Reminds me, in several senses, of the first time I came across
Gladwell's _The Tipping Point_. Words put by somebody else to some
inchoate thoughts that I'd had but hadn't expressed with any clarity.
This is the flip side - the *good* flip side - of marketing sugar-water
to kids.
Udhay
-------- Original Message --------
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:45:04 -0700
From: Cory Doctorow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080502)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Locus Magazine's just published my latest column, "Nature's Daredevils:
Writing for Young Audiences," written in honor of their special young
adult publishing issue -- in it, I examine the lessons I've learned in
writing my first YA book, Little Brother:
Genre YA fiction has an army of promoters outside of the field: teachers,
librarians, and specialist booksellers are keenly aware of the difference the
right book can make to the right kid at the right time, and they spend a lot of
time trying to figure out how to convince kids to try out a book. Kids are
naturals for this, since they really use books as markers of their social
identity, so that good books sweep through their social circles like chickenpox
epidemics, infecting their language and outlook on life. That's one of the most
wonderful things about writing for younger audiences — it matters. We all read
for entertainment, no matter how old we are, but kids also read to find out how
the world works. They pay keen attention, they argue back. There's a
consequentiality to writing for young people that makes it immensely
satisfying. You see it when you run into them in person and find out that there
are kids who read your book, googled every aspect of it, figured ou
t
how to replicate the best bits, and have turned your story into a
hobby. We wring our hands a lot about the greying of SF, with good
reason. Just have a look around at your regional con, the one you've
been going to since you were a teenager, and count how many teenagers
are there now. And yet, young people are reading in larger numbers than
they have in recent memory. Part of that is surely down to Harry Potter,
but on this tour, I've discovered that there's a legion of unsung heroes
of the kids-lit revolution.
Locus magazine:
http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2008/07/cory-doctorow-natures-daredevils.html";>Link</a>
--
Cory Doctorow
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
blog: boingboing.net
vanity: craphound.com
podcast: feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast
Free novel: Little Brother: craphound.com/littlebrother
Free graphic novel: http://craphound.com/?p=2079
Free novel: Someone Comes to Town: craphound.com/someone
Free novel: Eastern Standard Tribe: craphound.com/est
Free novel: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom: craphound.com/down
Free stories: Overclocked: craphound.com/overclocked
Free stories: A Place So Foreign: craphound.com/place
--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
