The Jealous Writer's Book Review: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi

You have to be exceptionally confident and a touch delusional to go by one name. It's also helpful to have an uncommon name like Madonna, Prince, Plato, or Banksy. The official term for a one-word name is mononym. That's your word for the day...you're welcome.

Interestingly, mononymy declined in the West during the Middle Ages and has only recently become popular again with rockstars. Avi, the author of the medieval historical fiction novel, Crispin: The Cross of Lead, is bringing mononymy back for writers. He's written over fifty books in many genres, most of them for children. He has a great blog that answers readers' questions and talks about his writing process. Hence, Avi is the rockstar of the middle-grade fiction world. Is it even possible to be jealous of a writer like Avi? He's got about a 50-year head start on me. And his books have won the highest honors a children's book can get. I am beyond jealous...I am terrified to be confronted with the impossibility of his awesomeness.

I picked up a hardcover copy of Crispin a while ago at my local thrift store. It was in pristine condition with the gold Newberry medal shining brilliantly on the nearly flawless dust jacket. At that point, my natural inclination towards jealousy was completely overriden by sadness. An unread book of medieval middle-grade historical fiction is like a slap in the face to my own dreams. What if one of my books ends up in the local Goodwill one day, abandoned between crockpot cookbooks and last year's almanac? Do the children not want to read about the Middle Ages? Will they not want to read my book then either?

According to reader reviews of the book, that doesn't seem to be the case. Here's my favorite five-star review from Amazon reviewer Wyatt Singletary:

It's good and gets the readers attention quick but it also isn't good then it's really good and then its great

I agree, Wyatt Singletary. My work here is finished. Psych!

The events of Crispin take place in England in 1377. It's told in the first person by a boy who goes by the name "Asta's son" because he doesn't know his real name. After his mother dies, he accidentally stumbles into a secret meeting with the local steward and a stranger. Suddenly, he is accused of theft and has to run for his life...literally. This is what is depicted on the book's cover. Run, Asta's son, run!

He tries to find asylum with the local priest, who tells him his real name is Crispin. The next morning, the priest's throat is slit, blood is everywhere, and Crispin has to run again. He ends up in the company of a huge jester-type man named Bear. Bear is a barely toned-down version of Falstaff, and he draws Crispin into some secret plots or something. To be honest, I couldn't really follow all of the intrigue that was going on, especially because the "twist" of Crispin's true identity wasn't too hard to figure out so all of the extra machinations felt superfluous to me. Unlike the last book I reviewed, Rose, it was clear this book was going to be scary and violent throughout, with lots of period-appropriate villians and weapons.

All in all, the book is action-packed and entertaining. It's got the 3 P's of medieval historical fiction: poverty, pestilence, and patriarchy.  I just made those up, but I'll stand by it. It's not an inaccurate picture of fourteenth-century England, but Crispin is definitely a book that appeals to boys. There are knife fights, dirt, blood, and few women in sight. If you want some medieval girl stories, you have to go to Karen Cushman because she has the market cornered on that.

What I was really interested in about Avi's book was how he constructed and explained his medieval setting. I struggled with that in my own writing, so I was curious to learn from the master. Avi's approach was to just dive right in. He doesn't shy away from tough medieval concepts like crop rotation, land-owning nobility, wolfesheved, Catholicism, and of course, death. Some of them are casual asides, while some are explained fairly well. But all of them are woven in seamlessly and with little commentary. He uses difficult, period-specific vocabulary with no explanation--something I was worried about doing--and it works. Writing lesson: readers will keep up even if they don't know every word.

