Voices on Writing: YA Author Nora Baskin
by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Nora Baskin is the author of several novels for young people. Her first, What Every Girl (Except Me) Knows, was chosen as a Booklist Top Ten First Youth Novel. Nora was awarded a Publishers Weekly Cuffie award as "Most Promising New Author" and was a PW Flying Start in 2001. Her lastest middle-grade novel, The Truth About My Bat Mitzvah, was chosen as a Jewish Book Council Network Selection, a Parent's Choice Silver Award, and Junior Library Guild Selection. She recently published her first YA (young adult) novel All We Know of Love, which received a starred review from Kirkus and was nominated for both The American Library association's BBYA (Best Books for Young Adults) and Quick Picks 2009. In March, her seventh novel, Anything But Typical, was published and received a starred review from Booklist and Kirkus. It is also a Junior Library Guild selection for 2009. Nora also has published personal narrative essays in The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine and The Writer magazine. Nora teaches creative writing through the Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City and at The State University of New York at Purchase, and speaks at schools and libraries across the country.

BDB:: You've written for middle graders and lately for young adults. How did you find your way to this genre of writing?

NRB: To be honest, I started out writing short stories for adults and I naively/stupidly began sending them out to the most literary of magazines, like The Atlantic Monthly, even The Paris Review. How embarrassing to admit this. Pretty quickly, I caught on to that mistake. Next I tried magazines like Redbook and Mademoiselle (What was I thinking?) I was still way out of my league and when I finally figured that out, I started taking some classes and actually learning to write and learning the business. In one of the continuing education courses, we had to read our work out loud and one of the other students kindly suggested I might try writing to children since most all of my short stories had children as the main characters. Even then, I was writing about childhood. At first I was completely offended and I think I even went home crying. But sure enough, when I eventually took her suggestion, I found I was getting more personal and encouraging rejections in the mail. Yay! More rejections!

BDB:: What's the difference between writing for young adults and writing for adults?

NRB: I can get a lot of flack for this but I don't think there really is a difference. You need to write believable characters. Create a strong sense of setting. You need a good story/plot, a fresh and authentic voice, and good writing. If anything, you need to pay attention to those things more when writing for children.

However, the main character in children's and young adult fiction is not an adult looking back on childhood. It is the child, the teenager. The story is immediate—even when written (as most are) in the past tense. And the issues are ones that young people are going through, not adolescent issues with an adult slant or perspective. The perspective must be told with the sensibilities and understanding from the age of the character. Many people try to write about children rather than writing as the child/teenager. That is a the main difference—but in terms of narrative structure and level of writing skill, writing for young adults is just as hard, just as rewarding, and takes just as much talent.

But we get a bad rap as being "less than" and we get less money.

BDB:: Reports from agents and editors say the YA genre is open and welcomes material and new YA authors. Is this true?

NRB: I know it is. Maybe because of the smaller advances or the built- in market of schools and libraries, but for whatever reason, YA editors are willing to take chances. Some of the most experimental and innovative writing is coming from young adult authors.

BDB:: When we talked on my radio show a couple of months ago, you said that a lot of your novels are somewhat autobiographical.

NRB: What Every Girl Knows (Except Me) and Almost Home are almost completely autobiographical. In fact, if you combined my first two novels you'd have a pretty good picture of my life at that time. I left my two sisters out of my first novel and my brother out of the second. I did that because I see characters like juggling balls: You can only write as many as you can keep up in the air at one time. In my subsequent work, my life becomes more symbolically represented, but the topics are still very much issues in my own life, and the characters and setting become more fictionalized.

At the same time, none of my books takes place during the time period in which I grew up. They are all present-day novels, which automatically forced the fictional quality and freed me to write to the story, not for my own self-expression alone. That is an important distinction. I am never writing my life story but rather my life experience.

BDB:: Do editors mention off-limit topics?

NRB: I have never had that happen to me or heard of that happening. I have been told not to tackle too many topics within one story. That was something I had to learn (it's the same juggling balls metaphor).

But YA books today are addressing some of the most controversial and authentic topics in our culture, from eating disorders to drug use, death, suicide, transgender, incest. The books reflect the issues that young adults are dealing with in their lives, in more honest and contemporary ways than ever before. But remember, also, good YA literature is not issue-oriented, just as in adult literature. It is about character and story and the writing—always about the writing.

BDB:: What qualities do editors say they like in your work that compel them to buy?

NRB: When I was first published, I remember my editor said she felt I had a new voice. You will hear that a lot and I know it's a hard thing to try and understand, let alone capture. But I think in my case, it was about being honest. I decided if I were going to approach a subject—say my mother's suicide—I would do it in as authentic and real a way as I possibly could. I mean, after nine years of trying to get published, what did I have to lose? I threw away all my preconceived notions of what publishers wanted to buy, or what schools wanted in their libraries, and I just wrote my story. At the same time, I was able to incorporate everything I had learned about story-telling/writing into my work. That proved to be an important combination (a model I again and again try to use whenever I lose my way) and that manuscript sold to the first editor who read it.

BDB:: Your language is elegant and mature. Does it matter what age you're writing for?

NRB: Yes. I like to say, "I just write what is in my heart and the story I want to tell." At the same time, there is a voice to match each story. Meaning, if I am writing a middle-school story, I take on a middle-school voice, which by virtue of that age is going to be more simple and straightforward. When I write in a young adult voice, the structure and language matures too. It is a pretty natural process and response. I wouldn't suggest forcing it, but just allow it.

