Cynthia Harrison's Blog, page 17

Creating Character

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I’ve done NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) before, dedicating the month of November to intense writing every day except Thanksgiving. This year, I need to kick-start my novel, working title Jane. She was Natasha until last week when I tried to pin down who she was and I got as far as she’s Jane not Natasha. It sounds weird that a name means so much but it does.

Yesterday I did my morning pages, which I write in longhand in top bound spiral notebooks with Dr Grip gel pens in blue, purple or black. Morning pages are not novel writing, they are anything I want to write about, and usually they’re more like a diary. But sometimes during morning pages the novel writing muse comes over me and I write what I need to for the new story.

Yesterday it was three pages of notes about who Jane is, what her past is, why she is who she is, why she’s suddenly moved from Michigan to St. Pete, Florida. Things Jane is not: she’s not anxious. She’s calm and methodical. She does not have panic attacks or take Xanax. I have used those internal issues in a few books, especially my latest Lily White in Detroit. It’s easy for me to tap into anxious characters, because I have anxiety and panic. But not Jane.

Jane is different in a lot of ways. She’s older than any main character I’ve written before. I’m older than the characters I write, and I’m older than Jane, but it’s still a bit difficult for me to write an older, wiser character. I know this because I’ve been trying to write Jane for awhile now. I usually manage to conjure up a few pages for my monthly critique group. But I have not got into the daily habit of writing a book. NaNoWriMo helps with developing that habit. For me, it’s the daily word count that you add to your personal NaNo page. It is so satisfying to see those pages add up. And if you write 50,000 words in a month, you get a badge. It sounds crazy but it’s possible. I’ve done it twice.

One reason I need a kick-start is because I have been promoting Lily White in Detroit like crazy. I did a lot of things (like spend money) that I usually don’t do. It paid off, I sold 500 books the day my BookBub ad appeared. But instead of writing the next book, I was checking my Amazon ratings every hour. And tweeting about Lily. And using my Facebook Author page to write about Lily. And working through the marketing plan Dora had made for me.

Dora is a publicist and she does website work, too. I hired her to help with a bunch of things. She designed my new website banner, and the matching ones for my Twitter page and Facebook Author page. She made a page on my website for my audio books, too. She wrote a detailed and lengthy marketing plan just for me and my novel. I have completed about  half of the stuff in the plan. I’m working through the rest of it slowly.

Marketing one book while writing another is difficult. But my real problem was finding Jane. I had to go through all the parts of the story to figure out what was wrong with it. I have a good mystery. I have a terrifying antagonist (the murderer). I have an excellent setting. I even have a really good sidekick. But Natasha/Jane was just not sparking for me. That turned out to be the problem. Character is the heart of my books and if I don’t connect with my protagonist, I don’t have much momentum or motivation.

A few days ago, I copied a quote that seemed to explain Jane. I jotted a few notes, too. These few words were keys that unlocked Jane’s character. Also the new name. Then yesterday the New York Times Book Review talked about psychological thrillers and how they recently have dual timelines. I had been thinking about structure. I’ve never had a dual timeline, where I go back and forth in the main character’s life. I flirted with trying the dual timeline but realized that’s not the story I’m writing. My story propels Jane forward. She isn’t one for looking back.

What this all means in terms of developing a character is that this time, for me, I had to first figure out what was wrong with my story. Why it wasn’t taking off. Why it bored me. Then I thought about how I could get to know Jane and pretty soon I found answers in unlikely places. Now I’m almost ready to go. In a few days I’ll be all set. NaNoWriMo starts November 1.

 

 

Where to Find Writing Inspiration

[image error]Before I was a published writer, I used to read writers’ biographies and letters for inspiration. I still do, but not so much. Instead of biographies, written by biographers sometimes even after the writer is dead, writers often pen their own memoirs these days. I love them. I’m not sure writers write letters to each other anymore–they’re more likely to email or chat in a private Facebook group. The internet has changed everything about the way we write. It has changed the entire writing landscape. Author websites and interviews abound online and of course they  inspire, but best of all is hearing an inspiring writer speak IRL. Nothing beats it.

