Just this minute finished reading Blake Nelson's Girl. (Same Blake Nelson who wrote Destroy All Cars.) Voice grasp is miraculous, I think. Some of the language and certainly most of the fashion and music is mondo dated (dudes are constantly getting "faced," which, if I may suggest, is a term that is ready for a comeback), but like any great YA, the characters and their motivations could never be dated. This was Beth's favorite book as a teen, and now that I've read it, it's so obvious that it must have been.
I'm very glad I didn't read it before I wrote Lily's section of Novel the First, because frankly I'd have been intimidated and no doubt influenced, which I think would have been unhelpful.
Next in my to-read list is Story of a Girl, by Sara Zarr, which I bought last night, and not simply because I'm reading books that gradually add words to "girl" in the title.
Ooh, I'm embedding the video preview for the 1998 film version of Girl. It looks not remotely faithful; in fact, and maybe it's just this trailer, it feels a little like they took the raw material of Girl and turned it into a teen comedy sex flick. I hope I'm wrong about that. But it's clearly not as good as the book. Still, I'll probably check it out. How many future stars can you find in the preview?
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I was born and raised in and around New York City, and I lived in the tri-state area for over thirty years. But I met and fell for a shiksa, and my exile began in earnest in March of 2006. Now we live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with our son and daughter.
Common acronyms used at the Exile
|-1|: The Absolute Value of -1
YA: young adult
MS: manuscript
TKB: Teens Know Best
SAB: Stone Arch Books
WYAOD: Write Your A## Off Day
FTM: Field Trip Mysteries
MG: middle grade
AE: Aforementioned Editor
ENIV: Edward Necarsulmer IV
BIC: Butt in chair
PB: picture book
WIP: work in progress
_IL: ______-in-law
TK: to come (don't ask)
YA: young adult
MS: manuscript
TKB: Teens Know Best
SAB: Stone Arch Books
WYAOD: Write Your A## Off Day
FTM: Field Trip Mysteries
MG: middle grade
AE: Aforementioned Editor
ENIV: Edward Necarsulmer IV
BIC: Butt in chair
PB: picture book
WIP: work in progress
_IL: ______-in-law
TK: to come (don't ask)
The Black Sheep
About Steve
- Steve Brezenoff
- GUY IN REAL LIFE will be out summer 2014 from Balzer + Bray. BROOKLYN, BURNING and THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF -1 come from the good people at Carolrhoda Lab.
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I have to say Steve, you are the most steadfast blogger I've ever encountered on this here web.
May 18, 2009 at 11:11 PMMan did you put things in perspective here. Has Blake Nelson been writing so long? Now that I'm 30 and my sister is achieving a fair amount of success in the YA lit biz it's easy for me to gather up all the creatives in my life and call them 'grown ups', including myself. Strange how the age thing disappears as you get older.
Anyhow, I admire your tenacity and would love to follow your example.
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