Elementary School Sucked

Last week we talked about how I was a weird teenager and a few teenage stereotypes that I really hate. This week I want to talk about another stereotype. This one doesn't just afflict teenage characters, but children of all ages.

Namely its the stereotype of how wonderful/awful different levels of school are. Elementary school is a time of unicorns and butterflies, utter perfection, and everyone getting along. Middle school is a time of confusion and horror. And high school? High school is utter hell.

I contend that this stereotype is grossly inaccurate.

Elementary school was probably the second worst time of my life. (Second, of course, to grad school, which is, was, and forever will be the most miserable, horrible, awful time in my life. It would take an awful lot to top wanting to cry under my desk almost everyday. And I'm not exaggerating. I cried more during grad school than I did as an infant.)

Stereotypes would have us believe that in elementary school, kids are too young to see differences. That they are pure and innocent and all get along without any problem. But in elementary school, I was an outcast. In third grade, no one in my class talked to me--but at least I had friends who had the same recess period as me. Fourth grade? Don't even get me started. I literally did not have a single friend in my school in the fourth grade. In fifth grade, my two best friends hated each other and made my life absolutely miserable.

All through elementary school I was the weird one. I was the girl who liked to read--heck, for a long time I was resented for being the girl who COULD read. I was reading middle grade novels in the third grade when some of my classmates couldn't sound out words. I was the girl who wasn't interested in boys. I'm fairly certain the girls weren't actually interested in boys. They just thought they were supposed to be. But because I didn't, because I saw boys as friends and classmates instead of boyfriends (whatever that means in elementary school), I was weird.

In elementary school I was stuck in a class of thirty other people that didn't change, except maybe (if I was lucky) at recess. (Note: my fourth grade school didn't have recess. Just PE everyday, so you were stuck with your class during that as well).

Then middle school came. We changed classes. Not just rooms, but we changed classmates. You were not guaranteed to have the same thirty people with you. The classes shifted, exposing me to more kids. And something miraculous happened.

I discovered I wasn't alone.

There were other girls like me. Other girls who liked Star Wars. Girls who liked writing and using their imagination. Girls who were still willing to play games of make believe even though we were "too old". Girls who didn't think I was weird. Girls who liked me.

Finally I had friends.

Middle school still wasn't easy, because I do believe that middle school is a time of transition. Things hurts more in middle school, because you're not entirely sure how you should react to them. You're trying to be grown up and a kid at the same time. Its hard. And there were difficult times. But it was SO MUCH BETTER than elementary school. I can't begin to describe how much better it was.

And it only got better. High school? High school was freakin' amazing. Want to talk about finding people like you? Meet the 300 person band. Meet the other thirty kids who think Latin is cool. Meet a school that offers every club for every interest: Aviation Club, Latin Club, Science Olympiad, Quiz Bowl, Honor Societies, and so much more.

And by high school, I knew who I was. I was (am) a nerd. And I had friends who were nerds. And despite popular stereotypical belief, I was respected for my nerdiness. As I've said before, teenagers aren't stupid. They realize the value of intelligence. And they realize that meanness gets you nothing. But if your nice to the nerd. If you genuinely like the nerd. If you get behind the nerd? Well then, maybe on the rare occasion when she thinks an assignment is grossly unfair she'll do the assignment and then send her homework out to the entire class*. Maybe she'll actually let you copy her Latin homework**. But only if your nice. Only if you respect her. Only if you realize that what she's doing for you is a favor. Not that the nerd is mean. She just requires human decency.

And I believe I mentioned before that I was on Prom Court. (Which before that goes to anyone's head, was only second string popularity at my school because if you were on Homecoming Court you weren't allowed to be on Prom Court (and yes, that's me in that picture right there. Not too pretty. Not too thin. Way too much hair on my head)). Being Woodwind Captain of the Marching Band, President of the Latin Club, Captain of the Quiz Bowl Team, Treasurer of the Aviation Club, and President and Founder of the Science National Honor Society may have made me a nerd, but it also meant I was pretty well known. In a school of 3,500 getting the votes of a measly 400 band nerds and general nerds actually goes a long way. And my friend AJ (Brass Captain) made his entire English Class vote for me to spite me. But heck, I got to go to Prom for free so I came to terms with it.

