Sorry for the title. I've been reading and writing too much young adult literature of late. I missed a day of writing and more than a day of blogging due to the demands of cooking and feeding 10 people on Thanksgiving. I lost a little momentum on my NaNo novel over the holiday but I seem to be back on track.
Today, I had the inspiration to have my character read a banned book and I happened to have just the right banned book in my library. (I bought it during Banned Book Week from my local independent bookseller). Last week I attended a local NaNo event and got a little feedback on my work-in-progress from a professional. Her take was that I needed to add more dialog and descriptive detail. She also recommended a couple of books that might help me with catching the adolescent "voice." (Don't forget I live with an adolescent voice.). So I dutifully went out and bought one of the books she recommended, dredged up a copy of Catcher in the Rye from my bookshelves--I never read it since I tried to read it and didn't like it as a teen myself--and bought a couple of modern YA books with catchy titles or themes.
Among my recent thematic readings are:
The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger
Ice Drift by Theodore Taylor (not YA but an adventure book for middle schoolers about kids surviving alone in the arctic).
Here is my favorite line from Hard Love: "I flopped on the couch, attempting to render myself invisible by passing for a normal teenage boy."
I don't really have time to review these books and others I've read this month. I really need to focus on surviving NaNo now that it is down to the finish line. To get back to the banned books theme, the book I am working into my story is the perks of being a wallflower--omitting capitals seems to be de rigeur in titles of teen books. So far it is interesting. It is pretty obvious why someone might want to ban it. In the first 42 pages there are references to drugs, alcohol, homosexuality and other naughty stuff. In other words, exactly what all the teens in my family and office are talking about. No magic yet which triggered Harry Potter haters to try to ban it.
I also found an interesting blog about banned books. It is recommended reading as is the American Library Association information about Banned Books Week. Happy reading!
The count for the day, so far, is:
46920 words
77 single spaced pages.
TTFN!
3 comments:
Congratulations on the NANO accomplishment! Way cool.
I love the mural. It's great.
Hmm. I wonder if I still have my copy of CATCHER IN THE RYE. It ought to be around here somewhere...
I really like that mural a lot, especially the colors. And I'm going to ask the English teacher about Ice Drift (two of my favorite topics in books: arctic and adventure). Maybe she has it.
I have decided to write about why I object so strongly to wind farms on the mountain ridge lines here. Enough people have asked. Hopefully, tomorrow!
I really admire your focus on this writing. Where does everybody's writing go? On their own blog or a central blog or both? I am following you and one other lady who is also writing (and who has also disappeared).
So don't bother visiting or anything: just write!
;0)
Where does the writing go? I'm not posting it publicly. There is an excerpt on my NaNoWriMo site at http://www.nanowrimo.org/user/238722. I'm not trusting enough to put an entire novel on the internet.
Thanks for the encouragement.
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