The Joys of Writing for Middle Grade/Teen Readers

Guest Post: 5 Reasons I like Writing for Middle Grade/Teen Readers 

By Cheryl Carpinello

http://www.beyondtodayeducator.com

1. Being able to write the types of stories I loved to read as a kid.

As a kid, I devoured books: adventures, mysteries, fantasies, animal stories. As an adult, I still enjoy the same types of reading, but I don’t find myself getting ‘lost’ in the adult reads. And so I write the stories of my youth.  ex. The Harry Potter series

2. Knowing that kids lend themselves to imagination easier than adults.

Young readers, like adults, can be a difficult audience to write for. What I’ve found, though, is that they eagerly enter into the world of a book easier than adults. The innocence and imagination of young readers knows no limits at this age.  ex. The Hunger Games, The Twilight series

3. Helping young readers to see their world in a different way or from a different viewpoint.

Frequently, young readers only see their world from their own point of view. Try visiting a middle school or high school and seeing all the drama that goes on with the boys as well as the girls. Creating the types of characters that these readers can identify and empathize with, helps them to see their real-life situations differently.  ex. A Child Called It.

4. Understanding that while young readers enjoy stories, they are also looking for truths about themselves and life.

Being a hero isn’t easy. Sometimes heroes doubt themselves as well as those around them. Sometimes, heroes even fail, but they don’t give up. Young readers tend to think that they have to be perfect all the time, succeed all the time. As adults, we know that isn’t true or even possible.  ex. The Lord of the Rings

5. Getting letters/emails from young readers.

Young readers are not shy. One of the exciting reasons I enjoy writing for these ages is that they have no qualms about saying what they think. Kids may not always be tactful when expressing their feelings, but they are truthful. It is the truth about your writing that will make you a better writer. As a high school writing teacher, I always tried to couch my criticisms in a positive, but instructive manner. In a way, this is what young readers do also if we as writers listen.

About the Author: 

Although a retired teacher, Cheryl Carpinello still has a passion for working with kids. She regularly conducts Medieval Writing Workshops for local elementary/middle schools and the Colorado Girl Scouts. She is not the only one who loves Medieval Times and the King Arthur Legend. The kids thoroughly enjoy writing their own medieval stories complete with dragons, wizards, unicorns and knights!

She loves to travel and her other job is with a major airline. Her favorite trip was a two week visit to Egypt with her husband that included traveling by local train from one end of Egypt to the other.

Some of her favorite books include The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Once and Future King, and any by the duo Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

 

The World of Ink Network will be touring both of author Cheryl Carpinello’s Middle Grade Arthurian Legend books, The King’s Ransom (Young Knights of the Round Table) published by MuseItUp Publishing and Guinevere: On the Eve of Legend published by Outskirts Press throughout January 2013.

Some stories become legend while some legends become stories!

You can find out more about Cheryl Carpinello, her books and World of Ink Author/Book Tour at http://tinyurl.com/ajka7zv

Follow Cheryl Carpinello at

Beyond today Educator http://www.beyondtodayeducator.com

Carpinello’s Writing Pages http://carpinelloswritingpages.blogspot.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ccarpinello

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.carpinello1

Publisher Website: https://museituppublishing.com

 

The Joy of Daydreaming

by Scott Rhoades

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those
who dream only by night.”  -- Edgar Allan Poe

I recently spent part of an evening going through a Box Of Things My Mom Kept. The box included old newspaper articles, school assignments, autographs, and a few report cards. Much of what was in the box had to do with my boyhood fantasies--fortunately, mostly from when I was still too young for those fantasies--like my obsession with baseball (OK, some fantasy worlds linger). One parent/teacher conference report from Fifth Grade reminded me of something I heard over and over as a kid:

"Scott spends a lot of his time daydreaming."

As if that's a bad thing.

There is tangible evidence that I never stopped spending a lot of my time daydreaming. In my final high school yearbook, my girlfriend--who, by the way, I married 22 years later--said she wouldn't want to live in my head because it was a scary place.

According to Freudian psychologists, daydreams express repressed instincts like those that come out when sleeping. They say daydreams are often about wish-fulfillment, "based on infantile experiences and allowed to surface because of relaxed censorship."

Freud claimed that where nighttime dreams are often incoherent and confusing, we engage in "secondary revision" when daydreaming, making them more lucid and coherent.

I read somewhere that one of the reasons artists tend to have psychological issues is that the creative person has a less distinct barrier between the conscious and subconscious and is able to pull from the subconscious at will. Similarly, Freud called daydreams a state between sleeping and waking. This, they say, affects the psyche because it can lead to an inability to distinguish between dreams and reality.

Again, that's supposed to be a bad thing.


An adult, boring people say, accepts reality and does not indulge in fantasy. Imagination is a waste of time, unless it improves business and brings in more money.

If you're reading this blog, you know how ridiculous that is. That same parent/teacher conference paper that chided me for daydreaming also said "Scott writes entertaining stories."

To state the obvious, writing stories is nothing but daydreaming on paper. Those of us who write for young people might well be proving Freud to be correct. He claimed that dreams, whether sleeping or awake, have to do with some "infantile" mumbo jumbo whatever. I stopped reading the sentence. It might be right, but I don't care. I don't need to analyze it.

I like daydreaming. I like night dreaming. I love those moments when I'm blending the two. And I love that writing gives me a way to capture those daydreams. I worry sometimes that if one of my daydreams comes true, the one where I can quit my day job and write full time, I will slip into an adult world where my imagination becomes wholly acceptable because it's being used for the purpose of commerce.

Being an adult has already damaged my daydreams somewhat, by creating filters that are sometimes too prominent, barriers that direct my daydreams into (mostly) acceptable channels, reminding me that some lines of dreaming are pointless, dangerous, crazy, or otherwise unacceptable. That "scary place" my wife referred to so many years ago still exists, but I've learned that, in the adult world, I can't always reveal it like I did when I was younger.

Sometimes I hate that.

There are interesting stories in that scary place, fun little daydreams that are probably better left unshared. However, it's exactly that place that, when it surfaces, makes stories come to life, even if I'm not always aware that I'm letting those dreams surface. When I am aware that I'm delving into the darkest depths of my dream mine shaft, I polish the gems that surface so that they are no longer so raw and scary.

It's probably a good thing that writers and other artists learn to filter the parts of their dreamworld that they share with others. It's also a good thing for writers to dig into those uncomfortable places for certain story elements, although many of us are afraid to go there.

To me, it seems like drawing a line between daydreams and sleep dreams creates a wall that limits imagination. Treating imagination as a childish thing that should be let go unless it makes money is a crime against our own humanity.

So what if obscuring that division between conscious and subconscious can lead to insanity? It's an artificial barrier. Whether conscious or not, both sections of our mind are parts of who we are. There are lessons and stories in there. But lessons and stories are an adult way of looking at it. How about adventures and fun, scary places to explore?

So dream away. Recognize that the best dreams happen when you're supposed to be paying attention to something else, like work or church or school or some other bit of the grown-up world. Don't be afraid to let your dreams go where they want or need to go. Be smart about what you share, if you must, but let your dreams go where they want, like you did when you were a kid. Be yourself--all of your self--even in your own mind.

If your report card says you spend a lot of time daydreaming, consider it a successful report card. Enjoy that time. Here be dragons? Good! Bring them on!

Guest Post with Author Traci McDonald - Inspiration is a Fickle Mistress

The Inspiration I need To Get Myself Writing by Traci McDonald

Inspiration is a fleeting and fickle mistress. There are days when I cannot find the inspiration to do anything but take a shower. While she is an unreliable mistress, work is her solid partner. He is not as pretty or as charming as she is, but he never lets you down. When inspiration is off playing with the fall colors in the orchard, work is harvesting the apples. While inspiration sings her melody, work is playing the music. During inspiration’s pouting tantrums, refusing to cooperate, work is soothing her hurt and anger until she comes to her senses.

I get most of my story ideas from those pure flashes of inspiration that come when the mistress is content, peaceful and whispering in my mind. I write the best I can when she is fed, appeased and lounging beside me; but I get nothing when work does not accompany her.

I find her in music, lyrics, stanza’s voices and instrumentation. I chase her when I read books, blogs, articles and research. I fight her when I am plotting novels, out-lines, short stories and blog posts. I have discovered though that no matter my relationship with inspiration; I can only make dreams come true with work.

The inspiration I need to get myself writing is just a flash of pure imagination. That flash creates a spark in my mind and an idea begins to form. The more the idea turns to something real, the more my fingers ache to sit down and write. She gets my mind and heart flowing, but he puts my hands up on the keyboard and convinces me to give her a voice.

About Traci McDonald: 

Debut author Traci McDonald has been a writer since she figured out how to make words on a page. Traci wrote for English classes like most people, but she wrote everything else in between. Traci won minor competitions with short stories, poetry and lyrics before becoming visually impaired. That is just a political correct way of saying Traci McDonald is blind. Traci lost her eyesight 17 years ago, but it never stopped her from living life and following her dreams. She has struggled with her health and raising kids, prior to the publication of her first novel. Traci is very excited to see her dream in life coming true. She lives in a small cozy town in the Mojave Desert, less than 150 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Traci McDonald has four other books in the process of becoming published and a whole list of others she plans to write.

You can find out more about Traci McDonald and her debut romance novel during her World of Ink Author/Book Tour at http://tinyurl.com/8nejedq