Alison Lohans's Blog: Alison Lohans, Author, page 5
May 23, 2021
Cover for Canine Cupid!
Just in last night:
The cover for Canine Cupid, to be released July 1 by BWL publishing. Needless to say, I’m quite excited!
May 19, 2021
UPDATE – CANINE CUPID!
A lot of emails have been flying back and forth over the past couple of days. BWL Publishing had scheduled my first romance novel, “Lost and Found Dog”, for release in February, 2022.
However, there was a sudden change at their end. First thing yesterday morning (May 18), they wondered if it would work for the book to be published in July, instead! So a lot of work has been going on to finalize everything quickly, including the creation of a cover.
Last night they told me the title really...
April 27, 2021
Lost & Found Dog scheduled for February 2022 release!
This past week has been absolutely astonishing!!
First, my poetic flash-fiction piece “The Gift” was accepted for publication in Grain Magazine!
My newest exciting news has to do with my first contemporary romance novel, “Lost & Found Dog”. To put it briefly, on Monday April 19 I sent a query to BWL Publishing. On Tuesday/20th, they asked to see the complete manuscript. Yesterday morning (April 26) came an incredible email saying they wanted to publish Lost & Found Dog! A contract followed, w...
April 18, 2021
A featured interview
Many thanks to Diane Bator for featuring me on her blog!
http://dbator.blogspot.com/2021/04/alison-lohans-releases-timefall-and.html
March 22, 2021
Featuring No Place for Kids
I’m deeply honoured that the Adoption Support Centre of Saskatchewan is running a feature/interview on No Place for Kids this week. Many thanks, Kristine Scarrow, for this referral!
ASCS Interviews Local Author Alison LohansASCS Interviews Local Author Alison Lohans about her book “No Place for Kids”
Alison Lohans is an award-winning Regina-based author of 26 books for young people and teens. She has given more than 1000 author talks about her work, and writing, in schools and librar...
April 6, 2015
Young Adult Literature and the Personal Search for Validation
The age-old personal quest – validation – is one that’s especially good fodder for exploration in young adult fiction. Whatever era (contemporary or historical) or genre (e.g. realism, fantasy or horror), all of us have an innate need to belong and to have a satisfying sense of purpose in our lives. This is especially acute during the adolescent years when young people are growing more independent, while at the same time striving to understand the complicated “me” of themselves: how they fit in the world, and ways in which they might make a difference. It’s a time when idealism may be running at high tide, a time when youth can set themselves to chosen tasks with a keen passion that’s less hindered by the doses of reality that we adults have had to face, given the responsibilities and compromises that we sometimes must make in order to fulfill our roles.
I’ll note right away that “adulthood” is a relative term, based upon societal norms. In historical eras and in other cultures – and in fantasy novels – teens often step into adult roles at a much younger age than is the case in North American society. Nonetheless, I will assume that the needs and goals of growing up are universal: among them, and of key importance, the task of establishing a solid identity.
You’re all familiar with that “Who am I?” question asked by young people, in terms of exploring where they fit in socially and vocationally. Young teens wrestle with questions of peer pressure: can they find a secure group identity, or do they end up alienated? Older teens continue the search for identity (as opposed to floundering in confusion) and may find what feels like the right fit through role experimentation. Likewise, they begin to find their places within an ethnic or other group – or may decide to break away from an established cultural norm. Many teens have a keenly developed social conscience, and are able to take action on their strongly-felt beliefs.
Therefore as writers, it’s important to respect our characters (and readers) by seeing eye-to-eye with them, showing characters grappling with a complex situation worthy of their attention and intelligence, and growing in the process. In other words, gaining a stronger sense of identity – and validation – through the thrust of our novel. Thus it’s crucial that we create strong, multi-dimensional characters (not necessarily likeable ones) intact in and of themselves. We approach our characters with empathy, seeing them as individual people, rather than “teenagers”. We use language that acknowledges their maturity and exercises their imaginations.
Writing as adults, is it possible to capture, and portray, those intense teen years? The “It’s all about me!” stance of some younger teens? That feeling of invulnerability which can sometimes lead to unnecessary risk taking? That time of deeply-felt drama, with bumps in the road seen as earth-shattering tragedies? Perhaps not – but at the same time, our goal is to craft a story that will resonate with readers who are on their own journey of “becoming”. We hope to create scenarios that bridge the gap with a story that readers can identify with, with the feeling of “She’s talking directly to me!” A book that stays with readers long afterwards, and might even make a little bit of difference in terms of finding their own place, and sense of worth, in this complicated business of growing up.
