Diversity Panel at SCBWI Metro NY

I often moonlight as an editor for the SCBWI Metro NY Chapter Blog. This panel on diversity in children's books caught my eye. Here is the article by Adria Quiñones.

This article is reposted from SCBWI Metro NY Chapter Blog

The last year has seen heightened awareness and active discussion about the importance of providing diverse books for children. Inspired by the recent Children’s Book Center report on the lack of diversity among writers of children’s books and the rise of the We Need Diverse Books campaign, in February SCBWI offered a panel discussion about diversity with six professionals: authors Matt De La Peña and Rebecca Alexander, illustrator Eric Velasquez, publisher Stacy Whitman (Tu Books, a middle grade and YA genre fiction imprint at Lee & Low) and editor T.S. Ferguson (Harlequin Teen), moderated by Metro-NY Co-Regional Adviser Bridget Casey.

The panelists had similar visions of what diversity means. For illustrator Velasquez, diversity is “not just inclusion;” it’s about making a minority character the hero instead of the sidekick. Harlequin editor Ferguson noted that, “Everyone should have an equal voice. The loudest voice in the room shouldn’t be that of a white man.” Author De La Peña described a scene where, “We’ll read a description of someone walking into a coffee shop where there are three guys and a Mexican girl–she’s not just a girl, she’s marked [by being described as Mexican]. Diversity is focusing on the marked character.”

Velasquez continued, “We’re race-obsessed, but maybe we should be story-obsessed.” What kinds of stories should we try to tell? De la Peña suggested that diverse characters should be “in books for everyone, in stories that have nothing to do with diversity.” And what about trying to tell someone else’s story? Moderator Casey quoted Kwame Alexander’s session on diversity at the recent SCBWI Midwinter Conference, where he encouraged his audience to do their research and be respectful. Harlequin editor Ferguson advised the audience to “be open to criticism. Be willing to make changes.” Illustrator Velasquez was equally blunt: “Go out and meet somebody and have a conversation.” Rebecca Alexander, who writes about her experiences with disability, suggested authors write with eyes covered or ears blocked to gain empathy towards what it might be like to be blind or deaf.

The panelists agreed that to bring diversity to children’s literature, writers, illustrators and purchasers of children’s books have to take action. We must write, draw and buy books about characters who are diverse across all of the elements that make up the diversity spectrum. Tu Books publisher Whitman noted “11 axes of diversity,” including ethnicity, socio-economic stratum, gender identification, sexual orientation, beliefs and abilities. She suggested people not only buy diverse books but demand them when we can’t find them. “Take a list of books that you want to buy to your independent bookstore,” Whitman urged. “And if they don’t have them, ask them to order them for you.”

Several panelists mentioned the need to fight the belief that diverse books are only of interest to people of a particular subgroup. “When I published my book,” Alexander explained, “I would find it only in the Disabilities/Special Needs section of the bookstore, back in a corner behind a pillar. But able-bodied people also found themselves in my book.” Author De La Peña agreed. “It’s common for librarians to say, ‘We don’t need your book because we don’t have any students like that at our school.’ To which a writer-friend of mine responds, ‘Really? How many wizards do you have at your school?'”

Diverse books provide kids with a mirror, panelists agreed, but also with a window that shows how other people think and feel. As writers and illustrators, we should look to offer both.

For more resources, visit:
We Need Diverse Books Campaign: http://weneeddiversebooks.org/
Children’s Book Council’s Diversity Blog: http://www.cbcdiversity.com/
School Library Journal on “Embracing Diversity in YA”: http://www.slj.com/2013/09/teens-ya/embracing-diversity-in-ya-lit/
The Show Me Librarian’s post, “Selection is Privilege”: http://showmelibrarian.blogspot.com/2015/02/selection-is-privilege.html

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Adria Quiñones is a winner of SCBWI’s 2014 Emerging Voices award for her middle-grade novel, “The Disappeared.” Visit her at http://adriaq.com.

Crafting A Dynamic Character

I often moonlight as an editor for the SCBWI Metro NY Chapter Blog. For you writers with all those characters stuck in your head. Here is an article from of our events by Gae Polisner.

This article is reposted from SCBWI Metro NY Chapter Blog

Editorial Assistant Kelsey Murphy of Balzer & Bray led a wonderful workshop at the SCBWI LI on Saturday April 13, at the Huntington Public Library on Long Island. The workshop was on “Crafting a Dynamic Character.”

Ms. Murphy provided a four-pronged outline on how to craft dynamic characters, explaining that, to draw in readers – and prospective agents and editors! – realistic characters (1) must have a want, (2) must change, (3) must be emotional and reactive, and (4) must be specific (not stereotypical or clichéd).

Using examples from both participants’ own two-minute writing exercises prepared on the spot, as well as from well-loved picture books and works of young adult and middle grade fiction, Ms. Murphy walked the audience through each prong of character building, helping us to see how it is done, and why each prong matters.

“A character will change, while still being that character at the core.”

Always coming back to prong one, that a character must have wants in order for the reader to connect—and to build plot—at the outset of a story, Ms. Murphy explained that a writer should even know the wants of her secondary characters: “A character that wants for nothing is dull.” She explained physical wants versus emotional wants, active and overarching wants to build characters from the ground up—and to view their personal history through these statements of want.

Elaborating that showing, not telling, the history leading to those wants is key to a well-told story, Ms. Murphy stated: “A character with a want has power and will encounter conflict either in pursuit or in lack of pursuit of the desire itself . . . and the backgrounds to those wants give the book momentum and energize the story.”

Carrying these precepts over to picture book writing, Ms. Murphy shared that simplicity of focus in picture books matters. At the core of a picture book, there should be one central idea “blown out” via repetition or exploration or upending of classic tropes—bringing them to a funny or unusual setting, while the simple want of the story remains clear. “She wants a frog!” Ms. Murphy exclaimed, alluding to one of her favorite picture books her house has recently acquired.

Following the workshop, Ms. Murphy generously fielded an audience Q&A session and took writers’ individual questions.

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Gae Polisner is the award-winning author of THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO and THE PULL OF GRAVITY (fsg/Frances Foster Books). She lives on Long Island with her husband, two sons, and a suspiciously-fictional looking dog she swore she’d never own. When she’s not writing, she can be found in her wetsuit in the open waters off the Long Island Sound.