Allison Hurd's Blog, page 3

Whistle While I Work

Okay, this is kind of a misnomer. I can’t whistle. The closest I get is blowing raspberries, but I can tell from how people studiously ignore me that that has the opposite of the intended effect.

But I do have music I listen to. I try to spice it up every now and then with new music or new-to-me artists, but the backbone remains the same.

I have a few criteria:

It must have vocals. I don’t know why I can’t listen to music without vocals but if I listen to instrumentals for too long I get antsy and unfocused.
Mostly slower tempo. If it’s too upbeat, I want to get up and do things! Slower music makes it easier to stay in one place.
But a good variety. If it’s all slow and sad, then the writing tends to get a bit navel-gazy. One time I was editing something I’d written while watching an Australian period piece and all of my characters started sounding like 1920’s aristocracy. I am prone to falling into the mood of the things I consume.
Must be “on message.” The sounds have to fit the piece I’m writing. So, for this series, most of the music is about mythology, the sense of the foreboding, taking journeys, and girl power.

What music inspires you?

Don’t forget that you can still get Feeding Frenzy for free until midnight! And that Sacrifice is also on sale!

Making a Community: Inclusion Is Exclusion

So far, we’ve covered the micro and the macro aspects of community building. There’s one more key element to communities, and that’s defining who isn’t in your community.

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This is probably the hardest part, and also the most important.

People with good aims–creating strong communities, wanting a thriving business, whatever–tend not to also like being the person to send folks on their way. We have the belief that being a good host means that everyone is welcome, or that the customer is always right.

I’m here to tell you this is hogwash. This is how you get Facebook allowing pictures of lynching, but banning people for showing a woman breastfeeding. This is how you get a bully for a customer and no one else in the shop.

As with the previous posts, I suggest there are two steps to the process of including by excluding.

Defining “Us”

Who gets to be in the group? It’s not everyone, that’s for sure. If you’re a forum about basketball, you don’t want people to be talking about knitting in every thread. If you’re a restaurant, you likely don’t want people using your chairs to eat the food they brought in from elsewhere. So who is your target market? Who gets to speak or receive services or whatever it is you’re encouraging just because they’re “in group?”

To stick with the example I’m most familiar with, it isn’t enough to say “everyone who likes books is welcome in my book club.” It isn’t true, first of all. While folks are certainly welcome to mention books in general, our book club is genre-specific, and the conversation would be tedious for anyone not deep in that genre. If I said “fiction,” it would send the wrong message and frustrate people looking for clubs with broader scopes.

The next part is all of what those demographics: gender, race, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age and so on. If I say “this is for everyone who loves genre fiction,” and the only books we read were by people who were white, what would that be communicating about my target audience? What if all the authors were straight or American?

This isn’t just a consideration for topics, it’s also something to be considered in conversation. What stereotypes or generalizations are being allowed? Who is allowed to “make jokes” at others’ expense? People notice these things. Again, in books, if a response to a woman-authored science fiction book is “why don’t we read anything besides romances any more?” and this goes unchallenged, the community builders have made it clear that women in this group are not considered equally talented or as multi-faceted as men. Who wants to stay in that environment?

When considering this, it’s important to remember that there are structural elements to different demographics and how they perceive who you’re encouraging.

An example. Two job descriptions are posted. One highlights benefits such as paid new parent leave, flexible scheduling, comprehensive health care, and asks for a communicative team member for a well balanced international team.

Another says that the candidate should be flexible in how many hours they work, be able to take a joke, and must be a real go-getter. What do you surmise about who these are targeting? Which job do you think would appeal more to a more diverse group of people?

There is a world of difference between “everyone is welcome” and “you’re invited.” Knowing who you’re inviting, and making it a safe, welcoming spot for them is crucial to communicating what your community does and who it serves.

Leaders Are Bouncers

And here’s the even harder part. People who seem like they belong in the group may not actually be a part of “us.” It’s possible there’s something nefarious in their hearts, and we get to play Captain America, taking the high road against Hydra and fascists with poise and clarity.