It was great to hear reviewers liberally praise the book's setting:

Avi has done an excellent job of integrating background and historical information, of pacing the plot so that the book is a page-turner from beginning to end, and of creating characters for whom readers will have great empathy. -- School Library Journal

Avi builds an impressive backdrop for his arresting characters: a tense medieval world in which hostility against the landowners and their cruelties is increasing. There's also other nail-biting tension in the story that builds to a gripping, somewhat confusing ending, which finds Crispin, once weak, now strong. Readers may not understand every nuance of the political machinations that propel the story, but they will feel the shifting winds of change beginning to blow through a feudal society. -- Booklist

The Middle Ages was such an interesting, complex time when children had real responsibility to provide for their families and communities that it blows my mind that it isn't a popular setting for children's historical fiction. Far from being jealous of Crispin, I was inspired by it. Yes, it's a depressing story. Yes, women aren't in it. Yes, it's slightly convoluted. But it brought a far-away time and place to life, and did it in an exciting way. And kids think it's cool! Reading Crispin made me realize I have a lot to work on in my own novel. I need to raise the stakes for my characters and trust my readers more. Writing lesson: high stakes are important in any time period.

Rock on, Avi. Rock on. I will rescue your books from the thrift store any day.

In Summation

Did I like it? Most of it, yes
Would I recommend it? Absolutely
Did it make me jealous? Not at all

Under the Sealing Wax: Interpret Abigail Adams' Dream

During graduate school I worked as a tandem oral proofreader of historical papers. "What is tandem oral proofreading and is it suitable for children?" you may be wondering. It's proofreading done in pairs and it's suitable for all ages! One person reads the original letter or paper out loud including all capitalization and punctuation while the other checks the transcription. It's the most accurate method for proofreading, and rather fun because you get to work as a team.

I also felt like I got to know our Founding Fathers extremely well from reading their letters. James Madison was incredibly patient, humble, and thoughtful. John Adams was insecure yet insightful. Thomas Jefferson wrote his w's like v's, which sounds like Count Dracula when spoken out loud (I vant to suck your blood!). My partner and I joked that Jefferson was really a vampire, which is why people at the University of Virgina refer to him in the present tense.

One of the most interesting projects I helped to proofread was John and Abigail Adams' correspondence to each other during John Adams' presidency. They address each other as "Dearest Friend," and ask each other's opinions on everything. If communication is the basis of a good marriage, these guys were doing it right. (The full transcripts of their letters are available online from the Massachussetts Historical Society at http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/letter/.)

One passage of Abigail's letter on Jan. 1, 1797, has stuck with me years later. She's describing a weird dream so clearly that it seems like she could be sitting next to you asking you what it means today.

I seldom think twice of a dreem but last Night I had one of so singular a nature that it has amused my mind to day with various conjectures. I was riding in my Coach, where I knew not, but all at once I perceived flying in the Air a Number of large black Balls of the Size of a 24 pounder. They appeard to be all directed at me. All of them however burst and fell before they reach'd me tho I continud going immediatly towards them. I saw them crumble all to Attoms, but during this Scene, two Guns were dischargd at my left Ear the flash of which I saw and heard the report.

I still remaind unhurt, but proceeded undaunted upon my course.

How would the Sooth Sayers interpret this Dream?

I am no soothsayer, but according to the Dream Bible, "To dream of being shot at, but missed symbolizes a person or situation that is attempting to control your decisions." Sorry that information is about 200 years too late, Abigail.

John Adams had a different interpretation when he replied to her letter: 

Your black Balls and flashing Guns are proofs of an Anxiety that is very needless. I never felt easier in my Life. My Path is very plain, and if I am not supported I will resign.

Thanks a lot, John. Way to turn your wife's dream into something all about you and your job.

Abigail occasionally entreats her husband to burn her letters, but thankfully he didn't listen to her. Some of the topics she writes about must have seemed mundane at the time: moving her mother to a room on the ground floor so she didn't have to take the stairs, complaining about the lack of affordable coaches for sale, and finding decorations for the new White House. Now, they're fascinating insights into eighteenth-century life.

If you're doing any kind of research for historical fiction, I highly recommend checking out any kind of historical documents from the time period. Let me know if you find any more evidence that Thomas Jefferson was a vampire.