But pretty much everyone on Prom Court was in AP classes and other "nerdy" endeavors.

High school was awesome. I had a ton of friends. I had a ton of activities. I was always busy. I never felt like anyone was out to get me (except possibly my one friend, but she was going through some real emotional trauma, so we forgave her for being crazy). (And before anyone contends I must not have been that much of a nerd, below is an image of me and my friends playing Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. We were huge nerds. And yes that's me with the awful triangle shaped head. I cut off all my hair after that prom photo).

I thought it was just me. I thought I was the only one who suffered through elementary school and found rest and acceptance in high school. But its not true. After talking to several friends, I've found I'm not alone and this stereotype is simply false.

In elementary school you're forced to be with all these other kids. In middle school and high school? You can find your people. And among your people, you find acceptance.

So lets get rid of this tired old stereotype and write characters who have friends. Who don't care about stereotypical popularity. Kids who are odd but liked.

*I actually did this once. My senior English teacher assigned a totally unfair assignment, where she kept changing what was actually required everyday. The assignment was ridiculous and at least ten pages of work and she expected us to do it practically over night. So I sent it out to my entire class (via email). And yes, the teacher did realize what was happened. She pulled me aside in class the day we turned it in and asked, "Mandy, did you help people with this assignment?" To which I responded to the affirmative. She gave me extra credit. Go figure. But I would like to note that no one coerced me into doing this. There was no bullying. Heck, no one even asked. But I saw an injustice. I saw unfairness. And I was sort of a superhero when it came to brains in high school, so I swooped in and saved the day.

**I only did this in AP Latin when we had a crazy teacher who refused to teach us other than saying "Go home and translate that", but never actually teaching us how to properly translate it--the tricks of the trade. It was stupid. So every morning before class, the kids in my AP Latin class would meet in the band hall (there was only four of us) and they would copy the homework from me. Occasionally, when I was busy, I made the others do the work instead. Was this cheating? Possibly. But helping my classmates like this, cheating if you will, was my revenge on the teacher for being awful. She spent our class planning her wedding instead of teaching us and made me teach the Latin III kids we shared a class with on several occasions. Another injustice. Another superhero action on my part. I'm positive the teacher knew it was happening, because on most occasions, if I didn't do the homework that meant no one did the homework. So when she walked in and asked the four of us if we did the homework and I said no she would postpone it to the next day.

Teenage Stereotypes that I Despise

My current WIP is a young adult novel, which for those of you who aren't up on writer talk, means its a teen book. In many ways, writing a teen book is much harder for me than writing an adult book. Heck, writing a teen book was hard for me when I was a teen. When I was younger, all of my books were "adult" books. Those were the sorts of books I read and the sorts of books I wanted to write.

Middle grade I understand. Adult I comprehend. Teen? Umm...not so much. And there is one very good reason for this.

I was an unusually strange teenager.

How? Well, let's take one small fact that made me hugely different from the supposedly average American teen. When I was a teenager I believed my parents had my best interests at heart, that they were more experienced and wiser than me, and that I should listen to them. I could have been called many things as a teen but disobedient was not one of them.

And strangely enough, most of my friends were the same. Perhaps they weren't as obedient to the extreme that I was (if I recall correctly, one of my friends did lie about going to that concert that one time and pulled a classic "I'm spending the night at so-and-so's house" trick. But that's really the only example of disobedience I can think of).

However, since I was so obedient, I can't recall a single time my parents said no to me when I asked to do something. I had no curfew because I so rarely went out, and when I did go out if the event required that I couldn't be back until three in the morning my parents understood. I was trustworthy. I wasn't going to get into trouble.

Because you can get into sooo much trouble at a LOTR movie marathon.

So when some people read my WIP they respond, "Teenagers don't behave this way." To which my response is always, "Uh, I was a teenager four years ago....", followed by, "Do you believe that because that's what TV tells you how a teenager should behave or because you know teenagers who behave that way?"

I suppose because of my strangeness there are a couple of teenagers stereotypes that really really frustrate me, because I've seen no evidence of these stereotypes in my life.