No, I’m not gonna talk about the Hydra BS

But that’s not it most of the time. Some people are perfectly good people, but they’re not a good fit for your group, and to protect the group, a community builder must censure or remove that person. Another example. A study group is meeting in the library. They’re all talking about studious matters in a section that allows quiet talking. One person, on topic and helpful, keeps forgetting the rule and speaks at full volume.

That person is not allowed in the quiet section anymore. They haven’t done anything bad; they’re a perfectly good person and are allowed in the study rooms that are more boisterous, or to use the library for resources, they simply can’t be part of a quiet study group. This might feel unfair to someone who was trying to follow the rules, but the quiet section of the library isn’t a place where everyone studious can go do whatever they want. The rule isn’t “people who are being scholarly” the rule is “people who can talk quietly.” It might feel harsh, but for those of us who’ve been in those quiet cars on trains or quiet sections of the library, how intrusive is it when one person refuses to follow the rules (or doesn’t know them)? And what is your reaction? Some of us might have a confrontation, but most people take the path of least resistance and leave. So, if three other study groups move to other sections because one person in one study group is not following the community guidelines, who is actually being excluded?

If you do not intercede, your group will always fall the loudest, most aggressive ideology. If you want something different for your community, the community organizer/moderator/leader will have to be the one to stand up and lay down the rules.

It is tough, but it’s made easier by having community rules prominently displayed and referenced regularly. It is good to model corrective behavior that is not itself abusive or harsh, simply a reminder of the rules. And, most importantly, it is critical that there be a breaking point when actions have real consequences. Removing people should not be taken lightly, but it is essential to the health of the group.

My group has both posting rules and a harassment policy. It is enforced. People do run afoul of it from time to time and consequences range from a reminder of the rules, post deletion, emails asking for specific changes or to present the rules, or finally, removal from the group. We attempt to leave room for clarification and apology, as tone is very difficult to convey consistently in writing, and is subject to typos, confusion or language barriers just like anywhere else. But it is made absolutely clear that some things will not be tolerated and if someone responds that they will not follow our rules, it’s clear that our community is not a good match for them. This isn’t the marketplace of ideas, I am not a government that must worry about censorship, and my community is not the place for certain sorts of commentary.

It is up to you to determine what tools you have to enforce community rules, but I would absolutely keep them at hand and some sort of consensus with any other community managers on the sorts of things to be policed. Keep open communication between community managers, have clear rules, and enforce them as consistently as possible. If someone keeps running up against the rules, no matter how great they are, it might be time they are gone.

Keep in mind the parable of the missing stair. The “missing stair” reflects an idea that there are some people that a group knows to avoid or appease. Like the broken stair that everyone familiar with a home might simply jump over, these people go un-addressed and cause strife for newcomers unfamiliar with the lay of the land. We all know what is about to happen, but because of complacency, we do not stop it from hurting others. Is it fair to subject everyone to poor behavior stemming from one individual? Are we actually participating in the harm if we know it is bound to occur and do not work to mitigate it?

Answering the questions of who you are, what is unacceptable, and what consequences you can impose are I think the three biggest considerations for a community builder to address. It’s easy to treat everyone like family when you don’t have to worry about whether or not someone will do something offensive. It’s not so difficult to grow when it’s clear who you’re looking for. Making and enforcing rules that actually encourage the sort of community you’re seeking is hard work–see: social media at large. But, when done right, it makes all our world feel a little kinder, a little closer, and allows us to define ourselves by our passions. This is the absolute joy of community and my ultimate goal.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the series on community building! I look forward to seeing you all in a kinder, passionate world!

Making a Community: Plan Big

Last week I talked about how keeping your focus narrow and your interactions intimate help create a strong, robust community. Today, I’ll talk about how to use this for big plans.

Have Goals

While the scope and attention should be laser focused on the fandom or experience that binds you all together, it’s still important to see how the group measures up. If more people are leaving than joining, that might be an indication that there’s something that doesn’t appeal to your target market–perhaps even that you’re incorrectly targeting yourself! Participation and membership are two common measurements of “success” but often this feels a bit like having a goal of making more money. Sounds great, how do you get there?

While I do watch the numbers for participation and membership for my book club, they’re backed by smaller, more concrete goals that I can actively pursue.

