Ask the Author: Jack Gantos
Answered Questions (34)
Jack Gantos
Hi Sarah, Do tell your brother that, as with "Joey Pigza" I often write about characters I find in real life. I get most of my ideas from observing the world very closely--and I find the world is full of great ideas wherever I look. The trick is to write about them. "Joey" is a great kid--and has a big heart and wild humor and good intentions. Sometimes his intentions result in disasters, but his heart is his compass and he intends to do well--and in the end, in THE KEY THAT SWALLOWED JOEY PIGZA (the last Joey book), his intentions shine through. Thanks, Jack
Jack Gantos
Hi and thanks for your question. 9th grade is a pretty clever grade and a good time to get started writing with a purpose. I'm sure you have a writing journal, which is essential. I write all my books by hand in my journal. You don't have to, but having a journal to record book ideas is an important practice. What is important is balancing the action on the surface of the story with the emotional depth of the characters. Depth is essential. When I write books such as THE TROUBLE IN ME or HOLE IN MY LIFE (which are autobiographical) the action on the surface is just the story of what happens, but the real action is inside the heart and soul of the character--because if the character feels something strongly then you want the reader to feel the same. This is what defines the power of literature--the writing changes the reader's perceptions. All Best, Jack
Jack Gantos
Hi, I'd like to see him on the big screen, too. Ken Kwapis has done his best to get JOEY onto film, and on TV, but though he got very close to doing so, the studios could not be convinced. But Mr. Kwapis is trying new approaches. He is a great supporter, and he has had success with other shows (FREAKS AND GEEKS) so I have a feeling he will continue to push on. However it turns out, for me, the books still stand and Joey lives on the page--which for a writer--is the perfect size screen.
Jack Gantos
Hmmmm. THIS BOYS LIFE. STOP-TIME. CLOCKWORK ORANGE. 1984. CATCHER IN THE RYE. HALF A LIFE. THE CAR THIEF. ON THE ROAD. CITY OF NIGHT. THE THIEF'S JOURNAL. THE BELL JAR. ... and take a look at Mellville Press on line. They have a novella collection which is quite good--classics, but shorter. I think a lot of those reluctant readers are just looking for books that have great story surface and great emotional resonance. In short, they want the best books in a short package.
Jack Gantos
I did. She was wonderful and smart and courageous and taught me a lot about community and humanity. She knew her own mind and heart and I was a bit of a blank slate and being with her gave me the courage to think about what kind of person I wanted to become. Clearly, at times I have for selfish reasons failed to follow her lead, but trying to be a good citizen to the world is always on my mind. I'm glad you have a Miss Volker of your own. Jack
Jack Gantos
Since I'm always trying to excavate the inner lives of my characters then I most certainly find that the classical range between comedy and tragedy is present in my characters. As for my new character, myself, in THE TROUBLE IN ME, I don't think either pity or laughter is necessary unless those are emotions you find in yourself that have been generated through your reading of the story. I try not to judge a book so much as I judge myself while reading a book. Thanks, Jack
Jack Gantos
That is a difficult question to answer, as to answer it would cause me, by omission, to offend more than I can compliment. I will say that no one dresses with more style and comfort than my two Abyssinian cats. They are well dressed twenty four hours a day--from sleep wear to dashing about doing their chores. They set a high bar. Thanks, Jack
Jack Gantos
To begin with, I try to write a good story to carry a seamless narrative on the surface of the book. But then, what is essential to me is the emotional lives of the characters--their imaginative lives--their thinking--and this is where the depth to the writing can be found. When I write a book I want the reader to feel every nuance within the characters so that when the characters change, and reflect, and progress, the readers feels those same changes, and thus, they change too. As for how I write: by hand, with a fountain pen, in small notebooks and then I type it up and print it out and mark it up and then I do roughly a hundred drafts and passes until I think I have a book with a solid story, great characters and significant emotional depth.
Thanks, Jack
Thanks, Jack
Jack Gantos
Hi. THE TROUBLE IN ME is not for 5th graders. The themes and language will be more meaningful to them as they mature. The JOEY books have a lot of difficult moments--in both action and emotion. As you said, they love all the action and trouble--but the emotional lives of the characters are very powerful and when discussed with students I find that is where the 'take-away' is from the series. Some of the action is funny and some is deplorable. The adults are very poor examples of supportive parents. They often have good intentions, but their follow-though is not entirely praiseworthy. As the series progresses from book one to book five the content is less about ADHD and far more about family dynamics. Some of those family dynamics make students squirm. Some students may recognize their own home lives within the Pigza household. My goal as the writer is to draw attention to what motivates the characters--their emotions, their values, their ethics, their morals--and how they make decisions for better or for worse. This makes for rich classroom discussion and challenges readers to articulate what they feel about all this mayhem.
You might also introduce them to the "Jack" books: my semi autobiographical stories. The 5th grade title is: JACK ON THE TRACKS. See how that works for them. Thank you, Jack
You might also introduce them to the "Jack" books: my semi autobiographical stories. The 5th grade title is: JACK ON THE TRACKS. See how that works for them. Thank you, Jack
Jack Gantos
Hi Don, Thanks for using HOLE IN MY LIFE in your classroom and glad the book was a hit with your students. The book is a door to a world I tried to write about honestly. When I wrote the book, of course I knew the smuggling and prison portions were going to be lively and engaging, and readers would be attracted to the surface action of the book. But that was not enough. I wanted the readers, once captured, to go below the surface into the emotional depths of the book and in doing so I wanted them to contemplate their own emotional honesty and motivations behind the decisions they make. The real prison is within and the exit from inner torment is to become emotionally articulate so you don't go through life as some stimulus-response creature that just caroms off one unsatisfying and destructive moment after the next.
