When the Research Doesn't Match Your Vision

By Lauren H. Kerstein

 

My guiding force as an author, creative coach, and psychotherapist is to lift up others and help them feel seen. In writing HOPE RODE, I was thrilled that I had the opportunity to share a story with the world that not only lifted up and paid homage to librarians but also highlighted the strengths of rural communities in Kentucky during the great depression. 

 

This story also gave me the opportunity to spotlight some incredible women— Eleanor Roosevelt and Elizabeth Fullerton— in addition to the tenacious and tireless librarians who rode 100-120 miles per week over mountains, through creeks, and down treacherous landscapes to deliver books. 

 

I even had the opportunity to talk about horses and mules.

 

It was a beautiful story and an incredible opportunity, until…the research didn’t support my goal of helping others feel seen. 

 

Let me take a step back to explain.

 

After hundreds of pages of notes and many, anmy interviews, I could not find an answer to the following question: 

Was the BIPoC community included in the Packhorse Library Project?

 

I hit dead end after dead end. And then… I found a picture and I thought I had my answer.

I was so relieved as I wanted as much diversity in the illustrations as possible. I wanted everyone to feel seen.

But something nagged at me. Why was there only one picture? Why couldn’t experts verify whether or not the BIPoC community was involved? I wanted more information so that I could ensure my NONFICTION book was accurate. I didn’t want to suggest the BiPoC community was involved, if in fact, they were excluded. 

 

So, I kept digging.

 

Enter Reinette F. Jones, an outreach/research/reference librarian in Special Collections at

the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on all things connected to African Americans in and from Kentucky. She told me the picture I found was actually from a Library Extension Program NOT the packhorse library program.

 

I was devastated.

 

“Yes,” she said, “libraries were and are incredibly important to the African American community. But “no,” she wouldn’t include any librarians of color in the packhorse program. It wasn’t historically accurate.

 

IT WASN’T HISTORICALLY ACCURATE.

 

I was faced with an excruciating choice. How could I help everyone feel seen if some were excluded from the program?

 

The following guideposts helped me decide what to do.

Nonfiction: I wanted to ensure my nonfiction book was just that… NONFICTION.

 

Facts: Facts have become more amorphous than I’d like in today’s world. I wanted to ensure my book included only FACTUAL information that I could reference because I’d cross-checked it with reputable sources.

 

Backmatter: I could use my backmatter as a place to address the BIPoC community and librarians in a clear and concise way.

 

Author Visits: I would have the opportunity to discuss this research dilemma with students in the classroom, not only to share my journey, but also to ensure each and every student felt seen.

 

Reality: The reality is that there are far too many heartbreaks in our history. Segregation. Racism. Discrimination. Hatred. Mistrust. The list goes on and on. If I were to suggest people of color were included in the packhorse library program, I would be contributing to misinformation, not highlighting the fact that these heartbreaks led to exclusion and lack of access.

 

At the end of the day, we, as nonfiction creators, are arbiters of truth. The research didn’t align with my initial vision, but it didn’t stop me from still highlighting these fierce, dedicated, and bold librarians who brought the gift of reading to rural Kentuckians during the great depression.

 

These badass women changed the world forever.

 

Perhaps, now, I need to take what I learned about the BIPoC community and Library Extension Services and write that book. Or share this knowledge with someone within the community who might want to write this important book.

 

Stay tuned…

 

But for now, I feel good that I remained an arbiter of truth as I shared what I’d learned about the packhorse library program.

 

Librarians are truly the backbone of our world!

 

 

About the Author: Lauren is an award-winning author, psychotherapist, creative coach, screenwriter, and NYT-bestselling ghostwriter. She is the author of the Rosie the Dragon and Charlie picture book series, Home for A While, Remembering Sundays with Grandpa, and Hope Rode. Additionally, Lauren writes books in her field and just released a book about emotion regulation. Lauren is one of the founders of #ReVISIONweek, a judge with Rate Your Story, and is a long-time member of 12x12 and SCBWI. Her writing goals are simple. Read voraciously. Embrace feedback. Grow each day. Work hard. Be passionate. Write courageously. Touch children’s hearts.

 

How I Use Mentor Texts for Craft

By Nell Cross Beckerman

Today I would like to share with you how I have used mentor texts in a granular, practical way: to get your first words on the page. Beginnings (and endings!) are some of the hardest parts of crafting your text, so any hacks to make it easier? I’m in!

