squeetus

Should writers just shut the crap up?

Sometimes my blog posts make people disappointed, sad, and angry. Every time this happens, I'm never expecting the fierce response. I think if I always knew how people would take what I say, I would self-censor, and I wonder about that. Because I do think the conversations started are valuable to me, and others tell me valuable to them too. But the fear of offending and hurting might discourage me or others from engaging in touchy subjects. I'm not afraid of disagreeing with people, but I hate hurting people in the process.

Longtime squeetusers may recall some of the fiercest instances on squeetus--for example, when I defended Breaking Dawn in 2008. That was one of the rare instances that we actually had to delete comments and by the dozens. I can take a few hits, but I draw the line at profanity, threats, and bullying other commenters, especially young commenters. In a way I'm glad people are so passionate about books and ideas, but I don't get the hate. Sometimes anger can be productive, but hate just sucks.

(squeetusers, have you noticed how kind commenters are on this blog in general? It makes me happy. When commenters are harsher and less respectful in their disagreement, I've found that they're not regulars but people who have clicked over from someone else reporting about the post. I really want this blog to be a safe place where people can share ideas without fear of being flamed, so thank you.)

I guess when I write a blog entry, I think about it as a rough draft. It's exploration time. It's not a final, polished article. It's me in conversation, saying things I'm thinking about. The danger is that thinking aloud can offend. Which is why, I think, most politicians have practiced answers. I don't want to hurt anyone, and yet I don't want to be bland and opinion-less, scared of risk. Writers are idea people. I think we should wrestle with questions. We should allow ourselves that luxury. We're not politicians, trying to please as many people as we can. We should engage in risky ideas, question things, wrestle with ideas we don't know all the answers to. But should that be confined to a novel, where I have time to edit and polish before anyone sees it, or is a blog still useful? Even if I risk hurting people, is it still positive to have this public thinking-aloud-place? (I ask, as I think aloud in this place.)

When I've written a post that is fairly opinion-y and people disagree with me, or if I tweet something of that ilk, I almost always get replies that say something like, "You've lost this reader for good," or "I used to love your books but I'll never buy another one now." Obviously I don't want to run off readers. I think in most of these cases, something I've said has personally hurt that person, and they are trying to hurt me back in some way. That's a natural response, I think, and I can empathize. And they do succeed. But in general, I wonder, do we/should we only read and like books by people who share all or most of our same opinions?

Personal opinion of the author does affect me sometimes. I read a couple of books by an author (who I will never publicly name, but get a milkshake in me sometime and my jaw loosens), then I met him, and he was so sexist and unkind that I've never recommended his books to anyone since and doubt I'd pick him up again. For several minutes into our conversation I thought he was trying to be funny by being a parody of the chauvinist male writer, because nobody is truly that awful. I was wrong. His personality didn't change the words on the page, but I can't see past it.

But there's another author who is quite mouthy publicly and has said things I vehemently disagree with. But since reading his disagreeable opinions I've continued to read his books and would recommend them. So in some cases the personal affects me and sometimes it doesn't. Maybe it's a scale system? With the first author, his books weren't engaging enough to me to overshadow his unfortunate personality (his editor said to me, "Sorry, I can edit him on paper but not in person!"). But with the second, I liked and clicked enough with his books that I didn't have to think about him as a person as I read. I was able to merge with the story and forget the author.

What are your thoughts? Do you wish authors remained anonymous and you only knew them through the words on the page? (if you're reading an author's blog, then probably not?) Does an author's public persona enhance/diminish your reading? Those of us who are older grew up with books alone, and now social media allows us to feel we know the people behind the books. How has this changed your reading experiences?

And you can register now for my Oct 1 webcast. I'll be doing a live school assembly followed by questions I'll be taking from both the live audience and the virtual audience. Sign up your class to participate for free. I'm really looking forward to this.

How I used Diplomacy to get my book back

I received this wonderful account from Erin, age 12.

    I had stayed up late the night before at our ward’s Women’s Retreat, and was grumpy that evening. My sister and I were supposed to clean our room. I was mean to her, and my mom took away my book, Palace of Stone, for five days. When I argued and tried to get my book back, I got sent to bed.
As I was lying there, I was trying to think of ways to get my book back. I didn’t want to just take it, even though I knew I could easily find it and take it back. The only other way I could think of was to convince my mom to give it back, and I didn’t know how I would do that. So I started thinking about what I had already read. I had just passed the part when Miri convinces Peder’s dad to let him go to the lowland by using Diplomacy. Suddenly the idea came to me. I could use diplomacy to get my book back. If it worked for Miri, is should work for me, right?