 

 

Of Happily Ever Afters Without Princes

The Giver is supposed to be a dystopian novel. When I first read it as a kid, I remember thinking the part of the fictional society where children's jobs and futures were assigned to them seemed more like a utopia to me. Figuring out where my life is headed has never been easy for me.

At Wellesley, my all-women's alma mater, there is a tradition called hoop rolling. It's a race in which graduating seniors attempt to be the first to cross the finish line while propelling a wooden hoop with their hands. It's harder than it sounds, I promise. The winner then gets picked up and thrown into Lake Waban.

In the beginning of the tradition, the winner of the hoop rolling race was supposedly the first to get married or start a family. Sometime in the 1970s, the winner was destined to be the first to become CEO. And now, the winner is destined to find success however she defines it.

 

As far as endings go, hoop rolling and then graduation was a very satisfying ending to four years at college. There was plenty of pomp and circumstance followed by the promise of a bright future. But what future? If success is however you define, what in the world does that mean? I'm still trying to figure that one out for myself.

 

As a writer, I think a lot about satisfying endings because I'm not very good at them in life or on paper. And as a woman writing about female characters, I feel a lot of responsibility to write endings for my characters that are both satisfying and inspiring to the reader. Never before in history have there been so many women writing so much about the female experience. Therefore, in my perpetual quest to be a better writer, I thought I'd look into what kinds of endings other female writers have written for their female characters. What do their characters wish for when they win the hoop-rolling race of life? If it's not marrying a prince, what is it? Specifically, in fiction, where anything is possible, what kinds of endings are we writing for ourselves as women?

 

I could go through my favorite books as a kid, but were my reading habits really representative of the complete canon of literature? Definitely not. I need to learn from the best. And I need cold, hard facts. So I turned to the All-Time Bestselling Children's Book list from Publisher's Weekly released in 2000. It doesn't get much more fact-driven than that. Prepare yourself to be hit with some knowledge.

 

Here's the first interesting fact: of the top five hardback books on the list, four were written by women. None have a female main character. To be fair, number 5 is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Hermione is a major character. She ends up with a good career, marries Ron and has two kids. Not exactly an out-of-the-box ending for an awesome female character though. 

 

Of the top five paperback books on the list, one was written by a woman. None have a female main character. Make of that what you will. But I'm not here to debate gender equality in literature right now. I just want to get a sense of the landscape.

 

The first book on the paperback list (#8) by a female author with a female main character is Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? by Judy Blume. Margaret struggles with religion and coming of age throughout the book, but finds some peace with God at the end when she finally gets her period. I should stop my search right here. Could there be a more appropriate ending for a girl book than menstruation?

 

Next on the list at #11 is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I must confess, I picked this book up a long time ago but never finished it. Now, I'm regretting it. The main character Meg goes on a journey through space and time involving centaurs, aliens, and an evil disembodied brain. In the end, she rescues her missing father, discovers the power of love, and reunites her family.

 

At #12 and #13 are two of the Little House on the Prairie Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Because these books are semi-biographical and don't really have a "plot," the ending of the series with Laura's marriage and happy domestic life isn't fictional, so I'm not sure how that fits in.

 

Coming in at #18 is Go Ask Alice by Anonymous. "Anonymous" is actually Beatrice Sparks, and although the book claims to be the diary of a teenage girl, it is generally believed to be mostly fictional. The unnamed diarist gets hooked on drugs and descends into a downward spiral. At the end, she is hopeful she will turn her life around and stay clean, but an epilogue reveals she dies of an overdose at home shortly after writing her last diary entry. So, don't do drugs, kids. Because you'll DIE.

 

In between more Judy Blume and Laura Ingalls Wilder books at #22 is The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. This historical novel set in 17th-century New England starts with plucky Kit on board a ship running away from having to get married in Barbados. She convinces people in her new home that she's not a witch, teaches them to read, and does her best to be a feminist. At the end, she gets engaged to the son of the captain of the ship she arrived on.

