Those pesky ideas!

Sometimes, I notice my creativity reach an all time high and then instantly follow a certain pattern: it either becomes louder and louder until I start 'downloading' plots, characters, tone, themes, WHAM all at once, typing or writing as fast as my fingers can produce it. Then I spend months or years editing and rewriting, but the basic foundation has been set. 

Other ideas comes the same way: strong, powerful ideas that fly into my brain and linger and marinate. They have me intrigued, I resonate with the production design, the basic genre, tone, plot, yet, YET! They stay in the marinade. 
When I try writing the opening chapters, words come out flat. Engaging for me, but when I put the piece away for a week, take it out and read it again, I groan at my own obvious bad writing. 

The idea is delicious, the execution is not. 

Strange. 

The same tingle is there, the same groove in my stomach starts to feel excited, and sometimes the words flow with such ease, and other times they flow easiLY, but not lastingly.
Some would argue those ideas, like motifs for a composer, should lie in the marinade a little longer, but don't throw them out. Be patient.
Yes, I understand that. But sometimes those bowls of marinaded ideas start to take up space in my 'refrigerator'. What does one do?

What do you do? 

Am I a dinosaur?

Sometimes when I read other writers' works (Esp Middle Grade fiction), I see a consistent trend: lots of action (especially with a boy as a protagonist), lots of action, and lots of action. One thing just moves to another to another as if any type of reflection, interaction, connection to another character or sympathetic reaction from the protagonist would make any boy reader throw up his hands and say, "That's it! I'm not reading again!" as he turns on a video game. 

I believe in connection: to our world, to each other, to ourselves when we are alone with our own thoughts and questions. I strive to put that into my novels as well. I think boy readers can relate. I believe boy readers do enjoy those subtler moments in a novel. I can't believe a boy reader would be so easily bored. 

Today, movies reflect this non-stop, dizzying edited roller coaster experience more and more in films made for ages 9-13. Do books have to match this 'insanity'? 

Am I a dinosaur? 

I remember the opening of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", a book not written for kids, but seems to be all the rage in the retelling of it. Take a look at the first paragraph: 

In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town.  This name was given, we are told, in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market days.  Be that as it may, I do not vouch for the fact, but merely advert to it, for the sake of being precise and authentic.  Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest places in the whole world.  A small brook glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquility.

Did you even finish the passage? :) But, c'mon, what a terrific opening! What a great way to establish setting, especially with words like, 'spacious coves', 'inveterate propensity' and of course, my favorite, 'one of the quietest places in the whole world'. 

Still sends chills up my arms when I read this. 
How many people would plow through this today? I don't know. I would. But I love words. 

I remember when I was at a bookstore this past summer, and a boy around 10 years old bought IN THE NICK OF TIME, my first book in my time travel trilogy for that genre. He returned two days later with his dad to buy Book #2 THE TIME OF HIS LIFE and Book #3 ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD. He was happy I was still there to autograph the novels, but I believe he returned for a better, more long lasting reason: the relationship he had with the book, the characters, the plot, the adventures where all of it came together to reflect, in perhaps some small way, his own life. 

Thank you young reader! 

Welcome Back, J. Lee Graham!

Yes, I am back. After several years, I've decided to return to blogging and making the entries cleaner, shorter, and sharper. 
I have published five novels: Four for Middle Grade (I don't really resonate with the word "tween", but basically my books are for UPPER Middle Grade: ages, 10-13.) My novels tend to be dark and daring and full of cliffhangers which do not fall into the usual category of the 8-9 year olds. 

Just letting you know. 

I've written one Young Adult book which is clearly for readers age 14 and up. All my books are on Amazon and Smashwords both as e-versions and as page books.

I'm tired of trying to fit everyone's mold of what a "Middle Grade" novel looks like, or sounds like, or feels like, or whatever like. I just enjoy writing great stories with lots of exciting cliffhangers, a lot of danger, and above all, really tight relationships among my characters.

Here are my novels: 

FIREFLIES by Bree Wolf: a Review by J. Lee Graham

Bree Wolf’s Fireflies, her first it seems in the Middle Grade Genre, is an oddly wonderful fusion of The Well-Wishers by Edward Eager and the Southern Gothic stories of Truman Capote. Ms. Wolf has created a delightful, sweet twelve-year-old boy named Gabriel, who lives in New York City and inside his computer in a fantasy world adventure game where characters use stereotypical face-cringing Tolkien speak. I love how Ms. Wolf creates one of those god-awful fantasy games complete with cheesy dialogue and everyone eating stew.

Her hero Gabriel laps it up. It’s all he has. His parents are a dysfunctional mess (taking no responsibility for Gabriel’s spiral into this addiction in the first place) and Gabriel tends to respond to their screaming and their horrible behavior by pressing his nails into his palms in a type of pre-adolescent PTSD which breaks your heart. To add to this, no one at school even knows or cares who he is. When Ms. Wolf writes simply, as she does describing a ridiculous game of hangman in the classroom, you want to reach out through the pages and take Gabriel on a long walk.

