Posts Tagged Rosanne Parry

Happy Book Birthday to Patricia Bailey and The Tragically True Adventures of Kit Donavan

There are a few great joys in the writing world and a book birthday is certainly one of them. But I have found more and more that one of the most enduring joys of working in children’s books is seeing someone who just a few years ago was tentatively emb
arking on the process of writing a whole novel. Someone who is coming to their very first writers retreat. Someone who has work that they are ready to share with a mentor or a critique group for the very first time. And then to see their work grow over time and their connections in the book world develop and then one day they have a newly published book. And so I couldn’t be more thrilled to introduce our newest Mixed Up File member Patricia Baily and her debut novel The Tragically True Adventures of Kit Donovan. I met Trish in 2011 at the Summer Fishtrap, a writers workshop held in the Wallowa mountains on the home ground of Chief Joseph’s band of the Nez Perse (Nimiipuu). Trish took my workshop and had a great story that she had worked really hard on. We’ve met several times at writer’s conferences over the last several years and every time Trish had grown as a
writer and gained confidence from her network of fellow writers. I couldn’t be more thrilled to introduce her to our MUF readers.

First things first. I think I saw some scenes from Kit Donavan in 2012, but how long have you been working on it altogether?
It seems like forever – but so much of that time was learning about the town of Goldfield and what was happening there during its boom years. I really started working in earnest on the writing in 2011 – when I received a Fishtrap Fellowship. So, I guess I’d say it’s taken six years to go from words on paper to a novel on a bookstore shelf.

The Tragically True Adventures of Kit Donovan is set in a real mining boomtown. Can you tell us why you picked that time period and a little bit about your research process?

I’ve always loved stories set in the Old West. And I’ve always been particularly interested in the Turn of the Century. There was such a clash of old and new – stage coaches and automobiles, outhouses and electricity. When I came across the story of Goldfield, Nevada – with all its drama and contrast – I couldn’t help but wonder what it must have been like to grow up in that environment. Lucky for me, a fair number of famous people passed through there, so the town was mentioned in letters and biographies that were easy to access. There’s also a thriving historical society in Goldfield and museums just down the road in Tonopah. I was able to go through old newspapers at the Central Nevada Museum and tour an old mine at the Tonopah Mining Park. I even got a private tour of Goldfield with one of the members of their Historical Society.

Historical societies are such a great resource for writers. I’ve been grateful for them many times over the years. I always struggle with finding the right names for my characters, and Kit is perfect. Is there a story or special meaning behind the names?
For some reason character names come to me pretty easily – which is good because I don’t start writing until I have one. Once I get an idea for the name that seems right, I look it up on one of those online name meaning sites to see if it fits the notes I’ve made about the character’s personality. In Kit’s case, it all meshed right away. There just wasn’t anything else to call her. She was Kit from the beginning – and it still feels completely right.

Kit is a spunky character – and one who is a little more outspoken than most girls at that time, which I love. Can you tell us a little bit about how you came to develop Kit?
Kit was an interesting mix of spunky and sorry right from the beginning. She spoke her mind quickly – and often regretted it when faced with the consequences of her quick-temper. The trick with Kit was to address both sides of her personality – the part of her who wanted to be good and fit in and make friends and the part that just couldn’t stay quiet when faced with injustice – big and small. One of the things she has to reckon with is deciding if speaking her mind is worth the cost. She also knows that there are expectations for how a lady is to behave. One thing that I wanted to do was have Kit notice all the different ways women could be in the world. That – at least here in the gold camp – all women weren’t necessarily defined by the traditional lady-like life she’d been dreading.

You live in a small town with fewer resources and a smaller local writing network. How have you managed to forge a writing community there?

I think most of my local writing community has been a direct result of our county library system. For years, I’ve taken every writing-related class they’ve offered – no matter the genre. That’s how I met other people who were serious about writing. It’s taken a long time, and lots of meet ups at the local coffee shop, but I’ve managed to find a few other writers to meet with regularly. Sometimes we just talk about what we’re working on. Sometimes we critique pages or share a resource. Sometimes we talk about what we’re struggling with. I love my online writing friends, but it’s a real treat to have people you can talk to face-to-face.