 

After even more Judy Blume and Laura Ingalls Wilder books at #41 is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg. Claudia and her younger brother run away from home to live in the Met Museum. They solve the mystery of a statue and return home where Claudia feels more content because she has a secret of her own.

 

And last in the top 50 at #45 is Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. Sarah is a mail-order bride from Maine who must decide if she wants to remain in the prairie and become a family with her potential husband and his two children. She stays.

 

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect from examining the endings of these books. It's heartening to see proof that the most popular books by women authors don't fall into stereotypes. There isn't one outcome that equals a good ending in a bestselling book, but finding a sense of belonging or contentment in a complete family is a theme. Except in Go Ask Alice. That one is the opposite of happily ever after. Who is buying this book for their kids?

 

It shouldn't be surprising that ending up with a complete family or promise of a happy marriage is a satisfying ending in a children's book because finding your place in the world is what these books are really about. If I learned anything from this exercise, it's that maybe finding contentment is success. Whether you're getting your period, rescuing your father from aliens, or finding the love of your life, we should keep pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a successful woman because contentment can come in many forms. Unless you do drugs. Because then you will DIE.

 



Of Lurkers, Anthropology, and Tribes

Starting this personal blog is a big step in my online life because up until now, I have been a lurker.

 

 

Lurking feels like the wrong word, actually. It has such a negative connotation. I'm not maliciously hanging out in the Internet's dark corners waiting to strike. I prefer to think of myself as a back-of-the-room, friendly kind of lurker. I'm like that awkward single guy who shows up to weddings, looks uncomfortable and won't ask any of the girls to dance.

 

In school, I had a favorite spot in most classrooms: off to the side in one of the back rows. In my group gym classes, it's the same spot. At the movie theater, I head straight for the back row. The back is where you have the best vantage point. You can see everyone around you and take everything in at once. It's also a great place not to attract attention to yourself when you're shy and insecure.

 

When I had finally finished the first draft of my first novel, I settled myself into the back row of the Internet to learn about querying. I read every blog I could find, every thread on every forum of AbsoluteWrite and the BlueBoards, digested every piece of advice that was given, checked out books from the library...and then promptly ignored it all and queried before I was ready. Once I got back on the right track, I continued to read, and read, and read until I had read it all. I joined Query Tracker and ponied up for the premium membership. Now I knew about all the stats, the probabilities, the hard work, the timing, the luck, and magic that it takes to break into publishing. And part of what I knew I had to do was start setting up camp somewhere in the vast, tangled World-Wide Web.

 

But how? How do you go from being an anthropologist to a member of the tribe? For a lot of writers, I think the building a social media platform is terrifying. Putting yourself out there, especially when you don't have much to show yet, is stressful. And stuff on the Internet stays there FOREVER and EVER. There are no take-backs online.

 

I don't pretend to have all the answers or even know the right way to do things, but I will say that although I've taken it slowly, I have had a great experience online and have felt completely comfortable every step of the way.

 

Joining Twitter was one of the first things I did because I could be anonymous yet still participate. All of a sudden, I was listening in on a new side of the publishing conversation. At first, I was too scared to put up a picture of my face, so I was an egg for a while, and then a cartoon, and then one day I was ready to put my best camera phone selfie out there for the world to see.

 

Around the same time that I joined Twitter, I started posting critiques during the secret agent rounds on Miss Snark's First Victim blog. Authoress' site is wonderful and offers lots of opportunities for writers to encourage each other and improve at the same time. I wasn't brave enough to enter my own work in her agent rounds, but I took advantage of the generosity of K.T. Crowley to post my first 250 words on her blog for critique. The feedback I got was kind and helpful, and tough to hear sometimes. But I was so glad I had put myself out there.

 

When Pitch Madness, a fun contest where agents bid on pitches, was being advertised on Twitter, I was immediately interested. I decided to give it a try, and my entry ended up being chosen for a team. I was thrilled! It was great to be part of a team and connect with other writers on social media. I started tweeting a little more and slowly poking my head out from my shell.

