Nobody's Perfect

Hi everyone! 

I am YA, and now MG author Barbara Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for adolescents and teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them.  My debut middle grade novel, Courage, was recently published by Harper Collins.

My first book was published nine years ago (where has the time gone?) Pull won a Reader’s Choice award, and was a finalist in the Reveal Your Inner Vixen contest. Pull garnered good review from Kirkus and School Library Journal and several other professional reviewers.

But one reviewer noted there was an unresolved subplot. I was mortified. I reread the book a dozen times trying to find what plot line was left dangling. Every book I have written since then (Being God, Minority Of One, and now Courage) had me going over every subplot with a microscope to be sure I never made a horrible mistake like that again.

Right now I am racing to a deadline on a new story. I've also been victimized by writer’s block for several weeks. The source of my block was another review, only this one was not from a stranger. It came from a member of the librarian community, someone whose blog I have read and whose recommendations I have trusted for years. I actually put an ARC for Courage in her hands and asked her to read and review when we met at a conference over the winter. Mind you, I didn’t expect a mind-blowingly awesome recommendation. I simply thought she would be fair. What I didn't expect was that she would write falsehoods about the content of Courage.

I teach a class on diversity and inclusive writing.  I begin a new session next month. So I was horrified when her review accused me of creating a stereotypical Asian tiger mother. I actually doubted myself for a moment.

Then I remembered, there are zero Asian women in the pages of my book. Black women, white women, but not a single Asian women. The mother in question is a white, over-enthusiastic soccer-type mom, or, in the case of Courage, a pool mom.

The reviewer made an honest mistake, I told myself. She goes through so many books, she somehow mixed mine up with another. So, even thought I have been told to never have respond to reviews, I did the unthinkable and wrote to explain the mother was not Asian, her heritage is described on page 20. I felt good, until I saw that she “fixed” things by adding a note admitting the mother was not Asian, but then accusing me of turning her adopted Filipino son into a stereotyped super-Asian kid. He was, she proclaimed, the only Asian in the book and illustrated the dangers of the “single story.”

Well, he is adopted and from the Philippines. But he is not the only Asian in my story. He is also not a superkid, just an 11-year-old diving student who wants to improve. Taking one last chance, I reminded her that there is more than one Asian in Courage. She changed her comment to admit that, while he was one of many, he was still an example of the single story AND a represented an attempt to use a checklist to to insert diverse characters to make a story commercial.

I bowed my head and licked my wounds. I sank like the Titanic, into an ocean-deep funk, knowing that the Internet is forever and that people would read her and believe I had written stereotypes. Never mind that anyone who read the book first would know she was wrong. Those who read her blog first wouldn't touch my book, ever.  I had a meeting with my critique partner last week, and had to struggle to think of anything to say about my WIP – the one with that deadline approaching. My mind just wasn't there.

My new story involves magical realism, and includes one ghost (and the danger of that single story looms again). The ghost sends some modern kids back in time, then reverses things and brings a kid from the past into the present. Frankly, after the review turmoil, I simply couldn’t think straight, much less deal with a couple of time paradoxes.

At least now I can cease worrying about that forgotten subplot. I’m ready to cease trying to fix a problem that probably never existed outside one reviewer's mind.

I’ve stopped worrying about this issue as well. I've heard from too many other people about Courage. This coming Sunday (September 16) I will be one of the featured authors at the Chicago Children’s book fair. I’ve also been asked to speak at the Illinois Library Association Conference on the subject of invisible populations and how librarians can reach out to them. And just yesterday I was asked to participate in an Illinois Youth Literature festival in 2019. These invitations come from people who believe in the way I strive for diversity and inclusion in my stories for children.

My block has cracked, and my ghost is ready to fit on the page.

PS, At least this has given me a new anecdote to relate to my diverse writing class next month, what happens when you do things right and readers still see a distorted picture in their minds. If you are interested in taking the class, you can find out more at http://www.babinns.com/spice-class/

As a reward for reading this, if you sign up for the class you get a 10% reduction, just for mentioning this post. This online class  begins October 1. 

Have Courage, everyone

Hi everyone! 

I am YA, and now MG author Barbara Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for adolescents and teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them.  The release date for my newest book, Courage, is fast approaching - July 29 from Harper Collins.


This post is about the Courage saga, my debut novel being released in a matter of weeks and geared for those most demanding of readers, young readers.

Not that you can't read it too, and enjoy peering into the wayback machine to your own childhoods. But no one is pickier than young readers. Adult readers will often forgive authors a lot. We know we keep reading, even past the occasional slow spot, plot hole, character inconsistency or other minor imperfections, geographic inaccuracies and improbable motivations.

Kids will drop a story the first time it bores them. Taking the reader out of the story is a huge fear for those of us who write for younger readers, because if we lose them we know we will never get them back. That's listed as one reason why many adults have gone back to reading YA. They are not looking for simple stories, they are looking for stories that move and make sense on every page. That's also true for middle grade books, MG. We have to be more entertaining than alternatives like video games, social media, and even real life play!

It all made writing Courage, my debut middle grade novel, an exacting event. I've written adult romance. I've written YA. Writing Courage was harder, because it had to all the characterization and plot of a novel intended for adult audiences, and more. Holding the attention of these most demanding of readers puts an extra burden on craft.

I'm a plotter, not a pantser, but I always begin a new novel by developing the characters. I struggle to create full-featured characters that readers will follow anywhere.  Once I have that, its safe to develop a plot for them to traverse. I know that no matter what danger or trouble they get into, readers will come along and enjoy the ride. I do make things harrowing, the young people in this story face everything from a near death experience to problems with police, to diving off the edge of a springboard into open air.

They also face a host of family issues.

Courage is a modern day retelling of the parable of the prodigal son. One child leaves home and wastes his life, in this case, ending with prison time. His younger brother, the main character, T'Shawn, remains at home. When his older brother returns home a frightening stranger, T'Shawn stands prepared to do whatever he must to protect his widowed mother and younger sister.

Everyone in this story needs courage. The courage to forgive, courage to try again, and courage to deal with the police, an all too common phenomenon that people of color, and even children, have to face on in today's world. They become every man and woman, with age and race taking second place to their humanity. One character lives with a debilitating disease, another with homelessness. Yet another is willing to do anything, break any rule, to hold onto the love of an adoptive parent.

Technically, Courage is not a romance. It's a story of friendship, and family love. In the end, (sorry for the spoiler) love and faith wins out. T'Shawn finds the strength and courage to dive off the springboard into the pool, and to deal with his fear of letting himself love his brother again.

Speaking of love, even at thirteen, T'Shawn manages to find himself in a relationship triangle between Carmela, the police detective's daughter, and Linda, Carmela's best friend and the daughter of a man in prison. You see, I believe that even stories of friendship and family should hand readers happily ever afters.

The city of Chicago provides the perfect backdrop for this story. Courage highlights the vibrant south side. Locations including the University of Chicago to the lakefront are featured on the pages. Readers see the city through the eyes of children from various ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds.  Forget what you think you know about Chicago, pick up Courage, and get a good look at the real deal.

I invite you to take a look at one of the reviews of Courage  where Kirkus calls Courage - " a multifaceted look at the urban experience." - https://bit.ly/2KY7QK6

Author Barbara Binns was a Golden Heart finalist in 2010 with her adult interracial romance, Damaged Goods. Her first YA novel, Pull was published by Westside Books in 2010. Since then she has gone on to write several YA novels, and her short stories are regularly published in the Arlington Almanac. She lives in the Chicago area, and is both a cancer survivor and an adoptive parent. She is also a member of Kid Lit Nation, http://kidlitnation.com an organization working to help more authors and illustrators of color break into publishing.

Website - http://babinns.com
twitter - http://twitter.com/barbarabinns
facebook - http://facebook.com/allthecolorsoflove

Courage is her debut middle grade novel.
Hardcover $16.99 ISBN - 978-0062561657



Available from Amazon - https://amzn.to/2N6GMFT

Harper Collins - https://bit.ly/2u7ogWG
Barnes & Noble -  https://bit.ly/2u9CiHF

The Long & Winding Road - AKA Traditional Publishing

Hi everyone! I am YA, and now MG author Barbara Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for adolescents and teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them. 


IT came in the mail on Monday. The galley for my new novel, Courage, all three hundred and fifty plus pages.

You can’t see me, but trust me, if you could you would view an older black woman who is somehow managing to do both a happy dance and heave a heavy sigh of dread.

Here’s the thing, I am a hybrid author. My first and now this, my fourth novels, were/are being traditionally published. My second and third were Indie published. I also have numerous short stories and flash fiction in magazines. (That reminds me, I have to finish off a new story for the Spring issue of the Arlington Almanac.) So I know things about different sides of the publishing spectrum. Which is why I signed a contract with Harper Collins and I am eagerly going Traditional with my new, Middle Grade novel, titled Courage.

For the next three weeks I will be rationing my time to be certain I finish this final look through of the three hundred and fifty plus pages of the novel I spent months writing, and then even more months revising. This is the last time I will go through my own words before publication. Since, in the words of the old jingle, “the quality goes in before the name goes on,” and I will be my name on book, I have responsibility for the final look-through of every page.

And then it’s off to the hell country know as promotion.

Having traversed both paths to publication, I know that traditional publication is a long, winding road. It’s not for the faint-hearted or for anyone unwilling to face a mountain of rejection. I finished this story in 2015. It was sold in 2016. I did not bother to count the rejection messages in between. Suffice it to say there were almost as many as I received for my first novel, PULL. But at least they were all nice comments.

I spent much of 2017 doing major revisions and edits. My wonderful editor at Harper Collins, Karen Chaplin, gave me great feedback and numerous suggestions. Some I took, others got the push back necessary to preserve my original artistic vision - buy me a drink sometime and maybe I'll tell you more. I will say the ending was re-written three times. (With the third re-write largely going back to the elements I put into the first re-write.) This was important, because while all authors know that the opening has to be the strong hook that pulls readers into your story and prepares them to stay with you for the long ride, the ending too is critical. That’s the part that has to leave a reader ready to say the ride was worth it. It should also have them want to take another journey with the author.

I have deliberately not re-read my manuscript in months. That’s part of the process, an author needs eyes as fresh as possible for this last step between herself and her readers. My heart thumps as I open that first page and read that

“Chlorine fills the air.” 

Maybe not the most perfect first line ever, but fitting for a boy who is about to stake a leap into the air and learn that even in the midst of something as bitter and unpleasant as the stench of chlorine, he can find the goodness of friends and family. That he needs to learn the lesson of the final line, that

“Everyone deserves forgiveness.” 

(Yeah, I know. Three complete re-writes of the two ending chapters to get to something that simple. So shoot me.)

Courage hits the shelves in the spring of 2018. This MG novel from Harper Collins is the story of six twelve and thirteen year old friends living on Chicago's South side, including T'Shawn, who finds himself living through a remake of the prodigal son drama when his older brother returns from prison. His friends set out to save him, and their neighborhood.

Now, on to promotion, one of those aspects of my profession that I have always abhorred. See, I even bring out the big words just to show how awful I think it is. Promotion is a requirement, whether you are Indie or Traditionally published. I just finished having a consultation with a marketing manager to gain some pointers.

Hey, maybe more about that next month.

Cover Reveal of COURAGE from @harperchildrens

My name is Barbara Binns and I am proud to have been the YA member of the Romancing the Genre team since it's inception. My newest book is called COURAGE, and will be released in spring of 2018 by Harper Childrens Books. Today, I am following the advice on Discoverability I posted for RTG back in 2015 and beginning my promotion efforts. Romancing The Genres is one of several sites hosting the cover reveal of my debut MG novel: COURAGE

Don't you love this cover!!

Courage is a book young people, along with parents, teachers, librarians and anyone who cares about young people will want to look into. It's about friendship, and family, that very first crush and the need to be the best. In last month's post about The Importance of School, I told you a little about Courage and how it's march toward publication progressed.  For this month, here's a brief overview: 

The story inside COURAGE

T’Shawn Rodgers lives on Chicago's south side. He is rapidly approaching his thirteenth birthday, and the magic of finally being a real teenager. T, as his friends call him, used to be afraid of water. Now he wants to be a springboard diver more than anything. OK, it's true, T would like to see his best friend cured from sickle cell disease. That inherited illness sometimes leaves Dontae on the ground in agony. And T would give almost anything for a birthday kiss from Carmela, the prettiest girl in school (if you don’t believe she is, ask her).The first time T dives off the end of a springboard, he moves from wanting to impress Carmela to needing to experience that feeling of free flying as often as he can. The kid with no interest in sports suddenly dreams of becoming a medal winner. There could be Olympic gold in his future. His south-side of Chicago neighborhood might even throw a parade just for him. Diving lessons cost money. T's mother is still paying off the medical bills from his father’s unsuccessful fight with cancer. She also has to send care packages to her other son, Lamont. Once, Lamont was T’s hero. He taught T to stop being afraid of water. Without his big brother, T might never have survived the pain of losing their father. But Lamont chose to join a gang and left a trail of violence on the streets before his arrest. His actions pulled T into danger, fear, and even more pain and loss. Before he can join the diving team, T learns that Lamont has been released from prison. Instead of a diving board, T's birthday present becomes sharing a bedroom with his violent brother.  Lamont claims he is different now, but T finds him sneaking out at night. The rise in crime following his return can't be just coincidence.  The possibility of danger to Carmela, Dontae and T's younger sister leaves him determined to do something.

There are many types of COURAGE

It takes courage to step up to a bad guy to protect what’s left of your family. Even more courage when that bad guy was once your personal hero. He also has to find the courage to do the unthinkable, fighting his brother to protect what’s left of his family. Most of all, it takes courage to agree to forgive.

PS: T also has to mount that springboard and dive his heart out.

Tell me what you think

COURAGE is defined as the ability to do something that frightens you, and displaying strength in the face of pain or grief. That word accurately describes the kids in this modern-day retelling of the prodigal son story, from the point of view of the good brother who stayed home.

I showed a bit of the opening last month.  Click HERE for an excerpt showing Lamont's homecoming.

Tell me how you feel. About the book, the characters, and ways you see ordinary young people displaying extraordinary courage?

The Importance of School

Hi everyone! I am YA author B A Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them. 

There are few things more important in the life of young people than school. Over 250 schools have reopened in Houston. I felt a rush of triumph when I read that on Monday in a story from NPR, (http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/09/11/550218485/houston-public-schools-open-after-delays-from-hurricane-harvey). For children, school is a symbol of normalcy, and normalcy is something we all need now.

Naturally, the Internet had many comments about this, including one troll who told the world that the kids had to be really bummed out about that development.

Seriously.

I chose not to feed him.

The kids of hurricane ravaged Houston, on the other hand, gave positive messages to the news that school was back:

• I'm feeling good today 
• I don't have to sit in the house anymore and think about everything else. 
• I was just waiting to go to school. I was like, 'Why did Harvey have to come? We got to go to school and learn!'

They echoed my own thoughts. When I was a child, I reveled in the first day of school. Rain or shine, it couldn't come soon enough for me. Summer was too long, too hot, boring, and frankly the "vacation" aspect had worn out it's welcome by September.  I knew my future lay in that education thing I got inside the walls. Besides, other kids might laugh at me, or ignore me, but I could always impress my teachers.

As a parent, I looked forward to that first day of school for a different reason. I knew the importance of an education for my daughter, and of having the middle of the days to myself again. The return to school was a celebration of parental freedom.

As a writer – well, I write MG and YA fiction. School and schoolchildren are my milieu so naturally I attended NCAAL  (National Conference of African American Librarians) in Atlanta, Ga last month. There I picked up a number of tips for my writing and for attracting readers during the valuable three-day learning experience with librarians and teachers. I also taught them something, giving a workshop about innovative ways to use diverse books and materials in their programs and classes.

I love the start of school. Not only are school-aged youth the subjects I write about, they also constitute the audience I write for. Furthermore, I still enjoy enhancing my own education. I recently attended the tenth

 None of the stories I write take place during school vacation (although my WIP does have a few important scenes that occur during the Thanksgiving vacation). School is one of the number one social activities and bonding experiences for young people. That’s how I use school in my books and short stories.

For my first novel I invented a Chicago high school called Farrington for my first book. That school became and remains a unifying character. It’s the location where most of the action occurs, the place where teens socialize, get angry, and even fall in love – you know, all that real life drama. (BTW, Farrington H S is NOT Barrington H S in disguise. I not thinking of that school I have never been to. Then two years ago I was invited to speak at a workshop where the moderator introduced me as a former Barrington HS teacher. Not understanding, I can be very dense, I corrected the presenter, stating I had heard of the school but had never attended or taught there. I was half-way through my talk before I made the connection. Sometimes I wear blinders.)

School has a way of throwing people together. In adult novels, the workplace frequently provides the grounds for keeping people together and helping them bond. Farrington High School functions like a character in its own right, doing the same for the teens in my novel.

David meets and woos bad girl Yolanda, aka “The Dare,” inside the halls of Farrington in my debut YA novel, Pull. Fittingly, David is a survivor of domestic violence, and Yolanda’s self-esteem is being shattered by an abusive boyfriend.

In my second book, Being God, Yolanda’s former boyfriend and David’s arch enemy, Malik Kaplan takes center stage. He falls hard for Barnetta, David’s sister, both in Farrington’s school halls and while sparring in the boxing ring. (Turns out Barnetta had a mean left hook and she uses it to force him to choose between his growing feelings for her and his love of the alcohol that keeps him in trouble.)

In my third book, Minority Of One, Farrington forms the arena where the off-again, on-again relationship between gay teens Carl and Neill deepens into love.

My new book, Courage, coming May 2018 from Harper Collins, takes place in seventh grade. The kids may be a little young for conventional love and romance, but in even at twelve and thirteen, feelings are developing. The school in Courage (unnamed school, I have learned my lesson) provides opportunities for the kids to explore their diverse world and get to know each other.

The characters in Courage have connections with some of the Farrington high students. Linda is  David and Barnetta’s youngest sister. She plays a critical role in shaping some of T’Shawnt’s decisions, while continuing to wrestle with her own response to the domestic violence in her past. And T’Shawn Rodgers, the protagonist, was once mentored by Malik Kaplan. My brain finds it easier to maintain some continuity between my characters this way. I love expanding and embellishing old characters and revealing their personal stories. I love expanding the stories and lives of my minor characters,

COURAGE Excerpt:

“Romance” means something different for seventh grade kids than it does for older readers. At twelve and thirteen, young people are beginning to grasp that there’s the possibility of something more to relationships than simply being buddies. They know the differences between male and female no longer has anything to do with “cooties,” even if they don't yet understand or want much more.

For T’Shawn, the protagonist in Courage, the idea of a birthday kiss from the self-styled prettiest girl in class is huge, at least in the beginning as you see in this brief excerpt from Courage where T'Shawn Rodgers daydreams.

I come to the pool for the snacks. And to swim, the only sport I don’t hate.
And for the girls in swimsuits.
Well, for one girl, at least.
Carmela Rhodes.
She’s the brown-skinned mermaid in a shining blue and black swimsuit with a white swim cap. She’s already thirteen and is the prettiest girl in my seventh grade class. (If there is any question on that, you can ask her or one of her satellite besties: Marianne Smith, Fantasia Grey or Linda Murhasselt.) Linda is at the pool with her today, only she sits in the bleachers. Carmela stands beside one of the diving boards. I have one goal that I’m aiming for, a birthday kiss from Carmela Rhodes. My first real kiss ever.

But by the end of the story, T'Shawn's relationship with Carmela, and with a number of other classmates, has evolved. Not even finally getting his kiss helps him recover from her insistence that his brother be banished.

No one seemed more surprised by the news of my brother’s departure than Carmela. “Are you sure?” she asked after I told her he was gone.
“I saw him leave,” I snarl.
“You mean we won!” she squeals and then throws her hands over her mouth to stifle the sound. A moment later, she puts her arms around me and kisses me on the cheek.
I step back and wipe my face with the back of my hand.

The good news is, in spite of everything, a friendship forged by problems and misadventures has begun. One that will keep T'Shawn and Carmela, and a host of their friends, close as they move on toward adulthood.

On a personal note:

My personal education saga continues. On October 21, I am scheduled to assist in the Middle School Writer's Workshop during the Day of YA activities at the Illinois School Library Media Association’s conference in Springfield, Il. Then, just before year’s end I will be teaching a workshop to aspiring authors about the Business of Writing for KidLitNation.

If you are interested in finding out more about these events, and about Courage as it marches toward publication, let me know, OK?