Jan L. Coates - "What If...?"

Of “Look Books” and “Longtubitis” – School Visits…

janlcoates — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:47:47 +0000

I always tell students they need to be nosey in order to be a fiction writer because you never know when a brilliant idea might turn up. I had a fascinating conversation with a six-year-old boy yesterday at Maitland District Elementary – he told me he was writing a “look book”, and his main character had a condition called “longtubitis”. Of course, I thought I was mishearing him at first, but he then gave me a detailed demonstration of what such an infliction might look like (think Inspector Gadget and his Go Go Gadget arms, only all four limbs). My adult brain could never come up with an idea like that – maybe it should be kids who write books for kids!

I’ll be doing my final WITS visit of the season tomorrow at Annapolis Royal Regional Academy, yet another small rural school on the education chopping block. I think I put over 2,500 kilometres on my car doing WITS visits this year, but it’s been a blast, and I can’t wait to do it all over again next year. Thank you, students and staff at these schools, for welcoming me this year!

Bedford South, Central Colchester Jr. HIgh, Cornwallis Jr. High, Glooscap Elementary, Kingston & District, L.E. Shaw Elementary, Maitland District, North Queen’s, Rawdon District, Truro Elementary, Annapolis Royal Regional, and Auburn Drive.

My fifteen seconds of fame at Maitland District Elementary

A springy wall at Kingston and District School

Evidence of the Bay of Fundy Mud-Eating Monster, near the lighthouse in Walton, Hants County.

: Students at North Queen’s providing some artwork for my (as yet unpublished) picture book story about their neighborhood park, Keji.

School Visits – L. E. Shaw, Glooscap, Rawdon Elementary Schools

janlcoates — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:57:43 +0000

One of my favorite things about being a writer is visiting schools through the Writers in the Schools (WITS) program, run by the Writers’ Federation of NS. Thank you to everybody at these three schools for welcoming me! I got to help the grade 3 and 4 students at Glooscap get started on creating their own picture books, with topics ranging from wanting a puppy to the perils of being a very skinny man. I hope to go back and see their finished books before the end of the school year.

With Grace and the Braille edition of RAINBOWS

Although HARE is really for readers in grade 7 and up, I share a bit of it with students in grade 5 and 6. Somebody always asks about the title; what I love is that as soon as I tell them that Jacob is the “Hare”, metaphorically speaking, even without reading the book, somebody in the crowd quickly figures out that the Elephant, then, must be the war. Being old and crotchety as I am, I always take a few minutes to explain that to many people, like Jacob and the other 20,000 Lost Boys of Sudan, war and its after-effects are very real, and it’s for that reason that many adults are against the video war games so commonly played these days. War is not fun for anybody. During yesterday’s visit, a student said, “Yeah, but war isn’t real in those games.” I’ve never even seen a game like Call of Duty being played, but I can only imagine the adrenalin-pumping sort of violence contained therein, real war or not. War is too devastating to be trivialized in a game. I must remember to use that as a response the next time the topic arises…

L. E. Shaw, March, 2012

Despite all that, I love being a visiting author, and I’ll be in Caledonia, Annapolis Royal, Maitland and Kingston before the school year’s out. I’m sure when I was in school we never had a “real” author visit our class – as a kid who always loved to write, I would have been thrilled to bits! Thank you Writers’ Fed for making these visits possible.

Book or Movie? The Hunger Games

janlcoates — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:11:32 +0000

“The brain is very good at protecting itself,” Rich said. “When you read, you’re constantly accessing your memories and your frame of reference: your experience.” In other words, what a child is able to envision is limited to the boundaries of his or her imagination. “But when you put an image or an idea into a movie, someone else has translated that.” And quite suddenly, the picture a child has created in their mind is augmented by the more vivid and sophisticated imaginations of savvy Hollywood filmmakers.” (from The Miami Herald) (or possibly diminished, in my opinion)

Came upon this quote from Dr. Michael Rich, professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, which sums up what I was thinking after seeing The Hunger Games last night. Shannon and I managed to get last-minute tickets after a fifth showing was added at the local theatre.

