Cyn and I just got back in town after our working vacation. I managed to get a bunch of pictures and notes that'll be useful in the draft of my WIP. I'll post some pics later.
Random notes:
Cynsations is on hiatus until August.
NINJAS, PIRANHAS, AND GALILEO was mentioned in the June 10 Los Angeles Times in an article titled "How to Hook the Reluctant Boy Reader." Thanks to David Lubar for letting me know!
Cyn is interviewed at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
The tentative lineup for this year's National Book Festival has been announced. Cynthia's Tantalize is one of the featured novels for YA/children. (I understand there was a mention/write-up of Cyn in last weekend's Austin American-Statesman).
And we returned to Austin to widespread flooding in the Hill Country. Fortunately, thus far, most of the rain has missed Austin. But the drought is definitely over...
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Light blogging...
Hmmm. I hadn't realized it's been two months since I blogged. Much has been going on: Speaking, writing, reading...and the most important of these is WRITING!
I have a draft of a new novel (the first of a planned trilogy)...and I've been trying something new. In order to encapsulate the story arc, I created a table in WORD and, for every column, put in a description of the corresponding chapter. This allowed me to quickly see how the story arc was (or was not) developing. It's also useful now that I'm revising it, since I can enter changes and shift scenes from chapter to chapter quite easily.
This weekend, Cyn and I are on a panel at the Writers' League of Texas Agents and Editors Conference. And next week, we're going on a real, actual not work-related vacation for the first time in years!
What with both of us writing and the day job, we realized recently that we need to take more time off. So this summer, in addition to vacation, we're going to try (hold your breath) not working on weekends. I know that the vast majority of the country takes weekends off, but for Cyn and me it's a new concept.
One of the things we're going to try to do is more weekend trips, like Shakespeare at Winedale, which we haven't been to in a number of years...
I have a draft of a new novel (the first of a planned trilogy)...and I've been trying something new. In order to encapsulate the story arc, I created a table in WORD and, for every column, put in a description of the corresponding chapter. This allowed me to quickly see how the story arc was (or was not) developing. It's also useful now that I'm revising it, since I can enter changes and shift scenes from chapter to chapter quite easily.
This weekend, Cyn and I are on a panel at the Writers' League of Texas Agents and Editors Conference. And next week, we're going on a real, actual not work-related vacation for the first time in years!
What with both of us writing and the day job, we realized recently that we need to take more time off. So this summer, in addition to vacation, we're going to try (hold your breath) not working on weekends. I know that the vast majority of the country takes weekends off, but for Cyn and me it's a new concept.
One of the things we're going to try to do is more weekend trips, like Shakespeare at Winedale, which we haven't been to in a number of years...
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Suitcase? There's no suitcase here...
Above are Sebastian (l) and Blizzard (r) as they try to hide our suitcase...and thereby prevent us from leaving again...(or maybe they're trying to hide in our suitcase, and are thwarted by the zipper and the lack of opposable thumbs)We just returned from the annual conference of the Texas Library Association. Cyn spoke Thursday on a panel with Tim Wynne-Jones and Margaret Peterson Haddix on a panel called "Magic in the Middle," sponsored by the Young Adult Round Table (YART) (Gary Schmidt was also scheduled to come, but was snowed in in Grand Rapids). In a lively discussion, the three handled questions from the moderator and then a Q&A with the audience. Topics ranged from covers to sources of inspiration to reader interaction.
After the session, Cynthia signed Tantalize (now in its fifth printing!) at the Candlewick booth. Sharon and Rona were, as ever, supremely gracious and unflappable.
Writer sightings Thursday included Debbie Leland, Jerry Wermund, Gene Brenek, Joy Hein, Anne Bustard, Brian Anderson, Chris Barton, Patricia McMahon, Grace Lin, and Kathleen Duey. That evening, Cyn had dinner with the YART people, and I had dinner at the Westin Riverwalk with Anne Bustard, Gene Brenek, Chris Barton, Brian Anderson, Helen Hemphill, and Joy, and editor from Front Street Books. After dinner, we had a drink in the Westin bar and ran into a great bunch of Austin librarians, as well as John Green, E. Lockhart, Scott Westerfield, and Justine Larbalestier. Alas, Cecil Castelluci couldn't make it, as she came down with something on the plane. We also got a chance to talk with Jill, formerly of Book People, and now a rep for Penguin.
Friday morning was my signing at the Little Brown booth. It went terrifically, thanks to the energetic and lovely Victoria!
Friday writer sightings on the floor included the Houston SCBWI gang and the Texas SCBWI booth people, including Julie Lake, Marianne Dyson, Carmen Bredeson, Mary Wade, Don Tate, and Lila Guzman. That evening was the publishers' joint party on the 22d floor of the Hilton Palacio. Authors there (whom I actually spoke to) included Avi, Sarah Weeks, Eileen Spinelli, Esme Codell, Dianna Aston, Mark Mitchell, Brian Anderson, Anne Bustard, Peni Griffin, Kathleen Duey, Tim Wynne-Jones, Mitali Perkins, and a host of others.
Thanks to all the librarians for a great conference and enthusiasm about books and reading! Thanks also to Candlewick for sponsoring Cyn and to all the publishers at the joint party!
Monday, March 19, 2007
BROTHERS, BOYFRIENDS AND OTHER CRIMINAL MINDS
Brothers, Boyfriends, and Other Criminal Minds, by April Lurie (Delacorte, June 12, 2007)(ages 10-14) is a terrific sophomore novel by the author of Dancing in the Streets of Brooklyn: April Lundquist lives in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, a quiet neighborhood where the streets are clean and safe. Sure, three murderers live on her block, but they're just mafia hit men. Problems start when April's older brother begins to date the daughter of a mobster and when one of the neighbors has a business proposition...In this novel set in the late 1970s, author April Lurie evokes the classic feeling of the decade of disco in a humorous and touching story based in part on her own teen years. Brothers, Boyfriends, and Other Criminal Minds is a fun and affecting tale of family and friendship and (like Dancing in the Streets of Brooklyn) would likely appeal particularly to fans of Jennifer Holm's Penny from Heaven.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo in Japan
So yesterday I received my author's copies of the Japanese edition of Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo, published by Poplar Sha. I love the look Shohei's giving Elias. :-). Thanks to translators Noriko and Koshi Odashima!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The Muffin Joke - Is it funny?
So there are these two muffins baking in an oven.
One of them yells, “Wow, it’s hot in here!”
And the other muffin replies: “Holy sh*t! A talking muffin!”
I think it's pretty darn hilarious.
Tuesday's New York Times, however, has an article discussing laughter and the muffin joke, which the author, a Mr. John Tierney, rather haughtily disparages as NOT funny and states that "most laughter has little to do with humor," but is merely a social lubricant.
Occasionally we’re surprised into laughing at something funny, but most laughter has little to do with humor. It’s an instinctual survival tool for social animals, not an intellectual response to wit. It’s not about getting the joke. It’s about getting along.
Thus, the article contends that the only reason anyone could laugh at or find the muffin joke to be funny is for purposes of "getting along" and that laughter arises or is particularly useful in social situations involving a disparate power dynamic, i.e., it occurs more typically in a situation in which social inferiors are responding to social superiors, rather than between colleagues.
As evidence of the assertion that laughter is just a social lubricant, and not a response to humor, the article states that when the speaker ("a lowly graduate student") was telling the muffin joke to his undergraduate class, the response was laughter, but when talking to a conference of (more prominent) neuroscientists, he got nothing.
Well, okay. But has anyone, in the entire history of the human race, ever said, "Oh boy! A conference of neuroscientists! That'll be a barrel of laughs!"
One of them yells, “Wow, it’s hot in here!”
And the other muffin replies: “Holy sh*t! A talking muffin!”
I think it's pretty darn hilarious.
Tuesday's New York Times, however, has an article discussing laughter and the muffin joke, which the author, a Mr. John Tierney, rather haughtily disparages as NOT funny and states that "most laughter has little to do with humor," but is merely a social lubricant.
Occasionally we’re surprised into laughing at something funny, but most laughter has little to do with humor. It’s an instinctual survival tool for social animals, not an intellectual response to wit. It’s not about getting the joke. It’s about getting along.
