Jane Yolen's Blog, page 10

How to Prime the Pump

 

I tell my writing students that the magic word is BIC: Butt in Chair, or for those who faint at the thought of using the B word, try: bottom, backside, behind, or  buhunkus. Then get off your fainting couch and get to work.

Of course, just staring at the piece of paper or the empty computer screen while you sit BIC may be as big a hindrance to creativity as cleaning house. And your house won’t get clean either.

So here are three ways I prime the pump, daily rituals that help me write more. And as I have almost 400 books out at this writing, from children’s picture books to an adult short story collection, and everything in-between, I may have some expertise in these matters.

1: write a poem a day and send it out to about 1,000 subscribers

The poems range from children’s verse to heartfelt poems about my late husband, or love poems to my new husband after 15 years a widow. Or I write verse snatched from the information in scientific journals, to parodies of Emily Dickinson, and even political rants. My subscribers never know what to expect—but then, neither do I.

I get several gifts , from this daily exercise—it wakes my brain and fingers up. I have the start of some good poems (certainly not all are good) which I revise for weeks even months till I send the ones I still like to poetry journals, magazines and quarterlies. I had nine different poems taken this month already by three separate journals, plus an anthology.

Secondarily, I sometimes find that a new poem wants desperately to break out into a children’s picture book. Or a single poem morphs in the next few months into a bunch of poems on the same subject—the beginning of a book of poetry. And sometimes (rare but it has happened) a poem turns into an essay, a short story, even a novel.

So—if you want to sign up for the poem-a-day, use this link:  http://eepurl.com/bs28ab

Cost to the subscriber? At month’s end either borrow a book of mine from the library or purchase one at your local Indie bookstore.

2: Go outside and find an idea. Wherever you live, there will be ideas littering the place, just waiting for you to pick them up.

As I write this, I’m in Scotland, in a wonderful Arts & Crafts house called Wayside. Let’s walk into the garden. The air is bracing. There is a small sea mist called a haar marching across the garden. Slowly, it obscures the rose arbor (called a pergola here); the stand of bright red poppies are cloaked in grey. (Yep, that’s how they spell gray hereabouts.) A rabbit, as grey as the haar disappears. The magpies have stopped arguing. The cushet doos—what we call pigeons or doves—nest quietly, secure in their grey disguise.

And I have found 4 new ideas. One is a poem about the haar. You can already begin to read it in the description above. The second a picture book about the fog rolling in, but as it might look/feel in different countries.

The third is about a boy and his best friend, or a pair of girl twins who walk out the back door into the garden and disappear into another world, another century, sort of Phillippa Gregory’s TOM’S MDNIGHT GARDEN but with a different, modern twist.

The fourth idea is the start of a song. (Yeah, I am in a band!)

 

The Haar rolls in, its muffled voice

Sings a song of protest, choice,

It offers hope, where none has been

A signal that we might yet win.

Lean left.

 

Okay I can’t promise any of that will work, or any will be sold to a publisher, or sung by my band. But I am priming the pump, making sure I’m ready for the right idea to find me, tap me on the shoulder, lie down and cuddle in my lap.

3. Observe and Listen

The third possibility takes you a bit further afield. Go to a coffee shop, grocery store, doctor’s office, sit on a bus or train. While you are there, listen in on other people’s conversations. Take notes. Write down descriptions of those sitting near you. Listen to the cadences of their voices. You are assembling a cast of characters even while you indulge in a doughnut, or check your map, or ostensibly gaze out the window.

You may not yet have the book for those characters to, but by becoming an inveterate people-watcher, you are making sure to store those faces, conversations, arguments in your mental database.  Then when you most need them, when you are actually BIC, they will be there.

Interrupting Cow

Simon Spotlight (December 8, 2020)

Illustrated by Joelle Dreidemy

ISBN-10: 1534481591

ISBN-13: 978- 1534481596

A new line of easy readers (the next up from my Fish School rhymed books,  all for Simon & Schuster) are the INTERRUPTING COW books, This is the first, (2 and 3 are already written!) full of gag lines, puns. and each based on the interrupting cow plus a different joke. The IC was my granddaughter Ari Stemple’s favorite joke when she was a  kid. So, of course, it is dedicated to her. She is studying to be a writer as well. Maybe this will encourage her further!