1. Every fifteen-year-old girl is fretting about her first kiss--because it has to happen by the time you're sixteen. Umm...yeah. I didn't date in high school. Out of a friend group of around eight girls, only two dated in high school. I have friends who are college graduates who still haven't dated. So yeah. I'm fairly certain this isn't as big a deal as books/movies make it out to be. And please, please, please do not "update" this by saying every high schooler is worried about their "first time" having sex. Because this is absolutely not true. Some are, sure, but NO ONE I was friends with was. It's hard to worry about sex when you've never even held a boy's hand, and we were all highly logical. The risks did not outweigh the benefits.

2. Teenage boys are incapable of rational/logical thought when confronted with a hot girl. I never once saw this. Ever. My teenage guy friends were highly logical. My favorite example is that one of my friends was offered by his girlfriend, sex as a way to celebrate their six month anniversary. Not only did my male friend turn her down, he broke up with her. He recognized that sex in high school is not always the most wise decision. He was thinking with his brain...and not so much other body parts.

3. Algebra sucks. Please. Can we move past this? Algebra is EASY. And before you "update" this to make it "calculus sucks", can we please recall that Calculus is in fact EASIER than Algebra? If you want to complain about matrix multiplication, be my guest. You want to complain about all those stupid trig tricks you have to memorize? Go ahead. But calculus? Algebra? Really? Really???? Can we move beyond 1980?

4. Popularity. Every belief you hold about popularity is wrong. A) Not everyone wants to be popular. B) If you went to a large school like I did "popularity" is literally impossible. The odds of seven thousand students all knowing the same five are ridiculous. C) Beautiful, mean, hot girls are not the popular ones. Ever. All the girls I know who got elected to popular things were in fact really nice. Beautiful, yes, still true, but definitely the nicest people ever. Meanness is a straight track to being hated. Teens aren't stupid. D) Being a nerd doesn't mean you can't be popular. I was Captain of the Woodwind Section, Captain of the Quiz Bowl Team, President of Latin Club, and Founder and President of our chapter of the Science National Honor Society. And I was elected to prom court. So yeah. Take that supposed social norms. Basically, all of this is to say that the '80s were a long time ago. The Breakfast Club is no longer true. Get over it.

So these are just a few of the stereotypes that bother me and that I didn't see reflected in my years of high school, oh so long ago (2001-2005). Anyone else out there have stereotypes that really annoy them? Anyone else realize that teens aren't just emotion driven creatures of hormone?

Controversy

Yesterday's post mentioned on of the recent YA controversies; however, it is far from the only controversy in the field of Young Adult Literature. It seems almost every other week people are arguing about something: Boy Books, the B***** List, Feminism, Violence, Sex, and sooo much more. It seems you can't mention a popular YA book without some controversy popping up.

Why? Why is YA so ridiculously controversial? MG rarely has this problem, with the exception of some misled people thinking Harry Potter is of the devil. Adult books have controversy but the controversy is never about whether its ok for adult books to discuss topics or whether something is appropriate or too much. So why is the controversy all in YA?

Well I think the real answer to this is that MG is determinedly PG or low PG-13. Adult books have free range to be anything from G to NC-17. But YA books....oh YA books. Some are cleanly G. Some are NC-17. Most I would argue are safely PG-13. And they are aimed at teenagers, which is a group of people as widely diverse as any can be.

We want to keep our kids safe. We want to teach them good things. But kids don't always live in a safe world. They don't always do good things. Where is the line in portraying the world as it is and portraying the lessons and world views we want teens to have? Where is the line in wanting to keep our kids safe and wanting to censor them?

My parents never limited what I read. My parents really had no idea what I was reading, not because they were bad parents, but because they couldn't. I just read too much. But on the other hand, I didn't read YA books (by choice) as a teen. I solidly and steadily read adult books--most of which were safely PG-13. But my little sister read A LOT of YA books as a teen, and I tried my best to read them all--to keep up with what she was reading, and I have to say I was stunned by the messages I felt YA was giving, messages that I didn't feel were in adult books--messages that I felt were detrimental and hurtful to a female teenager's mind.

I would try to talk to my sister about these books--try to give her better books to read, better YA books with awesome messages, but she didn't want anything to do with a book I recommended to her--she still doesn't.