Thus, the article contends that the only reason anyone could laugh at or find the muffin joke to be funny is for purposes of "getting along" and that laughter arises or is particularly useful in social situations involving a disparate power dynamic, i.e., it occurs more typically in a situation in which social inferiors are responding to social superiors, rather than between colleagues.
As evidence of the assertion that laughter is just a social lubricant, and not a response to humor, the article states that when the speaker ("a lowly graduate student") was telling the muffin joke to his undergraduate class, the response was laughter, but when talking to a conference of (more prominent) neuroscientists, he got nothing.
Well, okay. But has anyone, in the entire history of the human race, ever said, "Oh boy! A conference of neuroscientists! That'll be a barrel of laughs!"
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Good news, launches, and congrats!
Austin author Varian Johnson just celebrated his 30th birthday and was recently accepted into the Vermont College MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. Read his full post and send him congrats!
Author David Lubar (not a Texan, but we don't hold it against him) had a book launch this week: True Talents, the sequel to Hidden Talents. Go here for my December review.
Author Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (likewise not a Texan) also had a book release this week: Check out Reaching for the Sun, which is already garnering terrific reviews!
Author David Lubar (not a Texan, but we don't hold it against him) had a book launch this week: True Talents, the sequel to Hidden Talents. Go here for my December review.
Author Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (likewise not a Texan) also had a book release this week: Check out Reaching for the Sun, which is already garnering terrific reviews!
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Tantalize a Border's Original Voices Pick!
Cynthia's new novel, Tantalize, has been named a Border's Original Voices Pick for March 2007. Go check out the other picks!
Also, Candlewick Press and Young Adult Books Central are sponsoring a giveaway contest for March - enter and win one of twenty copies of Tantalize!
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Speaking of dirty words...
(This is a great segue if you've read my last post).
By now, everyone is familiar with this tempest in a teapot.
It got me thinking. My WIP is my first novel set in Texas (“It’s about time,” said a librarian at Cyn’s Tantalize launch party) – actually, on a cattle ranch – and it’s about a girl who must decide who and what she is, based on where she thinks she’s from, where she thought she was from, and where she’s actually from. It’s hilarious. Really.
Anyway. One of the things that goes on on a cattle ranch in the spring is an activity with the relatively innocuous-sounding title of "roundup." During roundup, the young bull calves are, well, rounded up, thrown to the ground, branded, and castrated.
So.
Two words:
Calf fries.
By now, everyone is familiar with this tempest in a teapot.
It got me thinking. My WIP is my first novel set in Texas (“It’s about time,” said a librarian at Cyn’s Tantalize launch party) – actually, on a cattle ranch – and it’s about a girl who must decide who and what she is, based on where she thinks she’s from, where she thought she was from, and where she’s actually from. It’s hilarious. Really.
Anyway. One of the things that goes on on a cattle ranch in the spring is an activity with the relatively innocuous-sounding title of "roundup." During roundup, the young bull calves are, well, rounded up, thrown to the ground, branded, and castrated.
So.
Two words:
Calf fries.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
How Bleak Thou Art
Okay, so there’s this generalized assumption that young adult literature is bleak, grim, and seriously unfunny. Now, as an author of funny YA (well, published in 10-14 YA, though my WIP YA is older), and as someone who likes to read funny books, I’ve never had much of a problem finding funny YA books to read. I do tend to agree, however, that the “serious” books vastly outnumber the “funny” ones.
But, I’m an empirical kind of guy, so I decided to examine my assumption in more detail. In particular, I looked at a recent catalog for a major publisher, reading through the catalog copy of the twenty-four (24) YA novels and attempting to distill each book down to its essence.
This is what I found:
A book on paralysis
A book on death of a parent, alcoholism, and unwanted pregnancy.
A book on death of a parent through cancer
A book on alcoholism
A book on armed assault with a deadly weapon
A book on death of both parents in a car crash
A book on death of both parents in a car crash and an unwanted pregnancy
A book whose catalog copy is vague, but appears to involve at least armed robbery and child abandonment
An historical book on suicide
A contemporary book on suicide
A book on death of a parent and economic hardship
A book on censorship. And sex.
