Love Thyself: An Essential Lit Lesson for Kids

All the recent news about bullying the the schools has made me think a lot about the role literature can play to help kids with self-esteem issues. There are many wonderful, moving examples of kids’ books where characters learn their own strength, and come to love how special they are.

Particularly poignant are stories about kids with troubled home lives, who overcome daily struggles to find happiness. I think the most powerful examples are those flooded the with humor and joy, making the character’s pain bittersweet rather than depressing. In Linda Urban’s A Crooked Kind of Perfect, a girl learns to celebrate her own gifts, and not to compare herself so much to others. Leslie Connor’s Waiting for Normal shows the power of a positive personality to find light in circumstances many would find impossible dark. These are both joyful books, despite the pain they describe.

And then there is the cartoonish, or fantastical, or metaphorical lesson in self-esteem. A classic is George Selden’s The Cricket in Times Square. Lost little cricket, tiny and alone at the Crossroads of the World, manages to make friends and even be a hero. Or how about Jeff Brown and Macky Pamintuan’s Flat Stanley series? Stanley gets flattened to half an inch thick. Does he give up? No! He saves the day in his special, flat way.

Some of the most affecting lessons in self-love come in the form of picture books. An extraordinary recent example of this is Claudine Gueh Yanting’s beautiful My Clearest Me, which shows a very shy child taking flight and freeing himself through poetic imagery and richly colored paintings. And then there’s Shel Silverstein, who contributed so many illustrated poems on the topic of finding strength in what the world perceives to be our weaknesses.

I’m sure that one of the major reasons many of us write for kids is to have an impact on their lives. The impact can be huge, and it can be very positive, and need not be preachy. It can even be fun! Stories have magical potential.

Guest blogger Marian Lanouette: Why Mysteries?

My guest today is Marian Lanouette, a novelist raised in my own adoptive Brooklyn, but who now lives in New England. She shares with us how she became fascinated with the mystery/suspense genre. Marian's new book is If I Fail, the first in a series of Jake Carrington Mysteries. These stories combine mystery with elements of romance.

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I love a good mystery or puzzle. So it seemed natural when I sat down to write that the genre would be mystery/suspense/thriller.  At an early age I started reading.  Unbeknown to my parents I would read the New York Daily News because I had already read through all my library books. A story caught my eye. It was the murder of eight young women in Chicago.

The case terrified me, yet intrigued me. I wanted the killer punished for his horrible acts. The reported frustrated with the police started to comment in his column instead of reporting the news. At dinner one night, I brought the subject up and each day I’d follow every story. My parents were horrified and put a stop to my reading the Daily News each day. I had to get my tidbits on the case from eavesdropping on the nightly news. How the police caught up with the murderer and the trial that ensued which intrigued me. It grabbed my attention and my imagination. To this day, I still check my closet before going to sleep. I believe it was on that day the mystery lover was created.

Throughout the years, after the trial, I would take every mystery written for children out of the library and gobble them up. As I got older, my mind started creating stories. It wasn’t until recently that I decided to send the stories in for publication. Submitting took a lot of courage. I think I bled every time I got a rejection but I stayed the course and eventually found my publisher who I love.

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You can purchase If I Fail directly from MuseItUp Publishing or from Amazon.

You can view the book trailer here.

Learn more about Marian Lanouette by visiting her website or following her on Twitter or Facebook.

Novelist Terri Bruce and the Joy of HEREAFTER Research

It's my pleasure to welcome Terri Bruce, who's touring her new contemporary fantasy novel, Hereafter. Terri shares her thoughts about how research for fiction can be fun and absorbing, even for the reluctant researcher. As you'll see, Terri set quite a task for herself as she prepared Hereafter!

