SIX WRITERS, SIX WEEKS: JON YANG STOPS BY!
I lurve Jon Yang. And not just because he’s cute and funny and smart. I lurve him because he somehow managed to create the absolute girliest character I’ve read in a long time in his book, EXCLUSIVELY CHLOE. And no, I’m not mixing up my pronouns here. Jon is a guy. Who likes basketball. And video games. So I had to ask Jon … how did you do it? Jon has some great things to say about finding the voice in your book that’s right for you, even if it seems like it shouldn’t be. Leave a comment to be eligible to win a signed copy of EXCLUSIVELY CHLOE, as well as a $10 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card. Two prizes today! Woot!
Without further ado, I give you the fabulous and wonderful Jon Yang!
“You’re writing what?!” That was pretty much the reaction from everyone when they found out I was writing a book about a teenage girl, from her perspective no less. “What do you know about being a teen girl?” Cue laughter. On the surface, they had a point. How does one find the voice of a teenage girl when you’ve never been one?
That was the challenge I faced writing Exclusively Chloe. It wasn’t just about thinking like a teen girl, but sounding like one. And it wasn’t just all “like’s” and “umm’s” and “ohmigod’s,” despite popular opinion.
My fallback answer defending my tween girlness was that I’d grown up with a twin sister. Through her, I was exposed to teen girls of all types. I watched my sister’s favorite television shows, read her library of books, flipped through her magazines, and sometimes (when she wasn’t too embarassed), I met her friends. Growing up, I was surrounded by girls.
And the thing people tend to forget is that teen boys are always, always, studying teen girls. In fact, teen boys probably know more about teen girls from an observational standpoint than anyone else because they’re constantly mystified and intrigued. I just happened to have the benefit of some insider knowledge since I could ask my sister, “So, when girls get together and whisper in a huddle, what are you talking about?” Plus maybe I broke into her diary once or twice.
Maybe.
Translating all that knowledge and experience into a fictional creation however, was a bit tougher. In preparation for creating a world of teenage girls, I consumed as much teen media as I could — excepting books. I went out and watched High School Musicals, ran through a couple Disney channel marathons, followed Mia Thermopolis through all her big screen adventures, and immersed myself in what teens today were into. Then I went back and went through my generation’s classics, with “Clueless” being a key touchstone. I left out reading teen books, because, well, I didn’t know that much about them at the time. It was only after I was close to completing Exclusively Chloe that I started reading a lot of YA fiction. Tragic, I know.
Through it all, I paid careful attention to how teenage girls interacted with each other. Truth be told, it wasn’t that different than how women in general interacted with each other. They got excited, they told stories, they said supportive things at the right times, they took each other’s problems into their hearts. And of course sometimes they sniped at each other, got emotionally distant, love/hated/loved, and oftentimes felt misunderstood. But wait, boys feel this way too! As a card carrying member of the boy community, I can safely say that boys go through almost exactly the same things girls do, they just express them differently. As in, sometimes they can’t express it at all, or they do so poorly.
What a relief then, to write as a teen girl and be able to express things, to start one paragraph with an introspective question, work through five possible answers, and then end up back at the original question with no solutions but feeling like a step forward was taken.
I had initially thought I would have to put on the role of a teenage girl, complete with dialogue, physical action, poignant voiceovers, and foreign motivations. But as it turned out, I didn’t have to remove myself from the equation.
I mean, I had first hand knowledge of the things Chloe-Grace struggled with. Questions of identity, friendship, family, and individuality have touched everyone right? If I wanted Chloe-Grace to sound truthful and authentic, I found it best to just write as me. Sure, she might be more into shopping and boys but at the end of the day, we related and connected and it felt a lot more honest to allow her personality to express herself through me, as opposed to trying to eliminate my own voice altogether.
So finding your writing voice? Well, I say look inside and there’s a good chance it’s there already, you just have to let it out. Like, ohmigod.
9 Responses to “SIX WRITERS, SIX WEEKS: JON YANG STOPS BY!”
July 30th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Great post, Jon! As an English/literature teacher, I remind my students that all good literature has one thing in common–universality. The great themes touch us all because we all go through them, no matter our race, gender, age, orientation, or preference for powdered over glazed (that one’s for you, Lara). As an (older) aspiring YA writer, I’ll try to use your guest blog as a reminder that what I’m going through (at my advanced age) is not so different than what my teen characters (or the students in my classroom) might be experiencing–at least on the universal level.
Thanks for the insight. Good luck for Exclusively Chloe.
Dan Tricarico
July 30th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Of course, I meant Good luck WITH Exclusively Chloe.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Great post. It’s interesting to hear what writers in Jon’s situation go through, and it is especially interesting because YA literature is such a big market right now.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I don’t think it’s totally absure for a guy to write from a girls’ perspective. Many authors have done the same. Look at “Memoirs of a Geisha”…totally written by a man who is neither Japanese or a Geisha…or even a woman! I agree that growing up around women, like his sister, does give him a good perspective of how girls behave and think. I think that my many years of observing men would make it quite easy to write a book from a man’s perspective! Heck…I practically think like a man anyway!
July 30th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
It doesn’t take a woman to write about women. I’m a woman, and sometimes I don’t even get them! Through his observations, he can probably tell you more about girls than they can. Through my many years of observing men, I can probably tell you more about their behavior than THEY can! Heck…I even THINK more like a man than a woman. Does that mean I have the best of both worlds? Perhaps… The author of “Memoirs of a Geisha” wrote about something COMPLETELY foreign to him, but yet created an image of his “reality”.
Good luck with “Exclusively Chloe”, Jon! I look forward to indulging in it (secretly, of course).
July 30th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
I’m currently reading this book – through Lara, I’ve been totally turned on to the world of YA books. I really enjoy hearing from the authors… sorry, lost my train of thought – damn this J-O-B and having to work : )
Anyway, this is a really cool idea – could you do more than 6 authors? Like maybe one a month?
July 30th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Great post! This site is getting expensive– all these great books to read and all the donuts to eat!
July 31st, 2009 at 4:10 am
Jon, I was already excited to meet you next month at the Kidlit Salon, and now I’m even more psyched. You’re awesome.
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:55 pm
I’ve been dying to read that book. Hopefully I’ll go to Barnes and Noble soon to get it. Great post by the way. (: