Kate Jaimet's Blog, page 7

The Method is the Message

This year, author Andrew O’Hagan made a new year’s resolution to write a novel on an old-fashioned typewriter. “I’m sick of computers and all their bleeps and updates and their terrible openness to interruptions,” he wrote in the Globe and Mail. “… this year I am determined to slow everything down to the careful old thump, the beat of the heart.”

If I had read this just a few months ago, I would have rolled my eyes and groaned. “Here we have another dinosaur of the Literary Establishment,” I would have thought, leaping to judgement like the proverbial lemming jumping over the cliff. “Out of touch with the modern world, probably subsisting on university tenure and arts agency grants, while the rest of us go careening through the Twitterverse of instant content and digital media.”

Slowing it down is a luxury we writers don’t have in today’s world, I would have said. After all, I’ve written six novels and thousands of stories on my computer, since I began my career as a journalist and author 17 years ago.

But something strange happened to me a few months ago. I started writing a new novel– with a ballpoint pen, in lined notebooks.

I am almost ashamed to make this confession. I know I sound like a fossil. But the two voices in the novel belong to a 10-year-old girl writing in her journal, and an old dodo bird who has miraculously escaped extinction. And no matter how much I sat, staring at the LED screen, with my hands poised over the keyboard, neither of them would come to me on a computer.

Yes, scoff at me. (I would have scoffed, too, not long ago). But the Muse works in mysterious ways. Perhaps what I am experiencing is a sort of “method acting,” for writers. Call it method writing.

It’s a laborious process, to write the first draft out in longhand But somehow, it allows me to understand the feelings of my characters in a way that typing at the computer does not. Perhaps the screen, instead of being a ‘window’ into the fictional world, has become a barrier. Computers simply do too much. As I sit in front of my computer, my mind is suddenly and unwittingly cluttered with thoughts of online banking, and scheduling appointments, and responding to emails about children’s school activities. It isn’t even the frivolity of Facebook and Twitter that distracts me; it’s the mundane and unrelenting demands of everyday life.

The blank page of a notebook is a sanctuary. It makes no demands. Instead, it offers a single invitation — the invitation to write.

“Writing is an action, not an afterthought, it is a job of love and faith, not a sneeze … Why are we so determined to take the effort out of everything and save time? The fun of getting it right is the joy of work,” Andrew O’Hagan wrote.

Good on you, Andrew. While you’re sitting there, clickety-clacking on your typewriter, I’ll be curled on my sofa, scribbling in my notebook.

Taking the time to get it right.

Charlie Hebdo & Freedom of Speech

The massacre at the Parisien satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has got me thinking about freedom of speech. As writers -- whether journalists or novelists -- I think we have a duty to stick up for freedom of speech, since it is the basis of our professional life, and the foundation of our craft.
While the Internet has given everyone a platform to speak their minds, that freedom of expression (while a good thing) is loosely diffused. On the other hand, the institutions that serve as the traditional bastions of free speech -- like media outlets, publishers, and filmmakers -- seem to be facing a growing number of threats.
I think about those mysterious North Korean cyberterrorists who hacked Sony. It was a pathetic spectacle, really, to see the Sony executives scrambling to apologize for writing a few politically incorrect comments in what were suppposed to be private emails, while the hackers got away with the immeasurably greater crime of shutting down the release of a movie that mocked the North Korean regime. (On that note, I was proud to see that our local independent movie theatre, the Mayfair, screened the movie after Sony changed its mind and allowed a limited release of the film).
I think about the Islamic extremists who killed the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo, and those who threatened violence and death against the journalists at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten for publishing cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed. Do these people really think that they can wrap the entire world in a burka? I hope that we, collectively, can demonstrate that we believe as deeply and as strongly in the values of the Enlightenment -- freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom to question religious and secular authority, the freedom to overturn superstition and seek truth through science -- as they believe in their dark and violent version of religion.
On a less dire note, I worry about the continuing financial struggles of traditional media outlets, as they continue to deal with the upheaval in the world of newsgathering and publishing. It's true that newspapers have always relied on advertisers, but in the past there was more of a wall between advertising and editorial. Editors, especially at large, financially secure newspapers, concentrated on pursuing great stories not on pleasing sponsors. But more and more now, we see specific journalistic projects being directly sponsored by organizations -- sometimes NGOs, sometimes even government agencies. These organizations, no matter what good work they may do, all have their own agenda. The beauty of an independent news organization is that its agenda (often, I admit, imperfectly realized) is ultimately to tell the story, and ideally to cut through the spin. I worry, especially living in a government town like Ottawa, that the professional communications people (whose job is to tell their side of the story) are starting to vastly outnumber the professional journalists (whose job is to tell both, or all, sides of the story).
Let's take heart in the millions of people who rallied in Paris in support of freedom of speech. This year, I resolve to stand up in my own small way for freedom of speech. To write what I think. Not to censor myself through fear. To speak out against the limits on free speech that I see happening in Canada, like the Harper government's gag order on scientists in the public service.
Je suis Charlie.