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To the Books—Researching Hereafter

I never thought I’d like doing research for a book; after all, writing is fun and researching is tedious, right? I mean, who actually liked researching term-papers in school? Yuck! Not me! I love to read well-researched, authentic books—historical fiction and historical romance are two favorite genres—but I always think (accompanied by a sorrowful shake of the head), “Oh man! How tedious must it be to have to research the exact shape of a dress sleeve in sixteenth century France? God bless ‘em, historical fiction writers are either saints or masochists!”

When I set out to write Hereafter I knew I wanted to create a story in which every culture’s and religion’s beliefs were true. Going into this project, I already knew a bit about quite a few cultures—the Greeks, the Norse, the Egyptians. Well…that was three. If I was going to include “every” culture, I was going to have to expand my knowledge. So I did a little research, visited a few websites, boned up on what I already knew and added some more cultures to my repertoire—Romans, Babylonians, Sumerians, Aztecs, Mayans. I even discovered a few cultures I had never heard of, such as the Etruscans.

Well, okay, that was a start, but that was, quite frankly, a whole lot of focus on a few geographic and ethnic clusters—which was reflected in the amount of similarity in the beliefs. I needed more diversity so I started poking into Australian and Africa aborigine, Inuit, and North and South American indigenous Indian beliefs. Now we were getting somewhere! And, wow, this was all really fascinating stuff!

Of course, this was a whole lot of “culture” but I was still missing “religion.” While I absolutely did not want Hereafter to be a religious book and did not want it to appear to subscribe to or advocate for a particular religion or world view, I knew that the story could not be completely divorced from religion and spirituality. I already had a good handle on the modern Christian afterlife and a little knowledge of modern Judaism. I was going to need a lot more than that. Back to the books!

I researched everything that all of the modern religions I could identify had to say on the matter—Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Baha’I, Confucianism, Taoism, and more; then I discovered some rich source material on several ancient religions, like Zoroastrianism, ancient Judaism, and such, including quite a few I had never heard of. Around this point, several critique partners reading early drafts of Hereafter asked if I had a degree in comparative religion and after a while, it started to feel that way.

So now I had a ginormous three-ring binder full of source material. And yet, something was still missing—I had a lot of great information on what would happen to Irene after she went through the tunnel, but very little about what she would encounter on earth, as a ghost, which was the main plot of Hereafter. Say it with me—back to the books.

This time, I focused on funeral customs and beliefs related to ghosts and spirits. I already knew about the Egyptian custom of mummification, Irish Banshees, the Jewish tradition of sitting Shiva and burying the dead without embalming, and Chinese Ghost Festival and the idea of Hungry Ghosts. I knew a bit about ghosts in general and a few charms/superstitions meant to either repel or call ghosts. Now I learned about the funeral customs of a hundred different cultures—both ancient and modern—and the names and forms of every type of ghost, evil spirit, and death omen. Oh my! My binder grew fatter and graduated from a 2” shell to a 4”.

I was feeling pretty good about the research I had done at this point; the world-building of Hereafter was rich and intense, full of both subtle and obvious references to a hundred different cultures and religions. And everything fit together much more neatly than I had thought it would. Then…halfway through completing the first draft of Hereafter, I went to two workshops on world-building. One was on “place as character” and the other was about creating realistic cities in fiction. It struck me that I had not been paying enough attention to “place” in my story; or more specifically, to the history of the place where my story was set. Hereafter is set in Boston—a place rich with history, and the ghosts of people from the past were very probably still wandering around the city. If Irene was stuck on earth as a ghost, then it was just as likely that people from other eras were, too. I realized that Hereafter was as much a time travel story as it was a story about the afterlife.

Back to the books!

So now it was once more back to the research, but this time on the history of Boston. I have never been much interested in history and have a terrible time keeping names and dates straight. However, I do love the history of cities—I love learning how they have grown and changed, both physically and culturally. I collect old guide books and love to try and follow their touring instructions, just so I can see what’s changed—new streets that have been added and old streets that have been renamed or disappeared altogether, new buildings that have gone up and old buildings that have been torn down, and the changing borders or even identity of the various districts or neighborhoods. Cities are alive and organic and they constantly grow and change. So for me, researching the history of Boston became just as fascinating and engrossing as researching the afterlife. And what an education! I learned that the South End had once been known for its rooming houses, that the subway line I thought was the newest was actually one of the oldest, and that the clean, business-like “government center” area had once been filled with burlesque halls. In short, I learned that a city I thought I knew intimately, I didn’t actually know all that well, after all.

Finally, I reached a saturation point. I had more than enough information to write Hereafter; there was no point to doing more research, and in fact, time spent doing research was time away from writing. There was no help for it, I had to put down the books and pick up my pen. To be honest, I felt a little bereft. Occasionally I needed to look up a stray fact, verify a spelling, confirm the veracity of a source, but it wasn’t the same. I had become a research junkie and I was cut off, cold turkey. Gradually, the love of writing replaced my newfound love of research and I learned to cope with no longer needing to read obscure texts at odd hours.

Then…then something happened.

It was time to write the sequel.

To the books!

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You can purchase Hereafter from Amazon or directly from the publisher.

You learn more about Terri Bruce by visiting her website.

Follow Terri on Facebook and Twitter.

Novelist Pat McDermott on Children in Adult Stories

I'm very pleased to welcome back Pat McDermott, discussing a topic I've often been curious about: making child characters central to an adult story. I've never tried it myself, but I've read some great examples (David Mitchell's Black Swan Green pops to mind).

In her new novel, Fiery Roses, Pat used this technique, and agreed to share her thoughts about it.

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Children in Adult Stories

Blackmail and murder hardly make Fiery Roses a story for children. Yet a few vibrant moppets have stolen their way into this action/adventure fantasy set in an Ireland that might have been. Why include children in an adult story?

A child’s perspective can ease the tension, offer a simpler point of view, or add a touch of humor as it furthers the story along. In this excerpt, two girls amuse a reporter.

The sight of two red-haired demons bicycling straight at her frightened her until she realized the skinny legs pumping the pedals belonged to freckle-faced Mary Margaret Gannon and her sister Joanie.

“Allison! Allison!” Little Joanie skidded to a halt, braking with the toes of her sneakers. “An old, old man is visiting Aunt Betty. He must be a hunnerd-an-ten!”

Mary Margaret backpedaled to a stop. “He came to see her garden.” Holding the handlebars, she straddled her bicycle and sighed. “He said none of the flowers in her garden was as beautiful as her, and then he kissed her hand.”

“He’s going to court her,” squealed Joanie. “Wait till we tell Daddy!”

No secrets with kids around. Then we have the adult character who flashes back to childhood. I used this trick to help readers understand Neil Boru, the adoptive cousin and newlywed husband of Princess Talty. Here, he shares a haunting memory of his first meeting with his grandmother.

“‘Come here, boy’, she said. ‘Let me look at you.’ My mother gave me a nudge, and I went and stood in front of Bridget.” His eyes shut tight at the recollection. “I thought she was a witch, Tal. I can still see her weird purple eyes staring at me, never blinking. Then she said, ‘You look nothing like my Frank.’ She only spoke to my mother after that. While we were having tea, she said, ‘He’s left-handed. That’s no good,’ and other equally endearing things.”

Fiery Roses takes Neil and Talty to a parallel world, where they meet Kavie, a darling eight-year-old who gives Talty a chance to demonstrate her archery skills.

Kavie stood with his back to the sun, shooting arrows into, or at least near, a moth-eaten hide thirty yards in front of him. Pieces of straw peeked from beneath the target, an old boarskin shaped to somewhat resemble the unfortunate boar who had once owned it.

Smiling at his comical lack of skill, she waited until he reached for an arrow before she spoke. “Hello, Kavie. You’re up early. Practicing your shots, are you?”

“Good morning, goddess,” he said in his squeaky but endearing young voice. “I’m going to be a great hunter, like Papa.”