And therein lies the crux of all YA controversies.

We're trying to protect people who don't want to be protected.

And so YA is always going to have controversy. Parents are always going to try to shelter their kids. Teens are always going to push back on those protections.

Anyway, I mention all this because in the coming weeks I might do a few posts on some of the controversies out there and my often strange feelings about them. I've mentioned this before but I was a really strange, logical, rational teenager. This often causes me to have really strange opinions on things because when I look back at the olden days when I was in teen at the turn of the century (that's right I get to say that), I remember how coolly logical my thoughts were. But I recognize now that most females under twenty aren't like that (at the time it frankly baffled me).

So I hope you don't mind as in the next few weeks we explore the random opinions of this crazy writer. And if you have any controversies you would like my two cents on please leave them in the comments. Though lets please keep them at least loosely related to books.

Fear & Book Reviews

Despite the fact that I've been Internet connected since I was fifteen years old, I'm actually fairly new to the whole author(aspiring or published)/agent/publishing online community. Seriously, before I started reading Stuff Christians Like, I didn't read blogs. Never had any interest in them. And I really didn't know anything about the publishing industry at all. I discovered SCL and started doing research my third year in college, which is the year I also started blogging, just for fun and mainly just for my friends.

Generally, the more I know the more I realize I don't know anything (thank you Socrates), but as I read writerly blogs, I discover something else. The more I know the more terrified I become.

Mainly in the context of book reviews.

For almost two full years, I have been blogging book reviews. Sure they haven't always been regular, but I started this blog with the intent that I would review every book I read, in a short concise way. Why? Mainly because I firmly believe books should be rated and wanted to put ratings out there for other people. But also because I read more than any of my other friends, and a lot of them do come to me for recommendations. So I figured why not put them all in one easy to access place?

My reviews are generally positive. They're not always enthusiastic for every book, but I firmly believe that every published book has merit--or else it wouldn't be published. This book is some writers baby, and I respect that.

But I sometimes post bad reviews. Sometimes I'm frankly not just unimpressed but horrified by what I read. However, in all of my time of blogging, I can only remember posting one really awful probably slightly mean review. From what I hear, I don't really think Mr. Goodkind cares about my opinion anyway. However, I recently read one book that frankly horrified me, and though I don't think the review I prepared is mean, its definitely negative.

And I'm now afraid to post it.

Why? Well for the past couple of months I've begun to realize that there is a not so subtle message coming from people in the publishing world (be they agents or authors). Only publish good reviews. Never publish a negative review if you want to be an aspiring author. Only publish reviews of books you truly love.

As I say, this really hasn't been a problem for me. I mean look at my reviews from last week. They were like love letters to Cassandra Clare. But I had planned to post this bad review today, and I double checked it to make sure it was critical and not snarky and figured that would be enough. After all, this is a little known blog, its semi-anonymous, and its really just for my friends. I don't want them to accidentally pick up this awful book and then ask me why I didn't warn them.

Then something crazy exploded in the blogosphere. Truly insane, really. The discussion has been labeled as YA Mafia, and for a good recap, go here to YA Highway.

Basically the underlying message of the discussion was: don't post negative reviews or it may come back to really bite you.

So now my heart is filled with fear. I've never really considered myself a YA writer, but my current WIP is YA. And I totally get networking and not wanting to burn bridges; however, I am also really outspoken about my beliefs.

Let's put it this way. If I ever met Terry Goodkind, I would be unfailingly polite and I would honestly tell him everything I loved about his books. (Like every straight female whose read Sword of Truth, I can't help but like Richard Rahl). However, if asked I wouldn't lie to him about what I didn't like: the plot. His characterization and ability to make you love a character is stunning. But I found the plot very lacking.

I'm not looking for conflict, so if I met the author of the bad review I want to post, I would never without prompting tirade against them and their books. In fact, I'm afraid of conflict. But if it came up in conversation, if they asked me, I would not lie to them. And isn't the point of reviewing saying what you liked and didn't like about a book?

So basically, I have no idea what to do about this book review. I wrote it. I planned to publish it here today. But what if, one day, that author sees I wrote a bad review and then decides to shot block me somehow? Because despite the YA community's reassurances that there is no mafia, everyone still cautioned that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, because it may actually hurt you.

