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MEMORANDUM
TO: FROM: SUBJECT: DATE: DR. KAREN C. HOLT CANDICE HAYDEN RESEARCH PROPOSAL UNPLEASANT TRUTHS WITHIN CREATIVE WRITING MAY 10, 2013

PURPOSE One of my career goals is to become a published author. As I write books, I want to know how far an author should go within that book with the details that he or she includes. In order to do this myself, I need to see how authors and readers view this so that I can appeal to my audience while staying as close to my standards as possible. How do authors view writing unpleasant truths? (Bhattacharji), ("Funny, Witty, Observant, Warm-Hearted...and My very Dear Friend"), (Liddle) How do readers (students, parents, etc.) view unpleasant truths within books? (Barry), (EDN), (Gurdon), (Naughton) How far should a writer go in being explicit in these truths? (Thierer) How far does society believe authors should go? (EDN), (Barry), (Graff) How can unpleasant truths be viewed as important within books? Can they be displayed in a fashion that is okay within all of society? How can they reach out to a reader without being sinful? (Fleming) BACKGROUND Since I was in elementary school I have been writing ideas and parts of stories I come up with. In these writings of mine, I have ventured into this avenue of unpleasant truths. Wanting to explore explicit scenes and foul language to see how they would affect my writing (Fleming). I have noticed that there is a difference between my writings with the explicit and the vague. However, I want to know if other writers or readers notice differences within writings that do and do not have these aspects within them ("Funny, Witty, Observant, Warm-Hearted...and My very Dear Friend"). Being an active reader while writing, I have often seen unpleasant truths within books I have read. I have also seen them within movies or series I have seen on television or the internet. In some of the instances I felt like the display of explicit scenes or foul language were necessary (Bhattacharji), (EDN). In others, I felt like maybe those parts could have been avoided or left up to the imagination (Liddle). These experiences have led me to wanting to research more into these unpleasant truths on how they affect readers and even the authors writing them (Gurdon). SIGNIFICANCE The research I conduct will help me better understand how explicit my own writings should be. I hope that my research will teach me how different readers view unpleasant truths within writing (Fleming). In this, I can then see what sort of field of readers I will be expecting when I start publishing my books and

whether I need to be a little more explicit in order to sell or if I can stay as far from the unpleasant truths as I wish to (Graff). I hope that I might be able to get views from authors that write and do not write these aspects (conducted through emails). With these findings, more readers can understand why authors write those scenes and why they do not ("Funny, Witty, Observant, Warm-Hearted...and My very Dear Friend"). Not only will I look at the authors perspectives on this topic, but also the publishing companies opinions on the subject. Some companies do wish for the authors to include explicit scenes and then some do not care or agree to publish the books anyways ("Funny, Witty, Observant, WarmHearted...and My very Dear Friend"). My research will help others to understand what a variety of readers think about unpleasant truths (EDN), (Barry), (Gurdon), (Naughton). While also showing what the authors and publishers think about them when writing and publishing the books that contain the content. If I could share this research, I would share it with other aspiring authors that are delving into the realms of explicit writing so that they may understand what they are or are not getting themselves into. DESCRIPTION I plan to conduct mostly secondary research on the internet, while hopefully getting primary sources through emails to successful authors. In my research on the internet I will be looking at articles from websites, scholarly journals, and newspaper articles as well. I believe that authors and readers will have similar view points that may end up differing greatly from what the general public believes should be written and read within books. OUTLINE

How the author feels How society feels Should they write it

Should it be read
METHODOLOGY

How the reader feels

First I will come up with questions for authors that I wish to survey. I will then come up with various successful authors (20-30), some that I read regularly and others that I do not, and email them. A few authors I am thinking of interviewing are: Nora Roberts, Rachel Lee, LJ Smith, Julie Klassen and of

