Dawn Metcalf's Blog, page 12
September 8, 2014
Speaking Out & Speaking Up
Yesterday, I was the speaker at the CISV USA greater Springfield Chapter's annual kick-off. I was approached and asked to share the speech, so I thought I'd plunk it here (with links!) for anyone who is interested in what I had to say about diversity and doing something about it.
Everyone Deserves to See Themselves on the Shelves
Thank you for having me. I am so glad that you are talking about diversity here at CISV because this is something we in the writing community are talking about, too. And while I could talk a lot about different aspects of diversity as both an author and an educator, I decided I would focus on something that was important to me, personally: widening the concept of diversity and what we can actively do to promote it.
What I’ve noticed is that while people say that diversity isn’t a simple black-and-white issue, the definition of diversity certainly seems to be. When we speak about diversity, the first things that would often come up would be race and most often be African and Caucasian to the exclusion (or eventual addendum) of Asians and Latinos. The next check box might include gender, or at least the binary—male and female—and sexual orientation, or at least the binary—gay and straight. Both of these are wide-spectrum, mutually-exclusive categories that often defy categorization yet are collapsed together and reduced to a simple X/Y dichotomy. Still, they’re at least on the radar. Religious diversity often ranks third.
You can imagine, then, how hard it is to talk about diversity in any meaningful way when the automatic definition of diversity really isn’t that diverse. When I talk about the characters in my books being diverse, I have to be sure that I am introducing people to the myriad of possibilities that this might include: there is diversity in race and gender, sure, but also sexual orientation and sexual identity, then there’s religious and spiritual diversity which not only includes different faiths and belief systems, but people of strong faith and casual faith as well as agnostics and atheists. There is the entire political spectrum and socio-economic, regional and ethnic identities. There are physical, mental and emotional challenges, personality types, birth order, not to mention body types and all the mixes in-between that defy definition into neat, little boxes. Because the truth is if you take any handful of people, even if they look the same, you can find things they have in common and things they don’t have in common at all. That is because the stories we write are human stories—stories about what it means to be all the wide varieties of human, to have a family, a friend, to have a heart and to have it broken, to trust and feel trusted, to betray and feel betrayed, to be frightened at the unfamiliar, to be brave, to step up, to be challenged and fail and challenged and fail and feel like giving up, but trying once more, to persevere and succeed; to feel proud about our accomplishments and, having overcome our fears, continue on our personal journey. Despite our many self-defining differences, everyone knows what it feels to be human. It is a diverse definition for a common bond.
So: we want to be inclusive, we want to celebrate diversity and share that with the next generation to share with one another. How do we do that? Well, not to be completely self-serving here, but I’d start with books. I love books. I’ve been a writer and a reader my whole life. My children grew up with me reading books to them and with them and to myself. We frequent libraries and bookstores and used book stores and have reading time and writing time. Books open us up to a world of possibilities. They are a safe place to play, to ask tough questions, to meet new people, to try out the wrong decisions and learn from them, to try out the right decisions and feel proud of them, to get a peek into another world, another mind, another heart, another set of eyes; books hold friends that will always be there waiting for you, whenever you need them, for the rest of your life. So, yes, I’d start with books.
Now, this is important: I want each of you to think about the answers to these questions to yourself: When was the last time you read a story, to yourself or a child, that featured a Latina protagonist? A homeless protagonist? A transgender protagonist? An Islamic protagonist? A blind protagonist? A Korean protagonist? An autistic protagonist? Not a secondary or love interest or a “best friend” character, but the main character of the story? I am a big believer that everyone deserves to see themselves on the shelves and everyone deserves to be the hero—or heroine—of their story. It is empowering to the reader to see themselves reflected in the world and it’s empowering to learn intimately about another human being.
This dovetails an important conversation happening in children’s literature: namely, who gets to tell these stories? Look at the front cover of your favorite children’s book. Who wrote your story? Who illustrated your story? Who published your story? Who is telling your story? If history is written by the victors, then the majority of our worldview through published literature is written by white, heteronormative, Christian males. The outcry for diverse books is also the want for diverse voices, diverse writers, diverse artists and diverse publishers. This is absolutely essential if we want our shelves to be inclusive and now, with a nearly limitless storage capacity at our fingertips, there is plenty of room on those shelves. Personally, I dislike the question about who is “allowed” to write what kinds of books? Writers and artists are imaginative, creative people—we write about what we’re passionate about which is better than the adage “write what you know.” Are white, heteronormative, Christian males capable of writing good books about bisexual Taoist skater punks from New Zealand? Sure! But if they want to do a good job, they have to do their homework, do lots of research, ask hard questions, talk to lots of real people and do their best to tell the best story that they can. We have to remember that no one is writing about a category; every story is about one, individual human being. But it is important to recognize that other voices are missing. And when they break through, these voices often go unnoticed, unrecognized and unrewarded with medals or honors or future contracts. As valid as a majority writer’s story might be, there might be a bisexual Taoist skater punk from New Zealand who wants to tell their story, or they may want to write about mutant dragon warriors from Alpha Centauri. Everyone is “allowed” to write the stories that move them, but we must acknowledge, what Chimamanda Adichie describes as the danger of the single story. If we are to learn about the world, and each other, we must listen to one another’s voices, one another’s stories.
We cannot purport to support diversity if we do so only with a Like or a Share or a Retweet. We have to use our voices and our words and, most importantly, our wallets. Ask any kid and they’ll tell you there’s a BIG DIFFERENCE between talk and action. We have to back up our words with actions. It’s one thing to be a cheerleader, it’s another thing to lead. I challenge you to go home and look at your bookshelves—and I am praying that everyone here has bookshelves at home—and if you don’t, go to your local library and scan their shelves. Are they diverse? Do they represent all the people I’ve mentioned who share this world with us? Are they introducing you, your family, your children or your community to the wealth of human diversity? If not, you know what to do: buy those books, request those books, read those books and read them to others. Pass them along. Pay it forward. This is the difference between talk and action.
This is your world, this is your story—take ownership and take action.
Thank you.
