Laura Preble's Blog, page 2

OUT and doubt

So, OUT has been available for nearly a month (almost) and now comes the time when things start to feel...weird. 

 

Why? Because the first blush of excitement has passed. All the people who knew about the book and were waiting for it have purchased it, many have read it, many have written great reviews. And now I sit here every day, alone at my laptop, sending missives to strangers who might be able to help me get the exposure that would give this book a lucky break. 

 

This is where publishing becomes nightmarish. There are SO many books out there. Every person who might possibly be able to read OUT and help me get the word out also gets about a million emails from a bunch of other people every day. No one replies. I know it's not realistic to expect it...yet, I do. 

 

I reply to every email I get. Now, granted, I am not famous. But I'm sending emails and twitters and Facebook messages to assistants, obscure people whose blogs I like, (and also to Ellen and Chelsea and Neil Patrick and Jon).  But even the obscure people don't answer. It's kind of strange...I almost feel as if I'm invisible, as if when I sent messages they are somehow captured in some nylon spiderweb situated right above the tubes of my internet, poised to catch any message that might get out there to help me. 

 

So I wait, and I hope. I put my baby out there, and I hope that someone else loves it as much as I do. 

 

Burn it! (Irony)

“Burn it and salt the earth with it so it will rise no more.”

 

That’s how one review on Goodreads read this week. I have to say, I’ve pretty much never had anybody hate my writing that much. It’s at once kind of awe-inspiring, terrifying, mystifying and baffling.

 

When I started to write OUT, I really didn’t think about who would be pleased or displeased. I just had an idea that I really found engaging and interesting, and I went with it. But I honestly didn’t expect the negative comments to come from the pro-LGBT camp. I expected right-wing Christians might object to it because it paints conservatives in a rather negative light. I figured the Anglican Church might be a tad upset that I chose to use the fictional sect “Anglicant” for my model religion. But so far, neither of those groups knows the book exists, I suppose. I’ll get that hate mail another day.

 

No, this reaction is coming from people who have decided the book is homophobic, that I am some anti-gay activist writer seeking to paint all LGBT people as evil, and they’ve totally managed to miss the point.

 

The gay community already accepts gay people. There is no need to convince them. The people who object to LGBT unions are people in the majority, specifically straight people. I purposefully called the groups in my book Parallel and Perpendicular because I didn’t want people to forget that it was fiction, that it wasn’t about the gay citizens of our world today.

 

It is an opportunity for people in the majority to step into the shoes of the minority. What if straight people in our world were assaulted, sent to reconditioning camps, outcast, disowned? How would they feel? That was what I wanted to explore in OUT. It wasn’t designed to give people ammunition to target LGBT people. Is it realistic to think that this world would ever come to be? No. It’s called speculative fiction.

 

From what I’ve seen, the people who are most rabidly protesting the book haven’t even read it. (To be fair, a couple have read it, but I think they decided before they even cracked it open that it was a homophobic diatribe. With goggles like that on, I doubt they could see it for what it really is. If someone comments “I’ll read it, but there’s no way it’s not a homophobic book”, you pretty much know their opinion is not going to change.)

 

These same people will rail against narrow-minded individuals who won’t consider same-sex marriage. They’ll condemn those who can’t see things from their perspective. But they’re doing the exact same thing.

 

In the writing business, we call this irony.

 

 

 

Great Interview on Catherine Ryan Hyde's blog

Please check out this great interview about my book on Catherine Ryan Hyde's blog. (She's the fantastic writer behind PAY IT FORWARD).

http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/blog/

Knee Jerks

Some people, people who haven't read the book, think Out is anti-LGBT. 

This reminds me of the novel Huck Finn. Over time, people decided it was a racist book because it featured  the n-word 264 times. It was banned in many schools based only on this fact. Some people still think this...and all of them are people who haven't read the book. 

Huck Finn is actually one of the least racist books around. If you read it in context, and understand the world in which it was written, you realize that Mark Twain created the character of Jim, a runaway slave, and gave him all the virtues racist whites attributed to themselves alone. He was more noble, more compassionate, more selfless, and more human than anyone else in the book. 

The complaint I hear from people is that in OUT, the same-sex couples are depicted as the bad guys. This is a necessary conceit for the idea of the book to work. Also, many of the Parallels in the book work in the resistance, trying to change the world they feel is wrong. The bottom line is this: people who still feel that LGBT people don't deserve the right to love the person they love need to see what it would feel like to be in that position. I believe that if they could see through my book what it would be like to be ostracized for being who they are, maybe they could understand this struggle. 

Please read before judging. 

OUT is real. Pass it on.