As the class kept guessing, Gabriel crouched down in his chair, letting his hazelnut hair fall in his face. He had figured out the answer long before the hangman eventually died on the noose, but he didn’t raise his hand. He never did. They would all look at him if he did. The mere thought made his hands tremble.

His parents force him to go to North Carolina (on a 10-hour train ride? I didn’t understand that one as they live in a two- story apartment in Manhattan and could afford plane fare.), but it is here that the novel kicks in. There is a lot of plot: a sick girl, a scavenger hunt and on and on, and while at times, it may feel like too many things happen in all of one summer, it was the characters themselves that kept me reading Fireflies. This was the glue Ms. Wolf uses to create some wonderful friends for Gabriel to slowly commune with. Their dialogue was fun and natural and even when one of them calls another a “drama queen” (do kids even say this, and do they know the actual history of the expression?) it didn’t matter. Relationships in a MG novel have to work for me regardless of the plot, and there are moments of real beauty when Ms. Wolf allows her characters to breathe and find each other and above all, commit to each other.

Many of my favorite scenes centered around the local swimming hole, and I had to marvel at the (subconscious?) themes Ms. Wolf utilizes. {In two of my own time travel MG novels, a lake is featured prominently, not simply for plot points, but as a strong metaphor for transformation.} It is an ancient metaphor, the ‘baptism’ if you will of a character coming to terms with a newer part of him/herself. In Fireflies, each character has an interaction with the water that subtly exposes his or her hidden fears and gifts.

Another powerful symbol is the use of scissors by a female character when interacting with Gabriel. What she creates with the scissors seemed to be pushing the believability envelope, but their conversation, her intention and the ritual and the symbolic meaning behind it all was quite moving.

The use of technology in MG is so difficult sometimes and often I find myself scratching my head wondering how to incorporate it into fiction without it erasing all the drama and tension. In this novel, the techno traps did confuse me. Gabriel has a cell phone (we learn much later in the story), but there’s no mention that he either calls or doesn’t call his parents and vice versa. The characters can take pictures and send them to each other on their phones, so that means emails and internet access, yet Gabriel doesn’t use the phone to play his fantasy game? He instead, goes into a library and simply logs on to his game. There is no mention that he has a library card that would allow him to do this.

Some continuity issues with months and school schedules (the North vs the South) also pop up, but these are all trivial details. Perhaps just a good copyeditor to tighten up the inconsistencies is all that’s required.

Gabriel comes through in the end, and I hope there perhaps is a sequel in the works. Ms. Wolf is getting her feet wet and one can feel her itching to write more. Again, Ms. Wolf’s sympathetic and sensitive writings around relationship, friendship, the power of living in the present, and living life to the fullest are tremendous enough reasons to read this charming book.

High Wind to Idaho by Rod Barclay: A Review

In Rod Barclay's terrific adventure yarn, High Wind to Idaho, the love Mr. Barclay has for historic narrative that crosses cultures and binds them is fully displayed in his premiere Middle Grade novel. The plot is relatively straight-forward and any jump to the Amazon listing provides the details. 

Mr. Barclay has done his homework and it shows. His creation of an Idaho farm, a Japanese home, the beauty of San Francisco and the inner workings of train travel, all set in 1896, is marvelous. The book is full of scientific details about airship travel and temperatures and altitudes, barometric pressure etc etc to fill the heart of any ten year old budding scientist, and it is cleverly worked into a story line that is quite appealing. 

The two boys, Yoshi and Billy, from two very different worlds, become a metaphor for so many themes in this novel. There is not only the major theme of friendship despite or because of their cultural differences, but also broader themes that touch on race, prejudice, mass hysteria and our own universality in this journey of life.  Sometimes Mr. Barclay dips in and touches the themes, and when he does, it is beautiful. Often they simply resonate like a dinner bell on an Idaho farm. 

Mr. Barclay presents a great concept: seeing two very different cultures through two very different eyes. The hard part with a tale such as this one was deciding who the main character really was. Equal weight was given, so it seemed, to both Billy and Yoshi, and while it felt as if the tale was, in theory, through Billy's eyes, having the other point of view expressed almost equally left me feeling a little unsteady. 

Mr. Barclay provides warmth to his characters and allows them to be vulnerable which is one of my favorite qualities when reading fiction in this genre. When tensions mount, he doesn't quickly resolve the issue, and the train ride to San Francisco had me reaching for some herbal de-stressers.  Often, the Idaho community speaks like they're straight out of "Little House on the Prairie" ("...it fair makes my heart ache...") and the hokeyness of it all got a little strained. There were a few anachronistic touches that jarred me once in a while. Would a boy from 1896 think the words, What the? ?

These are trivial. The book is great. The story is a blast. Thank you, Mr. Barclay, for a very enjoyable read. 