Children’s International Summer Villages [CISV] is a volunteer organization founded in 1951 committed to educating and inspiring youth to act for a more just and peaceful world. We work to bring peace education to our communities as well as send young people ages 11 – 19 to programs locally, regionally, nationally and around the world. We have 21 chapters in the USA and 70 around the globe. The four educational content areas we operate in are: Diversity, Conflict resolution, Human rights and Sustainability. This year, 2014, we have been dedicated to Diversity. CISV is committed to sharing the following values in our work: Friendship, Engagement, Enthusiasm, Cooperation and Inclusiveness.
Everyone Deserves to See Themselves on the Shelves
Thank you for having me. I am so glad that you are talking about diversity here at CISV because this is something we in the writing community are talking about, too. And while I could talk a lot about different aspects of diversity as both an author and an educator, I decided I would focus on something that was important to me, personally: widening the concept of diversity and what we can actively do to promote it.
What I’ve noticed is that while people say that diversity isn’t a simple black-and-white issue, the definition of diversity certainly seems to be. When we speak about diversity, the first things that would often come up would be race and most often be African and Caucasian to the exclusion (or eventual addendum) of Asians and Latinos. The next check box might include gender, or at least the binary—male and female—and sexual orientation, or at least the binary—gay and straight. Both of these are wide-spectrum, mutually-exclusive categories that often defy categorization yet are collapsed together and reduced to a simple X/Y dichotomy. Still, they’re at least on the radar. Religious diversity often ranks third.
You can imagine, then, how hard it is to talk about diversity in any meaningful way when the automatic definition of diversity really isn’t that diverse. When I talk about the characters in my books being diverse, I have to be sure that I am introducing people to the myriad of possibilities that this might include: there is diversity in race and gender, sure, but also sexual orientation and sexual identity, then there’s religious and spiritual diversity which not only includes different faiths and belief systems, but people of strong faith and casual faith as well as agnostics and atheists. There is the entire political spectrum and socio-economic, regional and ethnic identities. There are physical, mental and emotional challenges, personality types, birth order, not to mention body types and all the mixes in-between that defy definition into neat, little boxes. Because the truth is if you take any handful of people, even if they look the same, you can find things they have in common and things they don’t have in common at all. That is because the stories we write are human stories—stories about what it means to be all the wide varieties of human, to have a family, a friend, to have a heart and to have it broken, to trust and feel trusted, to betray and feel betrayed, to be frightened at the unfamiliar, to be brave, to step up, to be challenged and fail and challenged and fail and feel like giving up, but trying once more, to persevere and succeed; to feel proud about our accomplishments and, having overcome our fears, continue on our personal journey. Despite our many self-defining differences, everyone knows what it feels to be human. It is a diverse definition for a common bond.
So: we want to be inclusive, we want to celebrate diversity and share that with the next generation to share with one another. How do we do that? Well, not to be completely self-serving here, but I’d start with books. I love books. I’ve been a writer and a reader my whole life. My children grew up with me reading books to them and with them and to myself. We frequent libraries and bookstores and used book stores and have reading time and writing time. Books open us up to a world of possibilities. They are a safe place to play, to ask tough questions, to meet new people, to try out the wrong decisions and learn from them, to try out the right decisions and feel proud of them, to get a peek into another world, another mind, another heart, another set of eyes; books hold friends that will always be there waiting for you, whenever you need them, for the rest of your life. So, yes, I’d start with books.
Now, this is important: I want each of you to think about the answers to these questions to yourself: When was the last time you read a story, to yourself or a child, that featured a Latina protagonist? A homeless protagonist? A transgender protagonist? An Islamic protagonist? A blind protagonist? A Korean protagonist? An autistic protagonist? Not a secondary or love interest or a “best friend” character, but the main character of the story? I am a big believer that everyone deserves to see themselves on the shelves and everyone deserves to be the hero—or heroine—of their story. It is empowering to the reader to see themselves reflected in the world and it’s empowering to learn intimately about another human being.
This dovetails an important conversation happening in children’s literature: namely, who gets to tell these stories? Look at the front cover of your favorite children’s book. Who wrote your story? Who illustrated your story? Who published your story? Who is telling your story? If history is written by the victors, then the majority of our worldview through published literature is written by white, heteronormative, Christian males. The outcry for diverse books is also the want for diverse voices, diverse writers, diverse artists and diverse publishers. This is absolutely essential if we want our shelves to be inclusive and now, with a nearly limitless storage capacity at our fingertips, there is plenty of room on those shelves. Personally, I dislike the question about who is “allowed” to write what kinds of books? Writers and artists are imaginative, creative people—we write about what we’re passionate about which is better than the adage “write what you know.” Are white, heteronormative, Christian males capable of writing good books about bisexual Taoist skater punks from New Zealand? Sure! But if they want to do a good job, they have to do their homework, do lots of research, ask hard questions, talk to lots of real people and do their best to tell the best story that they can. We have to remember that no one is writing about a category; every story is about one, individual human being. But it is important to recognize that other voices are missing. And when they break through, these voices often go unnoticed, unrecognized and unrewarded with medals or honors or future contracts. As valid as a majority writer’s story might be, there might be a bisexual Taoist skater punk from New Zealand who wants to tell their story, or they may want to write about mutant dragon warriors from Alpha Centauri. Everyone is “allowed” to write the stories that move them, but we must acknowledge, what Chimamanda Adichie describes as the danger of the single story. If we are to learn about the world, and each other, we must listen to one another’s voices, one another’s stories.
We cannot purport to support diversity if we do so only with a Like or a Share or a Retweet. We have to use our voices and our words and, most importantly, our wallets. Ask any kid and they’ll tell you there’s a BIG DIFFERENCE between talk and action. We have to back up our words with actions. It’s one thing to be a cheerleader, it’s another thing to lead. I challenge you to go home and look at your bookshelves—and I am praying that everyone here has bookshelves at home—and if you don’t, go to your local library and scan their shelves. Are they diverse? Do they represent all the people I’ve mentioned who share this world with us? Are they introducing you, your family, your children or your community to the wealth of human diversity? If not, you know what to do: buy those books, request those books, read those books and read them to others. Pass them along. Pay it forward. This is the difference between talk and action.