Some of my previous goals were:

-Increasing the diversity of our group reads to include more women, people of color, and LGBTQIA people. 

Reading intentionally is difficult because the culture so often confuses noticing differences for acting on those differences. To end the status quo, we must define it, and purposefully act to normalize minority viewpoints. In terms of community, this serves two purposes: making room for important, informed conversation of topics that traditionally fragment us, and signalling to minorities that not only are they “welcome” to find a space with us, we are actively interested in creating a space where their stories are appreciated.

–Replying at least half the time to someone’s comments and building off their contribution

The internet is full of people screaming into the void. Community, however, is about considering those around you. A response to someone (with an intentional focus on interacting with newer members, and striving to respond at least periodically to everyone so that they know they are all seen) says that you’re listening and glad of someone to talk to.

–Mentioning all people by name who posted between a post I wanted to reply to and the latest reply. 

Again, it is so easy to see an endless stream of avatars as little boxes that make words. When we humanize people, we bestow those people with value, and generally make them more likely to want to stay, contribute, and value others.

-Complimenting people for contributions I found useful or thought-provoking

Positive reinforcement is a powerful tool in how community builders define what it is that makes their community.

-Starting 1 new thread a day

Increase activity, increase response was my hypothesis.

-Modeling direct, non-confrontational feedback

It’s the internet, so there’s going to be conflict. I hope that civil, direct but non-aggressive responses that leave room for correction or explanation will diffuse most conflicts, encourage people to be kind, and demonstrate that kindness and accepting abuse are not the same.

As you can see, this is a blend of SMART goals and soft goals–personal attempts at changing my behavior that are ongoing and have no measurable result.

These helped me focus on how I wanted the community designed, and I hoped would encourage participation. I think it did, as we now have the largest SFF book club on Goodreads, we have more people who openly discuss their gender or sexual orientation and how it impacts their reading, and a growing number of authors who are not ablebodied cis-het white American men on our group bookshelf, but who’ve managed to write works that have become noteworthy in SFF and have opened people up to new subgenres and cultures. The success we’ve achieved adds intention to the community, helps define who we are with our actions, and I hope fosters an environment people enjoy.

Remember it’s public

While I think you should treat the community like a small unit, remember it is still full of people with different viewpoints, intentions, and values. Communicate like this is something you’ll have to read out loud in court. If you’re the person in charge of building the community, there can’t be room for you to “just make a joke,” or to unleash on someone. It has to be consistent, it has to be respectful, and you must be ready to apologize when inevitably you make a mistake. Mistakes are going to happen, so be prepared. Research how to speak nonviolently, learn about new-to-you cultures and identities, and learn to make sincere, undramatic apologies. Leave the tearful confessions for Youtube.

Or, I guess, a costume.

I also suggest writing with the core demographic constantly in mind, concretely defined. Who is my community? Who do I need to feel safe and welcome? Who needs more space carved for them so that they know I see them? Who needs encouragement?

“Readers” is my demographic, but as we’ll discuss more next week, that isn’t specific enough. Our book club is international, our book club is non-denominational, is supportive of queer people, actively promotes and supports people of color, believes that all genders should be equal and that there is no wrong way to love science fiction or fantasy. If I want this to be true, I have to speak broadly to those topics, which can sound a bit like grandstanding, but if my message is consistent, it is my hope that it will read as genuine. So, for example, I do not diss entire subgenres, instead I clarify what works and what does not work for me as an individual. I do not seek superiority of any ideology, gender, race, or orientation, I seek diversity and proportionality. I understand that we will come with different tolerances, cultural norms, and comfort level with English, so encourage people to share what they can about their experiences, and try to ensure folks feel appreciated rather than gawked at. If someone is behaving in a way that could be perceived as harmful, I make sure I am part of the response, so that victims aren’t forced to heal and defend at the same time.

Think small, plan big! Next week I’ll conclude my thoughts on this subject with a post about exclusion as a tool for inclusion.

Making A Community: Thinking Small

I know nothing about starting a community, okay? An influencer I am not. But I do spend an inordinate amount of time reflecting on what makes a community and how we help them flourish. Over the next three weeks, I’ll be talking about some reflections I have on what I think is important when cultivating a sense of community.