© Alison Lohans
I’ll note right away that “adulthood” is a relative term, based upon societal norms. In historical eras and in other cultures – and in fantasy novels – teens often step into adult roles at a much younger age than is the case in North American society. Nonetheless, I will assume that the needs and goals of growing up are universal: among them, and of key importance, the task of establishing a solid identity.
You’re all familiar with that “Who am I?” question asked by young people, in terms of exploring where they fit in socially and vocationally. Young teens wrestle with questions of peer pressure: can they find a secure group identity, or do they end up alienated? Older teens continue the search for identity (as opposed to floundering in confusion) and may find what feels like the right fit through role experimentation. Likewise, they begin to find their places within an ethnic or other group – or may decide to break away from an established cultural norm. Many teens have a keenly developed social conscience, and are able to take action on their strongly-felt beliefs.
Therefore as writers, it’s important to respect our characters (and readers) by seeing eye-to-eye with them, showing characters grappling with a complex situation worthy of their attention and intelligence, and growing in the process. In other words, gaining a stronger sense of identity – and validation – through the thrust of our novel. Thus it’s crucial that we create strong, multi-dimensional characters (not necessarily likeable ones) intact in and of themselves. We approach our characters with empathy, seeing them as individual people, rather than “teenagers”. We use language that acknowledges their maturity and exercises their imaginations.
Writing as adults, is it possible to capture, and portray, those intense teen years? The “It’s all about me!” stance of some younger teens? That feeling of invulnerability which can sometimes lead to unnecessary risk taking? That time of deeply-felt drama, with bumps in the road seen as earth-shattering tragedies? Perhaps not – but at the same time, our goal is to craft a story that will resonate with readers who are on their own journey of “becoming”. We hope to create scenarios that bridge the gap with a story that readers can identify with, with the feeling of “She’s talking directly to me!” A book that stays with readers long afterwards, and might even make a little bit of difference in terms of finding their own place, and sense of worth, in this complicated business of growing up.
© Alison Lohans
January 21, 2015
January 15 - What's the role of young adult literature?
What’s the role of young adult literature in today’s increasingly uncertain world, with its epidemics of terrorism and other less violent but equally devastating conditions such as disease and poverty?
Is it a quick fix as commercial media so often promise? Is it an escape into fantastical worlds, where augmented powers change the shape of human, and even elemental, interactions? Is it a plunge into the grimmest darkness of dystopian worlds? Is its function to take us away from the daily-ness of a life in which billion-dollar industries use air-brushed photos to convince consumers that we’re imperfect and thus undesirable? Or to temporarily erase the horrors we see daily on TV which often leave us feeling incapable of taking any sort of meaningful action?
The longer my thirty-plus year writing career has extended, the less certain I am about possible answers to this question, let alone accurate ones. As an emerging young teen of the early 1960s, the literature that was offered up to young women at that time seemed like a massive insult to my intelligence and questioning mind. The formula romances of the 1950s, with occasional attempts at addressing less hard-hitting issues in white, suburban North America, completely put me off reading for five years. Why did our literature ignore the significant things happening in the world, instead assuring us that the girl usually got the boyfriend, and that things usually worked out in that relationship? To me it seemed totally plausible that concern about world events or civil rights and getting a boyfriend could share space in the same book. So, as a budding writer, I vowed that someday I’d write books about real things, which explored deeper beneath the glossy surface of what the books were telling us about the world. Thus as a non-reading budding writer, I completely missed the radical swing into the so-called “problem novel” ushered in by Judy Blume and others.
The single one thing that’s become clear over the scope of my career is that styles and markets are always in flux, and impossible to predict. One surprising and heartening recent trend is Hollywood’s discovery of young adult literature, and its ability to make tidy profits in the commercial market. “It’s about time!” I say – though it’s easy to feel cynical because of the money angle. Whether the focus is cancer, or near-death experiences, or the extreme realms of a dystopia where human life has become a matter of sport and entertainment for an all-powerful elite, for the time being Hollywood is recognizing and honouring that phase of life when young people grow toward independence and autonomy, with all the inherent questions about the meaning(s) of life, and what one’s purpose and direction might be. All of this, with the fluidity that’s available before a person becomes entrenched in the responsibilities of adulthood. I’m glad to see occasional threads of humour woven in amongst this serious mix, for humour lends lightness, a hint that the human spirit will continue on many levels and not all is of deathly-grim importance. Because laughter is also an essential part of life.
