Write about what makes you angry

Denise Mina
is one of my absolute favorite crime writers and a constant
inspiration. At a recent Bouchercon (San Francisco) she gave some of the
shortest, sagest advice to writers and aspiring crime writers I think
I’ve ever heard:



Write about what makes you angry.




It doesn’t take me a millisecond’s thought to make my list. Child
sexual abuse is the top, no contest. Violence against women and
children. Discrimination of any kind. Religious intolerance. War crimes.
Genocide. Torture.



I have long found it toxically ironic that the crimes that I consider
most unspeakable: slavery, rape, torture, the sexual slavery of
children (including incest and prostitution – the average age a woman
begins that life is thirteen), animal abuse – none of these were even
worth a mention in the Ten Commandments. Apparently taking the Lord’s
name in vain, stealing, and coveting thy neighbor’s wife rank above any
of my personal hate list.



And I think the lack of Biblical sanction against those crimes has
contributed to society’s continuing and pretty mindblowing ability to
ignore those crimes.



And I’m angry about it.



That anger has fueled a lot of my books and scripts over the years. I've said this before, here, but I've always thought that as
writers we're only working with a handful of themes, which we explore
over and over, in different variations. And I think it's really useful
to be very conscious of those themes. Not only do they fuel our writing,
they also brand us as writers.



So when it came down to creating a series that I could sustain over
multiple books, it’s no surprise that this issue came up again as one of
the main thematic threads.  I’ve finally created an umbrella to
explore, dramatically, the roots and context of the worst crimes I know.
And at least on paper, do something about it.



But while writing is great to call attention to a problem and explore
it, it's not enough in the face of real, everyday evil. There's
writing, and there's action.



I've been thinking a lot about child prostitution (more aptly called
child sex trafficking) recently as I'm writing the Huntress sequel,
because there are characters in Book Two who are in that life. The fact
is, most prostitutes start as child prostitutes. Women (and boys) who
work as prostitutes almost always begin that life well before adulthood.
Kids run away from abuse, usually sexual abuse, at home, and are sucked
up into the life by predators: raped, battered, terrorized, and hooked
on drugs so they're kept enslaved to the pimps who live off their
earnings. Yes, still.



I've worked with some of those kids, when I taught in the L.A. County
Juvenile Court systerm, and I find it unimaginable that we just let
this happen, and often treat these victims as criminals rather than
getting them help to break free.



So today, I don't want to just get angry about it, I want to do something about it.



I'm very grateful that sales of Huntress Moon have been very good - it's currently a Top Ten Amazon Bestseller in Mysteries, and the #1 Police Procedural. And since the issue of child sexual abuse is so much on my mind, I'd like to get active about it - in a slightly different way than one of my main characters chooses!  Today I’ll be donating all of my proceeds from sales of Huntress Moon to Children of the Night, a Los Angeles-based shelter which helps children and teenagers in prostitution from all over the country get out of the life.



So if you haven't gotten your copy of the book and you'd like the
extra satisfaction that that money is going to an excellent cause,
today's your chance:









Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon DE

Amazon FR

Amazon ES

Amazon IT



Or - take that money and take a minute to donate directly to a cause that's fighting something that makes YOU angry.



So you know the question:



What makes you angry?  Do you write about it?  If not, do you think it might benefit your writing to try?



And I'd also love to hear about other people's favorite charities and causes.



Here are a few more of mine:



Planned Parenthood

Equality Now

Amnesty International

Kiva



- Alex