doesn't mean you can't call them out on their mistakes and flaws--in fact you can and should. But I don't believe it means you should stop reading them.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know.

Reader photo:      gregwest98

House of Hemingway

A few weeks ago, my husband and I went down to Key Largo to get out of snowy Dodge, which seems to want to stay in winter mode forever, but I DON'T want to whine today. We couldn't leave (or at least, I couldn't), without visiting the home of Ernest Hemingway in Key West.

I am guessing some of my readers will know him, some won't, and when I was younger I didn't much like his work until I saw a (really old) movie called To Have and Have Not with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. It was so funny and intense and the dialogue was so good I thought, "Am I missing something?"

I went back to reading Hemingway and liked the pace and deceptive simplicity of his style. Some writers have to go all the way to Eternity and back before they'll let you read a sentence; I much prefer the economy and punch I see in Hemingway. Maybe that's because of being a playwright or maybe it's just what I respond to, but I think most people would agree with me. (You would, right)?

What was funny, and mostly sad about visiting his home was that the guide focused on a lot of his marital messes - and made it sound like he was fairly odious as a husband and in many other ways, too. The tour was full of sarcasm and humor, and yes, I get that he may not have been anyone's favorite person.

But it didn't tell me where the writing came from, or what motivated him to write - and I would have loved to know. While his marriages were going badly, there are other indications that he liked people and was able to have enough empathy to paint them colorfully and indelibly. He cared deeply and passionately about the stories he was trying to tell, and there was no mention of that in this tour.

All this made me think about what we expect of our artists and writers. We want them to be perfect, inside and out, or at least in all their relationships, when no one is or can be. Writers and artists, especially, are not prone to be saints.

I'm not saying they should be murderers or criminals. But do we need them to be angels? I don't. What I do crave in writing is the experience a particular author is having, his/her ability to immerse into a character's life and the intensity of that life - the obstacles faced and the passion required to overcome them.

On the other hand, it was fun to see Hemingway's pool, which his wife insisted on building (though he said hated it; I don't believe that). As a fan of pools, I was glad they had one, especially as the day we visited it was broiling in Key West. It was also great to see all the six-toed cats at the Hemingway estate, writing studio and the portraits.

The house itself was beautiful, but not especially memorable, and really, who cares? It's the writing, not the writer, that matters. It was fun to think about him living in Cuba -- next on my list of where I'd like to go. That is, if I can possibly convince my husband...

House and Pool Photos: Peter Budd

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Not Kidding: Getting Your Kids into Poetry

Mention the “P” word to a group of parents and you’re likely to see Panic, if not outright dismissal.

“Poetry? Are you kidding? My son would rather die than read it, let alone write it. He’s into running and baseball. That’s it!”

“I have to work really hard to get my kid to crack a book that isn’t assigned. War stories and adventure is about all he’s up for.”

I know, believe me. I had to work really hard to get my son interested in books too. The only way he would read The Sword in the Stone was if I read it to him (which prompted him to tell me I looked like the picture of Madam Mim. Not my favorite).

So why I am saying you should try and get your kid interested in poetry? Simply put:

1. Poetry’s easy. If you find the right poem or poems, you can read them pretty quickly.
2.  If you’re trying to get your kid to write (and what parent isn’t)? – poems can be written quicker than almost anything else, including essays, blog posts, creative writing compositions and all the other stuff they make you write in school.
3. Poetry is a gateway drug. I started writing poems when I was mad at my mom for not letting me do any number of things as a tween. The poems became an outlet for me when nothing else helped.

You don’t have to start with Wordsworth or other classic poets (unless you want to) and there are a lot of fun, interesting writers out there to choose from. I wrote about Beat Generation poets in The Beat on Ruby’s Street because they did such interesting work with language. If you want to explore them and your kid is younger than say, 13 or 14, you may want to be selective, as many of these poems are for adults.

Allen Ginsberg, for example, has written some of the most beautiful, devastating and superb poetry I’ve ever read, but some of it may be too intense for an 11 year old. On the other hand, some of his poetry can be read by people of any age. My choice would be My Sad Self.

Besides reading poetry, you might want to encourage your kid to write it when his or her emotions seem too high to contain in regular prose. Is he mad at you? Does she want something she’s likely never to have? Are two siblings fighting incessantly?

Ask them for a poem. Two poems. Ask them to spill all their emotions into those poems and have a read-off to see whose poem captures those emotions the best. Share poems you think are similar to the ones they wrote and talk to them about the lives of those poets.

Will that make your kids love poetry? I have no idea. But years from now when a teacher or boss asks them for a writing sample, you can pat yourself on the back because at least you got them started. And who knows, you might discover one of your children has a really fine inner poet and all they needed was a little prodding to get it to come out.

For more on introducing poetry to your kids or your kids to poetry, try these sites and links:

Sharing the Power of Poetry with Your Child

How to Get Boys into Poetry

Fun and Easy Ways to Get Kids Interested in Poetry