A book on death by accidental shooting (or general stupidity)
A book on child abandonment, alcoholism, and an accident of indeterminate nature (resulting in, possibly, death)
A book on divorce
A book on death of a parent, economic hardship, robbery, and risking death.
Two books on (1960s) sex, drugs, and rock & roll (and therefore, at least metaphorically, death)
Of these, only one (1) appears to include any modicum of humor at all. (How do I know this? Because the catalog copy said it was “hilarious.”).
For the record, of the remaining books, one was high fantasy, two appear to be (profoundly serious) love stories, one was a manufactured book, and for two, the catalog copy was so vague I couldn’t tell what they were actually about.
Now, in one sense, I’m being unfair. I have, after all, grossly simplified “what the book is about” based on catalog copy - I could similarly characterize Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo as “a book on science and student court and racial perceptions,” which sounds like a real snoozer, rather than “a romantic science comedy courtroom drama about three friends who take part in their school science fair and end up in student court because of it.”
Further, IMO, a funny book should deal with serious themes and should have all the characteristics of a serious book. A strong beginning, rising action, characters who change and grow, etc. As Lisa Yee put it in her interview on Three Silly Chicks, “[t]he best way to write a funny book is to write an unfunny book first. By that I mean, the story has to hold up without the humor. There needs to be emotion and pathos in it…To test this, take out your best jokes or funniest parts. Does the story still hold up?”
Now, it's also entirely possible that, some of these apparently serious books could have some humor in them, even if they are not funny books with serious themes (And, yeah, only one sample and an anecdote isn't data).
But.
But, I was still struck by the fact that, with this one publisher (at least in this one catalog), "funny" seems to be a dirty word.
But, I’m an empirical kind of guy, so I decided to examine my assumption in more detail. In particular, I looked at a recent catalog for a major publisher, reading through the catalog copy of the twenty-four (24) YA novels and attempting to distill each book down to its essence.
This is what I found:
A book on paralysis
A book on death of a parent, alcoholism, and unwanted pregnancy.
A book on death of a parent through cancer
A book on alcoholism
A book on armed assault with a deadly weapon
A book on death of both parents in a car crash
A book on death of both parents in a car crash and an unwanted pregnancy
A book whose catalog copy is vague, but appears to involve at least armed robbery and child abandonment
An historical book on suicide
A contemporary book on suicide
A book on death of a parent and economic hardship
A book on censorship. And sex.
A book on death by accidental shooting (or general stupidity)
A book on child abandonment, alcoholism, and an accident of indeterminate nature (resulting in, possibly, death)
A book on divorce
A book on death of a parent, economic hardship, robbery, and risking death.
Two books on (1960s) sex, drugs, and rock & roll (and therefore, at least metaphorically, death)
Of these, only one (1) appears to include any modicum of humor at all. (How do I know this? Because the catalog copy said it was “hilarious.”).
For the record, of the remaining books, one was high fantasy, two appear to be (profoundly serious) love stories, one was a manufactured book, and for two, the catalog copy was so vague I couldn’t tell what they were actually about.
Now, in one sense, I’m being unfair. I have, after all, grossly simplified “what the book is about” based on catalog copy - I could similarly characterize Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo as “a book on science and student court and racial perceptions,” which sounds like a real snoozer, rather than “a romantic science comedy courtroom drama about three friends who take part in their school science fair and end up in student court because of it.”
Further, IMO, a funny book should deal with serious themes and should have all the characteristics of a serious book. A strong beginning, rising action, characters who change and grow, etc. As Lisa Yee put it in her interview on Three Silly Chicks, “[t]he best way to write a funny book is to write an unfunny book first. By that I mean, the story has to hold up without the humor. There needs to be emotion and pathos in it…To test this, take out your best jokes or funniest parts. Does the story still hold up?”
Now, it's also entirely possible that, some of these apparently serious books could have some humor in them, even if they are not funny books with serious themes (And, yeah, only one sample and an anecdote isn't data).
But.
But, I was still struck by the fact that, with this one publisher (at least in this one catalog), "funny" seems to be a dirty word.
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