Yesterday, Michigan Sisters in Crime (writing groups like Mi_Sinc are where you go to find great writer/speakers) hosted Michigan writer Karen Dionne, whose novel The Marsh King’s Daughter captured the attention of thirty publishing houses a few years ago. I’d heard Karen speak before, at another conference. Her story six or seven years ago was inspiring, but what was still to come would be a very happy surprise.

Karen had written in school, but didn’t continue writing once she married and had kids. In the 1970s, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula invited homesteaders, so Karen and her husband (along with their six-week old baby) moved to the UP and lived in a tent while they built their cabin. Karen remained busy for a long time making a home in a fairly isolated area and didn’t think much about writing until her son won a creative writing award at school. Karen found that several famous writers would be at the award ceremony, and she was determined to go.

Those famous writers inspired Karen so much she set about writing a book and finding an agent. She credits her agent with teaching her how to write as they went through six drafts of her first (still unpublished) effort at a novel. Then she snagged a book contract with two science-based thrillers. When they didn’t sell zillions of copies, her publisher dropped her. But her agent stuck with her and she landed a project she calls “work for hire.” A television show wanted her to write a book using the characters and setting of that show. She was paid a flat fee and does not own the rights to that work.

Meanwhile, she was busy in the writing world with her public speaking and with an online community she helped form. The popular writer’s conferences they held in New York each year took lots of planning. She wasn’t writing, but she was in the writing world, putting on conferences, speaking about writing and helping to nurture new writers. She was learning and networking as she went along, too. Then, after a number of years, the conferences came to a natural stopping place, and Karen was suddenly free to write another book.

She wasn’t sure she had one in her, but the first sentence of The Marsh King’s Daughter came to her as she was falling asleep one night. She remembered it the next day and she still thought it was a good first line. She was intrigued by the voice that had spoken and wanted to see what else this voice had to say. She worked on the novel steadily for a year and a half with no contract and no publisher. Her agent encouraged her and praised an early draft as her best work yet.

When the book was ready to be submitted to publishers, Karen received dozens of offers from major publishing houses. Editors loved it. There was a buzz about this fabulous new work. Many offers were made by editors and finally she signed with her dream editor and her first choice publisher for lots of money. The book went on to receive praise from The New York Times Book Review and many other literary stars, authors and reviewers alike. The book, still with that same first sentence that came to her in the night, became a best seller.

It was an overnight sensation that was some thirty years in the making. Karen had set her book in the small UP homestead where she’d lived as a young wife and mother. The authentic feel of the setting is one part of the book that makes it special. The voice of her main character is also often singled out for praise. Then there’s the brilliant concept: the story is told by the adult child of a woman who had been kidnapped, raped and held for years against her will. There’s a dual timeline as the reader slowly gleans what life was like for the young girl who thought her family was perfectly normal.

Karen is warm and funny. She’s also a generous writer who answered all our many questions about the craft and the business of writing. I know I was not the only writer to come away with a new determination to keep pushing myself even when it seems like that big break is never going to come. Because if you keep writing, you never know where your career will go next.  If you don’t write the book, there is zero chance of landing a fabulous publishing deal.

Many of us wanted to know Karen’s secret formula for success. Her #1 piece of writing advice was to fearlessly write the best book you can. Follow your gut, not the writing rules. Try new things if they feel right. She promises that if you write a great book, agents and editors are out there ready and waiting for it.

Free Creative Writing Manual

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I have been wanting to have one of my books on my website in a free PDF format for a long time. I have published ten books and some of them are still under contract with my publisher. That’s fine, I have a a few self-published books and they are mine to use as I see fit. I decided since this site is all about writing, the logical choice is my first book, which is a creative writing memoir and manual.

In this book I was trying to do something that would help my creative writing students, who wanted to write all sorts of things: song lyrics and scriptwriting were the two most popular The way I structured my creative writing classes, my prime goal was to have everyone write a completed project, something that they could publish. And I wanted it to be of their own choice, whatever form. There was no book for that, so I wrote it.

I have no evidence of this, but I believe many writers search around a bit before they find their chosen form. I started with song lyrics and poetry, went on to short stories, dabbled in book reviewing, blogged my heart out and tried again and again to write a novel. So I had some experience in many of my students’ chosen forms. Not scriptwriting, but I had read screenwriting books by Linda Seger because they work for novelists too. I still dip into Seger’s Making a Good Character Great when I need inspiration.

