My first formal supervision. My PhD supervisor invited me in
for an early meeting. I slid the half mile from where I lived along the
early-frost sprinkled pavements of the little town in north Wales. The heating
had only just come on in his office and the end of my nose, the tips of my
fingers and my feet remained cold. We could see our breath as we talked.
It was all going quite well. I’d completed about two thirds
of the first draft of my young adult novel. I knew my research question was to
do with what a young adult novel actually is. The experiment for me here was writing
something of that length, writing for young adults and writing science fiction.
Of course, I’ve since established that the young adult novel
has six characteristics that are sometimes present and one that is always
present, that science fiction – or fantasy, real life, history or whatever else
- is actually the setting and not a theme, and science fiction and fantasy perform
the same function for adolescents that glove puppets and anthropomorphism do for
young children.
“You should read X, Y and Z,” he suggested.
The hour ended. I dutifully trotted off to the university library.
There were no young adult books. The explosion only happened at the turn of the
century – though of course there have always been a few classic ones around.
There was very little science fiction, examples were mainly classical and there
were only a few critical works.
Later I wondered into town and happened upon the Oxfam
second hand bookshop. There I found most of the titles he’d mentioned and an encyclopaedia
of science fiction- all at very reasonable prices.
Most of my research was “out there” rather than in university
libraries, though a couple of visits to Roehapmton were in order and it’s always
useful to read scholarly texts in order to be reminded of academic tone and to prevent
us from reinventing the wheel: what have other writers done before us? We find
out by studying English Literature, a discipline that used to raise eyebrows as
much as Creative Writing does today.
Creative Writing is at once one of the oldest and one of the
youngest disciplines. Much of our work is out in the world. At the institution
where I now work the emphasis is on innovation and experiment; that feels good
and in keeping with what a university is supposed to be about.
I’m kept on my toes. The young adult novel is changing from
what it was like when I completed my PhD. I have to be aware of that, adjust my
practice and teach my students what I know.
But it’s a great life. As one of my undergraduates said to
me the other day: “Gosh, you read a lot of books don’t you?” Well, yes. I’m
duty bound to. Feel sorry for me!
