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February 05, 2007
42
Does anybody else out there remember reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? In one section of this story, the question of life, the universe and everything is fed into a Super-Computer. After eons of computing, finally an answer appears: 42. What the hey? 42? That makes no sense at all. What the scientists realize is that the wrong question had been entered and that's why the answer is bogus.
I've been to many, many writing conferences and always, always the wrong questions are asked. You hear lots of angst about whether or not to get an agent, how many manuscripts to send out at a time, what to do if your manuscript is the subject of a bidding war (in your dreams) and just how many blurbs will rocket a book to the New York Times Bestseller list?
All of these questions (except the last) can be answered in some form or another. 42 is as good an answer as any.
The challenge is that these aren't the questions that should be asked.
Here is what should be asked:
Have I worked my butt off to write the most honest and true story I can?
Will anyone (besides the people who love me) care about my main character?
Have great sacrifices been made for this story? Have I suffered? Has the main character suffered? (if the reader suffers, this is NOT a good thing).
Have I worked away in painful solitude without one thought about what I would wear on Oprah?
I would've been scared spitless by Flannery O'Connor and yet I agree with her on this point (and many others): She was once asked if university programs didn't discourage young writers. Her answer? "They don't discourage enough of them."
If you take up writing for children because you think it's easy, because you have a message to send or because your grandchildren love your stories about Opie Oppossum whose tail doesn't curl, please do the world a favor and go on tour with Madonna instead.
But if you are willing to sit alone for one, two, three or more years and hammer out a story that is honest and gutsy and true, pull up a chair. Sit at the "real" grown-up's table -- the table where people have the integrity to write for children.
And, trust me, with or without an agent, a blurb or a platform, your story will find a home.
And getting your story to readers IS the answer to life, the universe and everything.
Posted by kirby at February 5, 2007 08:54 PM
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Comments
Kirby, I bought Hattie Big Sky as a Christmas present for my daughter and after my other children are finished reading it, I will have my turn.
Your post explores a wonderful metaphor for the writer's life. I've often said children's books are the most difficult to write. Mastering an accurate voice and blending it with the wisdom of experience is stunningly hard to do. Thankfully you and others somehow manage.
Posted by: Amy MacKinnon at February 7, 2007 05:46 AM
Excellent post!
Posted by: Liz B at February 7, 2007 05:56 PM
Great post. Scared me a little. But great post.
Posted by: MotherReader at February 8, 2007 12:53 PM