Eija Sumner

Author: Eija Sumner

  • Thankful for eels, libraries, and everything yellow

    A gift guide and you should join your state library association

    The eel report this Thanksgiving week is that eels were definitely a regular part of the early colonizer-pilgrim diet.

    In my house we did not, nor have we ever had eel on Thanksgiving, but the pilgrims definitely ate their share of eel. You can watch a little NYT video about eels and thanksgiving, and read more about pilgrims eating eels.

    Anyway, I’m thankful for how weird eels are, and grateful for all the eel news and images that people send my way. I definitely saw a publishers marketplace announcement for an eel book for kids that I am looking forward to in 2026! I didn’t write it, but it’s from one of my favorite children’s nonfiction writers, Nicholas Day, and I know he’ll do an amazing job. I loved both his books about the Mona Lisa theft and John Cage. Always looking forward to more eel books even if I have to wait.

    I’m thankful for my local library and my book and writing communities, both online and irl. I’m thankful for my family and friends, and cozy sweats and warm gloves. I’m thankful that you’re here reading my random eel updates and supporting my book writing and author endeavors. Thank you!

    Now onto the Eel Report Gift Guide (with zero eels this year)

    I think my books would make nice gifts, but I also wanted to include two of my favorite picture books from this year, We are Definitely Human by X Fang and Little Shrew by Akiko Miyakoshi (if you click this link there are also bonus books that would make nice gifts), they would make excellent gifts, or a sweatshirt to support the Boise-area Read Freely Project that gets challenged books into the hands of readers.

    A round up of picture books, everything good that is yellow, and a solstice bundle.

    If this fall has you feeling stressed out and you’re looking for deeper meaning in your holiday celebrations, ordering a solstice circle bundle from my family-friend and bonus mom is a great way to have some open-hearted conversations. I always love to see how everyone decorates their solstice candles, what we share, and highly recommend a solstice bundle.

    For gifting, I just like the color yellow. I like the way it feels all warm and cocoon-like. It feels like all the best things about home, so I think a gift to brighten someone’s day or home is always a good idea, like this corn cob candle, fisherman incense holder, fancy pants Bruce Lee tribute blackwing pencils, yellow good things happen sticker, yellow keyboard, and a yellow-roofed defend libraries sticker, and taco clip. Maybe you don’t like yellow, but I am a strong believer in its joy and strength and silly little gifts.

    And of course, a gift guide would not be complete without a grumpy christmas tree frog. Share with friends who are also obsessed with the color yellow, libraries, and reading freely.

    What is not pictured in this gift round-up is a library association membership. In this extended period of book banning and attacks on libraries and first amendment rights, a nice gift would be to buy a membership to your state library association— for me, in Idaho, that’s a membership to the Idaho Library Association. For Idaho, they have different price points and you don’t have to be a library employee to be a member. You can be a card carrying friend! I imagine whatever state you are in has ways to join and support your state library association.

    Check with your state, but membership fees often go to support the advocacy work your state librarians are doing, and in Idaho where book ban laws have already gone into effect, fees also go to the legal defense fund for Idaho libraries. Plus, I got a sweet membership card, and laminating it is high on my weekend to-do list. Please enjoy this messy-hair-don’t-care-long-weekend-morning photo of me and my membership card:

    Eija posing with her Idaho Library Association card.

    A free thing that you can do if you’d like to give back to your community is attend library and school board meetings. I suggest adding every library and school board meeting to your calendar. It’ll take maybe ten minutes to throw those events on the calendar, but having them on your calendar is one step closer to attending, and letting both boards know that the ability to access information and read freely is important. I am bad at attending school board meetings, but I like to sit in on library board meetings when I can make it work with my schedule. Here’s to more advocacy to fight for the freedom to read in our public libraries and schools.

    *Please imagine me delivering this next bit with like face paint and chain mail and from on top of a horse even though my horse skills are nonexistent.*

    If you are here and are an author, illustrator, editor, bookmaker, etc. if you haven’t joined Authors Against Book Bans, please join us! It is free and supportive, and excellent community. The first time I attended an AABB zoom, I turned my camera off and cried because it was so nice to know we aren’t alone in this fight.

