Location: Books & Such Nashville Office

Weather: Hot and chance of showers

One of the big assumptions we make in this new age of digital publishing is that we will have the power to make the technology work. I haven’t seen anybody addressing that issue, but it seems we should in this age of brown-outs and computer crashes and having to back up our writing “just in case.”  I am reminded of the saying about what assumptions do to all of us.

What is your principal concern as we head full-scale into the age of electronic publishing? Here are three that come to mind for me:

1. What will the traditional publisher do with and for my writing?

2. How will an author explain the publisher’s decision to produce her/his writing electronically to his or her long-term audience, some of whom use e-readers and some of whom don’t?

3. What kind of promotional support will the author need to give electronic publications, and how will that best be done?

I’ll be eager to read your thoughts. We’re all groping at this point. In the meantime, I want to read Lane Smith’s new children’s book due out in September, It’s a Book. The review says it’s an exchange between a jackass (the digital version) and a gorilla (the print version). Sounds interesting.

Location: Books & Such Nashville office

Weather: Low 90s and muggy

A sentence on page 20 in Publishers Weekly’s recent July 19 issue on children’s books for this fall caught my eye: “…It’s unclear whether parents will fork over the money for kids to use a $499 iPad that might easily fall into the toilet or sandbox.” I hadn’t thought of that!

It’s one thing for a child to leave a $14.95 hardcover or even a $6.95 paperback out in the rain or let the dog chew it, but it’s quite another for him/her to do the same with the expensive hardware needed for an electronic app, no matter how cheap the app. I should have thought of this because one of my young grandsons is not the most careful, and I bet lots of parents will have the same thoughts.

Regardless, it does seem clear that creators of content for children–that’s you authors–must at least try to think of interactive product. The closest we have come at this point is in  lift-the-flap books, cut-outs with texture (think Pat the Bunny) and multi-novelty creations like Paul Zelinsky’s The Wheels on the Bus. Now, the emphasis seems to be on converting formerly published titles with sales vitality into something that “comes to life” through technology, puts children in the content and to some extent lets them have control over it.

The writing in the sand points to a reinvigoration of content for all readers, but not necessarily new content. Rick Riordan’s 39 Clues Series, launched in 2008, is telling in this regard. The series included books, cards and online games with a designated website. But the series, written by four different authors, all had some reference to historical characters. It was new technology applied to conveying existing knowledge. Incidentally the final book, Into the Gauntlet, will be published at the end of August with a print run of 750,000. I’d like to see the number of hits the website gets.

One more quote from the article: “Publishers will focus on producing the best possible stories–and then making them ‘discoverable.’” And we know who writes those stories, don’t we?

How do you feel about making the shift from writing for the page to writing for the screen?

Location: Books & Such Nashville Office

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Being a kids book’ advocate, I don’t think you can start little ones too early in grasping new experience from a book. Well, maybe I draw the line with prenatal reading, but I’ve had too many lovely experiences holding those six-month-old cherubs and sharing books with them not to think it’s valuable.

Of course the question comes to mind about their ability to absorb meaning from the page versus the feeling of being loved while wrapped in the arms of a caring adult. Does it really matter if the love a child feels at this stage carries over to a love of reading? The book and the love can become indistinguishable.

But what about all this talk and some evidence that kids of today have become adapted to and enamored with electronic formats? At what stage of a child’s life does that take place?

We’ve read about and perhaps seen preschoolers at computer keyboards where they may be cued to an electronic picture book or cartoon. No adult needed there. The e-book makes the reading/viewing even easier for smaller and perhaps younger ones. We’re getting there in regard to making content and format accessible for very young children.

However, even with all these technological breakthroughs, I hope we don’t lose the opportunity to connect love and reading for the preschool child. So many of them need it. Nobel author Pearl Buck’s children’s book, One Bright Day (1950), seems pertinent to this question. (And maybe I need to read again The Good Earth.) Born in 1892 and taken to China by her missionary parents before the start of WWII, Buck escaped indescribable tragedies by her mother’s reading to her and then by reading herself at an early age. How did she come to know love when she was finding mutilated body parts in her yard if not through books?

Well, that’s history, and we live in the 21st century. Thank heaven we have children and love and books to share in so many forms. What affect do you think reading an e-book might have on children?

Location: Books & Such Nashville Office

Weather: Hot and muggy

A recent quote in Newsweek from Anna Quindlen caught my eye: “Well, what is a book really? Is it its body or its soul?” I think that was her way of asking the question many of us have about the relationship between content and format. The two have been considered one for so long. Reading automatically meant holding and turning bound pages, but that was before the digital age. This revolution is certainly noticeable in the area of kids’ publishing.

We’ve had electronic gadgets related to kids’ book content, usually called “novelties,” and in some kind of book format with page-turning features for some time. Remember the Play-a-Tune books of the 1980s? But the web has brought newer interactive digital formats onscreen into existence. Quoting from an article entitled, “Technology Alters Concept of Literary,” from an LA Times article: “Sound, animation and the ability to connect to the Internet have created the notion of a living book that can establish an entirely new kind of relationship with readers.”

“Living book”–now there’s a great phrase. It is this relationship with readers made possible electronically that is so astounding and so breathtakingly new for those of us who think of reading as turning pages. The texting, chatting, YouTubing kids of today will expect a different kind of connection with the content that enters their consciousness. They will associate new information and entertainment with moving sound and color as much as text in fixed format on a page of paper.

This is not alarming to me, even though I’ve been looking at words in type on pages for years. Why? Because I see so many options for resurrecting great art and stories of past generations and keeping them alive online for kids today. We all know the sadness of discovering a bound book has gone “out of print,” but the electronic book is more accessible for infinitely longer–or at least as long as we have a power base for our computers. I also see an expanding world of listening opportunities for the blind as Intel and Amazon convert text into speech immediately available through computers.

Ask any children in your life where they access their reading material: libraries, computer, physical books, etc.

Location: Books & Such Nashville Office

Weather: Hot as you-know-what

The title for this post has a broader meaning than at first may come to mind. As I read the summer movie listings, review publishers’ offerings of games, and receive inquiries about film rights-all based on children’s books, I can’t help thinking what terrific influence authors of children’s books have.

Beverly Cleary’s classic books about Ramona Quimby have just hit the big screen in the full-length film, “Ramona and Beezus.” For an older audience, Stephanie Meyer’s third book and film, “Twilight Saga:Eclipse,” is playing, though it’s questionable whether the book or the film was birthed first. And if you think kids books include comics, you’ll want to know about ComicCon, the annual San Diego conference devoted to that format that took place last week. I heard it was awash with trailers for viewing.

All of which may cause us to ponder which comes first with kids now:  words or pictures? The time-honored approach developed in a world where reading was a great achievement was first the picture book, then the all-text chapter book, followed by the longer novel and nonfiction book. But things have changed in the last 20 years, thanks to declining levels of classic education, the rapid spread of computer and texting culture, and the lure of entertainment.

I don’t mean to indict any of those changes–just saying that they have happened and that kids learn in different ways now. And even in all this change, some things are universal. That’s why it’s encouraging to see a major movie being made of “Ramona and Beezus.” Beverly Cleary is 93 or 94 years old, and she clearly remembers her father losing his job when she was a child. The Ramona books began in 1968, developing out of Cleary’s success with books about Henry Huggins. Read the Ramona books and see the movie–with a child.

What experiences are universal themes that children still respond to? How much time do the children in your life devote to reading?