Seeing a book of mine on Amazon again is a great feeling. I really love this book and I want people to read it. But since I'm self-publishing, I feel like every bit of effort I make is a drop of water in a very large bucket. 

You know what? I need a village. 

If you are a fan, or you just feel like doing a good deed, please help me publicize this book. I truly feel that it could start a discussion that could change the way people feel, in the way that only fiction can do. I think it could help kids talk about the issue of being gay and of embracing it. I think it could open the eyes of people who don't believe that LGBT people are still sent to reconditioning camps, or that people still try to "pray away the gay." 

I am putting this out there to the universe. I need help. I have created something that I love, something that bears a piece of my heart and soul within it, and I want to share it. I want to do good. I want to make it happen. 

Go, universe. Show me what you can do. 

A long, strange trip that's just beginning

Tomorrow, my book OUT becomes available to the general reading public. I am excited, scared, and sort of zen about it all at the same time. I know this sounds impossible, but that's the nature of art. 

 

The origins of this book are a bit remarkable. I was at a writing conference, one where you were supposed to actually work on your novels and get feedback from other writers. As luck would have it, the skitchy electrical current at the lodge fried my laptop. My plans for a much-needed getaway to write like a fiend were totally screwed. 

 

Sad and desperate, I took to the lodge's wine bar with a legal pad to doodle. I felt like the universe was telling me to forget about being a writer. But then something amazing happened. The idea for OUT popped into my head. The title,  the concept of Perpendicular and Parallel, the theocracy that traps a minister's son...all of this was born when I thought fate had taken something from me. 

 

I've worked on OUT ever since, for nearly four years. I've written drafts and tossed out probably hundreds of pages. I've had great encouragement, and near misses, real interest from real TV producers, and lots of people who loved it (my heroic pre-readers) and quite a few people in the publishing industry who weren't interested because "nobody likes male protagonists" or "LGBT stories don't sell." 

 

Ultimately, though, my agent Natalie and I decided to publish it ourselves. It's new territory for both of us. I'm a little bit nervous because it's a brand-new way of doing this thing that seems to evolve minute by minute. The publishing industry is topsy-turvy right now, and I don't think anyone knows how it's going to settle. I have no idea if this will work or not. But when I think about all of that, I come to one point: I feel like I wrote a very good book. I am proud of the work I've done, and proud of the collaboration between Natalie and myself. I think she helped me craft an even better version of the book than the one I would've published on my own, and it's great to have a partner to jump into this adventure with. 

Here goes something. 

Finally! Movement!

I'll confess: I've been waiting and waiting for some big-time TV people to decide whether or not they want to use my new book, OUT, as the basis of a series. It's seemed pretty hopeful. But then...not. 

At first I was full of excitement at the possibilities. I thought about how amazing it would be to see my story on TV, and to get feedback from so many people. Then time went by. I started to think it wasn't going to happen. More time passed. I was pretty sure it was a dream permanently deferred. 

But I still have my book. I still believe in it. And my angel of an agent, Natalie, is helping me get it out there even though we've had to endure great enthusiasm and no spine from several publishers. We're self publishing. We're doing it on our own. 

This is a whole new world in publishing, to be sure, but we're not the only ones doing it. The old model of the big-time New Yawk City editor is fading; as in music, creative endeavors are going out directly to the people rather than being filtered through an established judgment machine. This has its upside and downside. The upside is that artists have more control. The downside is that artists have more control. Anything can get out there, and probably will. How do readers separate the wheat from the chaff? 

I'm hoping quality rises to the surface. I am also hoping that those of you who are fans and friends and onlookers will help me spread the word. OUT debuts on January 14 as a Kindle book. I will need help in getting the word out. I need and OUT Army. Are you up for the challenge? 

Autumn in my Mind Palace

It has been quite a few weeks (actually, more like a month) since I've blogged here, so I thought I'd pop by and fill you in. 

My Kickstarter was hugely successful, so thank you to all of you who pitched in! I had 47 contributors, so I really appreciate the support. Goodies will be forthcoming. 

And that brings me to WHY the goodies are not IMMEDIATELY forthcoming. My lovely agent and I have been waiting for the result of some meetings between our film liaison and some prominent television production companies, and...we're still waiting. TV and film media move at a glacial pace. Either way, OUT will be on its way some time in January, I should say, unless we are contacted by an alien publisher who wishes to back the book. Human publishers seem to be a bit skittish. 

In other news, I continue to be obsessed with Benedict Cumberbatch and his amazing work. I have so much admiration for this man as an actor and as a person. He just completed a 45-mile ride for the Prince's Trust charity, a group that raises money to help children who need assitance. He raised something like 20K for the charity, and probably got a good thigh rash in the process. His work in Parade's End was stunning, nothing less than brilliant. I am always inspired by good people who do good work. It helps keep me going....seeing creativity manifested and talent recognized is always a boost for other creative people, I think. 

