Megan Frazer

Elizabeth Bluemle has a great post in her PW Shelf Talker blog about negative stereotyping of fat characters. It’s a pervasive and unfortunate problem.

There are a lot of books, like mine, which are specifically about overweight characters. Body image and weight may or may not be the primary issue of the book, but the author is clearly thinking about it and, hopefully, approaching it thoughtfully.

But when you look at books where it’s not one of the main issues, authors all too often resort to making the baddies or the butts of jokes be the fatties. So, this made me try to think of books with fat characters who are neither evil nor used, unwillingly, for comic relief.

Hassan from John Green’s An Abundance of Katherine’s comes to mind. He is a funny character, and sometimes uses his weight for humor, but he seems in control. He’s a fully realized character. If I were an overweight teen boy, I wouldn’t feel assaulted by this depiction.

That’s kind of where my list starts and ends. There have to be more, though, right? I’m hoping I just can’t think of any because their weight is such a small part of who they are that they don’t spring to mind. Can anyone think of any other characters that are incidentally fat and not stereotypes?

Recently I confessed my past a reviewer. While I miss the unexpected delivery of boxes of books, some of the experiences of fellow reviewers make me glad I got out of the business when I did.

When you get a bad review, it makes sense to behave like a Wild Thing, and gnash your terrible teeth. You may rant and moan and complain. You may cry or eat pints of ice cream or otherwise self-medicate. These are all reasonable responses.

Here are some things that are not so reasonable:

1. Posting a point by point rebuttal on the reviewer’s GoodReads page (and Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. . .). Doing so on the commercial sites makes the writer look, in my opinion, petty. Doing so on their personal page is crossing a line.
2. Sending a private message to the reviewer via Facebook explaining why the reviewer was just plain wrong. Again, this would be a big line between professional personal that should not be crossed.
3. Calling the reviewer’s place of work to verify if (s)he is indeed a librarian in their employ. This is when the reviewer starts to get scared.

I have more stories, but the reviewers don’t want to reopen old wounds — or re-attract the attention of the writers. These actions led to the reviewers contacting the editors of their magazines (big magazines!). “Crazy and difficult” is not how I want to be thought of by the journals that can make or break my books.

I have a post up at my agent’s blog today about the myth of reading up.

Holly Cupala, readergrlz div and author of the upcoming Tell Me a Secret (HarperCollins, 2010) is doing a delicious series on her blog: Book Cooks. My recipe for Goat Cheese Pizza is up today. Carrie Jones has a recipe for truffles, Wendy Toliver has Sad Cake, Liz Gallagher has butterscotchies — the list goes on and on.

As a writer, reviewers are scary. They read your book and then they proclaim upon its worthiness. Sometimes it feels like a roll of the dice. One review gives you a star, another slams you. In such an atmosphere of uncertainty, it’s easy to think that reviewers are the enemy. If that is the case, then I am the enemy. Or at least I was.

Like many librarians, I have reviewed for a professional journal. I believe I did so with both a librarian’s and a writer’s eye. A book might not appeal to my personal taste, but I tried to think about which of my patrons would like it, and what about the work they would find appealing. I always included these things in my review.

I also thought of what the author was trying to accomplish, and how well they did that. Here is where I may have been particularly tough. I had no patience for lazy writing or shortcuts.

I started reviewing before I sold Secrets of Truth & Beauty, and continued as I worked through the editing process. As I grew closer to my own publication date, I found myself feeling more and more torn. I could imagine what it would feel like to read the words I had written in a negative review.  Though I wanted to spare other writers the pain of reading my perceived faults in their works, I also had a professional obligation to my colleagues as a reviewer and librarian. Librarians rely on reviews not only to choose which books to buy, but also which books to recommend to which students.

I was unable to reconcile my two roles. So, first I decided to stop reviewing nonfiction, and then I decided to stop reviewing all together.

When I started to get my own reviews, I can’t say that my time on the other side made it easier to stomach any negativity. In fact, I have the ability – common to many writers – to pick out even the hint of a criticism in an otherwise positive review. It did help a little to remind myself that my reviewers were people just like me. People who struggled over the reviews, who weighed the few words they were allowed, and tried to be as honest as possible. People, too, with whole histories behind them that would of course influence how they reacted to a particular book. Nothing makes the initial sting less, but this helped with the dull ache that lingered.

Aaargh! I’m too angry to have a more nuanced response to this: Scholastic Censors Myracle’s ‘Luv Ya Bunches’ from Book Fairs.

Luckily, Myracle herself is more eloquent:

“A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’” says Myracle, adding that the book fair subsequently decided not to take on Luv Ya Bunches because they wanted to avoid letters of complaint from parents.

In Secrets of Truth & Beauty, Dara is a former child pageant star. So, in order to introduce you to the wonderful authors and characters of the 2009 Debutantes, I am hosting a Debs Pageant on my blog. Today we have Roz from Lauren Bjorkman’s debut, My Invented Life.

Name: Roz Peterson aka Chub (That’s my sister’s evil nickname for me. Preferred nickname–Pixie.)
Age:17
Biography: I like attention, except the negative kind I keep getting for some reason. I’m so not new age, but sometimes turn to online ouija to answer life’s little questions.

What is your talent? I was born to be on stage. And this time I’m going to get the lead in the school play, even though there are others who might possibly be more talented than I am. But Shakespeare wrote Rosalind for me. For the pageant, I’ll perform a monologue from As You Like It.

What will you wear for the evening dress competition?
A neo-goth black dress. I have a secret “crush” on someone who’s into neo-goth.