This is your world, this is your story—take ownership and take action.
Thank you.
Children’s International Summer Villages [CISV] is a volunteer organization founded in 1951 committed to educating and inspiring youth to act for a more just and peaceful world. We work to bring peace education to our communities as well as send young people ages 11 – 19 to programs locally, regionally, nationally and around the world. We have 21 chapters in the USA and 70 around the globe. The four educational content areas we operate in are: Diversity, Conflict resolution, Human rights and Sustainability. This year, 2014, we have been dedicated to Diversity. CISV is committed to sharing the following values in our work: Friendship, Engagement, Enthusiasm, Cooperation and Inclusiveness.
September 5, 2014
Fun Film Friday: Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton
Do music videos count as short films? As this is my gig, I say "Yes."
Lots of geek cultures praise Jonathan Coulton, comedy singer/songwriter, and there are lots of fan vids of his work, but this is one of my animated favorites by idleambition.
For those of us dragging through the 9-to-5 this Friday, this one's for you. Enjoy!
Lots of geek cultures praise Jonathan Coulton, comedy singer/songwriter, and there are lots of fan vids of his work, but this is one of my animated favorites by idleambition.
For those of us dragging through the 9-to-5 this Friday, this one's for you. Enjoy!
September 2, 2014
September 1, 2014
Countdown to INVISIBLE! News! Tours! Shenanigans!
It's official.
30 days from right now, INVISIBLE will be on the shelves.
wow.
Between then and now, there's *SO* much going on and I wanted to let you in on all of it!
My first personal appearance will be at The Jones Library in Amherst Massachusetts on Saturday, September 6th for the Fire, Air & Memory YA Panel hosted by my favorite local indie, Odyssey Bookshop and I'm thrilled/humbled/boggle-eyed to be on a YA fantasy panel with Sarah J. Maas & Alexandra Bracken! We'll be discussing world-building, research, writing insights and a few questions about our own YA fantasy series. For more information, you can check out the event's Facebook page.
It would be *amazing* if you could be there! Consider this an official invite.
The very next day, I'm the keynote speaker for the CISV Annual to talk about the important of diversity in kid's literature, later meeting up with MORE fabulous authors at the Chapter By Chapter Book Rave at FunFuzion New Roc City, and then I begin the library tour...well, hey, there's a lot coming up! If you want to know the where and whens, just check out my News page on the website: www.dawnmetcalf.com/news.
Online it's the INVISIBLE Book Blog Tour will be happening September 15th-26th. Follow the tour for knowledge, wonder, insider exclusives and--oh yeah--a chance to win the Grand Prize Pack!:
Monday, September 15th Fiktshun
Wednesday, September 17th Istyria Book Blog
Friday, September 19th Refracted Light Reviews
Monday, September 22nd Books and Things
Wednesday, September 24th A Book and a Latte
Friday, September 26th Addicted Readers
Look for these banners at participating blogs (or snap them up if you like!):
And tomorrow, I will be releasing the official book trailer for INVISIBLE! (Look for an associated giveaway contest to celebrate!) So, yeah, there's a lot going on and this is the place to find out more.
Summer's over, the countdown's begun & we can start freaking out now!
30 days from right now, INVISIBLE will be on the shelves.
wow.
Between then and now, there's *SO* much going on and I wanted to let you in on all of it!
My first personal appearance will be at The Jones Library in Amherst Massachusetts on Saturday, September 6th for the Fire, Air & Memory YA Panel hosted by my favorite local indie, Odyssey Bookshop and I'm thrilled/humbled/boggle-eyed to be on a YA fantasy panel with Sarah J. Maas & Alexandra Bracken! We'll be discussing world-building, research, writing insights and a few questions about our own YA fantasy series. For more information, you can check out the event's Facebook page.
It would be *amazing* if you could be there! Consider this an official invite.
The very next day, I'm the keynote speaker for the CISV Annual to talk about the important of diversity in kid's literature, later meeting up with MORE fabulous authors at the Chapter By Chapter Book Rave at FunFuzion New Roc City, and then I begin the library tour...well, hey, there's a lot coming up! If you want to know the where and whens, just check out my News page on the website: www.dawnmetcalf.com/news.
Online it's the INVISIBLE Book Blog Tour will be happening September 15th-26th. Follow the tour for knowledge, wonder, insider exclusives and--oh yeah--a chance to win the Grand Prize Pack!:
Monday, September 15th Fiktshun
Wednesday, September 17th Istyria Book Blog
Friday, September 19th Refracted Light Reviews
Monday, September 22nd Books and Things
Wednesday, September 24th A Book and a Latte
Friday, September 26th Addicted Readers
Look for these banners at participating blogs (or snap them up if you like!):
And tomorrow, I will be releasing the official book trailer for INVISIBLE! (Look for an associated giveaway contest to celebrate!) So, yeah, there's a lot going on and this is the place to find out more.
Summer's over, the countdown's begun & we can start freaking out now!
August 1, 2014
Fun Film Friday: Slimtime
One of my summer "resolutions" this year was to take better care of myself. After the accidents and the injuries, the roller coaster of depression and anxiety, I thought about flying safety basics 101 which says that if there is ever an emergency, I'm supposed to put an oxygen mask over my own face before helping others, even my family and kids. This is because if I fall over, there will BE no one to help my family and kids, let alone slap the mask on my face and smack me upside the head. Therefore, when I'm not writing, I'm training.
I have been going to workout classes nearly every day (six days a week, including karate classes) and then staying for an extra 45 minutes to an hour to do weights or core conditioning. I've lost 17 lbs so far but the numbers don't matter as much as I *feel* better and clothes fit better and I have more energy than I did lying broken on a couch. (Go fig!)
Still, the "workout culture" isn't one that I enjoy, especially how it's geared to women. As a body image and self-esteem educator, I'm highly aware of the crazy images and expectations as well as biases and tiny killjoys that happen in the gym. It's something I balance as one of the costs to getting where I need to be right now, but underscores just how awesome it is to be part of a dojo rather than a gym. But I digress. The point of this is that some of the women's classes reminded me of this video by a French animation team directed by Bertrand Avril, Pierre Chomarat, David Dangin & Thea Matland. It's silly and brightly-colored with delicate "ahhs" and giggles that give it the feminine "ooh la la" vibe while simultaneously poking fun at the entire weight loss industry because, let's face it, the guy still loves his girl no matter what. Go positive body image!
Enjoy your weekend!
I have been going to workout classes nearly every day (six days a week, including karate classes) and then staying for an extra 45 minutes to an hour to do weights or core conditioning. I've lost 17 lbs so far but the numbers don't matter as much as I *feel* better and clothes fit better and I have more energy than I did lying broken on a couch. (Go fig!)
Still, the "workout culture" isn't one that I enjoy, especially how it's geared to women. As a body image and self-esteem educator, I'm highly aware of the crazy images and expectations as well as biases and tiny killjoys that happen in the gym. It's something I balance as one of the costs to getting where I need to be right now, but underscores just how awesome it is to be part of a dojo rather than a gym. But I digress. The point of this is that some of the women's classes reminded me of this video by a French animation team directed by Bertrand Avril, Pierre Chomarat, David Dangin & Thea Matland. It's silly and brightly-colored with delicate "ahhs" and giggles that give it the feminine "ooh la la" vibe while simultaneously poking fun at the entire weight loss industry because, let's face it, the guy still loves his girl no matter what. Go positive body image!
Enjoy your weekend!
July 31, 2014
Talking YA Fantasy with Sarah J. Maas & Alexandra Bracken
The road to publication is paved with much weirdness and starry-eyed surprises, this is both of these things. I am honored/stunned/thrilled to be part of Odyssey Bookshop's panel series to talk about YA fantasy at Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Fire, Air, & Memory: A Young Adult Author Panel with Sarah J. Maas, Alexandra Bracken and Dawn Metcalf
This is me: O_O
Because this is real and happening with my favorite local indie bookstore with some pretty Big Deal people where we get to talk about fantasy, writing, book love and meet fans from all over New England! Wow. Pinch me. OW! Okay, stop pinching.
The truth is, I knew Alexandra Bracken back when we were both debuting novels back in 2010 as part of the Tenners with Brightly Woven and she's gone on to write tons of amazing books. This may be the first time we've seen each other in person since BEA back in 2011.
I haven't met Sarah J. Maas (yet) but we've been paired up before, most notably when BOTH our books were featured on USA Today! I have been following her and the Throne of Glass series ever since and am excited/nervous/fangirl-giddy to get the chance to meet her at last!
This will be an amazing event and I hope if you're within driving-at-the-speed-limit distance, you'll come join us for good food, good conversation and a great chat! Books will be available for signing & if you want to save a seat, RSVP by emailing kids@odysseybks.com, on facebook page or call the store directly at 413-534-7307.
Wow. W-O-W!
Fire, Air, & Memory: A Young Adult Author Panel with Sarah J. Maas, Alexandra Bracken and Dawn Metcalf
This is me: O_O
Because this is real and happening with my favorite local indie bookstore with some pretty Big Deal people where we get to talk about fantasy, writing, book love and meet fans from all over New England! Wow. Pinch me. OW! Okay, stop pinching.
The truth is, I knew Alexandra Bracken back when we were both debuting novels back in 2010 as part of the Tenners with Brightly Woven and she's gone on to write tons of amazing books. This may be the first time we've seen each other in person since BEA back in 2011.
I haven't met Sarah J. Maas (yet) but we've been paired up before, most notably when BOTH our books were featured on USA Today! I have been following her and the Throne of Glass series ever since and am excited/nervous/fangirl-giddy to get the chance to meet her at last!
This will be an amazing event and I hope if you're within driving-at-the-speed-limit distance, you'll come join us for good food, good conversation and a great chat! Books will be available for signing & if you want to save a seat, RSVP by emailing kids@odysseybks.com, on facebook page or call the store directly at 413-534-7307.
Wow. W-O-W!
July 23, 2014
Who Gets to Screw Up?
I think I've figured out one of the biggest things that bug me in this "Who Gets To Write What" discourse going around lately.
I think it has something to do with the fear of making mistakes and who gets to make them.
There have been a lot of great ongoing conversations about this, but I have been thinking about it a lot and something just clicked in that nebulous, 2 a.m. way it does sometimes. In the kid lit world, there's a lot of discussion about diversity and fair representation in the publishing world. This conversation was boosted by whitewashing covers, banned books, bad Con decisions and misrepresentation on big-name panels that prompted things like #WeNeedDiverseBooks (which is still going strong). I am a member of SCBWI and our esteemed Executive Director, Lin Oliver, weighed in with her personal thoughts on the matter:
"I don’t believe that I can authentically write from the point of view of a contemporary protagonist who is telling a unique story that derives from a racial or cultural experience not my own. Some people may feel comfortable with that. I don’t. One of the reasons I’m so eager to read literature written by people with diverse backgrounds is to get their authentic take on their experience. I just don’t trust that my take on it would ever be completely true or right." (entire letter is here)
And while I completely respect and applaud her decision on this, I must admit that I don't share it. It's not that I do not agree that she has every right to know her own comfort levels with her own writing or that we do not, as a community and a society, need to include all sorts of diverse perspectives in the kidlitosphere, it's just that I am a firm believer that everyone is free to write all sorts of stories--include characters and opinions outside of their own, personal experience--and that people can do justice to those groups that are being represented even if the author does not, in fact, belong to them. In the most basic sense, we are writing the human experience, which is identifiable to all its myriad shapes, sizes and colors. I have gone into my reasons in detail before, but it recently occurred to me why this was rubbing me the wrong way anew; it's that if you flip the argument, it completely falls apart. In essence, by saying that someone CAN'T write outside their own categories (be they gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, culture, socio-economic status, etc.) then that's close to saying that minorities can ONLY write inside these categories and should be equally limited. Which is just plain ridiculous.