Fourth and Ape, the Field Goal Kicker with the Secret Gorilla Leg by Jeff Weiss: A Review

Jeff Weiss' first Middle Grade novel, Fourth and Ape, the Field Goal Kicker with the Secret Gorilla Leg  is a fun 'boy' adventure reminiscent of the old Disney movie, "The Absent-Minded Professor" and other such genres. Mr. Weiss' Amazon page spells out the plot and there isn't much more to it than that, but the protagonist begins to grow on you as he tries to deal with his new found dilemma. With a nod to Kafka and a twisted nod to steroid use in sports today and all its ethical and legal ramifications, Mr. Weiss shies away from becoming too serious. While the book is touted for readers aged 7-12, I would think this work (with its more simplistic dialogues) would appeal mostly to the 7-10 year olds. 

It takes awhile (a bit too long for me) to figure out some basic premises. I never knew where the action takes place, and it isn't until pg 202 that seagulls are mentioned, so I know the setting is, at least, somewhere coastal.   Mr. Weiss writes in the first person and for many, many pages "I" is just a high schooler "I" (with a short physical description thrown in) and there is an odd weightless feeling that keeps the book from being grounded. I am one of those readers who wants the three unities established from the get go so that I can begin the journey on sure footing. On page 30 "I" finally identifies himself as Ivan Zelinka; on page 67 we are told he drives, so he must be at least 16, but these piecemeal tidbits tossed at us seemed unsettling. It was hard to establish the essence of the main character: I wanted something concrete to hang my hat on. After page 67, I felt 'better'.  Perhaps a nine-year-old would not be so picky.

Don't get me wrong: Mr. Weiss has a great story, and I actually laughed out loud when the Coach says to Ivan, "What the heck did you eat for breakfast?" The football narratives are compelling and fun and full of those terrific grounded details I longed to see in the other scenes. The scientists are one-dimensional and somewhat silly, but the whole plot is silly and Mr. Weiss, you can tell, is smiling as he writes each enjoyable word. 

A bit of continuity can go a long way. A trip to the zoo just at sunset becomes a four hour tour whereby at the end of the tour the narrator writes, "Everyone groaned. No one wanted to go back to the tents . It looked like there would be another half-hour of twilight..."
I don't know where this story takes place, but they have five hour long sunsets. Next time, I'll bring my watercolors. 

I also couldn't understand why a 6'3" high school footballer who weighs 200 pounds would be wearing pajamas while camping in a tent. 

But those are annoying details that can be readily explained. Mr. Weiss clearly loves his character Ivan. He endows him with the skills and the sensitivity to see the powerful force and lessons the animal kingdom can teach us. He gives Ivan an innocence and growing pains all at the same time, and I love that Ivan understands the yin and yang of food and reads Kafka in German.  Now if he would only stay away from those mysterious laboratories late at night. 

Book Review: Mystery on Church Hill by Steven K. Smith

Steven K. Smith has written a short Middle Grade novel (#2 in a series) called Mystery on Church Hill where the main character, a 3rd grader named Sam Jackson, and his older brother (4th grader), Derek, join forces to solve a mystery. While the book describes itself as geared for readers aged 7-12, I would venture to guess it would be best suited for seven and eight year olds. Middle Grade is a very large genre. 

It's a short piece where I was reminded of the "Scooby Doo" series of old and I couldn't tell if Mr. Smith was exhibiting a tongue in cheek homage to an old favorite of his (the villain actually says, "meddling"!) or simply innocently writing toward an audience for which this book is intended. 

The story is set in Richmond, Virginia and it felt like a world most comfortable for those readers who enjoy and resonate with a more suburban culture. There is a 'cartoon' feel here as all the adults are one-dimensional, and again, because of my estimate of the age range of its readers, the book would still hold their interest. Often, Sam and Derek felt like they were whirling around inside a giant cartoon. Everything felt rather antiseptic, and I was looking for something more solid to hang my hat upon, but then again, a seven year old would probably not even notice. 

Where Mr. Smith shines is when he involves us in actual historic events. The places and people and the skullduggery that beleaguered the famous and infamous of the 18th Century suddenly grounds the book and the cartoon wash instantly evaporates. Mr. Smith is passionate about this and the book is a terrific portal to introduce history to young readers in a captivating way. 

My head scratching is with the characters themselves. I found that Sam and his 3rd grade companions acted and talked as if they were much older. The boys call each other by their last names in jock-like fashion and they interrupt the teacher incessantly in the classroom scenes with odd random one-liners. While I am completely supportive of writers who raise the bar on vocabulary, I was thrown by this level of discourse among third graders: 
“Wow, thanks for the pep talk, Derek,” said Sam. “You should be a motivational speaker."
And then there is this one: 
“A solar microscope, very interesting! It actually fits, given his Enlightenment philosophy – using light and your senses and all.”

I must be out of the loop. 

It's a quick read with a nice wrap up lesson. I applaud Mr. Smith also for a portion of his sales going to support CHAT: Church Hill Activities & Tutoring, a non-profit group who work with inner-city youth in the Church Hill area of Richmond. 

Perhaps that's the best lesson of all.