Location:  Books & Such Nashville Office

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At a recent writers conference, I was surprised to see that two of popular tween author Nancy Rue’s books in the Lily Series are set outside the U.S.—one in Paris and one in Rome. I bought the one about Lily in Paris and noted the text contained easy-to-understand words and phrases like mademoiselle and gendarme, tres magnifique and petite dejeuner in this fast-paced story for middle-grade girls. Along with the mention of famous French sites and French character names, these words did a lot to maintain the feel of the story without being a distraction.

Whether you’re writing for kids or adults, I’d like to know how much play you give to a different language when it’s appropriate. Here are some questions for evaluation:

1. Have you ever set a book in a foreign country? What opportunities and what obstacles did it present?
2. Has an editor or reader ever questioned your use of a non-English word in a manuscript?
3. Have you ever tried reading a portion of your manuscript to an ESL American citizen?
4. In writing fiction, do you tend to see your characters act rather than hear the tone and timbre of their voices in dialog?
5. What non-English ancestors do you have, and how many generations back were they? Are there still family practices you can trace to that heritage?

We are truly a melting pot—and the richer for it I think. At least our characters can be.

Location:  Books & Such Nashville Office

Weather:  Still hot

After writing about words for three days, I’ve realized that the hardest writing may be description–not dialogue–because description is more visual. It calls for painting pictures with words, and that’s really difficult to do well. It’s hard to evoke the feelings derived from texture, smell and color.

This summer in Nashville we have the most spectacular exhibit of colorful glass sculpture by Seattle artist Dale Chihuly. From the 30-foot tall, massive golden glass spiral at the entrance to the glass balls in the Japanese sand garden to the blue glass crane shapes in the reflecting pool, and on and on, everywhere you look there is one or more entrancing pieces of beautifully colored blown glass. As I listened to the exhibit chief talk about the installation, I was struck by how low-key and plain-spoken he was. Then I realized that he knew the exhibit would speak for itself as it was viewed. Words can’t do it justice.

I make no secret of the fact that my favorite book format is the picture book, that careful design of few words and colorful pictures to convey meaning to young children. Yes, the color printing process makes picture books more expensive to publish and the number of picture books being produced in the last few years has diminished. But when a richly colored book such as this year’s Caldecott Award winner, The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney, hits the market, we know it’s worth sharing for years to come.

Editors and critics often mention the “color” of an author’s work even though no visual element is involved. I think they are referring to a particular vividness of imagery. Most writers do have a mental picture of their protagonists, and it’s often a help if the author keeps close at hand photos or paintings of the setting where the narrative takes place. That way a writer might produce more colorful words, not bogging the manuscript down with description. It’s a tough act to write a colorful piece with only words.

Who are some of your favorite “colorful” authors?

Location:    Books & Such Nashville Office

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The subliminal thinking behind my posts about non-English words being more in use is the oil spill in the Gulf. On a personal level, the white sand beaches of Gulf Shores are a favorite vacation spot, and here in Nashville, we enjoy lots of fresh Gulf seafood on our menus. I had hardly thought about the number of oil rigs sitting in that body of water–until about two months ago, that is. Aside from the consuming questions of responsibility and recovery time and the dreadful impact on wildlife, I notice how language has been misused or misunderstood in the process of hand-wringing and backtracking.

Last week’s gaffe from BP’s chair Carl-Henric Svanberg about helping the “small people” in the Gulf area is an example of someone from a different culture speaking in a language other than his native one and not quite getting it right. Was this a bit of European aristocratic viewpoint or was it a lack of understanding of syntax or was it insufficient vocabulary on Mr. Svanberg’s part? He’s a Swede, which is interesting in itself since BP is a British company–or at least it was.

After several days of encouraging all of us who write to think about enlarging our vocabularies with non-English words, I have to throw up two signs of caution: Use a reliable dictionary frequently and know your audience!  That’s not to say we shouldn’t challenge our readers or make our characters more interesting with specifics about their cultural background and language. I’m simply preaching precision mixed with variety. So, for example, if you’re writing nonfiction about the role of B-29 planes, or you’re creating a murder mystery set in Texas, work to get the language right. Most experienced writers have a particular group in mind when they write, and some read their work aloud as they are crafting it.