 

I found Janet Reid's blog and participated in her informal flash writing contests last summer. Getting a shout-out from the Shark herself was the height of cool. Reading the other entries was a lesson in humility. In November, I submitted a story to a NANOWRIMO-inspired contest put on by new publishing company, REUTS. Little by little, each step I was taking helped me grow as a writer and figure out my place as a member of the writing community.

 

When an open critique round on Miss Snark's First Victim came up, I submitted the first pages of my latest manuscript. Getting chosen and then getting positive feedback felt like coming full circle. Hearing that your work is on the right track is even better than a plate full of cookies.

 

 

 

Yesterday, when I posted a review of Holly Webb's book and she retweeted my post about it, I could have pinched myself. Here I am contributing (tentatively) to the industry I love, and no one is coming after me with torches and pitchforks telling me to get out of town.

 

My advice to any fellow lurkers out there is to take it slow. Stay in the back of the room until you're ready to sit up front and raise your hand. Follow the advice of people who are in the industry and those who genuinely support other writers. But don't be afraid, because whenever you're ready, you'll find a great community out there full of friendly people.

 

I'm still not sure exactly where my place is in the www. world. Is it critiquing, offering advice, or back to friendly lurking? I don't know, but one day, in my wildest dreams, I hope to join the ranks of those like Brenda Drake, Authoress, and K.T., who have been so generous with their time and expertise to help anthropologists like me join the tribe.

 

 

 



The Jealous Writer's Book Review: Rose by Holly Webb

 

 

I am a jealous person. Like, sooo jealous. I admit it freely and without shame. My Facebook feed makes me want to crawl into a hole and sob until I die. Seeing other people's publishing deals on Twitter make me want to eat my weight in chocolate. I'm sure most of you feel the same way and nobody's life is perfect, etcetera etcetera, but in the moment, it's hard to stop those emotions.

 

One of the things you're supposed to do as an aspiring author is read widely in your genre, i.e., scope out the competition. But it's kind of tough to do that when you feel like this:

 

 

Published books:

 

 

Me:

When I read other middle grade fiction, the jealous writer in me is 50% enjoying the good parts of the book and 50% picking it apart for flaws to make my own writing better. What's the point if not to improve, right?

I wasn't doing a great job of reading recent middle grade fiction until I got a Kindle for Christmas. Lurking around the young adult section of the library is awkward enough, although I could pass for a "young adult" if you ignore my wrinkles. But until I get over myself or steal a child, there's just no reason for me to be in the kid's section of the library. Plus, the stacks there are really short and I feel like Gulliver stalking around in Lilliput.

Now, with my trusty Kindle paperwhite, I can download all the kid's books my little jealous heart desires with no shame. And if I don't look at my credit card statement, it's like they all show up for free!


 

One of the first books I wanted to scope out was Rose by Holly Webb because it has a similar premise, setting, and main character to my manuscript and would attract the same readers.

Holly Webb is a lovely British author who has written approximately 50,000 books, mostly about kittens and puppies. So naturally, she makes me want to binge eat two tubs of chocolate frosting and then steal her life.

Rose is about an orphan named (drum roll please...) Rose who has natural magical abilities and is plucked out of her drab orphanage to go work in the house of a famous and wealthy alchemist. There is also a talking cat. Instant awesome.

Rose is a delightful heroine who likes to follow the rules but is full of pluck. My younger self would have identified with Rose a lot. I also really liked that Rose didn't feel sorry for herself about her situation. In fact, she felt grateful to be working and eager to find her place in her new home.

The best parts of the book for me were Rose and the magical world she lived in. I would have loved for the book to delve much deeper into the rules and history of the society, as it only skimmed the surface. There are several books in the Rose series and other related series in the same world, so I assume that if one continued reading, there would be more answers.