I wrote my first three books, Down Under the Pier, When the Sky Glows, and Caves, in my “cloffice”—my closet office, the only place in the house I could close the door. When that got old, we moved to a new house where I fin ally had my own office. Which was great…until I realized when I turned on my computer that something had changed. My fingers felt frozen and my mind was static. I had writer’s block!

Around that time, I had been inspired by walks on my local hiking trail, called the Park to Playa trail. I knew I wanted to write a story about how paths and parks connect communities and bring us closer the nature. But for the first time, I couldn’t figure out how to start.

So, I did what I always do when faced with a new challenge in my publishing career. I thought: What would Kate Messner do?  (WWKMD). Ever since discovering Kate’s book Over and Under the Snow (published by Chronicle, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal), I have followed her as my unofficial mentor-from-afar (although I have been lucky enough for a few personal encounters!)

I love Over and Under the Snow so much I could recite it by heart. It is a lyrical adventure of a father and child as they cross country ski through the wonderland of woods that seem to be in their backyard, observing and learning about the animals over and under the snow (aka the “subnivean zone”) Through this adventure, the family bond deepens, the setting feels intimate and local, and the reader learns some STEM concepts without realizing they are learning at all. Perfection.

What if I used Kate’s introductory text, but swapped my words for hers? Wait…but isn’t that plagiarism? Definitely not what I’m proposing! Not imitating the story, but studying the craft. Let me show you what I mean:

Kate’s opening lines are simple and magical:

 Over the snow I glide.

Into woods frosted fresh and white.

 First, I sat down to pick apart why I liked these lines so much. I never studied creative writing in college and have no background in education (I’m a former documentary TV producer.) I’m still learning terms like “assonance” and “consonance.” But, I have been a reader my whole life, and I know when I like how words sound when I say them out loud.

 In layman’s terms, I noticed:

•   The repeated long sounds of “O” (over, snow)

•   The echoed long “I” sounds in I glide and white.

•   Alliteration of frosted fresh.

•   The inverted sentence structure: Over the snow I glide instead of I glide over the snow.

Here’s what I tried, using Kate’s structure but swapping in my own words.

                               

Kate’s words	My words
Over the snow I glide.	Up the path I climb   (repeating “p” sounds)
Into woods frosted fresh and white.	Stepping from pavement to earth, leaving the river of cars behind.   (Continuing the “p” sounds, repeating “v” sounds, repeating “I” sound in “climb” and “behind”)

 

As you can see, I already have veered off from Kate’s structure in the second line. Turns out, I just needed her to hold my hand for that very first line to get my fingers in action.

Those lines disappeared in revision, so there is no visible trace left of Over and Under the Snow in From Park to Playa: The Trails That Connect Us (published by Abrams, illustrated by Sophie Diao.) But I will always be grateful to Kate’s book for helping with the building blocks of mine.

How to Use This Strategy in Your Own Writing

If you find yourself staring at blank screen with an idea lodged in your head, try this:

•            Choose a mentor text you love, especially one with a tone or structure that fits your project.

•            Copy the text in full, by typing it out or writing it longhand. Follow line breaks and page turns. This will help the style seep into your creativity bank.

•            Study the opening lines closely. Listen for repeated sounds, rhythm, and sentence structure.

•            Swap in your own words, Mad Libs–style, using the same structure. Verb, noun, adjective, etc!

•            Let go of the result. This is a warm-up, not a final draft. Just gets words on the page so you can get your idea out.

I hope it goes without saying that you shouldn’t do this for a full book! That would be creepy, and I’m definitely not advocating anything that smells like plagiarism in any way shape or form.

I’ve only used this method once, but it’s a tool I’m grateful to have in my toolbox. And sometimes that’s all you need—a mentor text to hold your hand just long enough to get you started.

There are so many ways to use mentor texts to help your writing.  I hope you’ll join me and NF authors Laura Purdie Salas (please link to https://laurasalas.com/), Michelle Schaub (please link to https://www.michelleschaub.com), and Jolene Gutiérrez (https://www.jolenegutierrez.com/ ) as we reprise our NCTE panel Writers Inspiring Writers: How Both Authors and Students Use Mentor Texts to Reach Their Writing Dreams, hosted with writing prompt breaks from the Southern Nevada Writing Project (https://snwp.org/), offered for free on Zoom. Visit NellCrossBeckerman.com for details to sign up.

If you’ve tried something like this, I’d love to hear about it. What mentor text helped unlock your writing? 

