Writer Inspiration: B. A. Binns

by Marie-Claude Bourque

Hi everyone! Please welcome YA author B. A. Binns today!

Please leave her a comment to win!

Writing like a boy

Writing rule #1 in the handbook for new writers – Write what you know.

I am one of those stodgy stay between the lines people. Before I retired I was known as the standards cop of the IT department at AT&T. I created rules and then led a group that enforced those rules.  Yet somehow I ended up writing a book narrated by one of the creatures I know least about, a seventeen-year-old male. When the judges in the 2009 Reveal Your Inner Vixen contest told me PULL was worthy of the finals, I knew I had done something right.

I chose to write a contemporary YA novel narrated from the teen male POV because I wanted to attract reluctant readers, many of whom are teenaged boys. I hoped a book about people like themselves would prove a draw. But I knew nothing about those bundles of testosterone. I had no inner seventeen-year-old male to conjur up to guide my efforts at characterization. Being slower than your average girl, I hadn’t dated until college. By the time I finished college my teenaged brother was out of the house. I raised a daughter and teen boys were the creatures I warned her against.

Which brought me to:

Corollary for writer’s rule #1: If you don’t know, Learn.

I studied, talked to neighbors and sought out experts: social workers, teachers, and counselors who couldn’t talk about specific cases or individuals but did answer my general questions about the way young men experience their world. And I stalked teenaged boys at all the usual haunts, malls, sporting events and concerts. Although I sometimes felt out of place, spending the time in the company of young people made me feel younger too.

I watched, listened and learned.

What I discovered about teen boys:

Senses	Sight – is the sense. He’ll eat almost anything without tasting it or remembering what it was Smells boil down to liked it, gross, or never noticed. They won’t wax poetic about the delicate odors in perfume (in spite of all the girls who spend ages picking the exact right scent) He only hears what he wants to. When he concentrates on something, he pretty much shuts out the rest of the world. Think sense of balance, pain tolerance, sense of hunger, and sexual urges as testosterone levels flair.
Speech	He won’t use two words if one would do. He often gets away with a grunt or a gesture and says nothing. When he does talk there are two volumes – loud and inaudible He doesn’t talk about relationships…unless girls are around to hear He’s direct and emphatic, meaning he’s far more likely to say he “hated” something than that he “didn’t like” it.
Actions	He has two speeds, I-take-my-time and fast. Note that fast is usually reserved for seeking food and/or a member of the opposite sex. He fidgets a lot. Those “man bits” he owns can get uncomfortable He bonds with other males through activity and shared experiences.
Motivation	Showing off what he does well is important. (One guy claimed he drank to extremes in front of his girl as a teen “because he was good at it.”) He’s the model for “just do it,” acting first and thinking later, if at all. Sex is on his mind…all the time.  With surging testosterone handing teenaged boys multiple erections every day, adult men sadly told me that no matter how much I had my male character think about sex I couldn’t come close to reality. BTW, most boys really do think they are invincible.

 

Final steps

My final step was role playing. For weeks I woke up and reminded myself to be a guy. As the days passed, sharing my skull with my main character grew easier.  He showed me how he felt about life. Once I would see through his eyes, I went to my keyboard and David’s story wrote itself. I felt more like I was channeling him than just being an author. His voice is rough at the edges. Where I stay between the lines he barely realizes that lines exist. I’m shy, he’s self-confident to the point of arrogance.  

PULL didn’t start out to be first person POV. But I soon realized it wouldn’t work any other way. I had to write as if I were David, the fearless guy I would have been if I were a teen boy. Fiercely loyal to family members, confused by his growing feelings for Yolanda, but ready to defend her whether she admits she needs help or not.  

In the end, I didn’t write what I knew, but I did learn what I wrote.  And I discovered that the major difference between teen boys and girls is a matter of degree, not substance. Both make the same kinds of mistakes, and both want the same mastery over their own lives. They just express themselves in different ways.

I would love to hear your thoughts about the differences between teen boys and girls. Leave a comment for a chance to win an autographed ARC of PULL. The winner will be chosen at random and announced Oct. 27 at the on-line Twitter launch party (from 1-4 p. m. CT) at #BABinns, and here on the Musetracks blog.

P. S. you’re all invited to join the party for additional fun and giveaways.

BIO:

B. A. Binns is the pseudonym of Barbara Binns, an adoptive parent and cancer survivor, was more surprised than anyone when her fourth manuscript, PULL, sold to WestSide Books early in 2010. She is a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America), the Chicago Writers Association, SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association). She writes to attract and inspire both male and female readers with stories of “real boys growing into real men…and the people who love them.” 

PULL tells the story of young people dealing with the aftermath of domestic violence. His  journey takes him from guilt and the fear that biology forces him to repeat his father’s violence, to love and the realization that his future lies in his own hands.

For more information, visit http://www.babinns.com, or email author1@babinns.com