 

I am the Storm

Rise x Penguin Workshop (October 27, 2020)

with Heidi E. Y. Stemple

Illustrated by Kevin & Kristen Howdeshell

ISBN-10: 059322275X

ISBN-13: 978- 0593222751

Daughter Heidi Stemple and I were telephoned by the editor of a new  early-reading  imprint  “Rises” for Penguin Random house. We knew her though had never actually done a book for her. Se told us about an idea and we ran with it, and it became this book:

A tornado, a blizzard, a forest fire, and a hurricane are met, in turn, with resilience and awe in this depiction of nature’s power and our own. In the face of our shifting climate, young children everywhere are finding themselves subject to unfamiliar and often frightening extreme weather. Beloved author Jane Yolen and her daughter Heidi Stemple address four distinct weather emergencies (a tornado, a blizzard, a forest fire, and a hurricane) with warm family stories of finding the joy in preparedness and resilience. Their honest reassurance leaves readers with the message: nature is powerful, but you are powerful, too. Illustrated in rich environmental tones and featuring additional information about storms in the back, this book educates, comforts, and empowers young readers in stormy or sunny weather, and all the weather in between.

Heidi found some bracelets with a saying “I Am The Storm,”and sent them to the editor and her assistant. We named the four of us, “The Storm Sisters” and so we have remained.

Midnight Circus

Tachyon Publications (October 1, 2020)

ISBN-10: 1616963409

ISBN-13: 978- 1616963408

The third of my series of short stories (and poems in the back matter) collections is MIDNIGHT CIRCUS, for Tachyon Books. It follows the arc of the other two. But these are my dark stories. Who knew I had done so many!

As I looked through what I had, I discovered stuff I had long forgotten, and also discovered the fact that some of my scary stories had been in a YEAR’S BEST HORROR collection. I was truly surprised, Perhaps, as the author of three YA Holocaust novels, I shouldn’t have been. But there it was…

I do not think of myself as a truly dark slasher-type writer, but more the frisson of terror kind of writer when (if) I write horror fiction. As, it turns out, I do!

Other collections in this series:

The Emerald Circus: 2018 World Fantasy Award winner

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale: 2019 Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award

What reviewers have said:

“Jane Yolen is, simply, a legend. The powerful fairy godmother of every writer working in mythic fantasy today. In these dark and wonderful stories, that legend proves itself true over and over again, a sure hand pulling aside black and gauzy curtains to reveal a blaze of genius that will light up all the secret places of your heart.”―Catherynne M. Valente, author of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own
“Look this way, look that; blazing her consummate imagination against the shadows of human sorrow, Jane Yolen has done it again. She has produced a set of spectacles designed to keep us awake in the darkness. The Midnight Circus delights, confounds, and challenges. We read all the night long; we are not the same come dawn.”―Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked
“The Midnight Circus sings with magic, darkness, and wonder–perfect for anyone who has ever loved a fairy tale. Thrilling and chilling all at once, this collection of stories will keep you riveted long after your bedtime, no matter your age. This is exactly the kind of dark, lovely book to keep close to one’s heart while facing down darkness in the wider world.”―Meagan Spooner, author of Hunted
“A girl uses magic to call her love but not to keep him. A child born in winter hears voices calling to him in the cold wind. A lonely man falls for a selkie who sings an enticing song. Yolen often uses the language and imagery of fairy tales to weave her original, spellbinding stories, which make a cohesive collection. They’re all dark, though in most cases, that darkness encompasses loss but doesn’t revel in it. As Yolen puts it in her introduction, there’s “a frisson of terror rather than massive amounts of spilt blood.” A couple of stories veer closer to true horror: The main character of “Great Gray” is drawn to the rare owls of the title because of his own predatory instincts, and the narrator of “Little Red” endures hinted-at torments because the alternative of returning home to her grandmother is somehow worse. But, as promised, there’s very little blood in these pages―just glimpses of the darkness of human nature. Some stories, like “Inscription,” read like Celtic folktales while “Requiem Antarctica” is a Jamesian tale of creeping madness at the ends of the Earth, and “An Infestation of Angels” is a retelling of the book of Exodus. And if the stories themselves somehow aren’t enough, each is accompanied by a poem that extends its themes into evocative verse. Haunting stories from a modern master.”―Kirkus
“Nebula Award winner Yolen follows How to Fracture a Fairy Tale with another, slightly more sinister collection of delightfully dark fairy tales. Each of the 16 stories is coupled with a companion poem and fascinating story notes that allow readers to delve into Yolen’s magical worlds . . . Yolen’s many fans will be thrilled to find her largely true to form. This collection is a gift for fairy tale lovers.”―Publishers Weekly
“Each deliciously spooky tale in Jane Yolen’s Midnight Circus draws readers into fully realized worlds with strong characters who reflect the strengths―and the darkness―in all of us. She mixes storytelling styles to excellent effect, from disturbing folklore to futuristic shapeshifting, grounding them in history and legend, so they are at once familiar and utterly, terrifyingly alien. I love Jane’s storytelling EVEN WHEN IT GIVES ME NIGHTMARES. These short pieces are can’t-put-down, and they will absolutely make you shiver like someone is walking across your grave.”―Susan Vaught, author of Trigger and Freaks Like Us
“Jane Yolen’s stories are pure magic! They draw you in, beguile your senses, and paint the world in richer hues than you’ve ever seen. Her tales will haunt you in the very best way. I loved every word!”―Sarah Beth Durst, author of Race the Sands
“5/5 stars. A wonderful collection of short stories! Each one is its own self-contained story that is just perfection.”―Ash & Books
“Overall, this is a wonderful collection of tales that is perfect for sitting around the campfire or for a fun fall or winter read (definitely Halloween worthy)!”―Fantastically Bookish
“The Midnight Circus explores an unexpected aspect of a beloved author and reminds us why Yolen’s writing means so much to us . . . essential reading for all fans of Yolen’s work, especially those who are less familiar with the darker side of her imagination.”―The Fantasy Hive
“A master writer with a prodigious oeuvre and these are some of her best dark stories.”—Nonstop Reader
“These stories chilled me to the bone, and I loved every minute!”―YA Lit Ramblings
“Jane Yolen is the queen of the fairy tale genre and this collection of her previously published stories had everything I have come to expect from a master storyteller.”―Sloth Reads
“Each story is a brilliant fairy tale with a rhyme and reason.”―Haunted by Deadlines
“Every story is excellent. I didn’t want to stop reading.”―Paperblog