Another thing that helped me teach creative writing was the number of workshops and conferences I’d been to, not to mention all the books I’d read on how to write. There’s a list of the best of those how-to books at the end of the book. The reason I say it’s a “memoir/manual” is because I wove my own writing experiences and some of my writing to use as examples through the book. I covered a lot of ground.

Just last weekend, I was at a conference and mentioned I was putting my writing manual permanently free on my website. She said “That’s the book I need” so I gave her a card. I hope for some of you, this might be the book you need, too. You can find a link to the PDF on the first page and on the book page, too.

Ways to Renew Your Writing Spirit

[image error]I am spiritual, although my journey has been interrupted for a few years while I fretted and fumed about the state of the material world, politics, how unloved I felt and what ranking my new novel had on Amazon. These were some of the dark concerns that drew me away from my spiritual practices.

Enter my dear friend and fellow writer, Weam Namou. Weam is many things: a writer, a filmmaker, a journalist, a cable news host, a wife and mother. She is also a teacher and a healer. To that end she organized a spiritual retreat this past weekend. Her program, The Path of Consciousness, brought together many workshop leaders in a beautiful setting for three days of practicing both writing and matters of the spirit. These teachers showed participants how to blend the two. I never knew how to marry spirit and writing, or if I did, I forgot. This retreat was just what I needed.

My day of spiritual renewal started with a vision board workshop with Sonya Julie. I have done vision boards for my novels and vision portfolios for my home and work life. When you are attracted to something, envision it as part of your life. There’s a good chance it will manifest. To keep the vision front and center, have a visual reference. Sonya brought magazines, glue sticks, scissors and colored pens—as well as index cards—for each of us to create a vision card. The card I made in her class became my motif for the day.

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Next class went for a walk in the woods with Patty Shaw. She used the root chakra to help us drop what was holding us back so we could move forward into the new. We stood still before a set of steps that led down into the woods and felt the negative energies we held so tightly inside gather in the root of our body. Then we went down the path into the woods where we dropped the negative energy into the earth where it dissipated. Next we filled ourselves with the good in nature and emerged from the dark path into the light. The was more on this walk but that moment, when I let go of so much negativity, was life-changing.

I didn’t really get how writing and spirit worked together until a sacred experience in meditation class. We did a guided mediation with the third eye chakra (indigo blue) and the sacral chakra (orange). Heather Rae, owner of Little Lotus Wellness Studio in Ferndale, instructed us to envision the third eye and color as the higher creative spirit inside and the lower sacral chakra and color as the birth of creativity. She had us envision passing from one to the next, pouring into and feeding each other.

I did not expect what happened next.

As I envisioned this chakra energy as colors, it began to wind through me and I could see in my mind’s eye that, as the colors met, they blended. It was like I had a circle of energy passing through me and even out into the air. It was amazing. I felt totally refreshed after that. I saw how writing and spirit co-exist.

Weam herself taught the last workshop. I have been journaling for many years. It’s my firmest ritual, and I’ve come to depend on it to ground me at the beginning of every day. Still, my routine had become a bit, well, routine. I was going through the motions but nothing was happening on an energetic, spiritual or even creative writing level. Yes, I was clearing a path, but perhaps Weam could show me how to do more with this beloved practice.

The best advice for me, and I feel it will energize and recharge my morning pages, is that when I notice my writing (this is free writing, so nothing that you’d publish or even share) gets bogged down with negatives, to turn it around with a question. “Why am I feeling so hopeless?” for example. Next, quickly write down ten reasons why you may be feeling less than positive. I have a list. It starts with politics and ends with gender bias with a slab of sexual violence toward women in between. Where do I get all this from? Another list…television, social media, print media, books, conversation. How to heal this negativity? Pretty easy. Limit television news. Choose friends wisely and keep books and media positive.

It has not been lost on me that my biggest obstacle in this life is fear. Fear is also the name of a book currently on my Kindle. I’m not going to put my head in the sand, but I am going to work on balancing my life by being more focused on the spiritual. Spirit is what has been lacking. It’s always been there, but I’ve ignored it in favor of worldly chaos.