Of course I don't think it's as simple as that, but hear me out: if we are saying that Caucasian, Christian, heterosexual, middle-class, MFA educated females can only write about Caucasian, Christian, heterosexual, middle-class, someday-MFA-educated female teens/kids, then are we also saying that African, Muslim, bisexual PhD educated males can ONLY write about African Muslim bisexual someday-to-be-PhD-educated male teens/adults? Of course not. Are we just saying that they are obligated to write these stories as representatives of their race/gender/sexual-orientation/religion/culture/class/etc.? What? No!
So what *are* we saying?
We want there to be room in the pool for diverse writers to write their diverse stories and get published for a mainstream audience. I think so, too! But in our rush to do this, I think some fears and P.C.-ness is getting us sidetracked. While I agree with all of these sentiments, the message of scarcity, that there is a finite amount of stories and storytellers allowed "in" at one time is wrong. (And with traditional publishing now getting competition from self-publishing and hybrid publishing, there's even more reading room & reach.) I don't think we should be advocating for who should write what. What I think we *should* be advocating is: Everyone is free to write whatever they want. Does that make sense? Write whatever you want. Instead of "Write what you know," I like to think it's more accurate to say "Write what you're passionate about." Remember, no one is an expert on vampires and yet someone broke the rules, made 'em sparkly, and changed the paradigm. Same could be said for witches being women who ride broomsticks with black cats and wizards as old, bearded men with pointy hats; Hogwarts and Quiddich completely changed the name of the game. John Irving said the “write-what-you-know dictum has no place in imaginative literature” and I happen to agree. Should you do research? Yes! Should you read what's out there? Yes! Should you listen for the voices that aren't your own? Yes twice! Should you talk to people? Experts? Groups? Ask hard questions? Get confronted? Screw up? Make mistakes? Yes! All that and more. Remember Neil Gaiman's New Year's wish for us all:
"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes."
It is the kindest gift you can give to anyone: children, teens, adults, strangers. The benefit of the doubt, the freedom to try, screw up and try again. The truth is, no one will "get it right" 100% of the time and you can't simply because everyone is different. You shouldn't be trying to write everyone's story (or, worse, try to get everyone's approval), but write the best story you can, the one that inspires YOU, the one that makes you sing inside, the one that demands to be told and do your characters the courtesy of lending them the voices that grow beyond you and your total experience, shaped by stereotype, television (or worse, the news) and get out there to see the world, experience something new and best yet, meet someone new. Listen. Learn. Get inspired. And then write.
What if Mr. African, Muslim, bisexual PhD wanted to write a fairy tale retelling of Snow White set in modern-day Amish Pennsylvania? Who is going to tell him that he can't? Not me. He can write whatever he likes. And if someone thinks we need an African, Muslim, bisexual story out there in the world, they can go write one if so inclined. I wouldn't want to limit *anyone* in their quest for inspiration and lifelong learning and I certainly don't want someone limiting mine. I have enough limitations of my own, thank you. I am still discovering new blind spots, new ignorances, new prejudices, and--if I'm lucky--making new mistakes because I'm out there in the trenches trying it out. I'm talking and listening and asking dumb questions and reading beyond my usual TBR list. And I'm writing the story that moves me and I'll *still* get things wrong. But that's how we learn. That's how we grow.
Go grow, make mistakes & make good art!
I think it has something to do with the fear of making mistakes and who gets to make them.
There have been a lot of great ongoing conversations about this, but I have been thinking about it a lot and something just clicked in that nebulous, 2 a.m. way it does sometimes. In the kid lit world, there's a lot of discussion about diversity and fair representation in the publishing world. This conversation was boosted by whitewashing covers, banned books, bad Con decisions and misrepresentation on big-name panels that prompted things like #WeNeedDiverseBooks (which is still going strong). I am a member of SCBWI and our esteemed Executive Director, Lin Oliver, weighed in with her personal thoughts on the matter:
"I don’t believe that I can authentically write from the point of view of a contemporary protagonist who is telling a unique story that derives from a racial or cultural experience not my own. Some people may feel comfortable with that. I don’t. One of the reasons I’m so eager to read literature written by people with diverse backgrounds is to get their authentic take on their experience. I just don’t trust that my take on it would ever be completely true or right." (entire letter is here)
And while I completely respect and applaud her decision on this, I must admit that I don't share it. It's not that I do not agree that she has every right to know her own comfort levels with her own writing or that we do not, as a community and a society, need to include all sorts of diverse perspectives in the kidlitosphere, it's just that I am a firm believer that everyone is free to write all sorts of stories--include characters and opinions outside of their own, personal experience--and that people can do justice to those groups that are being represented even if the author does not, in fact, belong to them. In the most basic sense, we are writing the human experience, which is identifiable to all its myriad shapes, sizes and colors. I have gone into my reasons in detail before, but it recently occurred to me why this was rubbing me the wrong way anew; it's that if you flip the argument, it completely falls apart. In essence, by saying that someone CAN'T write outside their own categories (be they gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, culture, socio-economic status, etc.) then that's close to saying that minorities can ONLY write inside these categories and should be equally limited. Which is just plain ridiculous.
Of course I don't think it's as simple as that, but hear me out: if we are saying that Caucasian, Christian, heterosexual, middle-class, MFA educated females can only write about Caucasian, Christian, heterosexual, middle-class, someday-MFA-educated female teens/kids, then are we also saying that African, Muslim, bisexual PhD educated males can ONLY write about African Muslim bisexual someday-to-be-PhD-educated male teens/adults? Of course not. Are we just saying that they are obligated to write these stories as representatives of their race/gender/sexual-orientation/religion/culture/class/etc.? What? No!
So what *are* we saying?