course more. While I am waiting for answers (that will hopefully come), I will conduct research online looking at articles that will explain: 1. What authors think and write, 2. What readers think and read, 3. What the publishers think and publish, 4. What society (such as schools, parents, families, etc.) think and sometimes read or have to read. I will conduct this research through websites such as: ProQuest, JSTOR, and Google Scholar. I will find scholarly journals, website articles, newspaper articles and other things that I deem pertinent and reliable. PROBLEMS Problems that may arise could be that I do not get answers from the authors I email or the answers I get may not be helpful to my research. Also, I found it slightly difficult to find secondary sources within my topic. If the sources I have picked out do not work well enough for supporting my paper, I may end up not being able to find better sources than the ones I already have. Some of the viewpoints that I wish to take on unpleasant truths may not be readily available for me to see. Such as the publisher points of views, they may not all have that opinion out for the public to see, therefore I may even have to try to interview them as well with questions on the subject. I hope to overcome these problems by interviewing enough authors to get at least a few answers back that will be usable. Also, I will be conducting more research, maybe even in the library to find more sources that may be of use to me. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Barry, Noreen. "NOREEN: A Little Battle Fought in Book War." The Gazette Feb 10 2011. ProQuest. Web. 9 May 2013 . A board committee bands a book for explicit sex scenes on women being enslaved and used for sex in a future society (within the book). Bhattacharji, Jaya. "Folklore and Children's Literature." Indian Folklife 21 (2009). This explains the unpleasant truths that were in the original versions of folklore and childrens stories, such as with the Grimm Brothers. Bridges, Ana J. and Robert Jensen. "Chapter 7: Pornography." Claire M Renzetti, Jeffery L Eldeson, Raquel Kennedy Bergen. Sourcebook on Violence Against Women. CA: SAGE, 2010. 133-139. eBook. This explains all about pornography within literature and books, with terminology, law, effects, content, and industry of it. EDN, Gerald T. Brooker, Lou Orfanella and Elizabeth Brockman. "The Round Table: Dealing with Sexually Explicit Language Matter in Literature." The English Journal. National Council of Teachers of English, 1993. 83-85. Journal. This explains viewpoints that teachers and schools take on literature that is being taught in the classroom that has obscene language and maybe even has sex references. Also explains why it is important to have those aspects within the literature being studied. Fleming, Luke, and Michael Lempert. "Introduction: Beyond bad words." Anthropological Quarterly 84.1 (2011): 5-13. This explains how language used in certain ways and instances can have a larger impact when used in a stronger way. Foul language or explicit scenes used in certain contexts can have a huge impact on the reader and make them think or understand things they did not think about or understand before. "Funny, Witty, Observant, Warm-Hearted . . . and My very Dear Friend." Irish Independent Aug 01 2012. ProQuest. Web. 9 May 2013 . Explains about how publishers will market books without explicit sex scenes and how readers will buy and read those books enjoying them all the same without the scenes, maybe even more.

Graff, Peter, and Lauren Barker. "BOOKfetish Lost in Romance." The Gold Coast Bulletin: 4. Apr 15 2008. ProQuest. Web. 9 May 2013 . Speaks on romance books and how women and men are both reading lots of romance novels whether they have explicit sex or not. Gurdon, Meghan Cox. "Darkness too visible." The Wall Street Journal 4 (2011). Parental and other views on unpleasant truths within young adult books and how the books do not have always have happy endings. Liddle, Rod. "You've been a Naughty Boy." Sunday Times: 6. Feb 01 2009. ProQuest. Web. 9 May 2013. Speaks on how writers get away with writing explicit sex by adding in revenge on the man (who is supposed to be the love interest) by killing him at the end. Naughton, Julie. "Anything Goes: Focus on Romance: Fall 2012." Publishers Weekly 259.46 (2012): 27, n/a. ProQuest. Web. 9 May 2013. This explains how some readers are looking for explicit scenes within books while others are not. Thierer, Adam D. "Return of the 'Seven Dirty Words' Indecency Standard?" (2012). Explains seven dirty words and discusses whether there should be censorship for these uses of foul language in media. TIMETABLE AND SCHEDULE Date 8 May 2013 9 May 2013 10 May 2013 10 May 2012 Time 7:45 am Afternoon 7:45 am Afternoon Activity Research Proposal Draft- peer review Revise and submit research proposal Research Proposal DUE Prepare and send out interview emails to authors (20-30) Start reading through sources Read through sources Finish reading sources and create more detailed outline Quotation to put in paper Due Image/Chart/Table Due Add to citations; create title page and write intro Place In class Home (Hillcrest) I-Learn Home

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Write body paragraphs for first part of Draft Write body paragraphs and conclusion for second part of Draft Works Cited Due Draft Research paper-

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peer review Revise research paper and finalize works cited page Writing Workshop Research paper DUE Print paper and sources and put in folder

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REQUEST FOR APPROVAL I will be researching the outlooks on unpleasant truths within readers, writers, publishers, and society. Each group of people takes different viewpoints on explicit scenes and foul language within books. These points of view will help me, and other desiring authors, understand how far a writer may need to go within their writings in order to get their books published and read. I request approval for this topic so that I may improve my understanding and writing and become a successful author within the creative writing field, and help other wanting authors to do the same.