BDB:: Your latest book, Anything But Typical, published in March by Simon and Schuster, is told from the point of view of an autistic boy. How did this story come to you?

NRB: I was doing a school visit not that long ago, talking about my life and how I incorporate true memories and experiences into my fiction Toward the end of the Q&A, one girl raised her hand and asked if I wished my life had been different, in particular the difficult or sad experiences. I had to pause a moment and think, but very quickly I answered—no. But it got me thinking about how we are who we are precisely because of what we've experienced. That is exactly what enables us to have insights and understanding about things we might otherwise not know. Sometimes, often, it is the hardest and most painful experiences that help us become our truest selves. But what if that concept were really tested? Pushed to a whole other limit? What if who you are is something that other people thought should be cured? An illness? Labelled as a defect? But that's still who you are.

I struggled with this idea for a long time. I wanted to be incredibly sensitive to how difficult it is to have a handicap of any kind, the visible and the invisible. So I decided to write this book and base it on acceptance. I'd like a little more of that for myself!

BDB:: Before you start writing, how much outlining or plotting do you do ?

NRB: None. Of course, when using aspects of your own life, there is a kind of built-in plot –or rather, a moment you know you are heading for. I never know how I am going to get there, I just write in terms of scene and making sure each one relates to the theme (for lack of a better word). But at some point, I do begin to consider the climax, the scene in which all the questions I hope to have raised will be challenged, and some kind of resolution should spring.

I never know the ending. I let the characters respond to what I have set up and created. Sometimes this is different than I anticipated. In All We Know of Love, I was as anxious as my main character was to find out how the mother would defend her abandonment of her daughter. I was actually crying as I typed, because neither one of us was very satisfied, but we both had to accept that.

BDB:: I'm guessing YA novels need to end in an upbeat manner.

NRB: I was going to disagree, but I think you are right. In fact, that may be another real difference between YA and adult fiction. I can't think of a YA novel—no matter how realistic and no matter what kind of dark issue it deals with, ending without at least some kind of hope (although the ending of Lois Lowry's The Giver can be read as pretty grim). But certainly, most YA novels leave the reader with sense of optimism. I know for myself as a YA and middle-grade writer, I try very hard to walk the line between realism and optimism. I do not want to write books that paint a Pollyanna view of the world; at the same time I do believe in dreams and hope and healing. Maybe that's another reason I am drawn to writing for children.

BDB:: And length...is there a specific word count you're aiming for in YA?

NRB: Not really. I think that's a matter of style and taste. I always aim for about 200 pages, but that has more to do with how much I can wrap my brain around. At several points in the writing process, I have to be able to hold the entire novel in my head at once in order to see it all. Two hundred pages already is pushing it for me. Some young adult novels are a hundred pages and others seven hundred.

BDB:: Do you read YA when you're writing YA?

NRB: No, I try to read mainly adult fiction. I do not see a difference in plotting and characterization or any of the narrative structure, so I learn the same things or more from reading adult books. And this way I stay away from worrying (or thinking) about trends, or what has or has not yet been done in children's books. It's almost protective on my part.

BDB:: Any YA authors you especially like?

NRB: I do read all my friends' books. Ellen Wittlinger is a genius. Ruth White's book, Belle Prater's Boy, a serious, poignant novel written in a humorous but artistic voice, first inspired me to write my story. I love Martha Brooks; Elise Broach and Tony Abbott are two of the smartest, most educated, and most talented writers I know. Karen Hesse is a true artist.

BDB:: Are there perks in writing for teens?

NRB: One of the biggest perks is getting to visit schools and talk to kids. Unlike adults, kids will never just sit politely and pretend they are interested. They don't tell you they like something when they don't. The truth and realness I get as feedback, the letters, are invaluable to me. I like to quote from C.S Lewis: "We read to know we are not alone." I write for the same reason. It makes me feel less lonely.

Another perk is the longer shelf life, the longer time your book can sell. From what I hear in adult publishing, you've got to make a ton of sales in the first three weeks or so. In children's literature there is more time and a steadier sell time. There are library lists and state lists. A middle-grade novel might not even begin selling well until it is in paperback and makes a state list or two. Not as big a payback, but less stressful, I imagine.

BDB:: Anything you think writers should keep in mind if they want to write for teens?

NRB: Don't write down. Write up. Write the best you absolutely can. I wouldn't even necessarily think about the age of your potential audience. Just think about the character, the setting, the POV. Tell his or her story from the exact vantage point (whether present or past tense, whether first or third person) of the character as they are living this experience. Do not be an adult looking back, commenting, editorializing on teenage life. Go back and be the child/teenager you once were. I am not suggesting writing a historical novel (yikes, that's what the '60s and '70s are quickly becoming!) but rather write as honestly and with as much authentic teenaged angst as you still have.

BDB:: In an adult novel, it's thought you need to have life and death stakes (at least emotionally) for the main character. Is it this way for YA, too?

NRB: Maybe more so. Teenagers are very dramatic, if anything, which lends itself perfectly to this concept. When you are in middle and high school, everything is life and death, isn't it?

---

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett is editor of The ASJA Monthly and author of the award-winning best-seller, Pen on Fire (Harcourt, 2004). She hosts Writers on Writing on KUCI-FM, which you can now access on your iPhone and which podcasts at http://penonfire.blogspot.com