Ask the Author: Jane Yolen
Answered Questions (30)
Jane Yolen
It always feels good, Adam. Being an inspiration, a mentor, a role model--all these things mean one is giving back to the universe. Emily Dickinson, the New England poet (whose house is two towns away from mine!) once said in a poem, "This is my love letter to the world that never wrote to me. . ." And so it often seems to a writer. Yet each time someone says I have influenced them with my stories, poems, books, it feels like the world just sent me back s love letter. So thanks for telling me.
Jane Yolen
Alas--the first two books didn't sell as well as they wanted, so they aid no to the third book which I had outlined for them. SO no new FOILED.
Jane Yolen
I am worried that your ten year old has read it. It's an adult book, has sex and swearing and nowhere was there an indication it was for kids. Arrrrgh.
That said, Midori and I have no plans for a sequel because the book did not do that well and the publisher wasn't interested. Though if I could, I would write about the education of the Dogboy and much more about the three flying sisters. A prequel rather than a sequel. I did publish a short story about Dogboy and his father Redcap called "Dogboy Remembers" published in an anthology Unnatural Worlds from a small boutique publisher called Fiction River. But it is a very brutal story.
That said, Midori and I have no plans for a sequel because the book did not do that well and the publisher wasn't interested. Though if I could, I would write about the education of the Dogboy and much more about the three flying sisters. A prequel rather than a sequel. I did publish a short story about Dogboy and his father Redcap called "Dogboy Remembers" published in an anthology Unnatural Worlds from a small boutique publisher called Fiction River. But it is a very brutal story.
Jane Yolen
I have many favorites--Beauty and the Beast in the older versions. (Hate the Disney which feels like a recipe for Battered Wife Syndrome to me!). Little Brother and Sister from the Grimms (I have a younger brother I feel very protective of). The Goose Girl (Grimms, because she is so pro-active in her own defense.) And again a Grimms tale "Faithful John" the speak truth to power and putting your own body on the line for the greater good kind of guy.
My two favorite mythical anials are unicorns and dragons. But I also adore selchies.
My two favorite mythical anials are unicorns and dragons. But I also adore selchies.
Jane Yolen
Thank you, Carson. I was sitting with my friend and editor Terri Windling. She had brought out the first couple of books in the series she was editing for Tor--Fairy Tale novels. We had always known I would do one for her. I had my mind set on an Appalachian Cinderella, but she told me she had a problem. One of the authors--Patricia McKillip--had pulled out of a contract to write a Sleeping Beauty story. Could I write one? It was never my favorite story. Princess too passive, in early versions she is raped and awakes a mother of twins. No, I wasn't convinced. I had just published my first novel of the Holocaust, Devil's Arithmetic. I CERTAINLY didn't want to go back there again! And yet as we sat talking about books and stories and the writer's life, I said, did you ever hear of the concentration camp called Chelmno? She shook her head.
In my research for DA, I'd watched the documentary called "Shoah" about several concentration camps from both the points of view of the camp guards and the survivors. It was chilling stuff. I said the camp itself was really a processing plant in a schloss. She looked at me. A castle. Surrounded by barbed wire. Once the Jews were "processed" there, they were put in a truck, the doors locked, and exhaust gas was pumped in so that by the time the truck had driven to the forest outside of town where there were huge burial pits, every one inside had died.
Terri shivered, "Horrible."
"Think of it: castle, briary fence, everyone in the sleep of death. . .:
"Oh my God," she said. "It's Sleeping Beauty."
And then she promised me a contract immediately.
Of course that's not how the book business is run these days. There are endless committee meetings, often 3,4,5 revsions before the book is even contracted for. Endless waits. But that's how this book began.
Jane
In my research for DA, I'd watched the documentary called "Shoah" about several concentration camps from both the points of view of the camp guards and the survivors. It was chilling stuff. I said the camp itself was really a processing plant in a schloss. She looked at me. A castle. Surrounded by barbed wire. Once the Jews were "processed" there, they were put in a truck, the doors locked, and exhaust gas was pumped in so that by the time the truck had driven to the forest outside of town where there were huge burial pits, every one inside had died.
Terri shivered, "Horrible."
"Think of it: castle, briary fence, everyone in the sleep of death. . .:
"Oh my God," she said. "It's Sleeping Beauty."
And then she promised me a contract immediately.
Of course that's not how the book business is run these days. There are endless committee meetings, often 3,4,5 revsions before the book is even contracted for. Endless waits. But that's how this book began.
Jane
Jane Yolen
Did you know that there are four of the Pit Dragon books? And that's it. No more. Fun writing, but honestly, an author needs to move on.
Three inspirations? 1. This world and everything in it, for good or bad. 2. My family and friends and all our interactions. 3. BIC Butt in chair. Because none of those inspirations work without me being bottom down writing.
--JY
Three inspirations? 1. This world and everything in it, for good or bad. 2. My family and friends and all our interactions. 3. BIC Butt in chair. Because none of those inspirations work without me being bottom down writing.
--JY
Jane Yolen
Sometimes it's inspiration and sometimes its sheer perspiration and doggedness. Depends on each project. That's part of what's so interesting to me. I never know till the magic happens.
And most times it's a combination of both.
Jane
And most times it's a combination of both.