I am working on a couple of other pieces at the moment, and will post some tidbits here in the near future. Until then, my friends...enjoy your Mind Palaces. 

Reading Beyond the Surface

I've received a few emails from people who, without reading my book, have decided it's gay bashing. 

This is interesting, especially considering the fact that the intent was the exact opposite. OUT is intended to allow people to step into the shoes of those who are oppressed, to get a visceral feeling for what it's like to be ostracized because of who you are. It's not condoning discriminatory behavior; on the contrary, it's calling it out for what it is. 

This rush to judgment on a work of fiction has happened over and over again. People get upset about something they havent't seen or read based solely on a description or hearsay. Mark Twain's masterpiece, HUCKLEBERRY FINN, was branded as a racist book because of his use of the word 'nigger' more than 261 times. But if you actually read the book, you realize that Twain is a powerful writer who stands against discrimination and oppression. His use of the word reflects the language of his time, and nothing more. The content of his book, the way he portrays the slave owners as reprehensible and stupid, contrasts with the nobility and courage of Jim, the runaway slave who befriends Huck. But if you never read it, you'd never know that. You'd just focus on that one word. 

The movie THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST  came out many years ago and suffered a similar bashing at the hands of right-wing Christians. They assumed from what they'd heard that it was a blasphemous movie. Few, if any, of them actually saw the film. They made a decision based on what they had heard or what they thought they'd heard. 

in the case of OUT, people are deciding it might be disciminatory based on a brief description. But that doesn't tell the whole story. Read the book, when it's available. Then you'll see what the book does: it humanizes a problem we all face. It tells a love story. It shows what happens when a majority in a society decides how others should love. That's what it does. 

I hope when the book is actually released that people will read it before judging it, but in our Twitter-verse society, everything is 100 words or less, so I don't hold out much hope. And I've decided not to let it bother me. I know what the book says. I know what it means. And that's good enough. 

Chicken and the Christian Wrong

     Every time I think LGBT treatment in America is improving, some new story slaps me in the face and reminds me that, in fact, I'm living in a bit of a liberal California bubble. 

     Of course, everyone has heard of the Chick-Fil-A kerfuffle. The president of the company funds hate groups who work to insure the LGBT people won't get the rights they deserve. (And, to paraphrase Rachel Maddow, the majority doesn't decide on who gets rights. That's why they're called rights and not privileges.)  What really kicked me in the gut was the day I saw a front-page story in our newspaper sporting a huge photo of a ridiculously long line of people waiting to buy crap chicken sandwiches to show their approval of the Chick-Fil-A guy's political stance.  I thought it was kind of ironic: if you read the Bible, the only mention of food is really when Jesus tells his apostles to feed the hungry. He never mentioned using food as a way to show people you hate them. I didn't see any of those Chick-Fil-A people giving chicken sandwiches to the homeless. And oddly, Jesus never said word one about LGBT people. He kind of loved everybody. 

     i've also read some comments from people who say they hate the sin but love the sinner, and pray for their LGBT brothers and sisters to find salvation. What amazes me is that if you said the exact same thing to them but flipped the circumstances, they'd be incensed. Currently, the majority of Americans call themselves Christian. Although our country's Constitute clearly states that we have no state-sanctioned religion, Christians insist that we do. They feel this gives them the right to decide the moral high ground for everyone else, regardless of law or civil rights. But what if that circumstance were flipped? What if, say, Buddhism was the dominant religion in America, and Christians were a minority? If Buddhists, being the majority, made proclamations about what God wants and how he wants us to live, the Christians would be heretics to disagree (although Buddhists don't really look at things in those terms. They're pretty easy going when it comes to telling other people what to do.  Unlike Christians.)

     You can bet those Christians would bitterly complain, claim their civil rights have been abused. But currently, they hold the majority, so they believe this makes them right. It only makes them bullies. Believing you know God's will is your own business, and you make decisions for yourself. Your God may not be the God of everyone else. But so many Christians believe they are right, and therefore they have a duty to inflict that rightness on everyone else not matter what. Again, sounds like a schoolyard bully. 

     I wrote OUT because I wanted to show what the world of gender identity would feel like if it were flipped. If you are a straight person, and you know you're straight, and you couldn't change how you felt about the opposite sex, how would it feel if your government and its people told you you were wrong, and not only wrong, but deviant and sinful? 

     I don't think even the Christians would like that. Of course, they probably wouldn't want to think about it, because that might put a crack in their faith-based bigotry, and we certainly don't want people thinking for themselves.