Francisco's Journal an author discusses the art of writing

January 25, 2012

Second Chances

Filed under: Behind the Eyes,Books,Editing,Love,Second Chances,Uncategorized,Upcoming Work,Writing — Francisco Stork @ 10:46 am

After I finished writing my first YA book, Behind the Eyes (Dutton: 2005), my then eighteen-year-old daughter Anna said to me with characteristic honesty that it was a good book but that I had held back. I had held back from being as knowledgeable and wise and funny as she knew I was. I don’t know if I denied or admitted it to her. I try to remain non-judgmental to my family’s comments about my books so that they can be free to voice whatever they think (I don’t always succeed at this), but I do know that in my heart of hearts she was right. For some reason, I held back. I was, like Hector, the young main character of the book, afraid to share the gifts I was given. So when I wrote Marcelo in the Real World, I did my best to not hold back, to leave it all on the page. I’ve tried to do the same with other books I’ve written, even though I still have a ways to go. I know, for example, that there is still a gap betwen the humor and lightheartedness of my life and the books I write, but I’m working on that. After all, it’s not always easy to transform knowledge and wisdom and humor into art which is essential in writing a novel that will interest and maybe even touch another soul.

I came to accept Behind the Eyes as one of those learning and growing experiences that every writer has and I moved on. Then a year or so ago Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic decided it would be nice to have all of my books under their imprint and they purchased the expired rights to Behind the Eyes. Cheryl Klein and I had long thoughtful discussions about the book and we decided that we had a choice to publish the book with minor changes, major revisions or somewhere in between. We went for the middle-path. A place to travel in life, as well. So in a few more days I will give Cheryl final revisions (there have been a couple of drafts already) to the book which is scheduled to come out in the Spring of 2013. A second chance. How rare is that? I have absolutely no need for second chances for Marcelo or Death Warriors or Irises, but as to Behind the Eyes, I am so grateful to be given the opportunity to not hold back. For in addition to the knowledge, wisdom and humor that my daughter correctly perceived I had witheld, I also held back on love. How could it happen that I could create a character like Hector without truly loving him? It makes me sad to think about this. I guess learning to love (characters and real human beings) takes time and mistakes galore. All that I can think of is that I had to learn about love and about self-forgiveness before Hector could love himself and others, before Hector could chisel his way through the granite ways of self-acceptance.

So I’m off to pour all I have into the final revisions of this old and new book and, with Cheryl’s help, this will become art. I’m not holding back. I’m leaving it all on the page. 

 

January 13, 2012

Letter to a Young Author

Filed under: Beauty,Love,Uncategorized,Vocation,Writing — Francisco Stork @ 10:55 am

Friend,

I am glad to hear about the joy you’ve found in writing. You ask if this is not a sign that you are meant to make of writing your life’s occupation. I don’t know. Is writing your vocation? If I may borrow the words from another author friend: “Vocation is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s great need.” You have found gladness, but are you writing to the world’s great need? The world’s great need will be met when you write the one novel you came into this world to write. It is the one that scares you the most, the one you think no one will publish and if it is published then no one will read and if it is read then no one will understand, except perhaps another soul like yours. Spend your life trying to write this one book. You may never get there. What matters is that you get closer and closer to it with every book you write. Direct your life so that on your deathbed you can say I never gave up trying. Don’t be afraid of failure. And if you fail, look for the door that opens to the place you were looking for all along. Have the courage to write with beauty. Let your prose strain towards poetry. Sometimes there is no other way to say what you need to say. But remember always the honest beauty of bread and water. Believe in the invisible. Have an unshakeable faith in the existence of the soul, yours and the person you write for. If people call your writing religious because of this, so be it. Find others who have made or are on the same journey and cherish them as fellow travelers. Rejoice in their effort as if it were your own. There is no room for envy on this trip. Build a harbor to protect your gift, but make sure your daily catch comes from the open ocean. Find a job that can be friends with and not jealous of your vocation. If you are fortunate enough to make a living from your writing, you’ll need to be even more attentive to your calling, for its voice is hard to hear amidst the clanging of praise. Be lighthearted but don’t forget the seriousness of it all. The tragedy and glory of life is that it can be squandered and loss and waste are real. Be humble. Let your vocation be a prayer no one hears but you. Important as your writing is, it is not your whole purpose. Most of all, be open to love and be grateful for it in whatever form it comes. And if love doesn’t come, love nevertheless. Love, its gladness and its pain, will show you what the world most needs.

September 13, 2010

Dire Straits

Filed under: Brooklyn Book Fair,Hope,Love,Uncategorized,Writing,Young Adult Literature — Francisco Stork @ 5:58 pm

I was on a panel yesterday at the Brooklyn Book Fair with Mitali Perkins, Kate Milford and Anjali Wason. The title of the panel was “Making It” and it dealt with the tough situations the panelists put their characters in and how those same characters “make it” – that is, survive. It was wonderful panel and the questions from Anjali (the moderator) and the audience were very insightful. Being in that panel got me thinking about many things. What is it in me that likes to put my poor young characters in such dire straits? Pancho loses his dad and his sister. DQ has a rare form of cancer. Marcelo has to spend a summer working in a law firm! Oh, my goodness. In answering a question from the audience, Mitali Perkins said that she wanted to write something funny and I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to write something light and airy and fluffy. Do I have it in me? I hope that humor and a certain lightness of being will always be a part of whatever I write no matter how serious the topic or how dire the straits that my characters find themselves in. I think that this lightness of being that I seek so much has much in common with hope. No matter how serious the topic, hope needs to be part of the mix. And humor. I think what saves serious, realistic fiction from being too dreary to read is hope and humor and love. Love is not something that is directly conveyed from author to reader. It is more of an aura, a feel that the reader picks up. The love I’m talking about is the love of the author for his characters – so that even when they are in a rough spot, they are still very much loved. I’m not sure that there are any literary tricks to convey this love. It is either there, in the author’s heart, or it isn’t. For some inexplicable reason, my poor young characters will probably always find themselves confronted by a reality that can be harsh sometimes (and kind and beautiful as well). I can promise you that they will also find in themselves a way towards hope and love.

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