Jane
Jane Yolen
You know--in the 51 years I've been a published author, NO ONE has ever asked that question. Good job, you, two! Actually the problem with many of those summaries is that they're written by either marketing people (who may not have read the entire book) or editors (who are probably not writers.) A good portion of the time they give away the ending or are full of spoilers. Or their praise for the author is so over the top, even the author's mother doesn't recognize him/her. I cannot tell you how often I have simply rewritten it myself!
Jane Yolen
Hmmmm--if you mean more famous than Jane Austen, Mark Twain, L. Frank Baum, some of my favorite truly famous novel authors? The answer is a blush. If you mean more awesome than modern children's book novelists I admire like Gregory Maguire, Laurie Halse Anderson, Patricia MacLachlan, Shannon Hale, then I have to admit I blush and smile.
Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
With that many books out, as you have already guessed, the ideas come from everywhere--things I read (newspapers, magazines, books, news feeds, museum or castle walls), things I hear or overhear (gossip, conversations, songs, song lyrics), dreams, my own history, suggestions from editors or passing strangers, etc. Sometimes the idea and the writing are almost simultaneously, sometimes they stew for twenty years or more.
Jane Yolen
That I work hard and love my work. Indeed, I know how lucky I have been in publishing, but it is the joy in writing that makes me the writer I am.
Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Yes, but not by me. All edited by Terri Windling.
Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Actually, I have about 30 mss. circulating. I wish they ALL would be accepted.
Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Three things: reading, writing, travel.
Jane Yolen
Wow, thanks. Although I have written other nonfiction, there's nothing quite like BAD GIRLS. You could find the Unsolved Mysteries from History series (there are four), also written with daughter Heidi: THE MARY CELESTE, SALEM WITCH TRIALS, WOLF GIRLS, and LOST COLONY ROANOKE. ALL-STAR is a picture book biography of Honus Wagner. Picture book bio of Hans Christian Andersen is THE PERFECT WIZARD. Picture book bio of James Barrie, who wrote Peter Pan--LOST BOY. Plus a brand new book of true animal stories: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S ANIMAL STORIES.
Jane
Jane
Jane Yolen
Sorry L--I meant to click on Answer and must have clicked instead on Skip. But it's too good a question to miss. What I have to say will sound like snark, but it's as honest as I can make it.
I STILL spend hours, days, weeks, months, years endlessly fiddling and tweaking. One of my poetry editors last year sent me an email (and you could just hear his frustration in the words) asking "When are you going to be done with revising." And I told him, "When you take these poems out of my cold, dead hands!" The problem is identifying NOT when you are done with a particular piece, but when you have actually begun working on something else, though still calling it that earlier piece. Sometimes you simply have to take yourself by the nape of the neck (probably physically impossible) and shake yourself like a dog with a rat, warning, "Let it go! You are done with it!"
I STILL spend hours, days, weeks, months, years endlessly fiddling and tweaking. One of my poetry editors last year sent me an email (and you could just hear his frustration in the words) asking "When are you going to be done with revising." And I told him, "When you take these poems out of my cold, dead hands!" The problem is identifying NOT when you are done with a particular piece, but when you have actually begun working on something else, though still calling it that earlier piece. Sometimes you simply have to take yourself by the nape of the neck (probably physically impossible) and shake yourself like a dog with a rat, warning, "Let it go! You are done with it!"
Jane Yolen
I always listen to critiques, but never take them in whole. Early on I learned to read the readers. Everyone reads a different story than you put down. They read it with their own baggage in tow. Even good readers, even the greatest, even editors, especially critics. So take what you need from their advice, twist it to your own needs, move on.
In the end, it's the story that will tell you what to do but you have to listen.
In the end, it's the story that will tell you what to do but you have to listen.
Jane Yolen
I am an out Liberal. I am not shy to talk about it and it's my American right to speak my mind (as long as I don't shout Fire in a crowded theater!) I work for social justice, my books speak to my desires for peace, for an understanding of our living in balance with nature, for a way to keep children safe from bullying in all its forms (two of my grandchildren have had problems with being bullied.). It is hard for people to read my stories and books (not just one book but a good lot of them) without getting an idea of my political stances. So there is little reason for me to self-censor. about controversial subjects if I have a stand on one of them.
Jane Yolen
Sarah--thanks for the big morning UP! I get my inspiration from everywhere--a single word might start a poem (recently a friend challenged me to write a poem about "ambergris".) An editor might ask for a particular subject. I might read an article or a book or watch a movie about something that starts me thinking. I might overhear a conversation or have a strange dream--all these have served as inspiration. About thirty or so years ago, a friend was putting together two anthologies of dragon stories--one to be called Dragons of Darkness and one Dragons of Light. He asked a number of fantasy and science fiction writers if they would like to contribute. I said yes to LIGHT and wrote a short story called "Cockfight" (illegal cockfights were then in the news) about a young mute dragon who wins her very first fight in the Dragon Pits of Austar, a planet set up to house a penal colony. After I finished the story and it was accepted, I began to think of other stories set on that same planet. And so the Pit Dragon Chronicles, over a period of twenty plus years, got written.
Jane Yolen
You are assuming I do. Alas, I am an old troglodyte when it comes to electronics. Recently I re-set what had been a modern short story twenty years ago when it was published in an anthology into the past (1960s) because I didn't/couldn't deal with the fast-growing technology.
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Jan 24, 2017 04:23AM
Jul 11, 2017 05:09AM