Who is your escort? I hate to limit myself to a single person. My people will get back to you on that.

And now for the interview portion . . .

What’s the biggest challenge facing today’s youth?
I believe that it’s figuring out who you are, and daring to be that person, in a world with so many competing expectations (parental, societal, and peer).

What color best represents you and why?
Pink because I’m cheerful, naive, and generally nice to people. But I’m not fond of all things pink-e.g. the frilly frou frou stuff. I never owned a Barbie doll. I wanted a pink tutu to go with my black leotard when I was five, though.

If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
In my ideal world, we would accept each other in all our glorious diversity. Oh, can I delete greed and the hunger for power, too? I think this would end war, and let us focus on the important things.

Thank you Roz and Lauren!

If you want to learn more about Lauren and My Invented Life, please visit her website.

You can order My Invented Life from Amazon. You can also get it from a local indie. Here’s a recommendation from Lauren:

My small town of Taos, NM has a wonderful Indie bookstore called Moby Dickens. If you ever come here, be sure to drop by.

Oh, Glee, how I love you.

I love that there is a show in which characters break into song to express their emotions, much like I would like to do on a daily basis.

I love that your characters are all stereotypes pushed beyond the breaking point, each with nugget of something pure within them.

I love that I get to watch Jane Lynch every week.

I love that you brought on Kristin Chenoweth as a guest star.

I love that you handled Kurt’s coming out so sensitively that I cried when he told Mercedes that he was gay.

I am less enthralled with your depiction of women in their thirties as overbearing and/or desperate for marriage/babies.

But I do love that you seem to also love eighties music.

I love that even though everyone has satirized “Single Ladies”, yours was so funny I laughed so hard I couldn’t sit up straight.

Yes, Glee, you have my heart!

P.S. Saundra Mitchell is inviting people to trick or treat on her blog. You can win awesome books. Authors and others have been stopping in all month with their true ghost stories. Head over today to read mine.

First, a delayed Music Monday: did you know that NPR does first listens of whole albums. I’m listening to The Swell Season’s Strict Joy. It’s Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova who starred in and did the music for Once, a movie that I watched while I was pregnant and it made me cry big, fat salty tears.

Now onto the real business of the day. It’s Debs Pageant time! In Secrets of Truth & Beauty, Dara is a former child pageant star. So, in order to introduce you to the wonderful authors and characters of the 2009 Debutantes, I am hosting a Debs Pageant on my blog. Today we have Mandi, one of the secondary characters in Pam Bachorz’s novel Candor.

Character name: Mandi Able
Age: 17
Biography: I am a senior at Candor High, where I study very hard and try to make a difference in important civic issues, like stopping horrible people from painting graffiti all over our town. Before I moved to Candor, I was on my way to win Miss Charm USA–but my parents did everything they could to make me forget that with Candor’s brainwashing.

What is your talent? Talent doesn’t matter when you’ve got my brains and charm. Not that I’m bragging. Bragging is unattractive. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be bragging.

What will you wear for the evening dress competition? Teens should dress modestly so it will be something with a full skirt and a high dress. Wait, no! That’s not how to win! Where do these strange thoughts even come from? It will be tight and low-cut and sparkling and I will WIN!

Who is your escort? Sherman Golub, the sweetest cutest boy in Candor. It’s weird, I didn’t think that when I first met him. But then my parents switched the music in our house speakers and the next morning, I realized that he’s the boy for me. Isn’t that weird?

And now for the interview portion . . .If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? If I could change the world, every person would do their very best and they wouldn’t try to destroy the beauty of our community. I don’t know why people forget that hard work achieves results.

Thank you Mandi and Pam!

To find out more about Pam and Candor, please visit her website. You can order Candor from Amazon, or scoot on over to your favorite local bookstore and pick it up.

If the world of Candor seems like the right one for you and your family, visit the town site to find out how you can become a part of the community.

No Music Monday today because Jennifer Brown is here to be part of the Debs Pageant. Hooray! In Secrets of Truth & Beauty, Dara is a former child pageant star. So, in order to introduce you to the wonderful authors and characters of the 2009 Debutantes, I am hosting a Debs Pageant on my blog. Today we have Valerie from Jennifer’s debut, Hate List, which is earning starred reviews!

Character name: Valerie Leftman
Age: 17
Biography: Valerie is a senior at Garvin High School. Always an outsider, Valerie is even more self-conscious ever since her boyfriend, Nick, shot several students in the school cafeteria last year. Valerie is smart and sensitive. Broody. Down deep, an artist. But Val is strong and courageous.

What is your talent?
Drawing. I’m going to draw a caricature of one of the judges in two minutes. It’s going to look just like him!

What will you wear for the evening dress competition?
Something dark, kind of funky. Maybe with some rips in it. And… can I wear my canvas sneakers with it?

Who is your escort?
My brother, Frankie. But he’ll be dressed way better than I am.

And now for the interview portion . . .
What’s the biggest challenge facing today’s youth? Hatred and violence.

What color best represents you and why? Well, it sort of depends on the day. Used to be I was all about pink. But then I was all about black for so long, I forgot pink existed. But I’m kind of liking pink again.

If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? I’d turn back time and bring Nick and all those other kids back. And also, I’d make everybody get along and like each other.

Thank you Jennifer and Valerie!

If you want to find out more about Jennifer and her book, please visit her website. You can order Hate List from Amazon, or get it from an Independent Bookstore. Jennifer recommends
Rainy Day Books in Fairway, KS and Fundamentals Parent-Teacher Store in Delaware, OH.