On Eagle Cove

Illustrated by Elizabeth Dulemba

Cornell Lab Publishing Group (September 5, 2020)

ISBN-10: 1943645485

ISBN-13: 978-1943645480

Once again, a rhymed book in the series about individual bird adventures around the USA.. A child and her mother spot a pair of eagles mating. They trek back several months later to see the eagle chicks in a huge nest. This is Elizabeth’s second book with me for Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology, the first being CROW NOT CROW, written with my son Adam Stemple.  And yes! We have –all three—seen such nests, such mating eagles. The Lab wrote (and I rewrote) the back matter for much more information about eagle  behavior.

The On Bird Hill and Beyond series:

On Bird Hill
On Duck Pond
On Gull Beach

What reviewers have said:

“A memorable adventure”—Kirkus

Miriam at the River

Illustrated by Khoa Lee

Kar-Ben Publishing (February 4, 2020)

ISBN-10: 1541544005

ISBN-13: 978-1541544000

MIRIAM AT THE RIVER is based on the Biblical story of Moses’ sister, a seer in her own right, who saved her baby brother by putting him in a woven basket and sending it into the Nile River, where she watches over it until it is pulled out by the pharaoh’s daughter who raises him as a prince of Egypt.

Ah–those of you who know my work well will say, “Didn’t you already write a book about her?” Yes, and no. It was a movie tie-in with the Spielberg animated movie “Prince of Egypt” but the focus there was on Moses, as was the movie. This book is absolutely about Miriam, a gifted seeress herself. The story is lyrical and elevated because–well, one has to match the lyricism of the Bible, yes? It is the story of a child’s heroism. Much back matter of course. The Jewish publisher, Kar Ben, chose a wonderful illustrator whose work I hadn’t known before who’s paintings flow like the Nile itself.

What reviewers have said:

“Luxuriant visuals and rhythmic, emotionally intense language. “―Publishers Weekly
“This biblical tale is filled with wonder, hope, and beauty.”―Kirkus Reviews

Emily Writes

Illustrated by Christine Davenier

Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) (February 4, 2020)

ISBN-10: 1250128080

ISBN-13: 978-1250128089

It is no secret that I am a huge Emily Dickinson fan. I already published THE EMILY SONNETS  (Creative Editions), MY UNCLE EMILY (Philome Booksl) and loads of poetry about her and a short story which won the Nebula for short stories,  “Sister Emily’s Lightship”. (Tor). However, This is the first time my plot revolved around Emily as a child. There is hardly any information about her as a young child, I had room to make my story lyrical, but using facts from her adult life, but bringing it down to the 4 year old child level. I adored working on this.

What reviewers have said:

“Yolen’s love of language and her knowledge of the poet’s life and work as well as her understanding of young children. . . An imaginative portrayal of the poet as a young child.”―Booklist
“The imagined events of one day in the early life of Emily Dickinson foreshadow her future creations. The text moves along smoothly with plenty of appealing turns of phrase and engaging images. A warm portrait that even those unfamiliar with the iconic poet will likely enjoy.”―Kirkus Reviews
“Yolen and Davenier portray Dickinson as a small child . . . Yolen conjures appealing possibilities. Davenier’s loose-lined, color-washed ink illustrations capture childlike joy and curiosity.”―Publishers weekly
“Yolen’s cleverly constructed scheme will intrigue adult Dickinson fans. Davenier’s multimedia sketches provide simple, deft views of characters and settings. Some parents might share this with children learning to read and write. It could also spark good discussion with older students studying Dickinson in poetry units.” ― School Library Journal

Book Trailer for How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas?

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Stone Cold — Teachers Guides

Lesson idea and reading recommendations using the Common Core Standards for young adult readers.

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