We want there to be room in the pool for diverse writers to write their diverse stories and get published for a mainstream audience. I think so, too! But in our rush to do this, I think some fears and P.C.-ness is getting us sidetracked. While I agree with all of these sentiments, the message of scarcity, that there is a finite amount of stories and storytellers allowed "in" at one time is wrong. (And with traditional publishing now getting competition from self-publishing and hybrid publishing, there's even more reading room & reach.) I don't think we should be advocating for who should write what. What I think we *should* be advocating is: Everyone is free to write whatever they want. Does that make sense? Write whatever you want. Instead of "Write what you know," I like to think it's more accurate to say "Write what you're passionate about." Remember, no one is an expert on vampires and yet someone broke the rules, made 'em sparkly, and changed the paradigm. Same could be said for witches being women who ride broomsticks with black cats and wizards as old, bearded men with pointy hats; Hogwarts and Quiddich completely changed the name of the game. John Irving said the “write-what-you-know dictum has no place in imaginative literature” and I happen to agree. Should you do research? Yes! Should you read what's out there? Yes! Should you listen for the voices that aren't your own? Yes twice! Should you talk to people? Experts? Groups? Ask hard questions? Get confronted? Screw up? Make mistakes? Yes! All that and more. Remember Neil Gaiman's New Year's wish for us all:
"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes."
It is the kindest gift you can give to anyone: children, teens, adults, strangers. The benefit of the doubt, the freedom to try, screw up and try again. The truth is, no one will "get it right" 100% of the time and you can't simply because everyone is different. You shouldn't be trying to write everyone's story (or, worse, try to get everyone's approval), but write the best story you can, the one that inspires YOU, the one that makes you sing inside, the one that demands to be told and do your characters the courtesy of lending them the voices that grow beyond you and your total experience, shaped by stereotype, television (or worse, the news) and get out there to see the world, experience something new and best yet, meet someone new. Listen. Learn. Get inspired. And then write.
What if Mr. African, Muslim, bisexual PhD wanted to write a fairy tale retelling of Snow White set in modern-day Amish Pennsylvania? Who is going to tell him that he can't? Not me. He can write whatever he likes. And if someone thinks we need an African, Muslim, bisexual story out there in the world, they can go write one if so inclined. I wouldn't want to limit *anyone* in their quest for inspiration and lifelong learning and I certainly don't want someone limiting mine. I have enough limitations of my own, thank you. I am still discovering new blind spots, new ignorances, new prejudices, and--if I'm lucky--making new mistakes because I'm out there in the trenches trying it out. I'm talking and listening and asking dumb questions and reading beyond my usual TBR list. And I'm writing the story that moves me and I'll *still* get things wrong. But that's how we learn. That's how we grow.
Go grow, make mistakes & make good art!
Fun Film Friday: Word Crimes
Duh!
This recent piece of brilliance has been flooding the writerly corner of the Internet with intergalactic speed and it's no surprise why: it's *amazing* in the way only Weird Al can be! Our family has been a huge fan of his since the Dr. Demento Show (dating ourselves much?) and have seen him perform live twice; both times struck with what an amazing wordsmith and performer he is. Really, there's just not enough room to gush.
Now marry our love for the Polka Wonder with truly epic grammar magic that managed to turn Thicke's cringe-worthy song and even worse music video into an epic worthy of the ages. Truly, this is an insta-classic!
This recent piece of brilliance has been flooding the writerly corner of the Internet with intergalactic speed and it's no surprise why: it's *amazing* in the way only Weird Al can be! Our family has been a huge fan of his since the Dr. Demento Show (dating ourselves much?) and have seen him perform live twice; both times struck with what an amazing wordsmith and performer he is. Really, there's just not enough room to gush.
Now marry our love for the Polka Wonder with truly epic grammar magic that managed to turn Thicke's cringe-worthy song and even worse music video into an epic worthy of the ages. Truly, this is an insta-classic!
July 11, 2014
Fun Film Friday: Lessons Learned
Okay, I know I've already hyperventilated about this everywhere, but I'd be remiss not to include my most anticipated movie to date as my Fun Film Friday: Lessons Learned by Tody Froud!
My childhood, like many, was shaped by the Muppets and Fraggles and other magic spun by Jim Henson and it was my fondest wish to grow up and work for the Jim Henson Company (as a miniaturist, although I'm a fair puppeteer) and I later applied for a writing job, just to see what would happen. (Nothing did, but I didn't want to move to New York, either.) I was shaped by movies like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. I own several books by Brian Froud and my daughter and I both have fairy statuettes by Wendy Froud (almost anything imaginable can be admired at The World of Froud's website) and the amalgamation of these two giant influences of my childhood dreams is almost too much to believe.
This film project is the first second-generation collaboration between Toby Froud (son of Brian and Wendy Froud and babe in the striped-pajamas ala Laybrinth) and (daughter of Jim and Jane Henson), something I never thought I'd see again in my lifetime. Lessons Learned smacks something of the old Storyteller series and more than a little bit of myth and magic and dark beauty--all things I adore!
Really, I can barely contain myself... *mind blown* *smiling dazedly* *giddy with glee*
Lessons Learned Trailer from Toby Froud on Vimeo.
My childhood, like many, was shaped by the Muppets and Fraggles and other magic spun by Jim Henson and it was my fondest wish to grow up and work for the Jim Henson Company (as a miniaturist, although I'm a fair puppeteer) and I later applied for a writing job, just to see what would happen. (Nothing did, but I didn't want to move to New York, either.) I was shaped by movies like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. I own several books by Brian Froud and my daughter and I both have fairy statuettes by Wendy Froud (almost anything imaginable can be admired at The World of Froud's website) and the amalgamation of these two giant influences of my childhood dreams is almost too much to believe.
This film project is the first second-generation collaboration between Toby Froud (son of Brian and Wendy Froud and babe in the striped-pajamas ala Laybrinth) and (daughter of Jim and Jane Henson), something I never thought I'd see again in my lifetime. Lessons Learned smacks something of the old Storyteller series and more than a little bit of myth and magic and dark beauty--all things I adore!