One thing Weam said makes so much sense. “Look deeper into your negative patterns of thought. What is in your home? What is on your phone? Your television? What kind of pictures are on your walls?”

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Weam pointed out that there are metaphors for what we need to heal everywhere. For me that’s especially true in my home. I’ve worked really hard to make my home reflect my spirit. But I could do more. So I brought out my crystals and singing bowl from where they were tucked away on a shelf and put them front and center in my writing room. I turned off the television and turned inward. And as I hoped it would, this retreat into spirit has unburdened my soul and renewed me for the journey ahead.

 

 

Stealth Book Giveaway

[image error]In September, my blog birthday month, I like to do nice things for people who visit my website. A few years ago, I extended the giveaway to my friends on social media. This year I did myself one better. I had an IRL spontaneous giveaway of my new novel. It was so fun. Everything just came together to make it happen.

I was in Florida without internet the first ten days of September so couldn’t set up any traditional giveaways like Goodreads. (The photo above is the basket our Michigan Sisters in Crime donated for a charity auction.) For part of my Florida time, I was at a book convention. I had several copies of my new release with me, just in case the bookseller ran out and needed more. I was walking with my fellow Michigan Sisters in Crime member, Bobbi, and I realized I didn’t want to carry MY books and all the hardcover books we got inside a book bag when we registered. I took out a book and handed it to Bobbi. “Here! My present to you!”

She said she would buy it but I just waved that away. My September giveaway had begun. In the hallway there was a long table full of free books. Lots of people obviously felt like me and didn’t want to carry a book bag full of hardcovers around or maybe they had duplicates or something. Anyway the books were there and I went over and put a copy of my book on top of the pile. I walked by ten minutes later and it was gone. So I put another one in the pile. After the panel discussion, I noticed that second one was gone, too. So I put a third book on the pile and two women who were sorting through the books looked at me.

“You wrote this? You know this is the free table, right?”

I said, yes, I wrote it and yes I knew it was the free table. One of them immediately grabbed it and tucked it in her book bag. I was having such a good time giving away my books. (You know how that works, right? Do something for someone else and you’ll feel happy, too.) Then I noticed on Facebook people were saying they bought the new book or they wanted to order a copy. I was in Florida and two of the friends who commented that they wanted to get the book were there, too. So I gave them books. Then I gave my dad one,  because he asked. He’d never read any of my previous books.

(My dad’s reaction after reading my book was so sweet. On my last day in Florida, he took me out to dinner and he said “I can’t put that book down!” My book. Then he said “How did you do that? How did you know all that stuff?” I told him a little bit about how I researched the book. “You are a really good writer, honey. You are as good a writer as any of them.” My dad reads a book a day, all mysteries, so this was a huge compliment. He looked at me a new way that dinner. He always had loved me, but now he was a little bit in awe of me. It was so sweet.)

Keeping it in the family, my brother had asked via Facebook if he was ever going to get a copy of my novel and I promised him one as well. The first thing my mom said to me when she came to my house for a family party in August was “Do you have a book for me?” I gave her one. I gave my small critique group each a book, and we don’t usually do that. We usually buy each other’s books as a show of support. But I had dedicated this book to them, because parts of it were so difficult to write and they listened to my technical problems, gave suggestions and cheered me on through the whole thing.

They would not let me give up. I almost did. In fact I took a break and wrote a Christmas mystery. So that’s how the giveaway worked this year. I gave print and eBook copies to random people on Facebook and Twitter and print copies to friends and family. I gifted 16 books, which is something I also like to do. Every September, I give away a book for every year my blog has been live. I’ve been here since 2002. 16 years.

I still have one last blog birthday surprise. It is in the works as I write this, and won’t be ready to reveal until early October. I am so excited about this last surprise. I am bursting to tell you what it is but I’m going to hold off until it arrives. Stay tuned.

Once a Romance Writer

[image error]It’s not a bad thing to say that once you are labeled a romance writer, you will always be a romance writer. It’s just true. At least for me. No matter what I write. I’m okay with that label. I’m okay with the multicultural label too. At least it’s a bigger box.

