By
Susanna Lancaster
As
I wrote and revised my first book, The Growing Rock, my desire to make the story accurate to its time period—the
1930s—was challenging. I found that having little narrative distance between my
readers and characters helped greatly, as did including cross-generational
themes and conflicts. Another tool came along so naturally that I didn’t
realize at first how much it helped establish the book’s historical setting and
draw millennials into a story that's set in the Depression.
Teaching
both high-school and college students has shown me how crucial it is for
writing to grab the reader's attention. In a world that's becoming more
digital, these age groups are especially prone to social media websites
and other distractions, and YA writers have to be extra creative. I've
witnessed in my classrooms how many students pay attention to visual texts and
are quick to pick up on how a piece of writing physically looks. We spend class time discussing words that are italicized,
words in bold, long paragraphs, sentence variety, photos, charts, etc.—clues in
the text itself.
I
used visual texts in The Growing Rock
in several different ways. The first example is in the Prologue when we see Caroline's
story of The Growing Rock typed on a 1930's Remington typewriter. Immediately,
readers know the story isn’t set during the present. The typos and the language
itself indicate that the author lacks spell-check.
The
second is in the letters that the characters exchange with one another. Because
we live in a world with email and text messaging, many teens have never had to
write handwritten letters, and so having my characters communicate in this way
was helpful in depicting this past era. It also provides brief outlets where we
hear the story from someone else’s viewpoint.
The
third way I incorporated visual text is in the title of the book itself. In
looking at the cursive font on the book cover, the reader sees an old-fashioned
cursive font. On looking closer, he or she may notice tiny arrows and that
there are a couple of minuscule numbers beside the letters. Near the end of the
book, Caroline and Peter teach Phoebe how to read and write.
The Growing Rock
story is what's helped both girls during hard times and given them hope. When
the book ends, we see how Caroline no longer needs the story—it has served its
purpose to her and helped her during this time of coming-of-age. But Phoebe, on
the other hand, is still too young to understand things and still needs the
story. It remains a favorite she will beg Caroline to retell. Just as
Caroline looked up to Blanche, Phoebe very much so looks up to Caroline, and
she would be likely to try to impress her older sister by writing her own story
about the Rock. The small markings beside the title are similar to those in a
calligraphy workbook, hinting that Phoebe wrote it, while creating
a visual of something that is becoming a lost art and is no longer taught
in many present-day schools.
The
use of visual texts throughout the book raises readers’ curiosity, and I’m
frequently
asked
about the book title. The visual texts provide not only some conversation
starters, but they offer a physical glimpse, though brief, of a past
generation.
___________________________________________________________________
Susanna Lancaster is
the author of the historical fiction YA novel, The Growing Rock. Her work has also appeared in Balloons Lit. Journal, Memphis
Health + Fitness, Hieroglyph, The Perpetual You, and the Dear English Major website. She teaches
English at Southwest Tennessee Community College and lives in Memphis, TN with
her husband Kyle and pet yorkie Boston. She is always on the lookout for
something good to read. Website:
Susannalancaster.com Facebook: facebook.com/susannalancasterauthor Instagram: Susanna_Lancaster_Author
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