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October 06, 2006
Sassy is Savvy
Our local SCBWI chapter is phenomenal. Co-regional advisors, Cathy Benson, Sara Easterly, and Jolie Stekly are the Emerils of children's book creators -- they have really kicked things up a notch.
For the opening fall meeting, they invited Patti Lee Gauch, V.P. and Editor-at-Large of Philomel Books (and sassy author in her own right) who spoke on SASSY IS AS SASSY DOES: HOW ATTITUDE AFFECTS VOICE FROM PICTURE BOOKS TO NOVELS. Modeling her own 'tude (about machines -- she hates and mistrusts them and insists she breaks them wherever she goes), she reviewed for us many memorable characters in children's books -- Ramona, Maniac Magee, Gilly Hopkins. While sassiness is a trait not overly admired in real-life kids, it's an essential quality in kid characters.
Not only that, the story should have some sass: "If everything's hunky-dory, there is no story," quipped the inimitable Ms. Gauch. "A story must move a character along a path that tests the character," she stated. And don't create namby-pamby worlds for your character to live in -- "a small world is not an ordinary world," she said.
Here's another shocker -- she encouraged writers and illustrators to be sassy, too. What would my mom say? After all these years of trying to be nice, I have an important and seasoned editor and writer demanding me to let my sassy self out. In Gauch's closing, she beknighted us into the Kingdom of Sass with this proclamation: "The character must stand up because they are standing up for us and for every child reader." Bold characters require bold creators.
I have felt more powerful than Wonder Woman since Wednesday night -- you should see me swagger into my office and toss my hair around as I work.
There is some serious sassy in this house this week. Now, you go get some, too.
Posted by kirby at October 6, 2006 04:39 PM
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