I was on Amazon a lot yesterday because I had a Book Bub ad and was checking on my rankings obsessively. I noticed that all my categories except for “Best Sellers” (My book is #335 on that list this morning) have romance at the beginning of the ranking line, despite Book Bub slotting me into crime fiction, where I think it is better suited. Anyway, on Amazon, my numbers look like this:

#3 in Books > Romance > Multicultural

#5 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Multicultural & Interracial

#25 in Books > Romance > Romantic Suspense

Those were my rankings about 10 pm last night EST. Amazon is three hours behind us in Seattle, so it would have been 7 pm there. I wanted to stay up to see if the book ever got to #1 but I’d had a glass or three of celebratory wine and just couldn’t make it. (I have no idea if you can retro-check something like that; if you know, please tell me!)

Another new thing I noticed this morning on Amazon is my “Author Rank.” I don’t know if I ever had one before or if the number was too high to mention, but this morning it is #56 in Romantic suspense , #57 in Suspense #61 in Mystery & Suspense.

I am not a numbers person and I don’t do well with analytics and charts and things. I am not sure what any of it means, not precisely, but in general I think it’s all good. When my book first came out I was #onebilliontrillion in the “best seller” category, and into the thousands in other categories, so a lot of progress has been made.

Writing this post has made me look a little more closely at my rankings and I now see that not all of them call me a romance writer. Those Author Ranks only mention it once out of five labels. The categories are four romance and four other labels. And really, I don’t mind any label. IRL I am an extremely romantic person. I love a good love story and absolutely insist on having Whole Lotta Love in my marriage. My husband likes Led Zeppelin so it works out for us.

Even when I set out to write a book with NO ROMANCE, it still gets in there somewhere in the plot. I’m in very early stages of writing my next book, set in St Pete, and so far there is no romance. I deliberately made the female lead 20 years older than the male lead, who is in love with someone else who does not love him, and for good reason. But like I said it’s early days in the new book and I said the same thing at the start of Lily White in Detroit.  

A wise writer once told me that labels and categories are useful to publishers, booksellers, and agents. Not so much for writers. Gotta say, I agree.

September Surprises

[image error]It’s September, which is the month, 16 years ago, I started blogging on this site. It continues to be such a joy to me and I love interacting with my readers. I have arranged with my publisher to put the Kindle edition (also Nook and ePub) of my new release Lily White in Detroit on sale for 99 cents. This deal is a very limited time offer.

I’m an avid reader and when I discovered I spent more than $200 in one month for e-books, I decided to put myself on a book budget. Now I look for those 99 cent deals, so if you do, too, this is for you.

I do have more surprises coming this month. I’ll be giving away free e-books and print editions from my backlist. I also plan to make at least one of my backlist permanently free, maybe on my website. Stay tuned for more September surprises.

 

What Is a Multicultural Novel?

[image error]When I find the courage to peek at my Amazon rankings, I consistently see my highest ranking in the category of “multicultural” novels. I was surprised I had written a multicultural novel. I thought I’d written a crime novel. There’s an interracial romance; maybe that makes the book multicultural. And maybe also because it is set in Detroit, a city with a black majority population. Then there’s my white main character, who writes from a first person pov.

My book’s been out about a month and it’s taken me this much time to think about the multicultural label and what it means. Is it good? Is it bad? Does it matter? My first concern was if I had been accidentally slotted into a category where I did not belong and had no right to be in. I did a search for adult multicultural novels and was relieved to see I’d read and adored most of them: Life of Pi, Poisonwood Bible, The Namesake, The Kite Runner, Like Water For Chocolate. This was not academic research, just a quick look at Goodreads. Barbara Kingsolver is the only white author in my short list. Other authors are Indian-American, Spanish-Canadian, Mexican, Afghan-American.

Next I came across an essay-ish letter from a famous Detroit novelist. I’d read and adored his book, too. Middlesex is also set in Detroit, but in another era, when there were many first generation immigrants settling in Detroit, and the family in Middlesex is still steeped in Greek tradition, which is how the novel ALMOST became multicultural. The author is very happy that he did not allow that to happen as he believes that to call a novel “multicultural” is to subtly denigrate it.