In the first week, I’d like to focus on keeping the focus small.

Not in terms of reach or ambition, of course. I like my ambitions like I like my coffee: as large as can be legally allowed. But I also love going into my local joint and having everyone know my name, my order, and catching up with me on the latest coffee gossip….you know, the buzz.

Two important parts to my approach to community are remembering the focus of the community and acting like it’s a small group of close friends.

Limit the Scope

The thing about community is that it starts for a reason. There’s something that brought everyone together and kept them there. Even as the group grows, the commonality is what binds everyone together. It can be tempting to want to try to expand, to include more sorts of people or people with peripheral interests. But really focusing on what made people interested in the first place tends to pay off, unless you’re willing to put in the work to support other aspects of the community. It’s hard to split your attention, but doing the thing you love is easy! So focus on that and infuse it with all your passion and energy.

Sometimes it makes sense to have tangents. But most of the time, if you split your core competency, you also split your loyalty. We’ve all had that experience where our favorite bar or coffee shop changes something and the clientele changes with it, making it louder, cheaper, too expensive etc. and the regulars are forced out. If the community is one you cherish, don’t forsake them.

Keep it Close

Community is about people! People who are so excited to love a hobby or ideology. And people often have very different personalities, outlooks, life experiences, and communication styles. That’s the fun of it! Here you all are, excited about this thing and able to explore it in a kind, supportive way with people who are very glad to have you talk about it incessantly! People who will go through every permutation of the difference in your opinion with you! So, give everyone the benefit of the doubt. The whole point of the exercise in community is to find people who like the things you do but who can add to your experience. This will by necessity mean that there will be differences. So, help each other understand what the others are doing when toes get stepped on, and remember at the end of the day you’re here because this community makes you feel appreciated and happy. Do everything you can to be a part of the reason they feel appreciated and happy.

For me this includes things like:

-Remembering and using folks names

-Holding dialogue-like conversations rather than talking solely about my own interests or experiences

-Noting strong feelings and remembering them for future encounters

-Being ready to reassert the peace

-Telling people how much you enjoy their company and insight

When people see your community as a group of friends, it becomes so much easier to keep conversations and disagreements amicable.

 

As a community grows, it can feel like the focus must change, or the individuals might get lost in the crowd, but if you’re in charge of safeguarding and fostering that community, keep in mind how small you are. Even with thousands or hundreds of thousands of people involved, it’s still such a small slice of humanity, and everyone is there for a reason. Keeping that reason in mind and making it feel like everyone is a wanted and respected member is essential to growing and maintaining a healthy community.

See you next week for part two: think big!

This Is Why I Should Read Shorter Books

I’ll be honest, I spent all of this glorious day listening to books in a gentle breeze in my backyard. It was as wonderful as it sounds and so I’m playing hookie today. Back next week!

Ally Is A Verb

As Pride Month closes, I want to take one more minute to say that we see and love all of you.

Something I’ve been chewing on lately is the difference between saying “all are welcome” and “I have made a place for you, specifically.”

I see the first one a lot. On social media you’ll see posts like “I’m a safe person to come out to,” or “If you’re afraid I’ll walk with you,” or “Proud Ally.”

And it’s not that those things are bad, but also they don’t really feel like things we get to designate for ourselves. It’s up to the individual whether they think you’re the sort of person who can handle their identity in a safe way. It’s up to the scared person if they feel comfortable calling you for support. Being open and willing to accept people is very different from being someone people can rely on to handle their truth with respect and kindness.

Making a place for someone, to me, is more about learning about the issues that impact that group, taking your lead from people you admire who are already on scene and your cues from the people you know and care about who are impacted by your behavior in that group.

It has been difficult, and continues to be something I’m working on, imperfectly but constantly. It is so easy to hurt when we treat each other with labels, and it’s so hard to avoid those labels. But I think even the effort has been worth it. I can’t say if it’s made an impact on others necessarily, but I can say that it has taught me a lot about how to listen, how to empathize, and what it is that makes me feel safe around others, which I can then try to use in the future. So, I hope it’s been soothing to others, but as that’s not something I can just decide, I’ll believe that it has been a good exercise, if nothing else, and that’s all I can strive for.