I’d never make it without my critque partners either and three cheers for the local library! Next time you’re at your local library ask them to get a copy of The Tragically True Adventures of Kit Donovan, a wild west adventure story with plenty of heart.

 

The True Value of Sensitivity Readers

Sensitivity readers used in the publishing of multicultural books have been in the social media conversation recently.   A sensitivity reader, sometimes called a cultural consultant, reads a manuscript from a standpoint of membership in a racial, ethnic, linguistic, or spiritual community and evaluates the story for authenticity and makes revision recommendations.
It’s all very Captain Obvious that writers should be checking their cultural research and using a member of that culture to do so. But it’s easy to overlook the deeper value of a sensitivity reader when we employ them only at the end of the process, and only when we are writing outside our racial or religious culture. I have used cultural consultants to help me understand the culture of military families and maritime professions. And I have used cultural consultants to help me more fully understand characters who share my own ethnicity and religion. Membership in the race, ethnicity, or religion of your characters doesn’t automatically
make you an authority on your characters particular situation. There are a multitude of life experiences and ways to live within every racial or ethnic group. Don’t short change yourself in the research just because you are writing from a home culture.
Here are three benefits to consulting a sensitivity reader early in the process of writing a book.
  1. Gain access to research materials 
The best thing you can ask at the beginning of a book research process is “what should I read, see, hear, taste, study, and visit in order to fully understand this aspect of the culture.” A good consultant will know. For example an early consultant for The Turn of the Tide suggested, since a trip to Japan was out of my budget and my questions were ecosystem specific, that I talk to the horticulturalist at the Japanese garden about the flora in my Japanese setting. I could have just read a field guide but seeing and hearing and smelling the trees made all the difference. I’ve made valuable personal connections through research consultants and I’ve gained access to unpublished research and off-display museum materials which did much to round out my understanding of a culture. And because I used a consultant early in the process, I could efficiently make the necessary changes.
  1. Embrace the need for substantial change in your story 
Sooner or later you will come across a topic in your research that stymies you. Written resources don’t mention the information you are looking for. People you interview give vague or wildly disparate information. Suggested contacts don’t return your queries. And sometimes a sensitivity reader will recommend explicitly that you leave an entire topic alone.
Listen. Seriously. Listen.
And change your story accordingly. It doesn’t mean you can’t write about a culture, but there are things within a culture that simply do not belong in your story. And your reader is not making this suggestion to make you fail. She is actually hoping you will succeed and trying her best to help you do so. It can feel like a defeat but really it’s an opportunity to reimagine your story in a way that will make it more respectful and also more robust in its narrative structure.
  1. Open your heart to a change in your world view. 
The joy and challenge of writing fiction is the opportunity to submerge yourself in another person’s experience. If you enter into that work wholeheartedly it can change you. If you have the assistance of a good consultant it can change you for the better. I had a real gem of a consultant for The Turn of The Tide. She is a Japanese language teacher and initially I just asked her to check the Japanese words to make sure I was using them correctly. But we ended up having a much longer conversation because my main character is biracial & she is raising biracial children. And she is from an area devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. She had much to say about the contemporary experience of Japanese American students and the impact of the tsunami not just on the land but upon the broader Japanese culture. I was truly touched by her words and have thought differently about Japanese culture and many global issues, particularly the impact of rising oceans on indigenous peoples in the Pacific, ever since. As for the story, I went back to the beginning with my biracial character and reexamined every bit of internal and external dialogue to make it more reflective of what I’d learned about the grief particular to a tsunami survivor. I didn’t need to change any major plot points but I did uncover the soul of the character in a way I hadn’t before.
So after all that work do I have a bullet proof story?
Nope!
And if you think using a sensitivity reader will exempt you from criticism for the cultural representation in your story, you are going to be disappointed. Because there is no single correct representation of a culture. If I had consulted with a different Japanese person I would have gained a different perspective and made different edits. In my opinion a writer is better served by letting go of the goal that nobody will ever be critical or offended by your story in favor of the goal of deeper, and more specific cultural understanding in order to write your characters and story bravely and whole heartedly.

