PROVO — The sense of hope and optimism that is part of the gospel of Jesus Christ is also important to quality literature for young readers. And that is one reason, according to BYU professor Chris Crowe, that LDS authors are filtering into the national market.
Brother Crowe tries to keep track of published LDS authors who write for teens and is aware of about 30 who have been successful with mainstream publishers.
"Young adult novels are generally optimistic," he said. "They don't ignore the hard realities of life, but in general they are very hopeful. Members of the Church are hopeful and optimistic," and so they are able to write what sells, what publishers are looking for.
He and fellow writers Carol Lynch Williams and John Bennion directed the weeklong BYU Writing For Young Readers Workshop, which just finished its fourth year. It drew 130 aspiring writers — not all members of the Church — to the campus this summer where they worked with published authors, editors, agents and others to improve their craft.
The reason for the workshop, according to Sister Williams, is that "we want the best writing that can be out there for children." She added, "Anything that is written well is going to be accepted by an editor. And we are seeing more and more people publish books with Mormon characters."
Values such as those espoused by Church members are common in youth literature, but more publishers are accepting stories with LDS themes and characters for the national market, Brother Crowe said. "We've arrived as a culture," he explained. The Church is well known among people across the country, and "when you create characters and make them Mormons, they are expected by readers to behave a certain way."
Lael Littke of the East Pasadena Ward, Pasadena California Stake, a member of the workshop faculty, related an experience she had with an editor who was not a member of the Church. In one of her manuscripts, Sister Littke, who has published nearly 40 books, wrote about a Mormon couple who were married in a church. "My editor called and asked, 'Is that the way this young couple would be married?' I said 'No, they would be married in the temple.' "
She learned from that experience that even when writing for a national market it was best to confront Church issues head on rather than dance around them. "The editors are very receptive," she said.
Books put out by mainstream publishers have not only had characters identified as LDS, but have also dealt with all kinds of Church subjects, Brother Crowe said, including missionary work and conversion, and pioneer stories. He said one book includes the story of the First Vision.
During a workshop presentation, published author Kristen Randle covered the sometimes distressing state of books targeted at teens.
"A lot of books are coming out written by people who have no compass," she said. They produce books in which too often "bad is sympathetic and good is punished." For example, she said, they write about people "as though they can have a sexual relationship with someone, walk away the next morning and have it have nothing to do with their life. That's dishonest."
Honesty is vital in writing, she said, and in her writing she feels comfortable writing about the gospel of Jesus Christ because it has worked for her. "If you live by the guidelines that Christ put down, . . . you have a better chance of living the life you want. Joyful, happy, clean. . . . I write from the perspective of trying to achieve a good life and writing honestly about what has worked and what has not worked in my own life."
Part of writing honestly is acknowledging that there are hard things, trials in life, she said, making it important that "when you write for children, you should write about hope. . . . You show them they have power in their lives to change. They can walk out of bad situations. They can be rude to terrible people to get out if they have to. They're not stuck."
A desire to tell stories helpful to other teens has motivated 16-year-old Chersti Stapley to aspire to be a writer. She jumped in with the adults at the writers workshop, sharing her manuscript and opening up to their critiques.
"There are stories out that that I want to read but haven't been written yet," she said. Good books, she continued, enable readers to connect with characters in a way they can't by watching TV or a movie. "Really great books don't end with the last page. They go on for days after as you're still thinking about them." You can get so many things out of a book and have freedom to relate it to your own life in any way you want, or in any way that is helpful, Chersti said. "That's why the Bible and the Book of Mormon are so great. You can go through them, and every time get a different message or something different that helps you with your life."
So the need for good literature for youth will continue to offer a broad opportunity for LDS writers, concluded workshop leaders and participants.
"Publishers are trying to publish for all kinds of readers, and there are readers who aren't members of the Church who want good values and characters," Brother Crowe said. "So if Mormon writers only write for Mormons, they're hiding their light under a bushel." And the BYU workshop will be there to help them bring their mainstream books to light.
E-mail: ghill@desnews.com