“That will take lots of practice and hard work.”

“I don’t mind.” He stood tall. “I’m small, but I’m very brave.”

Kavie will have a chance to prove his bravery, as will little Joanie, and yes, even Neil. The children’s presence undeniably enriches the plot of Fiery Roses. I’m glad they insisted on jumping aboard.

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Fiery Roses, released by MuseItUp Publishing on August 10, is Book Two in the Band of Roses Trilogy. Book One, A Band of Roses, was released in May. The third book, Salty Roses, is due for release in November.

To learn more about Pat McDermott, visit her website.           

Fiery Roses on Amazon or directly from MuseItUp Publishing.

Paranormal Fascination is Hardly a New Phenomenon

EBENEZER'S LOCKER, a paranormal mystery for tweens.

A hundred years ago, Corbin Elementary School's building housed Dr. Ebenezer Corbin's School for Psychical Research. It seems that a couple of old spirits are still wandering the halls. It's up to Rhonda Zymler to find out what they want.

Ebenezer's Locker follows the adventures of Rhonda, a sassy sixth-grader who's having trouble finding her place and identity. Getting to know these spirits becomes Rhonda's quest. The more she digs, the more perilous her task becomes, and to complete it she must take two trips back in time. This story blends the realities of an economically-challenged modern American town with supernatural elements. What Rhonda finds not only gives her life a sense of purpose, but changes the fortunes of her entire town.

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Movies, TV dramas, reality shows, novels, non-fiction... Every type of media seems obsessed with the paranormal. But, while this might seem like a new phenomenon, it's only the latest of many times this craze has hit. When I was doing research for Ebenezer's Locker, I learned a lot about a previous period of spectral fascination.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, America was loony for specters. The ghost fans, called the Spiritualists, sought connections with the dead in the parlors of mediums. These were men and women (and even children, sometimes) who seemed or claimed to have the ability to talk to the Summerland, the world beyond this life.

In Ebenzer's Locker, Tallulah Radley is an older lady in the neighborhood who happens to be a psychic medium. The kids go to her for help when they realize that they're facing ghosts.

I had a wonderful time doing research about the old days of American Spiritualism. I filled Tallulah's home with the sort of equipment that would have been used at the turn of the century, as if she might have inherited it from a psychic ancestor. Most important for her is a planchette, a wooden device with a pen in it. Through the planchette, a spirit can write a message for the living.

Although American Spiritualism started because people believed in the afterlife and wanted to communicate with it, it blossomed because of its economic potential. People made a ton of money looking into the future or the past for clients. And, not surprisingly, the industry was rife with cheats. My research uncovered many faked, theatrical ways the so-called mediums made their connections with the other world seem more spectacular.

I packed all of these devices into a single, breathless speech by Tallulah, who would never do any of these disreputable things. In this scene, two of the girls are in a seance with Tallulah, trying to communicate with the ghost of Ebenezer:

            Mica walked over to one of the two floor lamps in the room. “I should turn these off, right?”

            “Whatever for?” said the medium. “We won’t be able to see.” She patted the back of the chair Mica was to sit in.

            Mica didn’t budge, though. “Séances are supposed to be in the dark,” she said stubbornly, “or maybe with just one candle.”

            I was glad she’d brought that up, since I’d been thinking the same thing. But Tallulah was not pleased. She didn’t sound like a cookie-baking grandma now. “Young lady, sit down this instant.”

            Mica, looking as stunned as I was, followed the order.

            “Dark-room séances are the last refuge of charlatans,” Tallulah said.

            I didn’t get it. “The last what?”

            She sighed sharply. “I’ll say it in simple modern words for you young people. Only phonies have to turn out the lights at séances, so they can cheat.”

            “What kind of cheating?” asked Mica in a tiny voice.