Now, here is the part of my review where I rub my hands and cackle with glee...the room for improvement. In some online reviews, people point out that the climax of the book is scary. I didn't find it particularly frightening because I felt confident in Rose's ability to fix things. But I could see how the lackadaisical pace from the first part could lead others to believe the ending wouldn't get so grim. Writing lesson: make sure your audience is prepared for a scary twist.

For me, one distracting part of the book was keeping two similar characters straight...Freddie is the "upstairs" protege of the alchemist while Bill is the "downstairs" servant friend. Both ended up being her friend, so it was hard to differentiate them. Writing lesson: make sure supporting characters serve different functions so they can be distinguished from each other.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Rose although I don't feel compelled to continue on with the series. I would whole-heartedly recommend it to middle-grade readers who like magical settings. When I finished, I was glad to find that it was different enough from the book I'm writing that I didn't throw my hands up in despair and chew off my fingernails.

But I'm still jealous of Holly Webb. She cannot be my friend on Facebook.

In Summation

Did I like it? Yes
Would I recommend it? Absolutely
Did it make me jealous? Yes, but not as much as I feared




Of Zodiac Signs and Characters

When I was growing up, I used to check my daily horoscope fairly often because it was printed in the Lifestyle section of the newspaper next to the comics and the crossword, the only parts of the newspaper I felt like reading. Now that I'm older and have the annoying Millenial trait of not subscribing to a print newspaper at all, I read more post-sushi fortune cookies than horoscopes.

This morning I was thinking about ways to get to know my main character in my latest and greatest manuscript. She's confident, quick-witted, spunky, and loves playing soccer. She's also impulsive, distractable, and yearns to fit in. In my head, she has a birthday around this time of year. Early June, perhaps. So I got to wondering, what's my character's sign?

I have to say, I want to believe in astrology even though logically I know it's silly. I'm an Aquarius through and through -- stubborn, changeable, curious, and idealistic. Despite the fact that I specifically planned on not going to the gym today and chugging along at my job as usual, this was my daily horoscope:

Today much of your mental - and possibly physical - energy could be directed at career matters. You might reevaluate goals and ambitions, Aquarius, and consider other possibilities.

I was completely prepared to write that off as a ridiculous prediction, but here I am starting a new blog to help my writing career. So, who knows? I mean, I have been to see a psychic for myself and my cat...maybe I should just stop fighting it, embrace the crazy, and buy a pack of tarot cards.

I was also fully prepared to discover that my main character, Emily, would need a different birthday if I wanted to align her personality with her zodiac sign. But lo and behold, an early June birthday makes her a Gemini. And the description of a Gemini is almost spot-on to how I envision her:

Gemini people are many sided, quick both in the mind and physically. They are brimming with energy and vitality, they are clever with words. They are intelligent and very adaptable to every situation and every person. Gemini are curious and always want to know what's going on in the world around them. They are not one to sit back and watch the world go by, they want to be involved.

A big aspect of the Gemini personality that I did not give Emily is a talkative nature. It's hard to give your character a trait that you don't possess as an author, but after exploring her astrological sign, I think I might consider letting more of her Gemini-ness rule her character.

One of my goals as a writer is to create well-rounded characters who are believable and relatable. I'll definitely be using the astrological signs as another tool to help gain insight into who my characters are, especially because people tend to have multiple facets that aren't easy to predict.

Along those lines, one of my favorite things about getting to know new people is discovering the contradictory parts of their nature. I have a friend who is amazingly wonderful at pointing out the positives in other people, but can't do the same for herself. And my mom comes across as very conservative and old-school in most respects, but one of her favorite shows is South Park. Being able to give characters these little quirks makes them seem much more human.

So writers, do you know your characters' signs? Do your favorite character's birthdays match up to their sign's traits? Scholastic has an old writing prompt on their website about coming up with a horoscope for your character based on their zodiac sign: http://blog.scholastic.com/ink_splot_26/2011/05/writing-prompt-character-horoscope.html. When I'm ready, I think writing Emily's horoscope will be a blast.