I have been trying to do this more regularly, considering the people I am looking to encourage and finding ways of signaling to them that I’m not just willing to widen the circle, that I am in fact holding an empty chair in case they decide to join.

What does this look like to you? Do you have any stories of times you’ve seen this done well?

Suspensive

People don’t like “nice” things. There are a jillion books, movies, songs and even a couple religions about this concept, and it seems like it’s a pretty human constant that we’re only happy when we know we may not stay happy.

We are the reasons we can’t have nice things.

What can I say! We’re all about that struggle life. We all want the good guy to succeed, but only just barely and maybe not fully, and if that good guy could make life very hard for themself in the process, that would be excellent. Boy finds girl, girl loves boy, boy and girl get married and everyone is happy for them may be a sweet life, but it’s a terrible story.

Nobody wants drama, but the second there is any, everyone’s suddenly very interested.

In stories, the way we create tension is through obstacles to the character’s goal. Guy likes girl, but girl is seeing someone. Guy and girl like each other but family doesn’t approve. Guy likes girl, they get married, and he gets killed. It can be a million different things from the relatively benign (in Pride and Prejudice, the tension is wanting to avoid a loveless marriage while not pissing off the people who can convince your sister’s boyfriend to leave) to exceedingly grim (looking at you, Ned Stark).

Dramatic tension is generally considered to come in four varieties: Relationships, tasks, surprise and mystery. I mostly touched on relationship tension so far in this post–the difficulty in aligning two or more people to a common goal. Tasks are the goal–think heist stories. Surprise can ramp tension by adding something unexpected that changes the landscape. And mystery means there are questions that we as readers want answered, be it a murder or something smaller, like how Sirius Black got into the castle.

Whatever kind of tension it is, it should make the reader wake up. We want to feel our brains kick into high gear, our heart pump a little faster at the prospect that the timer is about to run out, that the twist will knock down all of the careful plans made so far. We want to answer our questions and to see the fall out of any relationship troubles.

But obstacles aren’t enough. That’s the tension in the story. The writing of the story is another place to add tension.

In Dark Matter, Blake Crouch relies on sentence and paragraph structure to help build tension as the story progresses.

Short sentences.

New paragraphs.

Minimal descriptions, and those there are tend to be emotive rather than fact-based.

Sometimes just fragments.

And then a more classical paragraph structure, which is the literary equivalent of dropping the beat in a song.

This is successful because incomplete thoughts and minimalist structures lend a sense of immediacy. Where Dickens might implore “Oh, my dearest one, my most beloved, could you, no dare you, continue on in this manner though it were to break my heart and your very limbs?” Crouch just yells “STOP!” It hits us right in the amygdala, the sense that maybe we’re being watched. Maybe there’s no time to think more about this, we’re about to be discovered. And it keeps the eye racing down the page which again adds to the sense of immediacy that builds suspense.

In The Fifth Season, NK Jemisin is hugely fond of the foreshadowing method of suspense. From the blurb, before we even open the book, we know “this is the way the world ends. For the last time.” We know, before we even begin, that the world is about to end, that is has ended before, and that somehow this is different. We then spend the whole book wondering not what will happen, but how, and waiting will drive you batty. This is a classic element in mysteries, and it is wonderful for keeping the mind occupied with the central question. When you get the answer and one of the variables, it feels like we as readers should be able to work backwards to solve for x. But of course most authors tend to keep one bit of information to themselves, so while you’re doggedly trying to find the square root of three women alive before the world ends, the author carefully builds a new, larger equation that includes that square root, but needs trig, not geometry.

Meanwhile, Jim Butcher loves to have his character Harry Dresden create the entirety of the tension by not affording Harry any breaks. Often there are two or three things out gunning for the wizard at once, and the second he thinks one problem is resolved, we find that instead it’s just morphed into a much bigger problem. Cliffhangers, especially at the ends of chapters are an important tool for this style of writing. It’s the rocket launch of ramp ups–you keep heading up and just when gravity would dictate you finish the parabola, instead you ignite the booster and get another lift in the story. There is a sense of anticipation here as well, the constant wondering how he’ll get out of this, if he’ll ever have a second just to be happy, but it is less reliant on pure foreshadowing, and more like the joy and terror of watching a Rube Goldberg machine at work. Will everything connect? Will there be a flaw that disrupts something? Will a seemingly simple task be completed in the most roundabout way possible? All we can do is watch.

