SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

April 17, 2020 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Sourcebooks Fire Week: How to Eat an Elephant or Write About Books Based on The News, by Helene Dunbar

April 17, 2020 by Karen Jensen, MLS   Leave a Comment

For our final post for Sourcebooks Fire week, we are excited to share this post with you by author Helene Dunbar. Dunbar discusses her books including her upcoming book, Prelude for Lost Souls.

Anti-apartheid and human rights activist Desmond Tutu once wisely said “there is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.” Not much different from writing a book, really. Letters become words become sentences become paragraphs become pages become chapters, and so on.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s all too easy though, to focus on the whole elephant rather than those smaller pieces, when plotting a story. Unintentionally, all my books have themes connected to news stories. My first, These Gentle Wounds developed out of a freelance story I wrote about matricide and a desire to explore childhood PTSD, What Remains played with the idea of cellular memory (and whether organ recipients retained any traits of their donors), and Boomerang flipped the story of kidnapped teenagers upside down.

In working to capture the early days of the AIDS crisis for my most recent book, We are Lost and Found, I truly faced a “how do you eat an elephant?” question. Did I focus on someone who was sick? Did I focus on someone with an older relative who was sick? Did I focus on the child of someone affected? The friend? And how, I asked myself, do I do this through a YA lens?

I found my answers by focusing on the questions that I and my friends – teenagers ourselves – faced in 1983: How do you risk falling in love when you’re afraid it could kill you? How do you handle that type of fear when growing up can already be a pretty frightening thing? Is this the end of the world?

Having found the “bites” I then needed to create characters to tell those stories. My main character Michael is trying to simultaneously fall in love and save his fractured family. His older brother, Connor, has already been kicked out of the house for being gay and Michael doesn’t want the same to happen to him. He and his best friends James and Becky are already navigating some pretty stormy waters even without the growing storm of the AIDS crisis.

Because I wanted to tell a story about fear, I had to look at the various types of fear that needed to be represented. I gave Michael and Connor a homophobic father who is afraid of everything he doesn’t understand. Their mother is afraid of rocking the boat. Connor is afraid of being alone and of missing out on the full life he’d given up everything for. James is terrified of getting sick and not leaving meaningful art in the world. Becky is afraid she can’t save her friends. And when Michael does meet someone he could fall in love with, he’s afraid that Gabriel is keeping the sort of secrets that could prove fatal.

I knew I wanted New York City to be more than a setting, it needed to be a character in the book. I wanted the news of the day to drive the timeline. I wanted the music to mean to the characters what it meant to me at the time, a lifeline, a soundtrack to everything I was feeling. Each of these was a bite-sized piece of the elephant.

My next book, Prelude from Lost Souls, began when I heard about Lily Dale, New York, a town of Spiritualists and mediums, where everyone talks to the dead. I studied the town, spiritualism and ghosts. I reacquainted myself with my tarot cards and rune stones. And then I started to ask: What sort of people live in a town where everyone talks to the dead? What does that sort of life do to you? What if you could talk to any ghosts except the ones you really wanted to talk to? I was nibbling around the outside of the elephant.

Surely, I figured, some teens don’t want to live in my fictional town of St. Hilaire. And so, Dec Hampton, the only son of talented mediums who, after the death of his parents would rather do anything other than kowtow to the town leaders, came into being. And his friend, Russ Griffin whose mother, a medium in denial, abandoned him and his father when Russ decided to spend his life in St. Hilaire and has high aspirations to rise to the top of the town’s government. And Annie, a piano prodigy who wanders into town by coincidence, if there is such a thing, and can view the town as a sort of outsider. And Ian Mackenzie, a talented young medium, now ghost, who…well, you’d have to read the book to find out.

I realize Desmond Tutu probably had things other than writing on his mind when he talked about eating an elephant in bites. But in viewing large and often uncomfortable topics, I’ve found that seeking out the bite-sized piece that represents the heartfelt experience of an individual, can make a large meal, much more easily digestible.

About PRELUDE FOR LOST SOULS

For readers of Nova Ren Suma, Maggie Steifvater, and Maureen Johnson comes a spellbinding tale about choosing your own path, the families we create for ourselves, and facing the ghosts of your past.

In the town of St. Hilaire, most make their living by talking to the dead. In the summer, the town gates open to tourists seeking answers while all activity is controlled by The Guild, a sinister ruling body that sees everything.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Dec Hampton has lived there his entire life, but ever since his parents died, he’s been done with it. He knows he has to leave before anyone has a chance to stop him.

His best friend Russ won’t be surprised when Dec leaves—but he will be heartbroken. Russ is a good medium, maybe even a great one. He’s made sacrifices for his gift and will do whatever he can to gain entry to The Guild, even embracing dark forces and contacting the most elusive ghost in town.

But when the train of Annie Krylova, the piano prodigy whose music has been Dec’s main source of solace, breaks down outside of town, it sets off an unexpected chain of events. And in St. Hilaire, there are no such things as coincidences.

Meet the Author

Called the “queen of heartbreaking prose” by Paste Magazine, Helene Dunbar is the author of WE ARE LOST AND FOUND, which has been optioned for film by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s production company, Ill Kippers, and PRELUDE FOR LOST SOULS (Sourcebooks Fire, August a, 2020) as well as BOOMERANG, THESE GENTLE WOUNDS, and WHAT REMAINS. Over the years, she’s worked as a drama critic, journalist, and marketing manager, and has written on topics as diverse as traditional Irish music, court cases, and theater. She lives in Nashville with her husband and daughter.

Filed under: Uncategorized

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
Helene DunbarPrelude for Lost SoulsSourcebooks Fire

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

December 2022

Book Mail: Romances, thrillers, mysteries, dystopias, and more!

by Karen Jensen, MLS

December 2022

The Difference Between YA and NA, a former teen now new adult reader perspective

by Karen Jensen, MLS

December 2022

Post-It Note Reviews: Quick looks at 9 new titles

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2022

Reclaiming Queer History, a guest post by James Brandon

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2022

I Wrote a Book About the Pandemic. I'm Scared No One Will Want to Read It, a guest post by Sara Saedi

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Surprise! Announcing CABOOSE

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Jump Into this Guest Post by Shadra Strickland About Her Latest Book: Jump In!

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Kiss Number 8 | Review

by Johanna

Heavy Medal

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

WRITING FOR YOURSELF FIRST, a guest post by author M. K. Lobb

by Karen Jensen, MLS

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

14 Funny Titles for Teens | Summer Reading 2020

19 Webcomics To Keep Kids and Teens Engaged

19 Top Books for Tween and Teen Climate Activists

10 YA Sports Novels That Knock It Out of the Park | Summer Reading 2021

If You're Listening: YA Read-Alouds Online

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023