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Diversity Matters: Respecting teen readers.
COLIN MULHERN and his publisher talk CLASH & respecting the teen reader.
Colin Mulhern - 'I didnt worry about taboo subjects, otherwise a lot of Clash would never have been written. There were a few scenes that were calmed down when it came to editing, but I never really considered holding back at the time of writing because, as I said at the beginning, I never really thought it would get published. I wrote it for me. I only sent it off because thats what you do when you finish a book.'
Non Pratt, Commissioning Editor - 'Ive spoken to lots of other gatekeepers and the main thing were concerned with is not the swears, or the violence so much as the quality of the writing. Write well, publish responsibly (by which I mean actions have consequences and nothing is gratuitous) and librarians, teachers and booksellers alike will be happy.'
You can read the full post on tall tales & short stories
http://talltalesandshortstories.blogspot.com/2011/08/diversity-matters-colin-mulhern-and-his.html
Colin Mulhern - 'I didnt worry about taboo subjects, otherwise a lot of Clash would never have been written. There were a few scenes that were calmed down when it came to editing, but I never really considered holding back at the time of writing because, as I said at the beginning, I never really thought it would get published. I wrote it for me. I only sent it off because thats what you do when you finish a book.'
Non Pratt, Commissioning Editor - 'Ive spoken to lots of other gatekeepers and the main thing were concerned with is not the swears, or the violence so much as the quality of the writing. Write well, publish responsibly (by which I mean actions have consequences and nothing is gratuitous) and librarians, teachers and booksellers alike will be happy.'
You can read the full post on tall tales & short stories
http://talltalesandshortstories.blogspot.com/2011/08/diversity-matters-colin-mulhern-and-his.html
Comments
I'm not so sure about that, Tracy. I work in a library at a Catholic School and if there are too many swear words or too much violence, the book won't be ordered. The librarian doesn't have time to read every book that comes through, so it's based on what jumps out from a quick flick through. The quality of the writing doesn't really get judged at that level. We probably miss a few good books that way, but we also miss a string of complaints from parents.
I'm not so sure about that, Tracy. I work in a library at a Catholic School and if there are too many swear words or too much violence, the book won't be ordered. The librarian doesn't have time to read every book that comes through, so it's based on what jumps out from a quick flick through. The quality of the writing doesn't really get judged at that level. We probably miss a few good books that way, but we also miss a string of complaints from parents.[/quote]
Nena - Perhaps you should put this on the blog so the Commisssioning Editor can see your response to her comment.
Can I ask you if the following, all of them in the mouths of 15-year-olds, would lead to school library refusal in your experience?
p*ssing - as an adjective replacing bl**dy or f**king
sh*t - as an expletive in dire horror or stress
God - as an expletive
Oh my god - as an expletive.
My fiction is YA thrillers and needless to say, in the speech of normal everyday teenagers in situations of corresponding drama, which is what we're talking about (death-threatening situations) these would all be mild. The norm would be to use such language as parents would not want to see in the book, but I am interested to guage where the censoring boundaries lie.
[quote=Tracy]Nena - Perhaps you should put this on the blog so the Commisssioning Editor can see your response to her comment. [/quote] Will do, Tracy...anonymously!
If there was an over-abundance of swearing but the story and writing were good I can't see an editor or agent worth their salt rejecting a book purely because someone's used a swear word once too often. That's what editors are for.
You should write the book you want to write and not self-censor but at the same time be aware of the audience you're writing for.
And some people say writing for kids is easy!
"Sure, it's simple, writing for kids . . . Just as simple as bringing them up" - Ursula Le Guin.
I agree, Tracy, writers need to write what they need to write for the audience they have in mind. I've heard some pretty choice language in our school corridors and the kids wouldn't bat an eyelid at a few swearwords in a book that was written for them, about them - it wouldn't be authentic otherwise. But school librarians, like ours, are bound by the rules of their employers.
[quote=Nena]school librarians ... are bound by the rules of their employers. [/quote]
It's that, ever contentious, balance of dialogue appropriate to circumstance whilst writing to 'please' a majority audience.
First step must be to write according to flow of plot and characters. Pay no thought to final production, just concentrate on completing imagery to conclusion of the story.
Once whole plot has been recorded, the editing process{es} provides means of analysing individual scenes and their relevance to story flow.
It's a little similar to witnessing stress raising events from sanctity of one's home.
When driven to remonstrate or intervene by physical appearance, initial reaction and language is, invariably, modified before exiting front door.
The 'pleasure' of saying or doing to vent primary creation enables lucid thought to later review original intention.
My boys go to a Catholic comprehensive. A couple of years ago when one of my boys was doing the shadowing of the Carnegie shortlist, there was a letter that came home at the start detailing two of the books (that contained some swearing and situations that they thought might raise concerns with the parents of those taking part) and the option was given to sign this form to say it was okay for them to read those books, or to opt for them reading the others but not those two.
So like Nena, whether the books are considered acceptable or not in a school library could be down to school policy generally or the school librarian/staff who choose and buy the books.
Obviously within the home environment it may be the parents who buy the books and decide if they are okay with the content and language used.
Personally I think young readers are more discerning than we think and they, like us, if they don't like the story subject or the style of language used they won't bother reading that writer's next one.
I think this is very true.