This is some of what I wanted to achieve. Thanks, Jack
This is some of what I wanted to achieve. Thanks, Jack
Jack Gantos
Thank you, and I'm pleased to learn that the JOEY PIGZA books gave you insights to use with your students and sons. As for strategies for teaching self-confidence and perseverance: I derived much confidence through completing tasks. I wanted to please others more than I wanted to please myself. I think what I wanted most deeply was a family life where I was known, appreciated and protected. In return I wanted to know and participate within the family. Somehow I always felt ashamed of every mistake I made, and guilty for every wicked through I had. My own unhappiness at home drove me away from what should have been the source of my self confidence and perseverance. Your home should be their home. Share the love. Thanks, Jack
Jack Gantos
I don't worry about it. Worry, I assume, only antagonizes the condition. Don't bother to write through a bought of writers drought (I don't believe in writers block). Just take a week off and read good books. Reading dissolves the most difficult worries and refreshes and re-inspires the writer. Be kind to yourself. Read MOBY DICK and at the end you will pick up a pen like Ahab with a harpoon. Thanks, Jack
Jack Gantos
In THE TROUBLE IN ME I was going into 8th grade. I didn't find much to like about myself and so attempted to become someone else. My neighbor, Gary Pagoda, became the template of who I wanted to become. Had he been a nice, hard working, artistic, mentoring kind of guy then perhaps I would have followed that route. But he was a just a bully of sorts and so I tried to be a bully of sorts. I failed at the transformation. But deeper than that attempt was the schism with my father. The decay between us is the trigger for me wanting to be outside the family and outside of my own skin. No one person influenced me to become a drug smuggler. That was my own doing. There was a romance to the adventure, and naturally I was short sighted and did not anticipate the danger. Thanks, J
Jack Gantos
Hi. I wasn't sure where those books were going right from the start. The first two I could see early into it, but then all the circumstances of his life with his mother and father and grandmother and all his mountainous challenges made the next book more complex. I like that third book. But then the 4th book came along because I realized that if Joey did not forgive his father that he would always have to carry around that bitterness in his heart which would be an acid for him and so I wrote that book with the entire 'forgiveness' theme--while the action showed just how hard it was for Joey to reach that point where he could forgive Carter. The final book, then, was very clear to me and I felt that if Joey could take care of his baby brother--love him and protect him and nurture him--then he would love and protect and nurture himself as he grows into a young man and eventually into a fully functional adult. Good luck with him. I love that character. And I love the family. I'll never write another Joey book--but as my imagination plays with them in my mind I always have a feeling--a very satisfying feeling--that they, as a family, are going to stick together and make it. Thank you, Jack
Jack Gantos
I think I fell in love with the essence of that kid in about a second. Everything about him expressed who he was--he was so honest, and so without defenses, and had a heart like a compass in his chest. He was hard not to love. Some kids just need something extra. And believe me, I was no peach growing up so I have radar for the kids like Joey. I'm very pleased that he has opened up a lot of eyes to the potential and humanity found in kids. I think writing about him made me a better person. Thank you, J
Jack Gantos
That is one of those scenes where you know you have a tiger by the tail. But, I rewrite everything so much and that scene got at least a hundred passes. The dialog has to be spot on and the timing of the action and the reverberations of the emotions ...all come together. And it had to be stretched out to just the right length--like the deer hunting scene. You just want to take these good moments and almost turn them into small, suspenseful short stories within the novel. Glad you like it. I love that scene. I know that kitchen inside and out. Thanks, Jack
Jack Gantos
Reading good books. thanks, j
Jack Gantos
I know so little about the age of electronic media--and it can put you in contact with more information--but that doesn't necessarily result in being a good writer. I still write all my books with a fountain pen in journals and then I have a laptop where I type up my days work and add it to the other days work and so on. Then I print that out and mark it up and add the changes in and so forth. It takes me about a year for a good novel and I'd say a solid 100 drafts. My first 12 picture books were not published, and I have a half dozen dud novels that will never be published. Words of wisdom: Read a lot. Set up good writing habits. Keep a journal. Work like you mean it. Good luck. You can do it. J
Jack Gantos
Hard to say. I love a great range of literature, but I just happen to feel as if I can very thoroughly explore the lives of my characters, and the humanity and/or lack of it through the fresh eyes of my early self. HOLE IN MY LIFE didn't leave me stuck in adolescence--though I have to say that my life from the age of 10-21 was pretty exciting. It was equal parts laughter and nonsense and trouble--with a good dose of reading so I my inner voice was pretty articulate. Thanks, j
Jack Gantos
I wrote a book about being in 6th grade: HEADS OR TAILS. Its a book of short stories about me and my family and neighbors. Realistic fiction. Stuff going on around me all the time. I found material to write about because I made time to keep a journal and when I saw something interesting or felt something powerful or laughed at a good joke or cried at something or was outraged by an event--then I would write it down. The best stories I wrote as a kid were the ones where I was the 'voice' of the story and the events were from my own life. I encourage young writers to write honestly about their lives--that is what they know about--and I always tell them that the good stories have a lot of exterior action (something happens) and interior action (something is felt, or thought of, or imagined). Ten minutes a day in a journal and they will discover bits and pieces of rich story material. Thanks, j
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