Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / Enemies Rivals And Now Teammates Offside From YA Author Christina Gonzalez

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Enemies Rivals And Now Teammates Offside From YA Author Christina Gonzalez · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a pretty cool hangout. Ero dot net aar
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  Speaker 1: r oe dot net not just a podcast, it is
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  Speaker 1: a podcast network twenty to choose from. One of the
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  Speaker 1: biggest ones is called That Voice. I've spent over ten
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  Speaker 1: years with those that have been featured on NBC's The Voice.
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  Speaker 1: Now you can hear those early day interviews and see
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  Speaker 1: where they are today That Voice only on ero dot net,
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  Speaker 1: aar r oe dot Net. Enjoy your exploration.
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  Speaker 2: Hi Erow, this is Christina Ganzalence.
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  Speaker 1: Hi Christina, how are you doing today?
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  Speaker 2: Doing great? Thank you? What about yourself?
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  Speaker 1: Fantastic? I got to tell you right here in the
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  Speaker 1: very beginning, you're working with Scholastic. I am a published
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  Speaker 1: author and a broadcaster of forty six years because of Scholastic,
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  Speaker 1: because they took the time to really give us those
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  Speaker 1: books when I was in elementary school. They opened up
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  Speaker 1: my imagination and everything grew from there. So to see
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  Speaker 1: that you're associated with Scholastics, I just cannot wait to
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  Speaker 1: see how many people in the future will be giving
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  Speaker 1: you credit for such a thing such as offside.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, thank you. Yes, I mean Scholastic and
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  Speaker 2: Scholastic book pairs. I think we're such a big part
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  Speaker 2: of my childhood as well, so I'm just thrilled to
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  Speaker 2: be working with them.
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  Speaker 1: And then to do a graphic novel. This is so
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  Speaker 1: in touch with where these readers want to be. And
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  Speaker 1: what I love about it is with a graphic novel,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't just keep it with the ya and younger.
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  Speaker 1: There are grown adults. I've seen them with this book
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  Speaker 1: in their hands.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's I mean, graphic novels is just having
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  Speaker 2: its moment. It is everyone is gravitating towards them. It's
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  Speaker 2: such a wonderful genre of books. Seeing words come to
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  Speaker 2: life alongside the visual imagery is just such a fantastic
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  Speaker 2: option for readers, and I love it. I love both
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  Speaker 2: traditional novels and graphic novels.
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  Speaker 1: I love the way that right off the bed, on
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  Speaker 1: the front page, or even on the book cover. And
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  Speaker 1: they always tell us no judge a book by its cover,
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  Speaker 1: But you have such a powerful message enemies, rivals and
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  Speaker 1: now teammates offside that tells me all people no judgment,
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  Speaker 1: grow forward together.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, and that's what these kids are doing. There
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  Speaker 2: are five kids from very different backgrounds, speaking different languages,
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  Speaker 2: and a couple of them really do not like each other.
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  Speaker 2: They are true enemies and rivals. But now they have
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  Speaker 2: to figure out a way to work together. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: at the beginning that's not really in the cards, but
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  Speaker 2: they have to find a way and not only work
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  Speaker 2: together as a team, but once they start learning a
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  Speaker 2: little bit more about each other, they really do realize
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  Speaker 2: how big an impact they can have even within their
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  Speaker 2: own community.
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  Speaker 1: And it's boys and girls, because I mean, that's how
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  Speaker 1: I grew up playing sports in Building, Montana. Is that
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  Speaker 1: every school I went to from elementary all the way
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  Speaker 1: up to high school, we mixed our teams together. It
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  Speaker 1: was never boys against girls.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and that's the case in many schools.
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  Speaker 2: But still a lot of schools have just their boys
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  Speaker 2: team or just their girls team. And that was the
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  Speaker 2: case here in my fictional school. It was an all
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  Speaker 2: boys school that decides to go co ed, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: to the dismay of a couple of boys, not all
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  Speaker 2: of them, but to a couple of them. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they don't want the girls to be trying out for
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  Speaker 2: their team. And not only do these two girls try
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  Speaker 2: out and make it, you know, they become superstars. And
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  Speaker 2: so there's a lot of learning and unlearning of preconceived
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  Speaker 2: notions going on in the story.
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  Speaker 1: The really cool thing that you've got going on here,
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  Speaker 1: Christina is the fact that you know one of the
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  Speaker 1: statements that I would love to see on a T
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  Speaker 1: shirt or something. It says, no, not too tall, not
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  Speaker 1: too small, because what we would do instead of playing
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  Speaker 1: soccer like we see it on TV today or even
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  Speaker 1: in fields, we used to do the crab soccer because
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  Speaker 1: not too tall, not too small. In other words, we
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  Speaker 1: were all equals as long as we were playing crab soccer,
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  Speaker 1: right right.
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  Speaker 2: It's funny that I have not thought of crab soccer
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  Speaker 2: in a really long time, but I remember doing that
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  Speaker 2: as well.