Charlie Hebdo & Freedom of Speech

The massacre at the Parisien satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has got me thinking about freedom of speech. As writers — whether journalists or novelists — I think we have a duty to stick up for freedom of speech, since it is the basis of our professional life, and the foundation of our craft.

While the Internet has given everyone a platform to speak their minds, that freedom of expression (while a good thing) is loosely diffused. On the other hand, the institutions that serve as the traditional bastions of free speech — like media outlets, publishers, and filmmakers — seem to be facing a growing number of threats.

I think about those mysterious North Korean cyberterrorists who hacked Sony. It was a pathetic spectacle, really, to see the Sony executives scrambling to apologize for writing a few politically incorrect comments in what were suppposed to be private emails, while the hackers got away with the immeasurably greater crime of shutting down the release of a movie that mocked the North Korean regime. (On that note, I was proud to see that our local independent movie theatre, the Mayfair, screened the movie after Sony changed its mind and allowed a limited release of the film).

I think about the Islamic extremists who killed the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo, and those who threatened violence and death against the journalists at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten for publishing cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed. Do these people really think that they can wrap the entire world in a burka? I hope that we, collectively, can demonstrate that we believe as deeply and as strongly in the values of the Enlightenment — freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom to question religious and secular authority, the freedom to overturn superstition and seek truth through science — as they believe in their dark and violent version of religion.

On a less dire note, I worry about the continuing financial struggles of traditional media outlets, as they continue to deal with the upheaval in the world of newsgathering and publishing. It’s true that newspapers have always relied on advertisers, but in the past there was more of a wall between advertising and editorial. Editors, especially at large, financially secure newspapers, concentrated on pursuing great stories not on pleasing sponsors. But more and more now, we see specific journalistic projects being directly sponsored by organizations — sometimes NGOs, sometimes even government agencies. These organizations, no matter what good work they may do, all have their own agenda. The beauty of an independent news organization is that its agenda (often, I admit, imperfectly realized) is ultimately to tell the story, and ideally to cut through the spin. I worry, especially living in a government town like Ottawa, that the professional communications people (whose job is to tell their side of the story) are starting to vastly outnumber the professional journalists (whose job is to tell both, or all, sides of the story).

Let’s take heart in the millions of people who rallied in Paris in support of freedom of speech. This year, I resolve to stand up in my own small way for freedom of speech. To write what I think. Not to censor myself through fear. To speak out against the limits on free speech that I see happening in Canada, like the Harper government’s gag order on scientists in the public service.

Je suis Charlie.

Poisoned Pencil & a Leap of Faith

I just finished reading Jesus Jackson, a new book published by the new YA mystery imprint Poisoned Pencil Press. Besides being a mystery, Jesus Jackson is a story about taking a leap of faith — which is fitting, because Poisoned Pencil itself represents a leap of faith into the world of publishing for teens.

The parent company, Poisoned Pen Press, is a mid-sized American publishing house that  has been putting out high-quality crime fiction for the adult market for the past 18 years. Any small press that survives for that long — especially given the shakeups in the publishing world over the past five years — has got to be doing something right. But why jump into the world of YA fiction — especially YA mystery?

Let’s face it: paranormal beings have been all the rage in teen novels ever since Edward Cullen and his band of pointy-toothed undead made their appearance in the Twilight series and proceeded to suck the blood out of contemporary realism. Since then, YA fiction has been invaded by vampires, werewolves, zombies, shape-shifters, wizards, warlocks, selkies, Gods and demi-gods, to the point where actual human characters have nearly vanished. Were it not for the success of the brilliant John Green, one might be tempted to declare realism in teen fiction a losing proposition.