Oh!

Here’s what I think. Amazon will have her labels and it has nothing to do with authors or books. In all the books I mentioned, two cultures mash up against each other, make accommodations or not. That is happening in Detroit and it is happening all over the USA. I see it every night on television when white police officers shoot black men and boys, over and over, night after night. I see it in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. I see it when CK takes a knee and some people don’t get that it is not about disrespect for the flag or our military. With the disarray our country is in, I didn’t know how I could write a novel set in Detroit with a white woman protagonist and simply ignore race.

On the other hand, I wasn’t sure how to include race. For a minute I thought I might be able to ignore it because I didn’t have a clue how to do it. But I write realism, or something close to it, and I had my heart set on writing a crime novel set in Detroit featuring Lily White. I didn’t know she’d meet a black cop. I didn’t know they’d click. But it makes sense. Half the cops in Detroit are black. Once I had those two locked in as the main characters, I found my way. And whatever anyone wants to call it is okay with me.

 

 

 

Where Mystery Readers and Writers Meet: Bouchercon 2018

[image error]My head is crammed with information gleaned since the four-hour workshop that kicked off this years’ Bouchercon here in St Pete. I’m only down here in my new second hometown for ten days, most of them gone. I miss my husband, so it’s good I’m going home, even though events conspired to get me here. Last year, at about this time, I thought my book might be out and I could sell it at Bouchercon. I’d heard as many readers as writers come to this event.

First crime novel + Home = Synchronicity.

It seemed too good of a coincidence to pass up. If it all came together, and it did. Just barely. My book came out a few weeks before the conference and I was able to get them into Murder on the Beach bookstore. My sweet little home away from home is always ready for me, all I had to do was book a flight and turn the key. The drive downtown every day was a treat as the conference hotel is on the water. Also, it’s a beautiful venue.

Right away I found out that anyone who wants to can suggest their city for Bouchercon. But if you do, you’re agreeing to do all the work required to set up this massive event. This happened when a was writing in one of the many cozy alcoves at the Vinoy and some people came to join me, asking how I liked the conference so far. Everyone at Bouchercon is very friendly. You really can’t find a quiet corner to write, and why would you want to? People are so interesting and I spend enough time with my characters.

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Did I say that I met my friend Marla, who I have known on the internet for many years, IRL for the first time? That was fun. When we shared our schedules, we found that we’d chosen many of the same panels. That’s a big difference at Bouchercon: panels, not workshops, rule. Readers want to hear from their favorite writers, as many of them as possible. There were also interviews with super-popular writers like Karin Slaughter and  Denmark’s “Queen of Thriller” Sara Blaedel.

During Sara’s interview, I spotted Lee Child in the room. Just like he was a regular person. Earlier I’d seen Karin Slaughter on a panel where, aside from the occasional wisecrack and one or two anecdotes, she mostly kept her head down. Both Sara and Karin said they were introverts and public speaking didn’t come naturally to them. That explained Karin’s demeanor during the panel, otherwise, you’d never know it. They are both eloquent, inspiring and funny.

My biggest take-away was that almost all the mystery writers, and especially the thriller authors, used at least pieces of true crime stories to springboard off and start writing their novels. I felt comforted by this fact, since my crime novel also has shades of a famous Detroit criminal case. I was just like them!

I’m also introverted, like so many writers. We are most comfortable in our writing chairs, working on stories. Or reading books. That was another common theme that came up over and over again: these world-famous best-selling authors read all the time. Novels, poetry, non-fiction. It was something brought up on every panel. If you want to be a writer, you must be a reader. I already knew that and I read more than I write, so again, something in common.

[image error]My biggest personal a-ha was realizing that I was happy not to be famous. I would not have been comfortable up there in the spotlight. One famous author confessed to using beta-blockers, and he got plenty of knowing laughs. Many performers use this medication as it masks the symptoms of stage fright. Musicians particularly can’t play their instruments if their hands are shaking with fear and their head is full of panic. I have used beta-blockers myself for migraine, but found that they are equally effective when I popped one for a migraine before I gave a talk at a library.

