Arthea J.S. Reed - Norma Fox Mazer

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Scarecrow Studies in Young Adult Literature

Series Editor: Patty Campbell

Scarecrow Studies in Young Adult Literature is intended to continue the body of critical writing established in Twayne's Young Adult Authors Series and to expand it beyond single-author studies to explorations of genres, multicultural writing, and controversial issues in YA reading. Many of the contributing authors of the series are among the leading scholars and critics of adolescent literature, and some are even YA novelists themselves.

The series is shaped by its editor, Patty Campbell, who is a renowned authority in the field, with a twenty-eight-year background as critic, lecturer, librarian, and teacher of young adult literature. In 1989 she was the winner of the American Library Association's Grolier Award for distinguished service to young adults and reading.

1. What's So Scary about R.L. Stine? , by Patrick Jones, 1998.

2. Ann Rinaldi: Historian and Storyteller , by Jeanne M. McGlinn, 2000.

3. Norma Fox Mazer: A Writer's World , by Arthea J. S. Reed, 2000.

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A Writer's World

Arthea J. S. Reed

Scarecrow Studies in Young Adult Literature, No. 3

The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham, Maryland, and London
2000

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SCARECROW PRESS, INC.

Published in the United States of America by Scarecrow Press, Inc.

4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706

http://www.scarecrowpress.com

4 Pleydell Gardens, Folkestone

Kent CT20 2DN, England

Copyright 2000 by Arthea J. S. Reed

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reed, Arthea J. S.

Norma Fox Mazer : a writer's world / Arthea J.S. Reed.

p. cm. (Scarecrow studies in young adult literature ; no. 3)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8108-3814-1 (alk. paper)

1. Mazer, Norma Fox, 1931 2. Authors, American20th century
Biography. 3. Children's storiesAuthorship. I. Title. II. Series.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

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To the memory of my parents
Martha Dishko Staeger
Fred A. Staeger
From a grateful daughter

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On a cold, sunny March afternoon Norma Fox Mazer and I sat in a hotel room overlooking Central Park and talked about her books, her childhood, her relationship with author and husband Harry Mazer, and her dreams to become an even more gifted writer. We also spoke of frustration, loneliness, fear, and anger. But, most of all, we talked of hope.

Three years earlier Norma and I had met in another hotel room overlooking Gramercy Park, just a few blocks from the small apartment Harry and Norma call home each winter. On that March day, I was preparing to write Presenting Harry Mazer . Then we talked of Harry, the books they had authored together, and their many years as husband and wife and as struggling, now accomplished, writers. You can't talk to either Norma or Harry about her or his work without discussing the other. Their lives are intertwinedtheir work enhanced by each other's input.

At the same time, Norma Fox Mazer is fiercely independenta feminist. Although she shares all of her work with Harry and much of it with her daughter, the author Anne Mazer, she drafts it first herself. In March 1998, her then most recent book, When She Was Good , had gone through many drafts before she showed it to Harry. It had evolved and changedfirst as an adult book and then, finally, in the genre she has masteredyoung adult literature. When She Was Good was her most difficult and painful writing and publishing experience. And, after anger and frustration at Harry's initial response to the manuscript, it

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again changed from a dark, hopeless book to one filled with pain, but finally ending with hope.

Norma Mazer's books and stories are filled with hope. She is first and foremost an optimist. The mastery she has achieved in her writing is a product of this optimism and hard work. As beginning writers with three young children, a fourth on the way, and no money, both Norma and Harry put in the time to produce endless stories for pulp fiction magazines. These years were their internshiptheir apprenticeship. It was during these years that Norma Mazer learned how to craft a good story. She also learned how to develop characters in a few short pages so that her readers cared about the people who populated her stories. This was no easy task, but it has helped make her one of the most gifted writers of contemporary young adult fiction.

From her first novel, I, Trissy , to her most recent tour de force, When She Was Good , readers and scholars can participate in her journey from promise to mastery. In this short book, I discuss her novels, short stories, and books authored with Harry Mazer to show the path she has traveleda path generations of devoted readers have followed joyously with her. Reading one of Norma Mazer's books is a treat; reading all of them and experiencing her growth as a writer is a privilege.