For me, the movie wasn’t nearly as good as the book. I enjoyed the slower character and relationship development in the book, and picturing the characters as thought out by author Suzanne Collins. Jennifer Lawrence is a perfect Katniss; the young man who played Peeta, not so much. I would have preferred the actor playing Gale to have been cast as Peeta. It’s a well-done movie, but my personal preference is to create a story in my mind while I’m reading an author’s words, rather than having the film maker’s version shoved in my face. Certain scenes in the movie were vastly different from the scenes I’d envisioned while reading the book, and I don’t like that. Maybe it’s because I’m a control freak…If I were to re-read the book now, I’d think very differently about it, I’m sure.

I’m part-way through the second book, and so far I’m finding it a bit repetitive, but still so well-written. Apparently 12 million copies of the first book have been sold, to date, a good indication lots of young (and older) readers will have been able to read the author’s story before seeing the film maker’s version.

I saw one family there with a child who appeared to be about seven. Although the violence was downplayed, in favour of building suspense, this is not a story for a kid of that age. It is, after all, about kids forced to hunt down and kill other kids, in retribution for uprisings against the government that happened decades before these kids were born. I hope parents and teachers take the time to point out some of the social criticism in the movie, although I’m sure astute young readers will pick up on a lot of it without help.

I wonder how much money Collins will realize from her trilogy and its movies? Hard to even imagine a book generating that much money!

Back to the Basics

janlcoates — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:32:48 +0000

When I’m not sitting at my laptop, I do a little substitute teaching. This time of year, education is a hot topic in NS – the government usually declares funding cuts to education, and everybody gets in a tizzy. The fact is, the population of Nova Scotia is an ageing one; there are fewer school-age children every year, so it only makes sense that the amount of money spent on education should decrease proportionately.

Speaking of the basics, this is historic and beautiful Lunenburg Academy, built in 1895, replaced in 2012 by Bluenose Academy - I'm sure the new school is state-of-the-art, but it could never be this beautiful!

Based on my limited experience in the schools, the main problem with education is simply that teaching has veered away from the basics. There are new theories of education, experts, strategies and consultants galore, but the truth is, kids aren’t being taught the basics these days. Spelling tests were outlawed a few years ago; as a result, kids are horrible spellers. It’s not the fault of the kids – they want to know how to spell words correctly and are embarrassed when they can’t. Cursive writing seems to be a dying art, but elementary students are eager to advance to writing from printing, and eager to show it off when they master the skill. Beginning in the lower elementary grades, math strategies abound, making it impossible for parents to help their children at home as current methods are very different from those we learned as kids (no more memorizing the times tables, for example).

It seems to me that many people working in the schools would like to see a “back to the basics” approach in the classroom; why then, are the consultants still filling teachers’ in-boxes with new strategies and approaches that serve to take away from the teachers’ focus on the students, where it belongs? Maybe I’m just getting old, but it seems that the harder the consultants/experts work to devise the best way to teach a simple concept, the more complicated that concept becomes.

On a brighter note, I’m continuing to read the Newbery medal winners and honour books. Memorable ones of late include: The Wednesday Wars (Gary Schmidt); Elijah of Buxton (Christopher Paul Curtis); and When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead). I’m trying to decipher what makes them so good, but they’re all so well-written I can’t see the structure for the story! Happy reading and happy March Break!

Rejection, Rhyming and Dr. Seuss

janlcoates — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:15:54 +0000

Dr. Seuss’s first book, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, was rejected 27 times before somebody said “Yes!” His most well-known rejection letter reads, “This is too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.” And we all know the happily-ever-after ending to his story!

In reading through various agents and editors’ blogs, it seems like nobody wants to publish rhyming picture books these days, but there are loads of them out there, and kids love them. What’s up with that? Apparently, there are lots of kids’writers who think they’re really clever at writing in rhyme, but, unfortunately, few of us actually have that gift. Or is it an acquired skill? I found an article recently, by Doria Chaconas, “Icing the Cake, Writing Stories in Rhythm and Rhyme, that’s full of in-depth, almost scientific, pointers about writing in rhyme. Some of it sounds vaguely familiar from my days as an English Lit student…but it’s worth a read.

