Friday, June 20, 2014

Discussion Question: Do You Read the Acknowledgments?

Do you read the acknowledgments?  If so, why? 

More and more lately I've been reading the acknowledgments.  I find them fascinating.  A lot of times you find out something about the author, the inspiration for the book, the process of writing, and even what other authors have helped out. With young adult books, it seems like there's really a community for these authors and they help each other out a lot.

For example, recently I read The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, which is about teens with natural talents who help out the FBI with cold cases involving serial killers.  Really liked it, by the way.  I was curious about this author because she's a psychology professor and, being a professor myself, I find it fascinating when other professors write fiction, especially YA fiction.  This may be too much information, but I grew up wanting to write.  And specifically wanting to write YA fiction.  I wanted to be the next Judy Blume.  But I discovered that I basically sucked so I gave up that dream.  And now I do write for a living, but it's not fiction.  

When I read the Acknowledgments to The Naturals, I found out that the author did a lot of research and specifically relied on the memoirs about an FBI profiler.  I found out that she's friends with Ally Carter, Sarah Cross, Sarah Rees Brennan, Melissa Marr, and Rachel Vincent.  I found out that she wrote and revised the novel during the last year of her PhD and her first year as a college professor.  And I also found out that she teaches Cognitive Science of Fiction and Writing Young Adult Fiction classes.  All of this is so interesting to me!

So, what about you?  Do you read the acknowledgments?  Ever come across something you thought was interesting?  


Posted by:  Pam

10 comments:

  1. I never used to read the acknowledgements until I started blogging. I don't know why. But I love reading them! I love reading about their journey, who helped them, etc. It's so fascinating to me and as an aspiring writer myself, it's encouraging I think.

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  2. I actually do read them more now than I used to. I will skim them if they are really long. But I do find them really fascinating for some reason, I think you learn a lot about the author that way.

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  3. I do read the acknowledgements!! In fact, it's one of my favorite things that I look forward to when finishing the book. I love seeing who the authors knows, and reading the stories about how the novel was created and who they thank and like you said, you find out a lot of interesting facts :)

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  4. I read - or skim through - the acknowledgments because they give me a glimpse into the author's personal life. Also, they sometimes contain hints about the writing process and the publishing world, which is very interesting for me. I tend to read more closely if I liked the novel, though, and I don't particularly care about acknowledgments in books that I didn't enjoy.
    Kaja @ Of Dragons and Hearts (http://ofdragonsandhearts.com)

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  5. Hmm no not really. I don't really know the people the author is acknowledging, and since it isn't part of the story, I never found it interesting enough to read.

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  6. I love reading the acknowledgements! Sometimes I read them because I'm in denial that such an amazing book is over (lol) but sometimes it's just cool to see what other authors get shout-outs.

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  7. I don't often read the acknowledgments but I may on occasion. I am more likely to read it if it is a favorite author or a book I loved. But more often then not I just skim through them. I will usually read Author's notes though.

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  8. Almost never. I'll sometimes skim them, but for the most part no, I don't read them. It is really interesting to know about Ms. Barnes, though, how cool that she did wrote that while finishing her PhD! That's seriously impressive.

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  9. I never used to be interested in the acknowledgements because they had nothing to do with the book/characters/story. But when I entered the blogging community and started thinking seriously about getting published, I started to read them.

    Now I read the acknowledgements for every book I finish. I like knowing who gave the author support enough to thank them, and it also gives a little insight into the journey the book has taken them on.

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  10. I used to ignore them completely, but when I started blogging and interacted with authors more, I found myself not being able to skip them.

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