In his recent column, 'Across the Universe', science fiction critic David Itzkoff discussed problems adult authors face when trying to write for children, but also shared some of the authors that he thinks get it right. As Educating Alice points out, his New York Times article made a lot of people mad. I think people were put-off by his smug dismissal of JK Rowling for her outrageous success. Personally, I was also turned off by what seemed to be an attack on mainstream young adults in general. Jeesh, What's up with the snobby-ness?
He was especially critical of YA authors who cross-over from the world of adult authorship, with the exception of only the most obscure. Yet here he almost sneers at YA writers that attract adult readers like Rowling:
"As someone whose subway rides tend to resemble scenes from an "Evil Dead" movie, in which I am Bruce Campbell dodging zombies who have had all traces of their humanity sucked out of them by a sinister book -- not the "Necronomicon," but "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" -- I sometimes wonder how any self-respecting author of speculative fiction can find fulfillment in writing novels for young readers. I suppose J. K. Rowling could give me 1.12 billion reasons in favor of it: get your formula just right and you can enjoy worldwide sales, film and television options, vibrating-toy-broom licensing fees, Chinese-language bootlegs of your work, a kind of limited immortality (L. Frank Baum who?) and -- finally -- genuine grown-up readers. But where's the artistic satisfaction? Where's the dignity?"
I actually agree that there are many issues adult authors face when attempting to write for children. It starts with arrogance and the idea that it will somehow be easier. Less words. Easier words, lots of pictures, right? The best cross-over writers don't dumb down for a younger audience, they just consider their differing interests and abilities. In fact, many adult writers say writing for children is harder. I will take some of Istkoff's opinions with a grain of salt because I don't think he's a children's literature guy, but I will totally check out Un Lun Dun by China Mielville because I think he gets science fiction.
Like so many online discussions, you only get half the story from the comments posted all over the blogosphere. Here are some great points from the smart readers of Bookshelves of Doom.
Posted by alli
Book Publishing
Comments
It's funny... there's like an unspoken rule with writers & their craft:
"Write what you know."
If the guy isn't a children's lit or a young adult literature guy, maybe he should keep his opinions to himself.
Because to someone who IS a children's lit/young adult fan/writer, etc... he comes off as ignorant, ill-informed, and brutish.
I'm sure he knows his stuff when it comes to his side of the craft. He should stick to it.
Posted by: Izzy Neis | February 15, 2008 11:28 AM
I've written for a lot of different adult audiences but Young Adults seem like a real challenge and a potentially very satisfying one.
I'm not actually a Harry Potter fan but seeing those books bring together the family of one of my friends around reading and wild tales was really beautiful.
Snobbery's a weird thing. I ran into it in academia when I was taking seriously high theory and trying to use it effectively to reach an educated but high theory averse population of academic readers.
I encountered the most negative responses from folks into hardcore theory and nearly impenetrable language who not only had difficulty understanding why I would do what I was doing but, as I later realized, had difficulty recognizing what I was doing because it was outside their code of writing behavior and addressed an audience that they did not respect.
Hope I'm not rambling too much but I guess if you hate a demographic, you'll be hating on the writers for that demographic as well.
Posted by: Clyde Smith | February 16, 2008 11:48 AM