For some reason, certain stories just start writing themselves in rhyme, weird as that probably sounds unless you’ve experienced it. I like to think I have a good natural sense of rhythm, but maybe I’m wrong. It’s fun, but finding rhymes and sounding out rhythms can be incredibly frustrating, too. On-line rhyming dictionaries come in handy, and when all else fails, I rearrange the words again and again, or dig up new ones, until I think it works. Oddly enough, the story I’m working on now can be sung to the tune of My Favourite Things – surely that can’t be a bad thing!

Reading – one of the best things about being a writer!

janlcoates — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:32:15 +0000

“Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it.
Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.”
― William Faulkner

Thought I’d keep track of the books I’m reading in 2012; so far, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (great book, perfect title and cover!); My Dad is a Birdman (by David Almond who also wrote the amazing Skellig – today’s Roald Dahl; I can only wish to have such an imagination), and Word Nerd (which won the Sask. Young Readers’ Choice Award last year). I went through the Newbery winners over the past couple of years, then requested them at the library. The books are pouring in, and I can’t read fast enough! I now have ten piled up in my writing room…The best writing advice I’ve ever been given is to read voraciously in the genre in which you’re writing. Figuring out how other writers do it well (or not:) is so helpful!

Used part of my GG money to buy myself a new (very old) desk on Kijiji. It’s made of oak and has a wonderful smell – not sure how old it is, but I feel like it may have been made in the late 1800s. Might be time to write some historical fiction…

My new old writing desk (2012)

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. ~Oprah Winfrey

janlcoates — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:41:25 +0000

I’m not an Oprah fan – I’ve only ever seen her show a handful of times, but I love this quote! It can apply to just about every situation I can think of today; friendship, family relationships, exercise goals, teaching, writing, – even world peace! The possibilities at the beginning of a new year seem endless…

Finally, at the end of 2011, and after ten long years of receiving rejection letters, I can describe myself as a working writer. I have three book projects underway as 2012 begins, and a dozen other ideas – can’t ask for much more than that. As my kids are thinking about potential career paths, I can only hope they’ll find something equally satisfying and rewarding – hopefully a few years before they hit 51!

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”

I wish you excellent health, lots of occasions when you laugh until you cry, and plenty of warm times with people you love (furry and otherwise) in 2012, and beyond. Cheers! Hope you enjoy this video…

Rideau Hall, November 24th

janlcoates — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:56:22 +0000

So, thanks to the wonderful Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia and my publisher, Red Deer Press, I did get to go to Rideau Hall last week for the GG ceremony. It was a grand event, and I spent the evening with Kate Watson of the Hackmatack program and Trecia Schell of the Pictou Antigonish Regional Library. The pictures are with His Excellency The Right Honourable David Johnston (I think that’s his correct title…); with son Liam and our MP, Scott Brison; with Christopher Moore, winner of the GG for Children’s Text for his non-fiction book, “From Then to Now”; the room where the ceremony was held; and with Patrick DeWitt, fiction winner for “The Sisters Brothers”.

I had a chance to talk to one of the jury members for my category and hear a little of how they sorted through the 260 books nominated in the children’s text category – about a quarter of the 1,000 English language books nominated in all 7 English categories – seems to me there should at least be separate categories for younger and older children’s text (ie. picture books vs. novels). At the moment, they’re all lumped together, with a separate category for illustrations. Hmmm…

Liam and I had a lovely visit with Kings Hants MP Scott Brison. He gave us a tour of the Parliament Building and is a most amiable and personable guy. I was most impressed by his various references to fairly obscure details from my blog – he obviously did some research before our visit! Liam didn’t actually get to go to the GG ceremony – I can’t figure out how they give out the invitations (240) – all I do know is that the finalists aren’t invited, which seems kind of strange to me. Most of the people I spoke to there didn’t really know why they had received an invitation, other than that they have some connection to the book world. Rideau Hall is beautiful, and I had a nice chat with Mrs. Sharon Johnston who told me she likes to write and has a book-length manuscript almost completed. What a busy life it must be for them! They have 8 grandchildren who I’m sure love to visit them in that palatial space! We found a few random plastic dinosaurs and Christmas elves in the greenhouses of Rideau Hall – cute!

While in Ottawa, I signed a few books at Kaleidoscope Kids, a cozy children’s bookstore on Bank Street. Thanks, Kim and Kelly! I finished my trip with a 24-hour whirlwind visit to Kingston. Liam’s already in his 4th year at Queen’s. Where does the time go?

No GG for me – this time!

janlcoates — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:03:53 +0000

Congratulations to Christopher Moore, who has just won the Governor General’s Literary Award (Children’s Text), for his book , From Then to Now (non-fiction history of the world). As a “loser”, I’m in good company – Deborah Ellis, Kenneth Oppel and Tim Wynne-Jones. Of course, I would love to have had HARE chosen, but I honestly had little expectation of that happening, considering the other contenders all are about a dozen novels ahead of me, or so. No trip to Toronto, or Rideau Hall for me, not this year, at least…And as my editor has said, being a GG Finalist for my first novel is an achievement I’ll always have and cherish. I do have two new projects on the go, in addition to the full-length novel I’ve been working on for about a year and a half. I’ll be retelling a classic novel for JLS, the Korean publisher – condensing a 100-page novel into about 25, so that should be an interesting challenge. Another editor called last week expressing interest in a novel for reluctant middle-school readers, so I expect to get a contract signed for that in the near future, as well.

One thing I gained from my GG nomination experience is becoming more comfortable being interviewed. I had a great live chat with Carmen Klassen of CBC Radio’s “Close to Home” last week – she’s very good at her job, and made me feel as though we were just having a personal chat on the telephone. It’s a little awkward because the GG people tell the “losers” about a week ahead of the announcement date, so I had to spend a week pretending I didn’t know I hadn’t won. One question Carmen asked was what I had learned from writing HARE; I wasn’t expecting that question, and very quickly said I learned that you can do “good” through your writing; not just in a financial way (as in supporting Wadeng Wings of Hope), but also in opening young readers’ eyes to situations in which children in other parts of the world find themselves; helping build empathy.

So many people have called and written expressing their support for HARE’s nomination and this segment of my writing journey – thank you everybody for that! I tend to be fairly goal-oriented, so maybe a new goal for me should be winning a Governor General’s Award – next time! Back to work…

Governor General’s Literary Award Finalist!

janlcoates — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:46:34 +0000

My apologies in advance to my Facebook friends who’ve already shown their support for this, but I had to do a little blog post. When the publicist at Red Deer Press, Cheryl Chen, called me yesterday, I’d just returned from banging my head against the writing wall at the Acadia Library for four hours; I was shocked to hear the news, to say the least. I cried, in fact, briefly…Then, I was excited to be able to get on the phone to my editor, Peter Carver, who is still in Port Joli, and share the news with him and Kathy Stinson, and to email my mentor, Gary Blackwood. Still haven’t connected with Jacob, who’s no doubt busy working and parenting three small children!

I went for a walk on the dykes later in the day, just to mull things over, and all I could think of was how proud my parents (who gave me my love of words) would be, and how I wish they were still here so I could call them…my sister, Nancy, does her best to fill their big shoes!

I believe I’m the only one of the five finalists who hasn’t previously won at least one GG, so I’ll be wildly intimidated, but I do plan on being at Rideau Hall on November 24th, win or lose. I figure it’s gotta be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing! (PS: Since writing this, I’ve found out only winners are invited to Rideau Hall…so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!)

Spent the day in Springhill today, researching the manuscript I’m working on. The CAO of the Town, Don Tabor, was incredibly hospitable and gave me lots of great material to work with. If you’re ever in Springhill, stop by the library (the former Miner’s Hall) – it’s beautiful!

At least I have more than a month to figure out what to wear!