Amidst a crowd of graduate students packed into the humid fifth floor lecture hall at 66 West 12th Street, three recent graduates from the New School’s MFA Graduate writing program spoke on September 4 about their successes in the world of children’s and youth literature.
“Good lord, I’m awkward,” began Corey Ann Haydu, a 2012 graduate, reading from her debut novel, “OCD Love Story,” the tale of a young, panic attack-prone girl’s search for neurotic, high school love. A recent graduate of the New School’s Creative Writing MFA program, Haydu joined fellow alumni Suzanne LaFleur, a 2008 graduate, and Jacqueline Resnick, who graduated in 2009, to discuss their experiences in the world of publishing, and the realm of writing for young adults and children.
“I just write,” said LaFleur, who gave a first-reading from her upcoming novel, “Listening for Lucca,” a coming of age tale about a Brooklyn girl and her mute brother moving to New England. “I let the publishers and editors decide the age-appropriateness of a piece.”
“I’ve found that writing about animals is likely to get labeled as children’s literature,” said Resnick, author of “The Daring Escape of the Misfit Menagerie,” in response to a question on tailoring content to a specific age group.
Recently, Resnick began shifting audiences and writing for the young adult market under the pseudonym Jacqueline Green, which is similar to a transition Haydu has had difficulty making. “I’ve been trying middle grade but it’s really hard,” the freshly minted author of young adult fiction admitted. “I just like the sex and the cursing too much!”
In talking about their experiences as budding writers at The New School, the authors agreed upon the school’s viability as a hub for networking, and credited their successes to the people they had encountered through the writing program. Although Resnick and Haydu expressed gratitude for the criticism they received in the New School’s seminar-style peer groups, LaFleur disagreed, but said the insistence on deadlines made the strongest positive impact on her work ethic.
Expounding upon her success, LaFleur described the feeling of publishing her first novel as, “a validation of everything I had worked for, but by the second book, I was a mess.” As LaFleur found out, the publishing industry never stops teaching, “I got so much help with promotion with my first book, that with the second, I felt like I was completely on my own.” For LaFleur, self-discipline is as much a key to success as self-promotion.
“I don’t blog,” she said. “If my fans write to me, I’ll stick the letters to my monitor to remind myself, ‘oh yeah, that little girl in Nevada wants to know when my next book is, better get to work!”