Really, I can barely contain myself... *mind blown* *smiling dazedly* *giddy with glee*
July 7, 2014
Public Glee vs. the Private Abyss
I've had a number of conversations that start the same way, people wondering just how much to share on blogs or Facebook or Twitter about their families, their kids, their photos or struggles, the truths they wanted to be open about versus the fact that they were authors with "fans" and didn't want to expose their lives to everybody. "How do you keep your public and private lives separate online?" My answer has always been: "I don't put my private life online."
This is only partially true. I am completely open about my geekery, my love of books and steampunk, costuming and gaming, cooking, karate, my passion for gender rights, GLBTQI advocacy and prevention education, I've even nicknamed my kids to share anecdotes and quotes, but there is a line I've drawn in the proverbial sand and since I'm not THAT big of a name, that has been enough for me to keep some details off the radar, and while it sometimes feels like a half-truth, I think it's good to keep some things private, especially when it involves other people.
But not when it's this.
I love writing--I have my whole life--but recently, I've stopped writing. This is bad in many ways, including the fact that I'm under contract, have hopes of publishing other books I've written and those I have planned, but mostly because writing is my go-to place, my solace, my escape from stress and pressure that rule my other lives* and to have that be the cause of stress and anxiety is tantamount to having my own hands turn against me, trying to choke my own throat--works in B-horror movies, but not so much in real life. It's a paralytic feeling. Being one who had a near-miss with paralysis, I'm not thrilled to get another taste.
I use black humor to jokingly reference the fact that my neck snapped back in September, 2012. The truth of the matter is that accident was one of the most frightening moments of my life and put me on my back for a solid 4.5 months, taking over 11 months to recover to almost 90% mobility. I couldn't stand or walk for more than 20 minutes at a time, I wore a neck brace and was on pain meds (which I detest for that cotton-brained feeling), I suffered vertigo and nausea for nearly a year, I couldn't read or write (!!!) and my regular karate workouts went from consistent to zilch. I lay on the couch, head and knees propped up with pillows, for most of my waking hours. I was SO BORED! I could only listen to music or watch TV and those aren't things I usually do. (Reading books made me want to vomit within a few pages.) The truth was that I simply wasn't built for being lazy and complained to my husband that being a couch potato was *exhausting*--I felt like I was vibrating in place with the impatience to move, pushing desperately against that sinking feeling of being slowly swallowed by the couch.
Then came the day when I stopped fighting it.
Still under deadline, I forced myself to do copyedits 20 minutes at a time, taking breaks to resettle my eyes and stomach, before I'd do it again (and again and again) to get my book in on time. I am nothing if not committed.** My writing time had halved since I couldn't manage to keep up the energy I had for my usual nighttime writing stint (9pm-midnight), being physically exhausted by the end of the day. I couldn't go out. I was frustrated and insular. As an extrovert, this was psychological doom. I stepped away from social media for fear of saying too much. I quietly gained weight I couldn't lose. By the time I was clawing out of this, my second book in the series had been bumped back, I had a new two-book deal on the table and things were looking up...until I tripped on the stairs going out to the car, gaining a sprain, a strain and a hairline fracture in my right foot/ankle and earning a pair of crutches and a boot for my trouble.
Now I couldn't drive. I couldn't exercise, although I had just started up again 3 months prior. Winter was coming and I am no fan of lost sunlight--I think the phrase is "seasonal affective disorder" meaning I'm no fan of lost sunlight. I stopped going out. I started having panic attacks. The Earth and I were slowly growing darker by degrees. I sank into depression, a lifelong frenemy that I usually stave off with heavy exercise and forcing myself outside the house for at least 4 hours a day, but I couldn't do either of these things. Then I lost my agent and no small part of my wits. For the first time ever, I elected to try anti-depressants, enduring uncertainty, sleeplessness, muggy-headedness and searing headaches, but nothing worked. It felt hopeless. I was a wreck. My health suffered. My family suffered. My writing suffered.
And I felt I couldn't tell anybody.
I know many writers have talked about depression far more eloquently and empathically than I--Andrea Cremer, Mike Jung, Myra McEntire and Libba Bray to name a few--and I had nothing to add to the conversation except that I'd managed mine over the years by increasing my exercise. Without that option, my world crumbled. It was a quiet, frightened collapse because now it didn't simply risk myself, but my family, my income, and potentially, my career. I'm not a earning enough to make the risk worth it; I hadn't earned a paycheck in nearly a year, we were feeling the pinch at home and at work, my growing kids needed shoes, my husband asked what I was going to do next now that writing was out? I couldn't imagine. Not write? Are you kidding? I felt like I'd failed across the board, which didn't improve my mood or my ability to write. And that is the flipside of having a public voice and a private life--there is so much of our stories that cannot be told because while being a writer is public, being a human being is private.
So I fell into a dark and quiet hole, feeling creatively defunct and physically spray-tanned in Crisco. Fortunately, I knew myself well enough to know that I'd pull myself out of it (eventually), which I did. I applied myself to getting a new agent, I tentatively outlined fresh ideas, I had gained so much weight that I didn't recognize myself but I concentrated on getting healed and getting better and am now moving at 75-80%, eating right and beginning to move in karate and at the gym. The sun is out. My kids are happy. I re-energized myself at NESCBWI and BEA surrounded by intelligent, creative people and geeky bibliophiles, which felt so good! I'm on the mend and things are looking up.
But I haven't been writing. Barely, if at all. And that frightens me in that little dark cave deep inside my psyche because I've always had writing. Always. So I keep jotting down notes, making partial outlines, sticking colored Post Its on the 4 Act Structure board on my wall, aligning myself to Inspiration and Motivation. Book 4 is on the block. I have 3 projects I'd love to make happen. I'm at the keys for this blog post and it's taking shape, step by step, bird by bird, with a smile and sunlight.
This is private, but now it's public because it's real and part of my story.
Thanks for listening.
* My other lives include wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, advocate, activist and a whole slew of other titles that involve worlds-upon-worlds that I do not share online. There is a great deal of my life that is (thankfully) counterbalanced by being an author, and I value the escape, the place to think things through and the ability to vent what cannot be said aloud in polite company. Books have always been my salvation. Aren't they yours?