            Tallulah stood, her voice full of emotion. “Some cheaters have an assistant hide in a cabinet and tap on the wood, pretending to be a spirit communicating.” She drew her hands above her head in a circling motion. “Some have wire puppets draped in sheets that float across the ceiling.”

I thought she was done, but no.  She seemed near tears. “I’ve seen phonies keep objects in hidden drawers under the table.”

“Why?” whispered Mica.

“So they can sneak them out as if a spirit made them appear. Some will hold a client’s sealed letter to their head and heart and pretend to absorb its meaning.” Tallulah mimed pressing an envelope to her forehead, eyes closed, very dramatic. Then she opened her eyes wide and shouted, “But actually, they drip rubbing alcohol on it so they can read through the envelope. And you know what some fakers do to make it seem like a spirit has appeared in a darkened room?”

            We shook our heads, afraid to speak.

            “Well, I’ll tell you. They dip gauzy white cloth in glow-in-the-dark paint. And they hide the cloth…” She gasped, as if amazed at her own story. “Well, they hide it in their underwear, children! I will not be compared to these razzle-dazzle snake-oil salesmen.” She plopped down in her chair, limp and exhausted.

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You can buy Ebenezer's Locker in any e-book format directly from MuseItUp Publishing

or on Kindle from Amazon.

Thoughts on My Three-Novel Summer

Dear Reader:

Never, if you can manage it, publish three books in as many months.

Now, I'm not saying I'm not thrilled to have three novels published. Trust me, I am. And I certainly had no control over this situation, my books being with three different publishers.

What was the downside? Everything you'd expect:

1. Potential readers got confused. My own family can't keep track of who is publishing what, and in what format. Friends and acquaintances who clearly wanted to support me didn't know which title was which genre or age-group.

2. Three blog tours, back to back. That's really all I need to say on that topic. You can imagine.

3. Over-saturation of my brand. To much of me, too quickly, associated with too many different titles.

But I did learn a huge amount about publishing and promotion. Here are a few of the many things I've taken away from the experience:

1. Daily posts on blog tours are a waste of time, unless the blogs are very high profile and a lot of strangers will read them. Just jumping from one small blog to another tends to keep you in the same circle of potential readers. Your Facebook and Twitter followers and other contacts lose interest quickly ("Wait, didn't you just have a launch day?").

I gained very few readers, despite all that effort. Next time, I will spread out the blog marketing, perhaps to once a week.

2. With three publishers utterly distinct in their approaches, I learned about various release choices. I can see that it is important to me, and to potential readers, that my books are available in both print and e-formats, and at all the major online venues.

3. Publishers probably do want a sequel, no matter what they say on their submissions guidelines.

So, dear reader, I survived the crazy three-book summer of '12. It was fascinating, thrilling, exhausting, and terrifying. And, while I hope to have many novels published in the future, I hope to spread them out by at least a few months!

Trouble at the Scriptorium giveaway winner, and another giveaway!

The winner of my Launch Day Giveaway is....

Katie Clark!

Woo-hoo! Congrats, Katie.

Thanks, everyone, for showing such enthusiasm. And never fear: the blog Unusual Historicals is also doing a Trouble at the Scriptorium giveaway (I'll have two posts there this week), so hop on over there and try your luck!

Remember, there are a few more stops left on the blog tour:

Friday, Aug. 10: C.K. Volnek's blog
Sunday, Aug. 12: Second appearance (interview) on Unusual Historicals, plus giveaway
Monday, Aug. 13: Interview on Stacy Green's blog
Tuesday, Aug. 14: Guest post about writing historicals for kids, on Elaine Ouston's blog

If you missed some earlier stops and want to catch up, here's a complete list.

And, unrelated to the blog tour, I'll also be the featured interview starting Wednesday, Aug. 15, on the renovated Drunk Monkeys lit e-zine.

Next week, I'll be sharing my thoughts about the experience of doing three blog tours in a single summer. Yikes! Hope you'll stop by and join the conversation about this authorial ritual.