What do you guys think? If you're one of my friends who reads this blog because you know me personally, what are your feelings on me posting negative reviews? If you don't know me in "real life" but follow this blog--what's your opinion on negative reviews? Have you been following the YA Mafia insanity? What are your feelings on it?

And I guess the underlying question is: should I post the negative review?

A Book Review: Catching Fire

Title: Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dystopian (YA)
Length: 391

Quality Rating: 9
Content Rating: PG-13

In this sequel to the phenomenal Hunger Games, Kantiss is living in the aftermath of her victory. But to the government, her victory is an act of defiance that can not be tolerated. This book is not quite as good as the original, since it does not have the same fearful push throughout the entire book. For the first couple of chapters, I was unsure where the plot was going or what the point might be. However, the book quickly picked up and I was quickly drawn back into the nation of Panem, a nation of harsh rules and closely kept secrets. The characters are the same ones we know and love pulled into a situation that tests them all. Definitely a good read.

This book gets PG-13 for violence, just like the first book. It's still not very graphic, but there is death, rebellion, flogging, and all sorts of nasty violent things. That's what happens when you live in a dystopian society.

A Book Review: The Hunger Games

Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dystopian (YA)
Length: 374

Quality Rating: 10
Content Rating: PG-13

If you read this blog regularly, you probably already know I have no love for YA books. In fact, I generally avoid the YA section at all costs. However, I had heard a lot about The Hunger Games, so I decided I might as well give it a try and read it.....All I can say is "wow". I literally just finished this book. As in two minutes ago. I could not put it down. I made myself put it down for a little so I could revise a story, but the allure of The Hunger Games was too distracting. I couldn't write. I couldn't concentrate on my own work. I had to know what happened in this book. The Hunger Games has everything going against it - it's YA, it's written in first person, and it's present tense. But all of that just makes you feel like you're there with Kantiss. You are with her as she gets thrown into the horrific hunger games. You are with her as she fights for survival. You know why she is making all the decisions she does and you feel everything as she does. I don't give '10's lightly. In fact, if its a book a enjoy I usually just give it an '8'. I consider '9's to mean a book is special. I have never before given a 10 on this blog, but this book deserves it. You need to go out right now, buy this book, and read it. You won't regret it.

This book gets a PG-13 rating because there is lots of violence. It's a book about an epic fight to the death between teenagers. Granted the violence isn't very graphic, but I still feel a PG-13 rating is necessary. If you have a younger reader who would want to read this, you might want to read it as well. And you won't regret it. This book was truly fantastic.

Works In Progress

So this is our first official "writing Monday", so I thought I would talk a little bit about my WIPs (Works in Progress). This way, you guys can relate better to some of the things I'm talking about and why I'm going through a sudden rash of YA & MG books.

So I currently have four projects. I'm only allowing myself to work on these four projects and no others. Some people may not like to work on so many projects, but it really helps me to keep my ADD in line.

No, I'm not really ADD, but when it comes to story ideas, my brain is uber ADD. If I let it, my brain would think of a million stories and we would never write any of them down. This doesn't mean I don't let my brain come up with new ideas. I just record them and let them mull. I don't focus on them or work on them.

So four projects, each in a slightly different phase of incompleteness.

Project 1:
This story is a MG high fantasy novel. It's complete at about 52,000 words. I'm working on revising it and cutting down the word count a little. I've found some discrepancies from agents about what word count is acceptable for a MG high fantasy book, so I think somewhere in the 40,000s (I'm aiming for 48,000) will be completely acceptable.

My revision is basically a complete re-write. I took a class last fall on writing and the teacher there (AC Crispin, not to name drop or anything...) gave me some really good advice. She said that in a story the situation should always get worse for the MC (right up until the very end) and in my book, it seemed things only got better from the beginning. Part of that feeling can't be helped, but I am adding in situations where it seems that the MC's new life isn't all its cracked up to be and even if it was lots of people threaten to jeopardize it.

Reading through the story myself, I decided the story need a more tangible bad guy. The truth of the matter is the bad guy is really society and the MC. She is fighting against how society views her and how society has made her view herself. Society thinks she is worthless, dirty, and unclean, and she has to get over that - to accept who she is - in order to meet the tasks demanded by the plot. However, this is a MG book and I understand that not all upper elementary kids and middle schoolers aren't quite as sharp as me and my friends were back then. So, I've decided to create a character who basically embodies all those awful aspects of the MC's society and becomes the antagonist of the story.

I find revising to be really difficult, mainly when it comes to what to cut and what not to cut, but the more I do the easier it comes. And it helps to be watching Doctor Who or Firefly in the background.

Project 2:
This WIP is a YA paranormal fantasy. Please don't cringe and think I've gone off the deep end. This story is not about vampires. I'm sure I've mentioned on this blog before my feelings about vampires. For reminding: I don't like them. I avoid vampire books like they've got the plague. It's about a high-school wizard, living in modern day Orlando. The paranormal label really bothers me...maybe urban fantasy is the better label? It's hard to tell. I feel like one is pretty much the other, so if you have any insight or opinions on that matter please share.

This story is very much a work in progress. I'm just finished chapter five (draft 1) and its going to have lots more chapters than that.

What I've been doing is sending each new chapter to a few of my friends to critique. They look over it - tell me what they don't like - what doesn't make sense, and what they're thinking at each point in the story. It helps me to know if the reader is thinking what I think they should be thinking at each point. It also helps me to know if my descriptions are doing their job or if the story is lagging. If someone reads a new chapter and is bored, they usually tell me. I've found this to be an extremely helpful experience. My critters are great.

It also helps to keep my writing. I have a serious problem of starting manuscripts and never finishing them. So having people who are bugging me about the next installment is really usefule to motivate me.

Project 3:
This is an adult high fantasy novel that I have plotted out but not actually written. I've been adding to the story Bible, creating myths for the land, and fleshing out ideas about the characters and story line. This story is probably more ready to write than my project 2. It just has one serious problem in the way.

I don't know where to start it.

I know where I want the story to start - but stories have to start with action, they have to start with where the plot starts. Like in Brandon Sanderson's Elantris, where the story starts with the prince discovering he's changed. It's a big thing. It's shocking. It's what changed the lives of everyone in the story from the get go.

I know what this moment is in this story too. It's the moment all my MCs (there are 3) learn that the king has died. However, there is just so much back story to get there. I don't want to have any info dumps, and I don't know how to just jump in the story there. It's very frustrating. I basically have this story, that's begging for me to write it, I just have no idea how to start it.

Usually once I can get that first page, the ball rolls pretty well and the rest comes. This is the first time this particular problem has ever struck me, so its quite mind boggling.

This WIP is pretty much on my backburner, stewing in the back of my mind, taking in everything from the other projects I'm working on and the books I'm reading so I can find a solution to this problem.

Project 4:
This project started as a MG science fiction (SF) novel. I might still go back to that idea as an additional project to this new one, basically the MG novel would take place in the same universe. The WIP has evolved, however, into an adult science fiction novel.

This novel is set in the distant future, and its currently in a story Bible phase. I've got a notebook divided into six distinct sections: History, Society, Geography, Characters, Story Ideas, and Miscellaneous.

Characters and basic plot ideas come easy to me. It's usually where I start with any story. This particular story (not the MG one) started with the idea of a young, mourning widow and the circumstances of her husbands death. From there ideas for a greater plot sprung to my mind. But when a SF story that's being set in the distant distant future, you've got to think through the history that got them there. I want to create a futuristic society that got to where it is through a realistic and logical process (well as logical as history can be).

So all my brainstorming for the past week has been focused on writing "a short history of the universe". It's funny, because whenever I write something like this, I write it like a textbook. When I read it back, I kind of giggle because I use the same tone as my high school history books.

My history is pretty much now complete. I need to line up the events I detailed with some centuries so I have an idea of exactly how far in the future I am, but other than that, the history is pretty much done. Next I want to start thinking about society and geography. These are closely related since in the story people live on many different planets, each with different societies.

I don't often plan out histories and the like this detailed, but I think for a SF novel on the epic scale I'm thinking, its necessary.


So that's what I'm working on. Hope this post didn't seem too terrible long, and I hope it gave you a little insight into my brain and processes when it comes to writing.