    *This is the part where I’m still on a horse and still wearing chain mail, but my face paint is now tear-stained because we’re all on horses and holding hands together and crying. We are Matisse’s The Dance, but on horseback in chainmail and crying. Those are the vibes, but also angry and united and organized.*

    That’s all! A record quick eel report! In brief writing news, I’ve been deep in some nonfiction research tunnels, my library holds, article requests, and book stacks are extremely out of control. Subscribe to stay up to date on my book and writing shenanigans:

    I lied! One event update! I’ll be doing a banned book picture book story time at the Moscow Public Library on December 23rd from 6-7pm as part of the Moscow Banned Book Club. If you are local, come hear me read from challenged picture books! Follow the moscowbannedbookclub for details.

    I’ll have more updates in 2025 on places I’ll be talking about books and being in community with writers in the new year, but for now, support local businesses, support your libraries and schools, and take care of your community.

    I hope this holiday season is filled with great books, all the yellow cocoon-like feelings, and significantly more eel photos than eel dishes.

    Cheers,

    Eija

  • September is for the Dolphins

    Who are very smart and mouthy if this were a John Scalzi novel

    Ceci n’est pas une anguille

    It was only a matter of time until the Eel Report was a full-on correction update. The “eels” on the Customs House in Sydney from last month’s Eel Report are not “eels” at all— it’s fine, I feel like this frequently happens to eels who are mysterious and refuse to be known. 

    Heraldic dolphins and tridents on either side of a large ornamental clock on the facade of the Customs House in Sydney, Australia

    In July, I emailed the Customs House Visitor Center in Sydney about the ornamental eels, and the visitor services team emailed me back mid-August. This is my favorite email I have ever received:   

    An email from the Customs House in Sydney Australia informing Eija that the eel decoration on the exterior of the building are in fact dolphins and tridents in their heraldic form in traditional maritime associations.

    Sometimes tone is hard in emails, but this makes me laugh so much, like they are being so kind and patient and generous with their email and information, but also, I am a silly little American peasant who can’t read signs and wouldn’t recognize family crests and maritime symbols if I saw them carved in stone. Which, honestly, they are correct. I am so sorry.

    Examples of dolphins as represented in heraldry and family crests.

    These are dolphins in their heraldic form. Y’all. Heraldry is wild. My personal favorite is the dolphin with an elephant trunk. To be fair, if you asked 14th century me to draw a dolphin, I would be like, what? you want me to draw what?

    Eels are unfortunately not as popular as dolphins in heraldry and family crest representation. The linked heraldry sources in the caption were provided by the Sydney Customs House Visitor Center services team— above and beyond customer service. Still need to get back to Australia ASAP. 

    Bigfoot Kids’ Book Festival is this Saturday! 

    Bigfoot Kids’ Book Festival poster for September 7th from 10am- 4pm at the Redmond Town Center

    I can’t wait for the Bigfoot Kids Book Festival in Redmond, Washington. I’ll be sharing a spot with author-illustrator, Ellie Peterson, signing books from 11:30am – 12:30pm! I’ll have mermaid coloring sheets! And The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime door hanger swag. I’m excited to meet readers and spend time with so many amazing northwest authors and illustrators.

    Books can be pre-ordered for the event from Brick and Mortar Books. I’m starting my own booklist for Saturday, and trying to decide if I should bring all my copies of The Princess in Black and my worn out copy of The Goose Girl to have Shannon Hale sign them.

    Books Books Books

    A collection of novels for adults and picture books.

    Hannah Nicole Maehrer’s books are fun, cute, violent, and a little bit ridiculous. And Colton Gentry’s Third Act is made for life-rebuilding rom-com Hallmark movie magic. And Some Desperate Glory is intense in its anti-fascist, deprogramming explorations, (it is an adult novel). Actually, all of these novels are for adults. 

    But I really want to tell you about Big Bear and Little Bear Go Fishing which feels like a classic picture book. I love this book with my whole heart in its everyday tenderness. It’s perfect. I would 100 hundred percent recommend it as a perfect gift to everyone with a small child or new baby.

    If you’re looking for a teacher gift, I would recommend We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang as the book to add to every teacher’s classroom picture book collection that they didn’t know they needed about helping strangers and showing kindness. 

    And Emergency Quarters by Carlos Matias and Gracey Zhang for all the parents and kids navigating new moments of independence as kids head back to school. We are all so lucky that so many amazing picture books are being made and created. And that’s only a few very small examples! What a treat. 

    Labor Day Newsletter

    I’m writing this newsletter on Labor Day, and I think this Labor Day, it’d be great to get out your stationery stash or open up a fresh email and let the librarians in your life know that you appreciate all the work that they are doing to bring wonderful books and programs to their communities. 

    Last week, I had a conversation with a library director who was navigating book ban requests, and someone in their district had submitted five requests to have materials removed or relocated at their library. The library staff, director, and board, dutifully worked through the process, following their own procedures, doing the necessary reading and analysis, and when it came time to discuss the materials and decide their fate at their board meeting, the person who filed the complaints couldn’t even bother to show up. 

    The time and resources wasted. The disrespect. And this doesn’t even include the whole book banning nonsense and emotional stress of mentally preparing for a potentially hostile interaction at board meetings that are usually about budgets and library maintenance. 

    Anyway, Banned Books Week is just around the corner, September 22nd – September 28th, and if you use your public library, I’d encourage you to let the librarians, board, and staff know how much you appreciate the work that they do in your community. And if you’re not a regular library patron, get on that! Libraries are amazing.

    I’ve got books with library holds on them that need to be read, a manuscript that needs some serious, serious revision, and some letters to my local librarians to write and events to plan. Until next month!

    Thanks for reading this newsletter. If you’re in the Seattle area, I hope to see you at the Redmond Town Center this Saturday! And if you’ve got friends in the Seattle area, send them to the Bigfoot Kids’ Book Festival, the lineup is jam-packed with amazing children’s book makers! 

  • Story times & Read-Ins

    Boise, Idaho, clear your Saturday!

    Author Updates and Events

    Boise, Idaho! I’m coming for you with two events! A double story time with my friend, Lisa Frenkel Riddiough— we’re bringing Pie-Rats! and Mermaids to the Treasure Valley on August 10th at Rediscovered Books on 8th street in downtown Boise.

    I can’t wait to visit Rediscovered Books—I love what they’re doing through their Read Freely program, and we’re gonna have so much fun. 

    While I’m Boise, I’ll be hosting a Read-In with Authors Against Book Bans on the Idaho Capitol Building steps!

    There will be author readings and banned book giveaways, and the League of Women Voters in the greater Boise area will be there to register citizens to vote. I can’t wait to meet more readers, book lovers, and librarians who are passionate about protecting everyone’s freedom to read.

    If you’re in Boise, come say hi! If you have friends in the Boise area, share this newsletter and story time and read-in invite!

    Bring a book, bring some signs, bring a blanket or a sun shade. I can’t wait to meet you and hear about what books you love reading, and even better what books you sneaked and read because you really wanted to. It’ll fun, and probably hot, and I’m definitely bringing lots of water.

    Idaho Libraries and Book Bans

    Libraries in Idaho have gone viral for having spaces that kids aren’t allowed, and for considering making libraries adult-only spaces in response to a new library censorship law in Idaho.

    It’s a garbage law that says (abbreviated version—not a legal expert) if a child “obtains” library materials that are deemed “obscene,” and a parent/guardian complains, then that book must go through a review process, and if it is determined “obscene,” and is not moved to an “adult-only” section, then that person can sue the library. I’m paraphrasing and using lots of Bennett Brauer air quotes, but you can read more about the whole ridiculous thing. 

    In Idaho state law (reminder that I am not a law expert or an eel expert), “obscene,” includes any reference to homosexuality, so pretty much any book with LGBTQ+ content is defined as “obscene” in the state of Idaho. If this sounds discriminatory and like a major government overreach in a state that loves individual freedom, well, welcome to the contradictory ridiculousness of living in Idaho!!!

    As a reader and a writer, and just general book nerd, I don’t think every book is for every reader— actually, I know every book is not for every reader. And that some books are meant for certain ages and audiences, and that readers know best what they’re comfortable reading and when.

    But conversations with kids and teens about what to read, those should happen with the adults in their lives—not someone else or the state deciding what should and shouldn’t be read or accessed. *Triple dismounts soap box, wobbles a bit, but mostly sticks the landing.*

    Some good news: a group of privately funded libraries and individuals are suing the state of Idaho over the bill. 

    Why am I sharing all this about Idaho libraries?

    Well, honestly, if you are in America, and your state has not passed a bill limiting what children can check-out and read at their public or school libraries, it is likely that your more conservative state representatives are going to try. And coming from a state where these laws have passed, it sucks.

    I’ve been to library board meetings where precious time is spent figuring out how to navigate the new library bill. Libraries that can afford an attorney are having to use limited resources on legal council, and libraries that can’t afford an attorney are trying to navigate confusing legislation on their own.

    It’s the small, rural libraries that are going to be hurt the most, and it’s the small, rural libraries that need the most support. And the kids who use these libraries on a daily basis know that there are bills and laws dictating what they can and cannot access, and that the books they love might be taken away, and that the spaces that are meant to be safe, suddenly feel less so.

    One more time for the people in the back: THAT THE SPACES THAT ARE MEANT TO BE SAFE, SUDDENLY FEEL LESS SO.

    So we’re going to gather and talk books and read together on the Idaho State Capitol steps on August 10th—and if you’re in the Boise area, I hope to see you there.

    Thanks for reading The Eel Report & Other Things! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

    Even More Links on Book Bans

    On BookRiot: A New Era for Banned Books Week: Book Censorship News, August 2, 2024 (from August 2, 2024)

    On NPR Code Switch: ‘Not a badge of honor’: how book bans affect Indigenous literature (from July 31, 2024)

    On NPR: Report: Last year ended with a surge in book bans (from April 16, 2024)

    More Resources and Info

    Authors Against Book Bans

    Every Library

    Pen America

    The Authors Guild

    American Library Association Library Bill of Rights

    Idaho Library Alliance

    Library Alliance of North Idaho

    So very little eels— none!—in this eel report! Always thinking about eels even if I’m not writing about them. Thanks for reading, hope to see you in Boise!

    In solidarity,

    Eija Sumner, eel nerd, newsletter writer, and kidlit author

  • The Summer of Travel

    Saved the newest Emily Henry for this summer in the air.

    I Channeled Steve Irwin and Saw an Eel in the Wild

    The important thing about this eel report is that I saw an eel in real life, in a little lake at the Hobbiton movie set in New Zealand. I should say, the really truly important thing about this eel sighting is that my daughter saw the eel first and came running to find me, and then explained to a lot of people traveling with us on an educational tour that I write a newsletter about eels. 

    I had to tell them it’s not a scientific newsletter, I’m just a fan, and eels are so amazing and weird. Like how did a bunch of eels get into this little lake tucked away in the idyllic farm hills on the north island of Aotearoa? 

    I was not the only person excited about the eel on the edge of the lake, and our tour guide told us that there are plenty of eels in the lake but that for a short time there was also a seal, Sammy. A seal who followed rivers and streams inland and found himself at a little lake in The Shire. From a New Zealand entertainment site: Sammy the seal, “has been spotted throwing and chasing the eels.” SAMMY THE SEAL HAS BEEN SPOTTED THROWING AND CHASING THE EELS. I love eels, but I also love this image of a seal having the best adventure of his life.

    I am not sure if I would choose to be an eel, but if I were an eel, I imagine apart from a week terrorized by Sammy the Seal, being a healthy little eel in the lake at Hobbiton with its manicured gardens, hobbit homes, and extremely enthusiastic visitors would have to be one of the best places to be an eel. 

    So many of the middle school kids on our tour talked about living and moving to Hobbiton. Like, I’m gonna live in this hobbit house with the yellow door, or I’m going to come back here and live in New Zealand and be a tour guide—so many big plans! Which I fully support and also 100% recommend watching 12 and 13 year olds discover and see themselves in the wider world in this way. And those eels are doing it—they found their way up rivers and streams to a little lake outside Matamata where the doors are round, every minute detail is considered, and the cider and stouts at the Green Dragon Inn are lovely. 

    If Hobbiton is on your travel bucket list, or the bucket list of someone you know, you can share my newsletter for some more travel inspiration and reminder to look for eels when you get to the lake. It was an amazing experience, created with so much care! Such beautiful eels! And wonderful, wonderful guides and gardens.

    Bonus Eel-Like Imagery

    These are eels right? This is a large clock on the exterior of the Customs House in the Circular Quay—the heart of the business district in Sydney Harbour. Eels can have pectoral fins, fins on the side of their bodies behind their head, so I think these are eels. Definitely eel-like. Honestly, I should have asked someone because this Customs House is an informative center for visitors to Sydney. I guess this means I will have to go back to Oceania, and double-check on these ornamental fish and then also travel to the suburbs and catch a Parramatta Eels rugby match while I’m at it. I loved Oceania.

    Author Life Highlight

    Before I travel anywhere I like to try and connect with local and independent bookstores, and I was so excited when I realized that Little Unity Bookstore in Auckland, New Zealand was going to be walking distance to my hotel while in the City of Sails. 

    So I sent an email and was stoked to find out that they’d have copies for me to sign of Crocodile Hungry, which is published in Oceania by Scholastic Australia and New Zealand. 

    An author-life highlight is seeing my book in the window of a bookshop in Auckland, New Zealand, which is so far away from my home that you have to fly at least 15 hours and cross the international date line to get from one to the other. Signing copies in the shop was such a treat. Like I know books exist in different places, but holy moly, sometimes it’s a totally different feeling to see it in person. *cries in small things that feel big*

    Author Tip: Reach out to bookstores or work with your publicist to reach out to bookstores before you travel to new places. It’s much more likely that your book will be on the shelf, or it will give time for an indie bookstore to order stock if they’d like to have copies signed.

    One of my favorite things about traveling is finding books that I can’t find at home, so I’ve got a whole book haul from New Zealand and Australian authors from Little Unity bookshop.

    A selection of books for children from picture books to young adult novels published in New Zealand and Australia

    This trip was such a whirlwind and jam-packed, and I’m really looking forward to reading these stories and revisiting photos and jumping back into all the rich details. I journaled a little bit while on the trip, and kept a food diary of all the new things I ate and tried. When school is back in session and routines become more regular, I’ll revisit all my photos and slip back into what it was like to walk through the Sydney Opera House, or what it smelled like waking up in Rotorua with their very potent sulphuric geothermal gases.

    Writing exercise: Look back at photos from a trip—recent or older. Give yourself a few minutes per photo, and write down all the details that you remember from that experience. What time of day, what was the weather like, what was the mood, what did you notice, what did it smell like, how did you feel in this new place? After you’ve revisited that experience, what kind of details are just outside the frame? Is there potential for story in the images? Is there a kernel of a new idea? Give yourself more time, like five or ten minutes, to explore new ideas and free write.

    Stay up to date on all things eels and author news from yours truly, Eija Sumner. You’ll want to be subscribed to catch all the details on a double-header day and story time with my friend, Lisa Frenkel Riddiough, and a Read-In at the Capitol in Boise, Idaho with Authors Against Book Bans on August 10th!

    I’m saving all the information for August events for a whole bonus newsletter because this newsletter is getting out of hand and Substack is sending me error messages about email length! This is the Substack equivalent of the orchestra playing me off the stage. Please subscribe for more info, and if you made it this far, bless you, please keep reading for steamy romance reads.

    Summer Romance Reading

    I think it’s fair to say that I’ve never traveled so much in one summer (or one year), it’s been everything from educational tours with middle schoolers, to work trips, to writing reunion trips, and it’s been a lot of time in airports, airplanes, hotels, and buses. 

    I love being in new places and trying new foods and seeing new things. But the flying is not my favorite. I need to totally escape or cocoon myself the best that I can with eye mask, face mask, noise canceling headphones, hooded sweatshirt, neck pillow— full on I can’t see you, you can’t see me—complete dissociation on the airplane. Imagine one of those single pop-up pods for soccer mom sidelines to stay dry and germ free—that is me on an airplane.

    So when I am not cocooned and sleeping while hurtling through the air, I read romance novels. Complete escape. So here’s my list of summer romance reading. Excellent characters, dialogue, and meet-cutes and knowing that everything is totally going to work out. Which is exactly what I need to keep my brain from spiraling while over 30,000 feet in the air. I love reading romance, but I stock up on the Libby app and save all my romance recs for when I travel. I would say that Luster is less what I would call Romance, and more of a sexy literary novel, but look at the cover design showcasing that for readers.

    A selection of eight romance novels.

    To round out all the romance reading and think about where Romance fits within the publishing industry and it’s cultural impact and significance, it’s been fun to listen to and read all the segments on the romance book industry from Culture Study by Anne Helen Peterson.

    Everything from the Culture Study segment on ACOTAR, and romantasy powerhouse Sarah J. Maas, to the podcast on How Romance Writer’s Rewrite Publishing’s Rules (here’s the apple podcast link), and the podcast episode on How Romance Novels Center Marginalized Joy (apple podcast link). I know you can listen wherever you listen to podcasts, so if I did not link up to your preferred provider, it is worth it to search it up, baybee!

    I’m a paid subscriber to Anne’s Culture Study newsletter and podcast because I think she’s brilliant, and her guests are brilliant. It’s one of two podcasts that I do not miss, it’s a space that always feels like sitting in on a really great cultural seminar.

    Also, there’s this great NYT piece on the boom of romance-only bookstores. Yay, read more romance!

    If you made it this far, thank you for spending some solid time with me. If you liked this newsletter and want to share it with people so that they can weigh in on my ornamental eel poll on Sydney’s Customs House, I would appreciate it. August and September are going to be busy—more soon!

    Thanks for reading The Eel Report & Other Things! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

  • Ghost Stories and Cladistics

    a May into June Kidlit Newsletter

    Your Clade, Meel’Lady 

    Look at this cute little eel or eel-like fish that my nephew sent me. He spotted it in a tide pool along the Northern California coast. 

    A photo of a tide pool with different sea creatures, shells, and a small eel like fish.

    I don’t know what it is. I thought it might be a type of cusk-eel, but I’m not sure if a cusk-eel is even an eel. I feel like the more I read about eels the more I find out about eel-like fish who are not actually eels because they don’t originate from the Champagne region of France. I’m kidding. But it’s confusing! 

    According to Wikipedia, cusk-eels aren’t true eels, because “true eels diverged from other ray-finned fish during the Jurassic period, while cusk-eels are part of the Percomorpha clade, along with tuna, perch, seahorses and others.”

    I only know what like one of those words means. 

    But I learned that a clade is like a natural family grouping of a species who have a shared ancestor. And that clades and cladistics (amazing word) is the most common way to classify animals and that cladistics has maybe rocked the taxonomy boat a lil bit. Anyway, long story short story, I guess cusk-eels have different ancestors than a True Eel™. But I’m still not sure if the eel in this photo is a cusk-eel or another eel imposter or a real bonafide True Eel™. 

    If you know what type of eel or eel-like fish this is, please reply to this newsletter!

    Book Events and News

    I’ll be heading to Rediscovered Bookshop in Boise, Idaho on August 10th to do a joint story time and book signing with my friend, Lisa Frenkel Riddiough. More details as we get closer to the date!

    Logo for Bigfoot Kids’ Book Festival with a cute Bigfoot illustration

    Save the date for the Bigfoot Kids’ Book Festival in Redmond, Washington on September 7th, 2024. They have an amazing line-up of authors and illustrators, and I’m so excited to participate and see writer community friends from the west side of the state!

    I’ve had a handful of parents in the past week share with me little stories about the door hangers my publisher, Tundra Books, made for The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime. Everything from making sure their door sign is flipped so they can have their privacy in the bathroom, to making sure it says, “being a good a little mermaid,” before bedtime. I love these little stories of autonomy and independence, which is so much at the root of The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime. 

    If you’ve read The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime or Crocodile Hungry and want to review them on Goodreads or The StoryGraph, or wherever you buy books, that is a nice thing to do to support books and authors and I’d appreciate it.

    Stay up to date on all my book events and news and subscribe to The Eel Report & Other Things for all the eel, kidlit, and writing updates and shenanigans.

    Authors Against Book Bans 

    The Idaho legislature passed a library book removal law, HB710 this spring, and it goes into effect July 1st. Read about it here. Since the law passed, I’ve been trying to go to my library board meetings so I know what’s going on and how this law will affect our libraries, communities, readers, and authors. 

    I’m a member of the single-issue grassroots organization Authors Against Book Bans, and if you’re an author, editor, illustrator, translator, contributing writer to an anthology, poet— basically, if your name is on a copyright page, I encourage you to join. 

    Authors Against Book Bans logo

    AABB is building a great network of support for creatives, and if you were like, I’d love to speak out and show up for myself and my fellow authors but don’t know where to start, or I don’t want to feel alone in this book ban fight, or I’d love to know how to help against book bans, AABB is here.

    Writing Research and Ghost Stories

    I don’t really read scary books, I am what you might call an L-7 weenie scaredy pants extraordinaire. I have only read one Stephen King book, and it was about writing, and even then when Stephen King wrote about his accident in On Writing, I was SO FREAKED OUT, like is he going to be okay? is he going to make it?? knowing full well that SK had to survive the accident in order to write about it. 

    But I have an idea for a ghost story— it’s an idea I’ve had for a few years— and I’m trying to figure out if I know enough about this idea and ghost stories to actually try and write it. 

    So I’m doing my research and reading ghost stories which have their own rules and conventions.

    A collection of middle-grade ghost story novels from award winning and best-selling authors.

    So what’s next in this idea development story writing phase— honestly, maybe not much. I don’t know if I know enough about this story to write it, which happens sometimes. 

    Maybe that feels like the yips, but I am convinced that no matter the genre or audience, all writing is like building a puzzle. Sometimes a piece is missing, or a whole chunk, sometimes a whole other puzzle is mixed in— rude!— and so many times there are pieces that should look like they fit but then they don’t. 

    What I like about ghost stories is the opportunity to bridge time periods and histories and for whatever is haunting the ghost, whatever keeps them tethered, that story more often than not parallels the protagonist’s story, adds meaning and depth, or can reveal hidden mysteries.

    So I have this idea, this setting, this specific moment in time connected with the present day, I know the historical events that led to the creation of this ghost, but I currently know more about my modern-day living protagonist. Because I don’t yet know what puzzle, what deeper connection there is for the ghost, what is haunting them? Which is a big piece of the ghost story writing puzzle. 

    Elizabeth Gilbert wrote something about a shared inspirational pool in Big Magic— about a story idea, a development, an obsession— and how ideas will find the right writer. So for Gilbert, she had this idea, and explored it, but also that story wasn’t right for her, and the inspiration for it left, but it was right for Ann Patchett, which had similar inspirations and eventually led to what is now State of Wonder. Not like a shared writing experience or plagiarism or anything like that, but an acknowledgement that maybe ideas live in this mysterious ether and find the right writer who has all the puzzle pieces. 

    As an aside, I also feel like sometimes I could use a little picture book inspiration sharing from the ether! Like helloooo, hey, idea ether, send me some inspo! 

    Anyway, I’m not ready to let this ghost story go and release it to the imagination pool that we all like to play in. I don’t know if I’ll figure it out, sometimes with stories, you have to explore enough to know whether or not it’s a story you can tell.

    I thought I might write about generative AI for this newsletter, and my thoughts and experiences— especially when so many workplaces, people, professionals are willing to adopt and incorporate generative AI tools. But the thing I keep thinking about the most, is that as a writer, as a creative person, generative AI tools make me want to show my work. To show how I think, to show how an idea develops. So maybe this ghost story will get shelved or maybe it’ll find a writer that isn’t me, but here’s to showing my work. Here’s to still exploring.

    If you read scary stories, please send me more ghost story recommendations and all your favorite hauntings. And also as a little sneak peek into the setting, what books should I read that are set in the British Isles?

    Happy reading and happy writing. 

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