Who are you talking to? How can you make your conversation with your readers richer and fuller through the words you use?

Location: Books & Such, Nashville Office

Weather: Hot

Nowhere is the mashup in our language more obvious than in computer land. Sitting right in front of my screen or laptop I can find a vast array of foreign words and phrases that are apparently now au courant in English. Some are being used for novelty and freshness, some because English lacks the exact meaning desired, and some for a sort of secret code. Some like espirit d’escalier, which means failure to deliver a timely response, may fit in any of those categories

I can hear readers reminding me that we’ve had books of these words and phrases around for quite a time. Very true, and they keep coming. Foreignisms: A Dictionary of Foreign Expressions Commonly (and Not So Commonly) Used in English by Tad Tuleja is a recent one. But using that book means a trip to the library or bookstore, while Google will immediately throw up a list of richly rewarding sources such as Luke Mastin’s “Foreign Phrases Commonly Used In English.”  A quick search of the 25 German phrases listed at his site revealed such words as angst, gesundheit, kitsch, verboten, and zeitgeist. A few of those words sprinkled in a historical novel about German settlers will really help characterization.

Even broader and perhaps more useful is the site at www.omniglot.com. I could spend hours exploring this site’s “Writing Systems and Languages of the World,” and its many categories from “Greetings” and “Small Talk” to “Idioms.” If we invent a French character who is prone to brag about some accomplishment, our first inclination might be to have him (I’m sure it’s a him!) say, “It’s as easy as falling off a log.” But that has a decidedly American feel with a twinge of pioneer flavor. According to omniglot, a more characteristic French equivalent would be, “It’s as easy as sticking your fingers in your nose.”  Those French are expressive!

All this to say our readers are more educated, more accustomed to hearing and reading about cultures other than their own, and more eager for richly inventive writing. I think many publishers are looking for the same kind of stuff. Boot up and enjoy. It only takes une moment pour le mot.

Location: Books & Such, Nashville Office

Weather: Hot and Humid

Going around town, I notice more and more businesses and ads use two languages–English and Spanish–to say the same thing. A nearby neighborhood grocery now has a Spanish and a Korean section. In bookstores, I see more books in foreign languages, although most have an English subtitle. (What are the poor translators doing for work these days?) A local government official on television was recently discussing U.S. health care issues and said it was much more difficult to devise a system in our country because we are such a “melting pot,” with new nationalities and languages constantly being added. Watching the Tony Awards, I hear words that are either new jargon or lifted from another lexicon–they’re Greek to me.

The kind of foreign words that authors and editors have to be most careful about are words that may cause a reader to stumble or wake from the fictional dream in an effort to understand the meaning. This problem is complicated even more by the passage of time. If you are writing a novel that takes place thirty years ago and your character is eating quesadillas, the setting had better be the Southwest. Now quesadillas are common fare all over the country. If you write, “She chose the blue pongee for the evening,” would the meaning of “Chinese raw silk fabric” be obvious to readers today or perhaps only to a seamstress?

Two recent books that have been and are still mega-sellers point up what may indicate the reading public’s openness to new words: Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert in which the author describes her year of living in Rome, in India and in Indonesia. It seemed to me that Gilbert did a good job of both using foreign terms in an English work and making them clear to English readers, as on page 144 where she describes the Indian Yogic divine secret called kundalini shakti. She either explains or uses terms several times to help readers to feel comfortable with foreign words. The other book is Steig Larsson’s blockbuster, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Although I thought the translation was very good, not to mention the plot, this Tennessee girl still didn’t grasp some words immediately.

Digging deeply into a work means going for just the right amount of detail, and that may call for courageous use of another language.

What have you read lately that used foreign words? Was the author successful in conveying those words meanings?

Have you struggled with how to use foreign words in your writing? Tell us about it.