It’s been quite a while since I was a young adult, myself, and my sons are now well into their adult years. I have granddaughters in that age group, however. All of us have gone through, or are currently experiencing, the exhilarating and always intense process of mapping out who we are, and how we fit into this often-confusing world. It’s a time of soaring highs, of despairing lows, all tempered by hormones that draw us toward special others. It’s a time of acute clarity in looking at the world, countered by a wash of uncertainties in which we sometimes criticize ourselves on a level that’s nearly microscopic. Significant decisions are made, some powerful and forward-reaching, others tragically destructive.
Whatever the “role” of young adult literature, it’s my fervent hope that writers and publishers will always seek to celebrate and respect this acute time of life, and the people who are embarked upon this journey of articulating their human selves, and how we all fit into this world.
© Alison Lohans
Is it a quick fix as commercial media so often promise? Is it an escape into fantastical worlds, where augmented powers change the shape of human, and even elemental, interactions? Is it a plunge into the grimmest darkness of dystopian worlds? Is its function to take us away from the daily-ness of a life in which billion-dollar industries use air-brushed photos to convince consumers that we’re imperfect and thus undesirable? Or to temporarily erase the horrors we see daily on TV which often leave us feeling incapable of taking any sort of meaningful action?
The longer my thirty-plus year writing career has extended, the less certain I am about possible answers to this question, let alone accurate ones. As an emerging young teen of the early 1960s, the literature that was offered up to young women at that time seemed like a massive insult to my intelligence and questioning mind. The formula romances of the 1950s, with occasional attempts at addressing less hard-hitting issues in white, suburban North America, completely put me off reading for five years. Why did our literature ignore the significant things happening in the world, instead assuring us that the girl usually got the boyfriend, and that things usually worked out in that relationship? To me it seemed totally plausible that concern about world events or civil rights and getting a boyfriend could share space in the same book. So, as a budding writer, I vowed that someday I’d write books about real things, which explored deeper beneath the glossy surface of what the books were telling us about the world. Thus as a non-reading budding writer, I completely missed the radical swing into the so-called “problem novel” ushered in by Judy Blume and others.
The single one thing that’s become clear over the scope of my career is that styles and markets are always in flux, and impossible to predict. One surprising and heartening recent trend is Hollywood’s discovery of young adult literature, and its ability to make tidy profits in the commercial market. “It’s about time!” I say – though it’s easy to feel cynical because of the money angle. Whether the focus is cancer, or near-death experiences, or the extreme realms of a dystopia where human life has become a matter of sport and entertainment for an all-powerful elite, for the time being Hollywood is recognizing and honouring that phase of life when young people grow toward independence and autonomy, with all the inherent questions about the meaning(s) of life, and what one’s purpose and direction might be. All of this, with the fluidity that’s available before a person becomes entrenched in the responsibilities of adulthood. I’m glad to see occasional threads of humour woven in amongst this serious mix, for humour lends lightness, a hint that the human spirit will continue on many levels and not all is of deathly-grim importance. Because laughter is also an essential part of life.
It’s been quite a while since I was a young adult, myself, and my sons are now well into their adult years. I have granddaughters in that age group, however. All of us have gone through, or are currently experiencing, the exhilarating and always intense process of mapping out who we are, and how we fit into this often-confusing world. It’s a time of soaring highs, of despairing lows, all tempered by hormones that draw us toward special others. It’s a time of acute clarity in looking at the world, countered by a wash of uncertainties in which we sometimes criticize ourselves on a level that’s nearly microscopic. Significant decisions are made, some powerful and forward-reaching, others tragically destructive.
Whatever the “role” of young adult literature, it’s my fervent hope that writers and publishers will always seek to celebrate and respect this acute time of life, and the people who are embarked upon this journey of articulating their human selves, and how we all fit into this world.
© Alison Lohans
Alison Lohans, Author
Alison Lohans is a multi-published, award-winning Canadian author of 28 books for children and adults.
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