New Year Reading Resolutions

All of us at the Mixed Up Files would like to wish you a New Year full of inspiration and good books to share. We are moving into this new year with a group of new members. We are looking forward to hearing from them in the months to come. And as always we are eager to hear from you, our blog readers, about what moves and motivates you as a reader and writer, as a teacher, a parent, as a librarian, and a book-lover.
Earlier we shared a list of writing resolutions for the new year. We also wanted to share our reading resolutions because there is not good writing without equal time spent in reading the best literature available. Here are our hopes for our reading in the New Year. Please share your resolutions too.
Andrea Pyros

Find books that make me laugh. The news can feel pretty grim, so I want to make sure to have some lightness in my life, too. I just finished Amy Schumer’s memoir (not #kidlit, obviously!) and really enjoyed ending my day reading a chapter or two. More of that!

Jen Swanson

Find more time to read! Particularly middle grade books, both fiction and nonfiction, but also read more widely all kids books.

TP Jagger

 I will not walk into any telephone poles while read-walking.

Julie Artz

I only read a handful of adult books in 2016 because there are so many amazing things going on in the world of middle grade. So in 2017, I’d like to read more adult books.

Valerie Stein

 I have spent much of 2016 getting to know authors on social media from different walks of life and cultural/social backgrounds. My reading goal for 2017 is to continue to support those authors by purchasing their books and spreading the word about great stories I’m reading. In a more general sense, I like to have a specific reading goal. It keeps me looking for new titles to explore. I’ve read 150 books the past two years. I can do that again.

Rosanne Parry

 I’m interested in learning to write dialect effectively, so I’m going to begin my reading year by seeking out books that showcase a character’s dialect particularly well.
Michele Weber Hurwitz
I hope to make reading more of a priority in 2017. I read late at night and I get through only a few pages before I drift off! I’d like to try doing a 15-minute DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) break during each day.

Jacqueline Jaeger Houtman 

I will try not to feel guilty for reading middle-grade literature and enjoying it, because it is my job, and I will allow myself time to read during the day, not just at night, when all the other tasks are done.

Louise Galvaston

To read more classics and keep up with all the fabulous new middle-grade releases.

Natalie Rampella

To have social media guide me to the best new books of 2017…and of course read them!

Mindy Alyse Weiss

To read even more amazing middle grade novels in 2017 than I did in 2016.

Hillary Homzie

To become more of an omnivore and read books outside of my fiction comfort zone. That especially means more nonfiction–everything from development biology to essays on linguistics.

Laurie J Edwards

To read several award-winning books each month.

Michelle Houts

To read the classics I somehow missed but everyone else can seemingly quote effortlessly.

Tricia Springstubb

More poetry!

Amie Borst

 To read widely across genres including adult fiction.

Jonathan Rosen

Finish the book I already bought before falling to the allure of new ones.

Dorian Cirrone

To find the time to put a significant dent in the huge piles of unread books all over my house.

Kimberly Griffiths Little 

To actually READ a little bit every day from the tottering stack of books I bought this last year that’s been staring at me for months.

Kate Manning

4 books that show me a world different from my own
2 classics that I missed
6 books of poetry or novels in verse
25 books overall

 Sue Cowing

I’ll probably choose more nonfiction titles this year, and more outside my comfort zone, trying to really listen so that I can respond rather than simply react to people whose beliefs and values conflict with mine. And for courage and centering in this time of uncertainty, I will read and reread books of beauty and wisdom, including poetry. Of course I will always read middle-grade novels, stories of serious hope and humor that help us imagine better ways.

Thank you to my fellow Mixed Up Files members for another year of sharing and supporting the best in Middle Grade fiction. I’m grateful for your support over the years. And to you readers of our blog. Thank you for coming back week after week and sharing your thoughts with us.

Happy New Year