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MEET JERRY STANLEY
by Bonnie O'Brian

Why do you write?

Jerry Stanley

All writers are insecure in my view. That is why I write. I am trying to overcome my insecurities. And I was hit with a big one when I was in high school. One of the defining moments in my life occurred when my high school counselor said, “ Stanley, you’re so dumb you couldn’t finish high school if you tried.” I don’t blame him for saying it. I probably looked that way back then. But, it wasn’t good for my self-esteem. I went to high school for two-and-a-half years, and passed wood shop and gym before I was expelled. I joined the Air Force at seventeen. With a year to go in the Air Force, California came up with this boondoggle that if you passed the high school GED and took one year of American history, you could get a diploma. Then I was able to get into Yuba College. I sailed through and learned to write by doing term papers, particularly the dissertation. Then, I became a history professor and I wrote scholarly articles to keep my academic job.

What inspired you to write for children and young adults?

After my first two books were successful, Random House decided to print an author bio on me. They gave me some examples and all of the authors sounded the same. “When I was thirteen years old, I knew I wanted to be a writer. My favorite books were....”

None of that applied to me. So, my bio starts out the day I was kicked out of school. I wasn’t inspired by any writer. I wasn’t inspired by any books. We didn’t have any books in my house. My mother and father never finished high school. I had no clue I was going to be an author of children’s books. About 1980 when I was a history professor, I started writing about what I know best, fishing. Darned if I didn’t start selling those articles. I think it was my wife who said. “Why don’t you write a book for young kids on the subject?” So, I sent queries to publisher and the result was CHILDREN OF THE DUST BOWL. Once I had one book, I thought maybe this was my niche. So, I just stayed with it.

Do you enjoy researching or do you prefer working totally from your imagination?

I hate research. I want to write. I don’t want to be a note collector, but I have to do it. I spend at least three months researching before I start writing. When I’m done, I have a box of 5” x 8” cards with all my materials on them. I probably have 1000 to 1200 cards. By the time I’m done writing, I may have used 60 to 100 cards. A book is always over-researched, but I have to look at everything to get the right emotions and to know that something is not important. When I record information, it seems important. But, as I move toward the finished product, a lot of stuff gets taken out.

Do you write every day and do you have set hours that you work?

First, I get jazzed up by doing a mile and a half on the treadmill. Then, I sit down around nine o’clock and reread what I wrote the day before. It gets me back into the emotional flow and is good for my security. I tell myself that I can write because of what I did yesterday and the day before that. Then, I read the notes for whatever I am going to write about that day. I start writing without titling a chapter because titles limit me, and I never know what the subject of a chapter will turn out to be. I make things up if I don’t remember a name or a statistic. I can go back and get the facts right later on. I do not want the subject matter and statistics to interfere with the emotional part of the writing process.

What is the general structure of your nonfiction books?

All of the nonfiction that I write is what I call collective biography. It is about groups of people. I incorporate a big picture, with a little picture, and then focus on one individual. CHILDREN OF THE DUST BOWL is about the Okies and their migration to California until Chapter 5, when I introduce Leo Hart, the founder of the school at Weedpatch Camp in California. Integrating the little story with the big story while keeping the drama flowing is the toughest part of writing collective biography.

What is your writing process?

When I wrote, HURRY FREEDOM, first I wrote about everything, Then, I spent months and months and months eliminating paragraphs, and sometimes whole chapters, to get down to the essential dramatic elements. The most exciting thing was when I could sit down at my word processor and write just one sentence without excess words that said exactly what I was thinking and feeling and what I thought the character was thinking and feeling. I kept revising until the drama of the story and the subject matter seemed right. When I was crying at the end, I knew I had gotten it right. I hung a picture of the Black Forty-niner with a shovel working a sluice box next to me. Every now and then, I looked up at that photo and reviewed what I had written. The picture kept me from getting carried away. It served as a check on my emotions.

How do you ensure the accuracy of your nonfiction books?

I would not deliver a conference paper or publish a scholarly article unless I knew it was one hundred percent correct. Throughout my life as an academic, as a writer, and as a teacher, research and documentation has become second nature to me. Experts in a particular area know the research and I can’t fudge things. Writing books for young readers where nothing is footnoted seems weird to me. I always try to include the sources in the narrative if they fit in with the story.

How do photographs in your books influence your writing?

Generally, it is the text that comes first. Photographs should arise from the text, not determine it. But, sometimes it happens. I am convinced that CHILDREN OF THE DUST BOWL is so successful because there were appropriate photographs included. Leo Hart gave me photographs from his collection of the school at Weedpatch Camp, the kids building it, the farm animals, and the cafeteria.

What are the topics of some of your books?

I choose my topics and never tell my editor what I am writing about, just that I am writing. I write my manuscripts from beginning to end. I do not submit 30 pages and request an advance. I write because of my devotion to writing. It’s like a narcotic. If someone wants to publish my manuscript, good, but my reward is the writing everyday.I have always wanted to correct certain images from the past. My criterion for picking a topic is that it has to move me emotionally.

How do you respond to the statement that one can only write about his/her own race, culture, or gender?

I really resent someone, who is untrained as an historian, criticizing my work. That I couldn’t write DIGGER, because I was not Native American. The truth is what is important and I believe that the truth is out there for anyone to pursue. The truth emerges when enough scholars reach a consensus about an event based on sources, interviews, and other research. The conclusions can always be challenged by new evidence. But, the most important thing is training.

Have any of your books received special recognition?

CHILDREN OF THE DUST BOWL and HURRY FREEDON both won Orbis Pictus Awards and DIGGER won honorable mention. Also I have had 5 titles in 32 of the California Collections over the years: CHILDREN OF THE DUST BOWL, COWBOYS AND LONGHORNS, DIGGER, HURRY FREEDOM, and I AM AMERICAN.

What are you working on now?

AMONG THE NOOTKA: The Adventure of John R. Jewett is the book I’m working on now. This is an Indian captivity account. The manuscript contains a big story, a little story, and a focus. The big story centers on the devastating consequences of trade with China that led to African slavery and the death of 30 million people. The little story focuses on John R. Jewett.

The one after that is tentatively titled SILENT BEAUTY. The big story deals with teachers in the 19 th century. When the United States started, the teachers were all men. Around 1830 the West opened up and all the male teachers left. As time went on, women moved in and filled this void. Most of the teachers were girls between 14 and 18 years old. My focus is on a young woman named Catherine Emma Wiggins who almost died as a young girl, her family lost six farms in four years, and she could not get an education. But against these odds, she manages to attend school and to teach in a dugout in western Kansas for almost 6 years.