ALAN Workshop-Sports Writers
ALAN Workshop-Sports Writers Panel
Jan Cheripko, John Ritter, and Rich Wallace
Who reads sports literature? It appeals to both girls and boys. There is an appeal for both because writers are including elements of both. The authors from women in their 20s and 30s about figuring out what is happening in/with boys. Sports becomes the framework on which to hang a story.
Young Adults often have a messed up, mish-mash of expectations when it comes to opposite sex relationships. They have a distorted view of how it should happen. They are working on making those ideas/views more viable Girls use sports literature as "research."
What besides that is in sports literature for girls? Sports authors are beginning to create stories or books that are centered on female athletes so that they have the opportunity to see themselves in their reading. There is a real need for the other side of the coin with relation to sports literature. There are driven, athletic girls out there, and without them in the books students are reading, the writing is uninteresting.
How do authors go about creating their characters? They want to make sure that the characters are "right" and that their motivations are"right". Characters are "drawing" the story, which goes back to the idea that the sports in a book is only a hook for the writing.
To write a good story, there needs to be a strong moral story. The character needs to go deeper into the self, discover what choices he is willing to make and why.
Writers write about what they know and then go from there. They make their characters athletes because they know about being athletes.
Ritter likes to use baseball as the shield to deal with controversial subjects. Baseball is very American and it's hard to attack that. His sportswriting is "smoke and mirrors" technique so he talk about the things that really interest him.
Cheripko is trying to distance himself from the sports literature tradition, which gets him back to the idea of story being driven by the character. The focus is not on winning the game. It's about the character and why they are doing what they're doing.
Wallace is very much working within the formula for sports lit. He likes the idea of a story having a natural beginning, middle, and end, which works nicely with a game or a season. His sports literature, though, is different because of the depth of character development.
Ritter ignores the formula. If the story presents itself within that frame work, its' OK. But he doesn't contrive his writing to fits the formula. He lets the story unfold naturally.
The appeal of sports literature to reluctant readers because the sports stories often are compelling stories. Some times teachers really have to book talk a book to get students interested, but because the stories are good, the students get hooked.
Some young adult authors go through ten-twelve drafts of a novel, which makes them not only good writers, but excellent readers.
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Last Updated April 11, 2011
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