Super pleased to share this little blog post I wrote for L.E. Carmichael’s website. She’s another nonfiction writer for kids based in Canada and I can’t wait to see her new book called The Mathilda Effect about women’s contributions to STEM and the world over the centuries and how they’ve been erased. I’m sure it will be equal parts inspiring and enraging!
And yet! Anger, hope and education can drive us to research and write stories we’re fascinated by, like those found in our own families, communities and regions. Hope my post encourages you to give these stories the love they deserve!
I can’t count the number of times a writing instructor has said in a workshop to ‘find the universal in the particular,’ but somehow I always need to hear it. It’s such a good reminder that often we think in big ideas and grand sweeps of history, but we need to anchor thoughts, ideas and philosophies to a particular person, event or moment.
Take the two books I’ve published this year for young readers. Yes, they have drama and stakes and help tell a bigger story, but what I tried to do more than anything was drill down to the important details. That’s what’s going to stay with a child (or an adult, for that matter!).
This has taken me some practice. My degrees in History (with a capital ‘H’) taught me theories and methodologies, but they didn’t teach me storytelling. They didn’t teach me characterization. And they certainly didn’t teach me soul. Those I got from the novels and movies I obsessed over before – and after – my semi-successful (and short-lived) academic career.
To read the whole thing, please click on the link below: