Today we continue the series in which award-winning nonfiction
authors discuss the joys and challenges of writing narrative nonfiction
and expository nonfiction with an essay by Kirsten W. Larson.
Thank you, Kirsten.
I love underdogs. Real people who defy
expectations—both their own and society’s—and everyday heroes who change the
world. And I adore inspiring students to make change in their own communities.
Change is the heart of narrative storytelling,
including the nonfiction books I write. In any narrative, the main character
starts out one way. They have a big goal and face challenges as they try to
accomplish the goal—that’s the plot. Through the plot the main character
changes internally so they are different at the end of the story. And
sometimes, they change the world along the way.
What’s the difference between
fiction and narrative nonfiction? I like to think of fiction as sculpting in
clay. It’s so malleable, you can make it into anything you want.
But in nonfiction, the facts
are fixed, like a hunk of marble. It may have cracks or nicks or other
blemishes. The real trick is to take what you have and shape the narrative arc.
That means keeping only important scenes that show the character facing
challenges and changing and carving away all the excess. (That excess often
shows up in the back matter.)
In my first picture book, Wood,
Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane, illus. Tracy Subisak
(Calkins Creek, 2020), Lilian Todd is a maker and tinkerer in a time when girls
are told they can’t be inventors or engineers. But when Lilian Todd sees the
first fantastical airplane designs, she knows flying will be the future, and
she is determined to build her own practical plane. That’s her big goal.
Throughout the book Lilian
tries and fails over and over again to build a working airplane, until she
finally succeeds, proving to herself—and the world—that engineering and invention
are for everyone. Lilian’s changed. And hopefully readers are changed too,
realizing engineering and invention are for everyone.
Documenting Lilian’s journey
was difficult, because she was largely forgotten by the history books. Her
scrapbook was bought by an individual rather than a museum. Because no one
really thought she was important, no university had an organized collection of
her papers. Instead, to piece together her story, I had to dig into online
newspaper archives at the Library of Congress and scour digitized copies of old
magazines. Thankfully, Lilian’s efforts were unusual even during her lifetime.
Because she was such a curiosity, many newspapers around the country reported
on her.
And there was so much I had to
carve away from Lilian’s story, whether it was her creating the Junior Aero
Club of America or attending the first woman’s law class at New York
University. It was all fascinating stuff, but it didn’t fit the main story.
In my latest picture book, A
True Wonder: The Comic Book Hero Who Changed Everything, illustrated by
Katy Wu (Clarion, 2021), that all important word—change—is in the title. Before
Wonder Women, comics were dominated by male superheroes and written and drawn
mostly by men. Parents, teachers, and librarians protested about how violent
the comics were, and what a bad influence they were on kids. Sound familiar?
Inspired by his wife,
Elizabeth Marston, Bill Marston created a new type of superhero—Wonder
Woman—devoted to truth, justice, and peace. My book chronicles how the
character of Wonder Woman changed through the decades as women’s roles changed.
It documents how many largely overlooked women were involved in the comic since
its early days. And it shows how Wonder Woman herself inspired women to make
their own change, whether it was feminist Gloria Steinem fighting for women’s
rights or blockbuster director Patty Jenkins proving that women can direct
action-packed blockbuster movies.
So how did I document a true
story about a fictional character and her influence on the world? I started by amassing
as much information as I could before I started chipping away at it. I read
many early comics. Tough work, I know! And I took a research trip to visit
libraries at Harvard (which has Bill Marston’s papers) and Brooklyn College
(which has the papers of Dr. Lauretta Bender a psychiatrist who consulted on
the comics).
In the absolute thrill of a
lifetime, I interviewed Joye Hummel, who, as a young woman in the 1940s, wrote
more than 70 Wonder Woman comics under the pen name Charles Moulton. Joye told
me her story in her own words.
Whether fiction or nonfiction
we carefully sculpt our story to focus on character and change. Just two things
are different: the raw materials —pure imagination in fiction versus verifiable
facts in nonfiction. And the process—building up from scratch versus carving
away what doesn’t fit. In both cases, we end up with a similar outcome: a
beautiful masterpiece.
Kirsten Larson used
to work with rocket scientists at NASA. Now she writes books for curious kids.
Kirsten is the author of Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane,
illustrated by Tracy Subisak (Calkins Creek, 2020), A True Wonder:
The Comic Book Hero Who Changed Everything, illustrated by Katy Wu, (Clarion,
Fall 2021), and The Fire of Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who
Discovered What Stars Are Made Of, illustrated by Katherine Roy
(Chronicle, Spring 2022), as well as 25 other nonfiction books.
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2 Responses
Great analogy and advice, Kirsten!
I love this analogy about writing fiction vs nonfiction! I never thought of it like that before