Structure, disparate amounts of reader vs. character knowledge, and action all go a long way to keeping the tension necessary for a story worth repeating. I often find that authors ignore one or the other–they’ll build action for 300 pages, but ignore all sense of anticipation, never giving us a second to ponder their meticulous mysteries. Or the opposite, we’ll be flooded with information and all sense of urgency will be removed. Or, no action will overlap or be at odds with other story elements, which leads to what is referred to as “and then” style stories, which ends up feeling more like the world’s coolest shopping list rather than a drama.

Can you think of other ways authors build tension or suspense? What are your favorite structures?

Make Editing Fetch

I hope everyone had a good Father’s Day. It can be a tough day for a lot of people, so I hope it was spent with people you love and who support your emotional health.

One of the things my dad taught me how to do is to critique creative things in a manner that is helpful but respectful. I’ve been editing since I was 8 or 9 years old, and the things I was editing were his. I would go through, see which words were used too often, find typos, ask questions about why someone said something, and he’d explain it to me. Often, I was just too young to get a nuance, but he would listen very seriously and take my feedback into account, and it completely altered how I interact with stories, for the better.

Well, mostly for the better. It also means I’m always in editing mode, and that seems to be a less popular part of publishing these days. Right now it seems that the two big trends are 700+ page epics and writing closer to the “pantser” style than the “planner” style. It would be one thing if each page in these books felt like a compelling, necessary inclusion into the narrative, and I think there are some who come very close to that being true. But a lot of the time it feels like filler, and if you’re fluffing up something that’s already full novel-sized, it tends to bog down rather than augment.

I’m not sure exactly when this trend started. If you look back 40 years, there just weren’t that many books that were this bloated. Lord of the Rings was one of the fluffiest, longest epics any of us had seen and the full trilogy is less than 1200 pages. Certainly some of this is because word processors made it easier to type and not look back, as proofreading software gets more and more sophisticated. But I’m not sure that explains Robert Jordan. I propose a revolution that involves many red pens.

Thanks, Gretchen, I knew we could make it happen!

Here are five editing suggestions I’ve gotten from the men in my family over the years.

Read it out loud

Read it out loud to yourself. This will help catch a lot of grammar and spelling issues, but also make it clear when a sentence is too convoluted or contains words that trip the reader mid-stride. Bonus, read it out loud in print. You’d be amazed how many small changes I make to the “final proof” before publishing.

Have five other people read it first

Ideally this number would be closer to ten, but that’s hard to do. Five other sets of eyes will help catch things your mind now slides over, or that people with different experiences read differently from your intentions. Plot holes, character weaknesses, moments where the pacing falters…all of this becomes much more apparent when people who are not you get a look at the thing. Honestly, even knowing other people will be looking at it is often enough to get you to see more faults you’d like to polish.

If you are a beta reader, the author honestly wants to know–did all the characters feel three dimensional? Did anything feel forced? Did the plot make sense? Did anything seem too convenient? Was the pace too fast or slow? As long as it comes from a place of affection and has good concrete ways to progress (not just a “yikes, this really needs work”) then be frank and give examples.

Ask if every sentence is necessary

Every read through, try to find a sentence or a paragraph that can be removed, condensed, or streamlined. What does this sentence add? What amount of tension or emotional buy-in do I get with or without this sentence? Can I combine sentence to make a more poignant one? I recently read a book that had padded all of the tension out. You could tell there was a story that wanted to be a thriller, but instead it was more a coming of age tale with some magic thrown in. Both are good, but plotting a thriller as a cozy mystery will cause issues more times than not. What is necessary for us to know? What are the peaks and valleys of action? Can I move things around to keep the peaks soaring?

Think of real people

Not Hollywood. Not that one cool video game you played. Not your dream lover. Someone real. Would they say this? Is this how a conversation flows? Do knees move that way? Picture and then describe real people. People who don’t excuse their tardiness on menstruation or get lost in the eyes of someone while a body bleeds out beneath their feet or who aren’t experts in every known discipline at eighteen. Do real people things whenever possible.