Yet, into this wasteland of the undead and the inhuman steps Poisoned Pencil Press, boldly publishing a line of realistic, contemporary teen mysteries. In the interest of full disclosure, I should reveal that Poisoned Pencil is publishing my own YA mystery, Endangered, in August of this year. But that’s not the only reason that I admire and respect what they’re doing.

As a writer with a foundation in journalism, I truly believe in realism in fiction. Sure, I enjoy Percy Jackson’s adventures, and I’m sure that Edward’s supernatural nature makes him a tragically romantic teen heartthrob, but fiction that’s grounded in realism serves a different purpose. It presents readers with situations that can’t be solved with the wave of a wand or a divine intervention. It wades into the messy issues that confront human beings today — and through the ages — and muddles its way through them, as we all must. And if that muddling journey brings a reader to some kind of insight about his or her own life, or some kind of empathy for others, then the book has done its job.

Thank you, Poisoned Pencil, for your faith in writers of realism for teens — and in the teens who read it.

By the way, Poisoned Pencil is holding a book giveaway this week. To enter, click a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Mr Peabody & Sherman -- Cute movie, but cut the sexism

I recently downloaded Mr. Peabody & Sherman to watch with my 6-year-old. Yeah, I know it's been out for nearly a year, so it's a bit late for me to jump in and review the movie, but I can't help pointing out how the sexism in this otherwise cute film really got my goat.

There is not one admirable female character in the entire movie. Let's have a look at the cast of characters:

Penny (Sherman's classmate): obnoxious, bratty, ditz. Redeemed when she realizes Sherman's selflessness, heroism, inherent goodness, etc.

Mrs. Peterson (Penny's mother): housewife ditz. Redeemed by her domestic sweetness and motherly instincts.

Marie Antoinette: cake-eating ditz. Unredeemed.

Ms. Grunion (child welfare worker): Nasty, overbearing, bullying ditz. Redeemed by being kidnapped by a warrior and married to him. Seriously.

In the climax of the movie, when Mr Peabody and Sherman assemble all the great minds of history to solve some problem in the space-time continuum, there is not a single woman. They've got Ghandi in there (not sure how he can help with the physics of the Universer, but wotthehell) -- yet they couldn't have thrown in Queen Elizabeth or Sappho or Marie Curie.

I don't know why these stereotypical female characters just keep getting cranked out, long after they've become outdated. Fellow writers, dig deeper! The girls reading our books and viewing our movies deserve better.

An uplifting limerick

Well, CM Magazine just published the most terrible review of Dunces Rock that I've ever read, but in the spirit of don't-let-the-dunces-get-you-down, I offer the following limerick:

There once was a solemn reviewer,
Who rated my book in the sewer,
Yet I can't let her views
Clip the wings of my muse,
I must find the strength to poo-poo her!

Chin up to all my author friends who suffer a similar fate. Royalties are the best revenge.

Kate

Parental Supervision & the child protagonist

In her recent review of my book Dunces Rock, a Goodreads reader, Gwen, raises an interesting point: At the beginning of the book, the protagonist Wilmot (age 11) is invited into the basement apartment of his former babysitter, a teenager named Headcase, which begins his initiation into the world of rock n' roll. Gwen questions whether this is an appropriate beginning to a novel for middle-school children, or whether it is rather an instance of "stranger danger" that we should warn our kids against?

This is an interesting point, because it came up for me during the writing of the book. In the original draft, Wilmot had no connection to the teen Headcase, when he accepted his invitation into the apartment. A number of members of my writing group strongly suggested that this was inappropriate and, since I agreed with them after it was pointed out, I decided to change the story slightly to make Headcase into Wilmot's former babysitter -- and thus a person he could trust. Perhaps this is not enough of a mitigating factor for some adults (a position that I respect, by the way). But it also poses a dilemma as a writer of fiction, because the child protagonist cannot possibly have adventures unless he/she somehow becomes free of adult supervision. And this is an unusual thing in today's day and age.

Think of some of the best beloved children's books, and you will realize that the child protagonist nearly always finds a way to be free of adult supervision in a way that would not be tolerated in today's 'real world.'