I don’t like giving talks. I was a teacher for a long time, so I got used to having workshops ( taught creative writing and literature courses). But the ease of teaching doesn’t translate into feeling comfortable on a stage. So I came away from Bouchercon feeling that my own writing career is working out just fine for me. Would I love a million dollar contract, like Karen Dionne (fellow Detroit area writer, who won Best Novel award for The Marsh King’s Daughter) or Michael Connelly (also in attendance) or any of the other stars? Sure. But I’m also fine as I am, and I am for sure not holding my breath.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Detroit’s New Century

Detroit in 1967 barely survived a race riot. The rioting had its roots in the black community’s frustration and simmering anger at blatant discriminatory treatment, particularly by a white, and often racist, police force. Fires flared and looting was rampant. By the end of the week, the National Guard had been called in, and government tanks patrolled Woodward Avenue. Detroit lay in ruin.

I was 12 years old and fear reached into my little community just outside the city limits. I didn’t understand what was going on but I loved Motown music and I wasn’t going to let any white grown up tell me how to feel about black people. Motown had captured my heart, and I knew, even then, what side I was on. These were affirmative action years; I heard hate speech all the time, but I knew I was on the side of right. The side that said all people, regardless of race, were entitled to respect.

[image error]In 1967, white families left the city in droves. Houses were vacant or burned and black people began to buy guns in hope of some kind of self-defense against the corrupt powers that dug ever deeper into their city. Overnight, the Motor City became the Murder City. Crime shot way up and cooperation between the races had all but vanished. Nevertheless, by the time I was a teenager, the city’s allure attracted suburban kids like me who grew up on Motown music and who learned from the lessons unfolding before us. Martin Luther King preached peace; Rosa Parks just wanted to sit on the bus. Racism is wrong.

My friends and I sought out new music in Detroit’s decaying ballrooms like Eastown and the Grande. Where once fancy dances were held, now kids, both black and white, roamed the dance floor, listening to the MC5 open for bands from like The Who, Fleetwood Mac and Cream. At one concert, I sat crossed legged on the floor in front of the stage convinced that Yes were really English housewives pulling a joke on Americans. They looked like women, they were very skinny, with shiny blouses, make up and high heels. Their voices were high, and so was I. They of course were men, just dressing up as glam rockers were starting to do back then.

Despite the fears of our parents, white kids came to the city for summer concerts on the river, for the jazz festival held at outdoor Hart Plaza, for the ethnic festivals, too. We freely mingled with black kids our own age and no harm was ever done. I think one white girl one time had her gold necklace ripped off her neck by a black girl, and the news made a big deal of it, but I was there and we were all peaceniks back then. Still, Detroit had not recovered economically and the neighborhoods had as many abandoned as occupied houses. The abandoned homes soon turned into drug houses, crash pads and crack dens.

[image error]Detroit’s first stab at urban renewal came with the appropriately named Renaissance Center, a group of skyscraper hotels and businesses on the riverfront, constructed in 1977. It’s been a slow climb uphill since then. We’ve had some bumps along the way. The 2008 housing market disaster deeply affected Detroit. One solution the city came up with was to sell houses for as little as a dollar. This got the millennials interested and a white population once again began to very so slowly grow. During the late half of the twentieth century, white people had come to Detroit to work and to play, but not to stay.

Now, in the new century, Detroit policemen are equal parts black and white. Young white folks are buying homes, putting down new roots, and staying. GM and Ford have a significant presence in the city once again. All the sports teams built new stadiums in the city and Ford Field hosted the Super Bowl a few years ago. Many shabby hotels got pricey makeovers to host football fans. Restaurants popped up everywhere. Casinos came in, adding another dash of glamour. Just this year, Ford bought the long vacant train station with plans to restore it to its former glory.

For me, Detroit is and always was a treasure. Yes, it lost a bit of its luster, but I always knew it would come back. It has, though people who are not from the area don’t seem to know it. That’s why I set my novel, Lily White in Detroit, in my favorite city. I wanted to showcase the place, the people, the relationship between black and white, as it really is today in this new century. It’s not a perfect city and I don’t pretend it is. But the potential for renewal has slowly and at times painfully, grown once again into a city Detroiters are proud to call their own.