** Never to an asylum, although that has been a deeply rooted, lifelong fear due to genetic predispositions in my family tree. It really helps to have a twisted sense of humor about these things!
This is only partially true. I am completely open about my geekery, my love of books and steampunk, costuming and gaming, cooking, karate, my passion for gender rights, GLBTQI advocacy and prevention education, I've even nicknamed my kids to share anecdotes and quotes, but there is a line I've drawn in the proverbial sand and since I'm not THAT big of a name, that has been enough for me to keep some details off the radar, and while it sometimes feels like a half-truth, I think it's good to keep some things private, especially when it involves other people.
But not when it's this.
I love writing--I have my whole life--but recently, I've stopped writing. This is bad in many ways, including the fact that I'm under contract, have hopes of publishing other books I've written and those I have planned, but mostly because writing is my go-to place, my solace, my escape from stress and pressure that rule my other lives* and to have that be the cause of stress and anxiety is tantamount to having my own hands turn against me, trying to choke my own throat--works in B-horror movies, but not so much in real life. It's a paralytic feeling. Being one who had a near-miss with paralysis, I'm not thrilled to get another taste.
I use black humor to jokingly reference the fact that my neck snapped back in September, 2012. The truth of the matter is that accident was one of the most frightening moments of my life and put me on my back for a solid 4.5 months, taking over 11 months to recover to almost 90% mobility. I couldn't stand or walk for more than 20 minutes at a time, I wore a neck brace and was on pain meds (which I detest for that cotton-brained feeling), I suffered vertigo and nausea for nearly a year, I couldn't read or write (!!!) and my regular karate workouts went from consistent to zilch. I lay on the couch, head and knees propped up with pillows, for most of my waking hours. I was SO BORED! I could only listen to music or watch TV and those aren't things I usually do. (Reading books made me want to vomit within a few pages.) The truth was that I simply wasn't built for being lazy and complained to my husband that being a couch potato was *exhausting*--I felt like I was vibrating in place with the impatience to move, pushing desperately against that sinking feeling of being slowly swallowed by the couch.
Then came the day when I stopped fighting it.
Still under deadline, I forced myself to do copyedits 20 minutes at a time, taking breaks to resettle my eyes and stomach, before I'd do it again (and again and again) to get my book in on time. I am nothing if not committed.** My writing time had halved since I couldn't manage to keep up the energy I had for my usual nighttime writing stint (9pm-midnight), being physically exhausted by the end of the day. I couldn't go out. I was frustrated and insular. As an extrovert, this was psychological doom. I stepped away from social media for fear of saying too much. I quietly gained weight I couldn't lose. By the time I was clawing out of this, my second book in the series had been bumped back, I had a new two-book deal on the table and things were looking up...until I tripped on the stairs going out to the car, gaining a sprain, a strain and a hairline fracture in my right foot/ankle and earning a pair of crutches and a boot for my trouble.
Now I couldn't drive. I couldn't exercise, although I had just started up again 3 months prior. Winter was coming and I am no fan of lost sunlight--I think the phrase is "seasonal affective disorder" meaning I'm no fan of lost sunlight. I stopped going out. I started having panic attacks. The Earth and I were slowly growing darker by degrees. I sank into depression, a lifelong frenemy that I usually stave off with heavy exercise and forcing myself outside the house for at least 4 hours a day, but I couldn't do either of these things. Then I lost my agent and no small part of my wits. For the first time ever, I elected to try anti-depressants, enduring uncertainty, sleeplessness, muggy-headedness and searing headaches, but nothing worked. It felt hopeless. I was a wreck. My health suffered. My family suffered. My writing suffered.
And I felt I couldn't tell anybody.
I know many writers have talked about depression far more eloquently and empathically than I--Andrea Cremer, Mike Jung, Myra McEntire and Libba Bray to name a few--and I had nothing to add to the conversation except that I'd managed mine over the years by increasing my exercise. Without that option, my world crumbled. It was a quiet, frightened collapse because now it didn't simply risk myself, but my family, my income, and potentially, my career. I'm not a earning enough to make the risk worth it; I hadn't earned a paycheck in nearly a year, we were feeling the pinch at home and at work, my growing kids needed shoes, my husband asked what I was going to do next now that writing was out? I couldn't imagine. Not write? Are you kidding? I felt like I'd failed across the board, which didn't improve my mood or my ability to write. And that is the flipside of having a public voice and a private life--there is so much of our stories that cannot be told because while being a writer is public, being a human being is private.
So I fell into a dark and quiet hole, feeling creatively defunct and physically spray-tanned in Crisco. Fortunately, I knew myself well enough to know that I'd pull myself out of it (eventually), which I did. I applied myself to getting a new agent, I tentatively outlined fresh ideas, I had gained so much weight that I didn't recognize myself but I concentrated on getting healed and getting better and am now moving at 75-80%, eating right and beginning to move in karate and at the gym. The sun is out. My kids are happy. I re-energized myself at NESCBWI and BEA surrounded by intelligent, creative people and geeky bibliophiles, which felt so good! I'm on the mend and things are looking up.
But I haven't been writing. Barely, if at all. And that frightens me in that little dark cave deep inside my psyche because I've always had writing. Always. So I keep jotting down notes, making partial outlines, sticking colored Post Its on the 4 Act Structure board on my wall, aligning myself to Inspiration and Motivation. Book 4 is on the block. I have 3 projects I'd love to make happen. I'm at the keys for this blog post and it's taking shape, step by step, bird by bird, with a smile and sunlight.
This is private, but now it's public because it's real and part of my story.
Thanks for listening.
* My other lives include wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, advocate, activist and a whole slew of other titles that involve worlds-upon-worlds that I do not share online. There is a great deal of my life that is (thankfully) counterbalanced by being an author, and I value the escape, the place to think things through and the ability to vent what cannot be said aloud in polite company. Books have always been my salvation. Aren't they yours?
** Never to an asylum, although that has been a deeply rooted, lifelong fear due to genetic predispositions in my family tree. It really helps to have a twisted sense of humor about these things!