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  Speaker 1: And what you're doing with Marie a Costa, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: this is amazing because I want readers and especially students
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  Speaker 1: to know that collaborating is a cool thing. Work with somebody,
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  Speaker 1: create with somebody, tap into their energy as a creative person.
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  Speaker 1: And you really do open up that door with this.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And collaboration is such a wonderful thing because we
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  Speaker 2: all have our strengths and weaknesses, and I feel like
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  Speaker 2: I can come up with the story and be able
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  Speaker 2: to share it in words, but I don't have the
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  Speaker 2: talent bring it to life. And that's where the illustrator
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  Speaker 2: brings their creativity and their imagination and reinterpretation of what
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  Speaker 2: my words were creating in her imagination, and together we
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  Speaker 2: can create the story.
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  Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Christina Gonzalez coming
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  Speaker 1: up next, the name of the book offside. We are
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  Speaker 1: back with Christina Diez Gonzalez. I would love to know
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  Speaker 1: what your editing process is, because I mean, that's one
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  Speaker 1: of the worst things that I do as a writer.
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  Speaker 1: It's like, oh, I got a shorten that sentence. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: it's a run on center. Oh, and then I look
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  Speaker 1: at your novel here and I'm going, come on, Christina,
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  Speaker 1: come on.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it is very different writing a graphic novel. I
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  Speaker 2: will say that when I have the full chance to
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  Speaker 2: be able to create the story just with words and
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  Speaker 2: get into the inner thoughts of a character and the
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  Speaker 2: descriptive elements of the setting, all that gets stripped away
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  Speaker 2: when you do a graphic novel, and as a writer,
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  Speaker 2: you're solely relying on dialogue and maybe a few art
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  Speaker 2: notes to clue in the illustrator as to what your
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  Speaker 2: imagination is envisioning for that panel. But it really is
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  Speaker 2: you know, the editing, it's you know, trimming down, making
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  Speaker 2: sure that it'll fit into a little bubble. And then
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  Speaker 2: if you're doing it bilingual, that two, you know, you
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  Speaker 2: really have to be concise with your words because you
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  Speaker 2: know it's going to be translated in that same panel
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  Speaker 2: in another bubble. So there's a lot of trimming and
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  Speaker 2: being very, very selective with your word.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god, you bring up such a very important
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  Speaker 1: part because my friend from Costa Rica, Al, he used
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  Speaker 1: to tell me all the time, you crazy Americans, you
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  Speaker 1: have too many words, too many words, And so I
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  Speaker 1: was going to ask you about that, because if I
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  Speaker 1: we're sitting here right now, you go, see, this is
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  Speaker 1: what you do learn from Christina. She knows how to
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  Speaker 1: use her words.
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  Speaker 2: Oh oh, Al would have a time with me as well.
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  Speaker 2: I think when I'm writing most all of my other
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  Speaker 2: books are just traditional novels, and sometimes my editor will
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  Speaker 2: go in there and you know, you have to kill
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  Speaker 2: your darlings sometimes and just start trimming away, trimming away
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  Speaker 2: to get to the to the heart of what you
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  Speaker 2: wanted to say. So I'm not sure if speaking then
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  Speaker 2: being able to communicate in two languages, is that helpful
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  Speaker 2: as a writer and being concise, because sometimes you're thinking,
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  Speaker 2: I could say it even better in this language, and
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  Speaker 2: the translation makes it all all the bigger. Yeah. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And what I feel, and probably because I've been in
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  Speaker 1: radio for so long, is the fact that in reading
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  Speaker 1: the book and experiencing it, it reminded me so much,
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  Speaker 1: and I swear to God it really did, is that
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  Speaker 1: it took me back to the days of when Gloria
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  Speaker 1: Estefan first appeared on the music scene and we were
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  Speaker 1: all getting into conga, we were all getting into all
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  Speaker 1: the songs, and then you buy the album and it's
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  Speaker 1: in Spanish, and that was such an eye opener for
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  Speaker 1: so many people because we had never really experienced that
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  Speaker 1: back in the eighties and nineties.
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  Speaker 2: It's true, It's true. I remember, you know, Gloria. Gloria
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  Speaker 2: is a very beloved figure here in Miami, and you
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  Speaker 2: know she did open up that market. Yes, and not
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  Speaker 2: that my books are opening up the market, but there
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  Speaker 2: really weren't bilingual, dual language novels out there. Everything was
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  Speaker 2: all in English or all in Spanish. You would have
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  Speaker 2: a translation, but it would be all or nothing. And
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  Speaker 2: I just knew that graphic novels were such a wonderful
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  Speaker 2: medium to be able to incorporate both languages side by side,
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  Speaker 2: because the illustrations are a third language. Yes, so you
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  Speaker 2: have the two languages right next to each other. You
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  Speaker 2: can look at you know, the words you know in
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  Speaker 2: English or in Spanish, but then you also have this
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  Speaker 2: visual that's telling the story. So it really was a
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  Speaker 2: great opportunity to be able to showcase both languages and
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  Speaker 2: have the art support both of them.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the great opportunity is the fact that a first
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  Speaker 1: of all, you're you are bilingual, and so is my grandson.