Pippi Longstocking: An incredibly rich, delightful and eccentric child who lives by herself in Villa Vilekula while her mother is 'an angel' and her father is lost at sea. She resists all attempts by authorities to be put in school, orphanage, or foster care.

Curious George: Every Curious George book begins with the Man with the Yellow Hat leaving George alone with the admonition: "Be a good little monkey, and don't be too curious!" We all know what's going to happen next (trouble!). Why does the Man with the Yellow Hat never learn?

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe: Lucy enters the wardrobe world and goes home for tea with the faun Mr. Tumnus. Stranger danger? You bet. The guy's not even human.


A Series of Unfortunate Events: A family of orphans are embroiled in, well, a series of unfortunate events.

Treasure Island: Jim embarks on a voyage to Treasure Island under the nominal supervision of the Squire and the Doctor. He runs away from them, scampers about the island having adventures, and eventually saves the day.

The Lightning Thief: While running away from a seriously scary monster, Percy Jackson finds shelter in a strange compound populated by minor deities and demi-gods. Resonances of weirdo religious cults, anyone....?

I love all of the above-mentioned books, but they all depend on the child hero going out into the world to have adventures without the supervision of parents. I realize this is more acceptable in the fantasy genre (and in historical novels) than in contemporary 'realistic' fiction like my Dunces series. I sometimes wonder whether this is why fantasy has become such a popular genre, while realism in children's fiction has fallen into disfavour. Perhaps the sad truth is that in today's real world, children lead over-sheltered lives, and there is little chance for them to experience independent adventure.

In defence of comedy

P.G. Wodehouse once said: "I believe there are only two ways of writing a novel. One is mine, making the thing a sort of musical comedy without music and ignoring real life altogether; the other is going right down deep into life, and not caring a damn."
As I write my own Dunces Anonymous books, I look on the great Pelham Grenville as a guide and inspiration: a master of creating silly characters, placing them in ridiculous situations, and making their dialogue crackle with comedic repartee.
So, although I would never dream of putting myself on par with P.G. Wodehouse, I do consider myself his disciple, and it surprises me when reviewers completely ignore his comedic criteria when judging the Dunces books.
I know it is considered bad form for an author to take her critics to task. Still, without naming names, I've noticed that some reviewers criticize my books for not being 'realistic' or 'believable' -- or, in the word of one reviewer, for having 'no classroom value.'
"Oh, really, Kate," I can almost hear them muttering while typing their lukewarm review of Dunces Rock. "Do you expect people to believe that three 11-year-old kids and a headbanging teenager would start a country band called Cousin Willy and the Wang-Dang-Doodles, in a desperate scheme to convince their honky-tonk principal to bring back the school's cancelled Drama and Music program?"
Those same critics might well have said to Wodehouse: "My dear old chap, do you think it quite credible that Bertie Wooster, a fashionable denizen of the old metrop., would climb up a ladder to a third-story window of Blandings castle, in the middle of the night, to pinch a cow-shaped cream pitcher as a favour to his Aunt Dahlia? And furthermore, that the window should mistakenly lead to the bedroom of the dewy-eyed Honoria Glossop, who has always believed that said Bertram worshipped her from afar? Where, my dear old top, is your sense of verisimilitude?"
To which P.G. would no doubt have answered: "My dear old bean, the question is not whether it is real, but whether it is funny."
And so, if I may make a plea to critics when judging comedy: please, judge it on whether the characters are fun and original; judge it on whether the dialogue sparkles and snaps; judge it on whether the plot twists surprise and delight you. Just don't judge it on whether or not it's realistic.
It's not real.
It's comedy

Orca books one-day sale

If Orca offers its books at half price, does that make them orc books? Should the hobbits be running scared?
I'll leave off being corny now and get to the point. And since this is a blatant commercial plug, I'll keep it short. Orca Books is offering 50% off on all books purchased through their website on www.orcabook.com on December 2. Use the promo code CYBER to buy amazing books and e-books -- mine included, natch!

Free doodle-art mini-poster

Hey Dunces Fans! I'm so stoked about my upcoming book, Dunces Rock, that I asked Ottawa artist John Bainbridge to come up with a doodle-art poster illustrating some of the characters and plotlines.

Download it and print it out at:

http://www.katejaimet.com/katejaimet/...

Have fun colouring! And keep visiting this blog for more stuff leading up to the launch!