Open Book and Mariella Frostrup Interview YA authors

by Teri Terry

Is a bit of your brain still a teenager? If so, YA may be just the thing…

I’d like to think that one day, Mariella Frostrup might interview me on my latest best seller.
There is one flaw with this, though: she is just way too scary. That could turn from dream to nightmare in seconds.
She’d probably have me quivering in the corner with insightful questions, spot every flaw in my writing from beginning to end, and make me realize that I’m just playing at this writing malarkey and should go home and knit.
And she would do it nicely, too.

Mariella Frostrup: Book Goddess

On 21 November, Mariella presented a special edition of Open Book on BBC radio 4, exploring the recent boom in fiction for young adults. She spoke to authors Marcus Sedgwick, Malorie Blackman and Gemma Malley.
How could I resist, with the divine Mr M involved?

The Divine Mr M (Marcus Sedgwick)

And she didn’t shy away from the big questions. Is the YA boom a construction of the publishing industry, or does it fill a needed gap? In years past, children went straight from reading children’s to adult books: did stretching in our formative years do previous generations any harm?

Mariella began by putting them in the spotlight: what did they read as teens?

Mariella started them off: she went to Georgette Heyer and DH Lawrence. Marlorie Blackman impressed with Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and Rebecca. Oh, and Jacqueline Susann. Marcus Sedgewick admitted he read good, and bad: lots of science fiction and fantasy – just like me! – though no names admitted to, except that Merlin Peak was a big thing that grabbed him at age 14 or 15. Gemma Malley read Judy Blume, Virginia Andrews and… Dostoevsky. Really?!

Is one of the hallmarks of teen fiction that the central protagonist is almost always a teenager themselves?

Marcus noted this isn’t essential, though Malorie said it is easier for readers to empathize and identify with protagonists of similar age. She writes for the teenager inside herself: books she would have loved to read at that age. Gemma, on the other hand, didn’t set out to write a YA book; her protagonist was a teenager as this was needed for her story.

An extract from Boys Don’t Cry, Marlorie’s latest, was read. This novel tackles issues of teenage pregnancy, homosexuality and attempted suicide. How is responsibility to young readers balanced with responsibility as a story teller?

Malorie noted endings in her books may not be happy, but they are hopeful; and teens don’t always believe there is a happy ending. In writing this particular book she set out to give teenage dads a say.

Malorie Blackman

Is it a hallmark of YA that endings aren’t neat and happily ever after, but are often bleak or enigmatic?

Gemma noted that teens are in transition from the black and white world of the child, to an adult shades-of-grey world; they are starting to realize their parents aren’t necessarily always right, and that they have to think things through for themselves.

Marcus says he tries to do two things: to not be boring, and – like Gemma – to suggest that life is not black and white.

Mariella noted that girls read more than boys: does Malorie’s Noughts and Crosses appeal to black boys?

Malorie hopes so. She said when she was growing up, books did not feature black characters, and that fiction engenders empathy, and gives an emotional vocabulary.

And now for the big issue: YA is the space between children’s and adult books. Was it created by a marketing push? Does YA really exist?

Marcus mentioned Catcher in the Rye, and that SF and Fantasy were there for YA readers: YA has always existed, but it is now a recognized genre that is published into by publishers. Gemma agreed there have always been books that tap into teens.

BUT are we holding kids back by the idea of teen books instead of going straight to adult books?

Malorie noted that some teens get disaffected by reading adult books, and Marcus that the idea that teens should always be stretched to the limit of their reading ability is false. We don’t do that as adults: we might want to read a trashy novel on holiday. He said ‘why not just feel free to read what you want to read at any time.’ Brilliant advice.

Mariella notes that Marcus’s White Crow doesn’t shy away from posing difficult questions about life after death: would have been different if written for adults?

Marcus said probably not, though noted publishing decisions affect editing, and there is a responsibility to have some notion of hope and optimism. But more to have an engaging story.

Can you tackle more when writing for children than adults?

Gemma said yes: teens can accept all sorts of things, and don’t have the same parameters. Marcus said it is exciting writing for children as you can write about anything; with adults, you are constrained by genre, trends, and what is and isn’t acceptable.

Mariella discussed Gemma’s dystopian world in The Declaration, in which she critiques the very premise of children.

Gemma was interested in developments in science: do we want to live forever? If so, we can’t have children. Using a future setting gives more freedom in the plot as can expand reality, and, no research is necessary.