About the Author: Nell Cross Beckerman is the author of Scholastic’s multi-award-winning series, Adventure Through Nature (Caves, Volcanoes, and Forests) and the forthcoming Coyote & Me (Beach Lane Books, illustrated by Yas Imamura.) Sign up for book, teaching, and event updates at NellCrossBeckerman.com

Writing Nonfiction

By Henry Herz

I’ve had the opportunity to write four creative nonfiction picture books that are anthropomorphic “autobiographies”—I Am Smoke, I Am Gravity, I Am Light, and I Am Wind—all illustrated by the amazing Mercè López and published by Tilbury House. 

How did I go down this path? Editors, we're told, are always looking for new approaches. So, I put on my thinking cap. There are some picture books with anthropomorphic characters, but I'd never seen smoke treated as children's book subject, much less a character. And who better to describe smoke than smoke itself? Still, smoke isn't even corporeal. Would editors consider such so unusual approach? Would this stray too far from the trodden path? I rolled the literary dice.

Subverting expectations is a tried and true writing technique. The saying “where there's smoke, there's fire” tells us both are dangerous. But what about the beneficial uses of smoke? Also, since smoke is telling its own story, I had to consider what type of character voice to employ. Smoke is ancient, dark, shifting, mysterious. That inspired me to have smoke speak in a spare, lyrical voice, using alliteration and riddles.

I also wanted the book to have a narrative structure rather than a simple recitation of facts. I considered the carbon dioxide given off by wood smoke. Two oxygen atoms and one carbon atom. Carbon... Inspiration struck like lightning splitting a tree. Plants are the lungs of the Earth. They breathe in carbon dioxide through their stomata. They drink up water through their roots. Sunlight provides energy to split those molecules. The plant forms cellulose from carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, sequestering more and more carbon as they grow. Conversely, burning tree branches releases the stored carbon. Eureka! Smoke has a “cycle” too. 

In I Am Smoke, smoke tells its own story, explaining the various ways in which people have employed it over the ages and across the world. Not only did this add richness to the story, it added marketing hooks: STEM, geography, history, and social science. Authors focus naturally on story, but we must also factor in marketing considerations.

 

 

 

About the Author:  Henry Herz is a children’s literature author, educator, and editor known for blending history, science, and creativity into engaging books for young readers. He has written numerous award-winning nonfiction and fiction titles that make complex ideas accessible and fun, and he frequently collaborates with experts to ensure accuracy and depth. In addition to his writing, Herz is a dynamic school presenter and the editor of acclaimed anthologies that showcase diverse voices in children’s publishing.

Fun with Primary Resources - Seriously!!

By Stephanie Bearce

Being a nonfiction writer, I tend to geek out over research. I love digging through old photos, visiting historical sites, and delving into library stacks. The happiest of all research is when I get to dig into primary resources. So many cool things!!!!

I've read Alexander Graham Bell's laboratory notes, visited L.M. Montgomery's home, and climbed the same cliffs as Mary Anning. Primary sources can add a whole new dimension to your work.

For those of you who are new to nonfiction - primary sources are documents or artifacts closest to the topic of investigation and were often created during the period you are writing about. Diaries, newspapers, government documents, letters, memoirs, and oral histories are all examples of primary sources.

It's always exciting when you can make a trip to a historical site, but it's not always practical. Good news for when we have to be armchair researchers - the internet has some amazing websites that bring the primary sources right to your desk. And I've sourced them for you.

Here are some of the best websites for primary sources dealing with American History. Enjoy the research adventure!!
 
100 Milestone Documents
Includes documents that chronicle United States history from 1776 to 1965.
 
American Journeys
Eyewitness accounts of North American exploration, from Vikings in Canada in 1000 AD to the diaries of mountain men in the Rockies 800 years later.
 
American Presidency
Documents related to historical and current U.S. presidencies, such as speeches, official papers, and executive orders.
 
American Life Histories
Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940.
 
C19 Index
Full text of North American periodicals from 1740 through the 19th century.
 
Chronicling America
Search and read historic newspapers published from 1690 to the present.
 
FBI Vault
Scanned and redacted – images of FBI files of famous individuals and groups.
 
New York Public Library
30,000 images of New York City, costume, design, U.S. history, etc. from books, magazines, and newspapers, as well as original photographs, prints, and, postcards, mostly created before 1923.
 
Printed Ephemera
Advertisements, forms, programs, catalogs, timetables time tables capture the everyday activities of ordinary people.
 
The Sixties
Primary documents and personal narratives, 1960–1974
 
World Digital Library
Collection of print and visual resources

Stephanie Bearce is an author, speaker, and teacher. You can learn more about her at www.stephaniebearce.com