    Rule one: Identify the problem
    “I know I’m not allowed to have my book back.”

    Rule two: Admit your own error
    “I was mean to Ashley and disobeyed you. That was wrong.”

    Rule three: State the error of the other party
    “But you took my book and yelled at me. That was wrong too.”
   
    Rules four + five:  Propose specific compromises + Invite mutual acceptance
    “I think we should put that behind us and forget last night on these terms. I will try my hardest to be nice to my siblings and do everything I’m asked the first time. In return you will give me my book back.”

    Rules five + six: Illustrate the negative outcome of refusal and positive acceptance + Assert a deadline for acceptance
    I couldn’t really think of any way to say this without it sounding like a threat. You know, she is my mom. :)

    I also had to make sure she was in a good mood. I chose Sunday afternoon, on the way home from our ward choir practice. Then we were alone in the car for several minutes. All through choir I prepared myself and went over my speech in my head. In the car, I gave it to her, and she laughed. I didn’t get my book back until later that afternoon, but it still worked. I was really excited that now I could finish devouring it and enjoy the drive to Salt Lake to visit family.

 

What a cutie! Cheers to Erin and her mom. Also, here's more info about the webcast event: Join Shannon for a live webcast at Brooklyn Friends School to celebrate the release of Palace of Stone. Click here to register for the free event.

A cool thing and a song

This is a cool thing I'm doing in early October. I'll be presenting an author assembly in New York City, and School Library Journal is broadcasting it live into other schools. Educators, you can sign up your class or school to participate remotely. I'll be taking questions and comments from kids both live and digitally. I know Jeff Kinney did this recently and it turned out super awesome. EDIT: don't know why the link wasn't showing up before but it should be working now.

See my events page for upcoming appearances in Utah, Illinois, Baltimore Book Festival, and NYC.

Thanks for your support of my new book! Here's a snippet, one of the songs that start off the chapters:

 

Once there was a queen in a palace of bread.
Sing blue, sing white, stay up all night.
She nibbled on the walls and gobbled up her bed.
Sing white, sing blue, sing ballyhoo.

The people begged a crumb from their robust queen.
Sing blue, sing white, she ate all night.
She would not share a thing until it turned green.
So white, so blue, the mold it grew.

I just love them so much

I already posted this on tumblr, so forgive the repetition.

What much of each day is like:

Plus one example of why they're worth it:

Boys leading the best seller lists

Here it is! For reals! Palace of Stone at #8 on the NYT best seller list. Wahoo! Thank you SO MUCH to those who bought the book early. It really makes a difference for a book's overall success if it's launched well.

It was interesting looking over all the children's best seller lists. Like most female children's/YA writers I know, I've been asked many times why I don't write books for boys. (My answer is: but I do. Why don't some boys read books about girls?) There is a crisis in reading. Boys aren't reading as much as girls and are suffering academically for it. I love that this is being addressed and questioned. But I wonder why books that have female main characters are seen as part of the problem.

I also hear over and over again that there just aren't enough "boy" books and books about boys. Look at this week's NYT best seller lists and the ratios of male:female authors.* [EDIT: whoops, I write it out wrong the first time. Now it reads correctly, e.g. 8 male authors: 2 female authors.]

Children's paperback - 8:2

Series books - 8:2

Children's chapter books- 7:3

Children's picture books - 9:1

I love to see a lot of men in children's books. It's wonderful! But I don't see the paucity that some are worried about. 80% of the current best sellers are written by men. Does anyone know, are the best seller lists not representative of what's published over all? Are, say, 80% of books published by/about girls, even while 80% of the best sellers are by/about boys? I don't know those stats but I'd be curious to learn.

Now please keep posting your great photos of boys reading "girl" books! Loving the entries. Some of these are really going to make you laugh. Let's give the contest a couple more weeks. And I'll post about the book tour soon.

*I looked at this just by author gender. There are a couple of books by men that have female main characters, and a couple of books by women that have male main characters. But overall, the best sellers are 80% male-led. Not a criticism, just the facts, and I like to look at facts and wonder about them.