Mariella quoted Nicholas Tuckers’ Rough Guide to Books for Teenagers, where he criticizes upping the tragedy in books for teens.

Malorie noted her books have both humour and angst. Marcus said Tucker missed the point. There are two types of books: good, and bad. And those about issues with a capital ‘I’ can do it badly, or well; you shouldn’t sweep away the whole genre or approach.

Why write YA?

Marcus said honest children’s writers all admit, there is a bit of their brain that is still a teenager.

Finally: what are the themes of the future in YA? Are there different genres within?

Marcus says publishers hate the label SF; Malorie notes that if you want to write innovative fiction, YA is the place to be; and Gemma that YA doesn’t seem to be subdivided too much – there is a huge amount of freedom.

My Conclusions?

Since I am mentally 14, still trying to work out shades of grey, don’t like doing research and am writing an innovative dystopia set in the future without calling it SF… I guess I’m in the right place.

Guest Blogger Maureen Lynas: Writerly Incompetence Can Be Cured

Part One of a Series
Read Part Two - If You're Incompetent and You Know It Clap Your Hands

Maureen Lynas is an ex-teacher and literacy consultant who believes that with a bit more work and a load more willpower, resolve, fortitude, doggedness, tenacity, persistence, diligence, grit and determination, she will eventually win a publishing deal for Boggarty Bog’s Tasty Teeth. Or Kissy Wissy. Or Hatty’s Splendiferous Hats. Or one of the many other stories in her ‘finished’ folder.

Maureen is currently feeding her writing obsession by associating with members of SCBWI British Isles and has taken on the role of North East Regional Advisor. You can see Maureen’s reading scheme at the Action Words website 

Incompetent – moi? No!

Tick if you have ever done any of the following:

 Slumped in an emotional heap crying, ‘Do I really have to know the difference between an idiom and an idiolect – what sort of an idiot would think that was reasonable?’

Or

 Thrown the laptop with frustration - or wanted to, but thrown a cushion instead. Laptops don’t bounce.

Or

 Chosen to show your nearest and dearest exactly why they shouldn’t have said, ‘Yes, but what’s his motivation?’ Instead of merely telling him.

Do not despair if you have ticked any boxes.

You are merely suffering from incompetence. It can be cured.

The first step is to identify exactly how incompetent you are and from then on you must be treated with care.

There are four stages of incompetence, no matter what the subject or activity. But as we are all authors I thought I’d focus on writing, if anyone wants to contact me on how to be a brain surgeon then – you need to have your head examined.

Cartoon copyright Mike Luckovich from Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Stage One is Unconscious Incompetence.

Ah, bliss. A wonderful stage to be in. We do not know what it is that we do not know.

You could say we are delusional at this stage because we actually say things like – I have an idea! For a book! Wow, I’m going to write a book! I’ll be rich. I’ve read lots of books therefore I can write a book. I used to write a lot a school and it was good. I’ll be rich. I can use a pen. I have paper. I’ll be rich. I can use Word. I’ll type it. I’ll be rich. And it shall be a great book, and it shall wow the world with its uniqueness. AND I’LL BE RICH! After all, how hard can it be? It’s not brain surgery, is it?



Poor us. We have no idea. No idea of what is involved in the process of writing a book, how to approach a publisher, or what a writer’s life consists of. Ignorance is bliss! But not for long.

At his stage we also do things that demonstrate our ignorance.

We write the book. It may take as long as a couple of months (Phew! That was hard!), or if we write quickly (picture books are short) a night.

We stick a pin in a list of publishers and cry – He’ll do!

We kiss the book, printed off in Gigi (such a pretty font), single-spaced with COPYRIGHT 2010 on every page, and send it off to the publisher recommended by a friend who’s had a book published called History of the Railways 1898-1899 Vol 1.

And we wait.

And we wait.

And we wait.

Then we cry. Literally. Then we cry a different cry of – ‘Why!!!! Why have they rejected me! Why do they not love my book?’

I shudder when I recall myself at this stage. I want to curl up and die when I remember the first submission letter I sent out. Forty pages long. No, that’s an exaggeration for comic effect; it’s just grown that big in my head over the years. But it was about six pages. I even seem to remember, and how I wish this was not true, I even seem to remember calculating (with an actual calculator) how many picture books I’d read over the years as a reception teacher, and quoting this number as evidence that I knew my subject and was an author worth publishing. They were so kind, they did reply. It was a no. But it was a very supportive no. However, I was too busy crying the, ‘Why!!!!’ cry that I didn’t recognise it as supportive for many years.

Maureen cuddling up to the
lovely David Almond,
author of Skellig

This stage is the beginning of the writer’s journey. The idea has been planted. We begin to write a book not realising that we have started on an exploration of what it is to be a writer of many books, not an author of one book.

The next stage is a little bit more complex and will require another article.

Coming to you soon.

Help, I’m Consciously Incompetent!

Read Part Two of this series - If You're Incompetent and You Know It Clap Your Hands



Maureen Lynas also blogs on her own blog which she creatively named - Maureen Lynas

Fight for Our Libraries

Tweet to Save Libraries on this Hashtag #CFTB

My school library rescued me. It gave me companionship at a lonely time in my life. And it transformed my future.

Reading the dismissive comments left by readers on Catherine Bennett's piece about library closures in the Guardian made me sick to my stomach.

There is another discussion to be had about how libraries should change because times certainly are a-changing. But close them down? "They might as well start book burning," writes Bryony Pearce, author of Incarnation.

If you care about libraries, join The Campaign for the Book founded and led by author Alan Gibbons.

If you blog, blog about libraries. Make a fuss. Name names. Here are a few:

Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP - Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport
John Penrose MP - Minister for Tourism and Heritage
Hugh Robertson MP - Minister for Sport and the Olympics
Ed Vaizey MP - Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries (joint Minister with Department of Business, Innovation and Skills)

Highlight these names, mention them in your blog posts. These people have the power to change things and they should know it. Their Google Alerts on their names will be crammed with our anger.

Already, the blogosphere is buzzing:

Lucy Coats decries culture minister Ed Vaizey's fair weather support for libraries. "Where is his passion for libraries now?" she asks on her blog Scribble City Central. (I have enlarged Mr. Vaizey's name so that he knows we are laying a lot of this at his feet)

Thanks to Tracy Baines who reposted my piece on the Tall Tales and Short Stories blog.

And Philip Ardagh, author of the Grubtown Tales, who started out being funny and ended with an impassioned plea.:

LIBRARIES MATTER. HELPING TO STOP LIBRARY CLOSURES MATTERS. As for Mr Spock with a goatee beard? That has something to do with ANTIMATTER, but there's no room for that here. We all have to act NOW before it's too late, so what are you waiting for? He also posted this on Facebook and got amazing comments

Here's Nick Cross from Who Ate My Brain, who despite admitting that he doesn't get to his library much, says:

I don't know what the answer is to saving our libraries. But I do know that they are a vital public service and we need to make a hell of a lot of noise about their potential demise. Read the whole essay

And Jon Mayhew, author of Mortlock:

... if it weren't for this humble building, its contents and staff, I wouldn't be a writer now. Next year 250 libraries are set to close.

Don't let them close your library down. Read Jon's piece

And Nicky Schmidt, who lives in South Africa, contributed this on the Absolute Vanilla blog:

...  It strikes me as the most short-sighted move imaginable. It strikes me doubly, living in a place where libraries are in short supply and books are not a priority for children because they're too expensive. The UK has something we do not. It has a cultural love of books and it has produced some of the most remarkable storytellers and fiction writers in the world. It has something which has shaped the both the British and Commonwealth cultural landscape and continues to do so. The UK has, through its library system, something so precious to give its young people, something we do not have. It has a culture of reading, where we do not. UK libraries serve the entire populace, we have considerably fewer libraries and ours serve only a minority. So when I read that the UK is planning on cutting its libraries, I want to smack my forehead, bang several heads together and ask if the UK government has taken leave of its senses. Read Nicky's post (I so get where Nicky is coming from - In my native Philippines where libraries are an unaffordable luxury, people would be shocked at how casually the UK government can throw away something the rest of the world can only dream of) 

And Philippa Francis on the KM Lockwood Blog, wrote an open letter to people like Ed Vaizey who can actually influence policy - warning them that NOT doing anything about library closures shows that  ...

• you don’t care about children who have no books at home, in fact, you don’t care about anyone who has no other access to books
• you think the excitement and specialness of entering a physical world of ideas isn’t important for lots of children or adults
• you want children to see reading as only something you do to fill in worksheets at school Read Philippa's letter

Keren David, YA author, blogged this brilliant piece (which is almost a poem) about Who Uses Libraries

And Kathryn Evans wrote about Why You Should Care About Libraries

And Nina Killham was enraged when someone told her libraries were old fashioned.

Keep blogging, keep shouting. 

Sometimes it's the only way to make people listen.