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  Speaker 1: And and the thing is is that my grandson had
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  Speaker 1: a terrible time learning how to put words together in school,
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  Speaker 1: but he discovered graphic novels and now he's the manager
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  Speaker 1: of a major corporation. And it's one of those things
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  Speaker 1: where I'm going, you know, so when I see a
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  Speaker 1: graphic novel and I see what you're doing with both
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  Speaker 1: English as well as Spanish, my grandson becomes such a
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  Speaker 1: big part in my heart because I'm going, they do
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  Speaker 1: know that there are other Carlos's out there. They do
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  Speaker 1: know that, right, because I mean, you really do hit
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  Speaker 1: it right on.
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  Speaker 2: It's true. And and that was that was really the
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  Speaker 2: empathus to writing first and Visible and now Offside is
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  Speaker 2: to really showcase. It's like that, showcase kids that are
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  Speaker 2: in our community, that are in our school system, and
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  Speaker 2: make them the main characters. And you know, oftentimes we
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  Speaker 2: if we see them, see kids who speak two languages
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  Speaker 2: or are learning English for the first time, they're usually
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  Speaker 2: either a side character or not seen at all. And
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  Speaker 2: I really wanted to highlight them as one of the
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  Speaker 2: main characters.
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  Speaker 1: So when CBS Sunday Morning, or even Netflix or even
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  Speaker 1: Hulu picks us up and they tell a storyline, will
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  Speaker 1: you go the route of getting authentic people with their
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  Speaker 1: accents rather than going in, oh, I've got to get
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  Speaker 1: this actor. I've got to get this actor. And because
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  Speaker 1: I swear to got this storyline if it were go
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  Speaker 1: to moving pictures, deserves to have the authenticity of what
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  Speaker 1: my what my son in law says, I speak the street,
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  Speaker 1: and I went, oh, my god, Wan, I totally understand
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  Speaker 1: what you're saying. I speak the street and that's what
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  Speaker 1: you're doing inside this book.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, And I was very happy to know that Scholastic
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  Speaker 2: when they did the audio, ye, So for the audio
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  Speaker 2: of Invisible and for the audio of off Side. That
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  Speaker 2: was one of the very strong sticking points is that
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  Speaker 2: the voice actors, it's a full cast. The voice actors
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  Speaker 2: are authentic because I like I say, when you're speaking English,
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  Speaker 2: someone from England, from you know, Boston, Texas and Australia,
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  Speaker 2: everyone there is speaking English, but the accent is quite
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  Speaker 2: different and you can pick it out. Same with Spanish.
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  Speaker 2: So when you know a character is from Colombia, I
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  Speaker 2: want them to sound Colombian or Cuban or from Mexico.
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  Speaker 2: It's all very different, and a Spanish speaker will notice
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  Speaker 2: not only the slang, but the slight intonations that make
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  Speaker 2: each Spanish dialect a little different.
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  Speaker 1: You know what I do with people, especially with creative
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  Speaker 1: people that say that, oh, I'm going to go out there,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to learn the different Spanish in the Latin
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  Speaker 1: language is I'll sit there and I'll say it's got
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  Speaker 1: to start with the music, and they go, I don't understand.
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  Speaker 1: I Go go study Kumbia, Go study reggaeton, med inge,
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  Speaker 1: Go study in Salza. Go learn the different emotions that
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  Speaker 1: go into those storylines that are shoved into a song.
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  Speaker 1: And I just think that music is such a great
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  Speaker 1: tool for storytellers of the future.
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  Speaker 2: You are so right, and that is one of the
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  Speaker 2: things that you know, Spanish based music from all different
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  Speaker 2: regions really do tell a story. And just like you
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  Speaker 2: know American music and you have, you know, so many
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  Speaker 2: different experiences and people do tell their story through music.
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  Speaker 2: So just like in books though, I think that they
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  Speaker 2: go hand in hand.
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  Speaker 1: Where can people go to find out more about you, Christina?
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  Speaker 1: Because I do love your books. I love what you're
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  Speaker 1: doing it more importantly, it's Scholastic and you know how
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  Speaker 1: I feel about that.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, you can learn more about me and my books
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  Speaker 2: on my website Christina Gonzales dot com, and my books
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  Speaker 2: are available at you know, every local bookstore, your favorite
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  Speaker 2: online retailer.
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  Speaker 1: Please come back to this show anytime in the future.
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  Speaker 1: The door is always going to be open for you.
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  Speaker 2: Thank thank you so much, Aeron, thank you so much
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  Speaker 2: for the lovely supportive offside.
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  Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, thank you you too.