Put the damn thing away

Eventually it will feel like this book has consumed you and none of the words are good, but you don’t care because whatever, man, at least it’s done.

Put it down. Work on something else for a couple of days–a week or a month if you can swing it. Let the frustration of it fall away and then read it again. What do you see now with fresh eyes? What can be moved or removed? Do you still feel like the characters are their best authentic selves? Any new plot holes to deal with?

Hope this helps. I’d really like for there to be a fad of zippy, meticulously plotted books with language that sings if anyone could help to arrange that. Do you think Billy Porter is free? That man can make anything cool. Or how about Keanu? Everyone loves him. Do either of them edit, do you think?

 

Happy Pride!

It’s the day of the PRIDE Parade in Philadelphia, so what better time for me to wish all celebrants an amazing Pride Day and month!

It’s also the 50 year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the “genesis” of Pride celebrations via the commencement of the movement for LGBTQ rights, when a police raid against an unlicensed bar in New York which harbored “criminals” such as drag queens, trans people and the gender nonconforming, bubbled over and violence was handed back to those offering it.

If you read my books, or indeed most fantasy novels, you’ll be familiar with how central “standing up for what is right” is synonymous with our heroes. And yet in real life, the people we tend to lionize are those who are willing to sacrifice some or all of their safety to protect endearing figures–children, the elderly, straight or straight passing women and so on. We adore firefighters and people who jump onto train tracks to cover people having seizures or who confront would-be kidnappers.

These people are absolutely worthy of admiration. But we tend to overlook the other kind of hero–the person who is both victim and liberator. It seems we only care about them when they’re dead, and when their death occurs after such time that the struggle they sought to overcome is lumped in with the “us” side of culture. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was incredibly unpopular with the white majority until he was assassinated and his cause made “legitimate” by the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Our founding fathers were seen as privileged rabble-rousers until they’d defeated the English and eventually got around to crafting our Constitution. But Marsha P. Johnson is a name not mentioned in most schools, despite decades of activism and being credited with the person who “had the first shot” in the movement for gay rights.

We see it with Black Lives Matter, with the deaths of trans women, with legacies  of people such as Harvey Milk, who again became a hero to the general public only after winning majority favor as a politician and then dying for it. Why is it that we are so willing to build pedestals for heroes like Harvey Milk or Sandra Bland only after we’ve spit at their feet and lit their pyres?

In the coming years, we have significant, existential threats we will need to address quickly and universally. Famine doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight or Asian or white. The only part of war concerned with your gender is the recruiter. So please, recognize our heroes, the ones who know how to mobilize fear and love into action, who know their cause is righteous though they’ll receive no accolades. Follow those who have found a parade where there never was a path and who can turn oppression into a celebration of freedom. These are the heroes we need to guide us, and to follow them, we need them alive. They’re the most like the legends in our storybooks, and if we are anything, we are the stories we tell.

With this theme in mind, may I recommend you watch “Good Omens” on Amazon?

So love loudly. Remember riots have their purpose, and that our leaders already exist. The only pride this “straight” feels is for having such strong, passionate people to use as a model among her queer friends and idols!

Dark & Stormy: Lounging in a Time of Cloud Cover

Terribly sorry that I missed a week, and that this post won’t be satisfactory either. They really shouldn’t put holidays on weekends, and uh…vacations, I guess. I mean who does that?

So, bear with me, actual real content to return soon. For your amusement here is a list of things I’ve done recently:

-Recreated dinosaurs discovering the ocean (the T-Rex didn’t make it)

-Watched “Good Omens” (highly recommend!)

-Read just way too many novels (omg, who keeps writing these, I need a break)

-Drank a vat of Prosecco (highly recommend!)

-Hid from a tornado (I’d say I don’t recommend, but I think what I’m really against is the tornado, not the sheltering therefrom)

-Edited another chapter of book three

BYOWT (Bring Your Own Wine Trough)

So, there you go. Wish me luck, tomorrow I’m supposed to teach my family how to play new games, and I’m not the only one with a Prosecco trough.

Should be great!