In Honor and in Power: Toni Morrison...
It is because writers like her existed that I have the voice to speak out about race, inequity, inequality, and other societal ills in genre fiction: fantasy, science fiction, and furry. #RIPToniMorrison
I've resolved to just write more short stories. My stories don't seem to lend well to being novels but as more interconnected series. I'd much rather work on graphic novels and comics. People have pressured me to do novels and illustrated books for most of my writing life. Perhaps this will be my compromise.
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| via Redcap Goblin |
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| via Redcap Goblin |
Before one reads Paul Beatty being the first American to win the Man Booker, I want to discuss a point I noticed in the article.
That when he was giving a reading and he mentioned that one of his influences was from the Japanese and a questioner said (out loud) that they thought it weird for An American Black writer to be influenced by Japanese culture. He immediately skipped the questioner, to the next person. I don't blame him. Notice I'm mentioning Black.
There is a reason why writers of color often feel 'stiffed' by the writing and publishing community. There is always the possibility of being hedged in. That we writers of color are incapable about writing on anyone else's experiences except our own. Yet, such questions are rarely asked of writers who are White.
Take for instance a post I wrote some time ago for this blog. I was writing about creating my official website. A White man asked me about my influences as a writer and I mentioned the Greek myths of my childhood. He thought that strange that a Black woman would be influenced by Greek culture. Something I KNOW he would not have said openly to me had I been White as him.
There's still this 'ghettoization' of Black and Brown writers and creatives that we can't possibly write from any other perspective. And yet, while many in the writing community believe some White writers are not telling diverse enough stories, there are Black and Brown writers who have been telling stories not only of their own people and cultures but injecting the cultures and ethnic backgrounds of others in their characters since forever.
It really saddens and disgusts me when I bring up this double-standard and people actually get offended! Actually, it is I who should be offended and righteously so.
The whole point of being a writer, being an artist, being any kind of creative in either the creative writing, visual, fine and performance arts is that we are surrounded by a multiflueous array of experiences and that unless we are literally under a rock, there is absolutely no way we cannot be influenced by others.
It is a disservice to believe that any human being, especially those in the creative fields, and shame on our community to think otherwise, will not take away and be inspired by other creatives whom they admire. Who ignite those 'sparks' within each of us.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming!
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/26/man-booker-prize-winner-paul-beatty-the-sellout-interview
This graphic novel anthology was recommended to me by Amazon.com. If one reads my "In Pretty Print" Blog, anthologies have been and are very important to my reading/writing life. Who would think that a comic collection about being a female gamer would be a thing?So my hooding ceremony is done. The preparations for cap and gown is done. All my printouts were completed. All emails submitted. My requirements have been met. What is the next step? Tune in because this blog and my life as a writer and artist isn't done.
On the telephone with a family friend, she brought up something interesting:
She not only asked about characters as if they were real. My friend believed that my rate of progress (drafts that I'd shown her) was greater than how I felt about my output. What I saw as the tip of the iceberg, she viewed as a great deal and fascinating. It not only opened my eyes to what I was attempting to accomplish, but lifted a veil of discontent I had been feeling for weeks.
There is no excuse for it, the feeling of inadequacy a creator feels for the project. Is it because we as creative types strive to outdo our last job? Does this feeling help us to create better and hopefully stronger each time?
Earlier fans of my storytelling was my oldest niece. Or rather, she being younger, became an unwilling audience once my stories became tiresome.
School friends were my next readers, except I was known as the Artist, illustrating my tales first.
One summer in 1989 (I think), stuck in summer school for math and all of us watching "Summer School" vhs tape from the library, I completed a full comic story. I used notebook paper and my favorite writing pens at the time. I used highlighters for color. I used a copier machine, and then, passed the copies around (I think they were two) during class. I'd like to feel this helped me and my classmates get through the monotony. By the time the booklets were passed around, everybody had their opinions: the story was good but the ending was rushed, or they didn't like how the hero's problem was solved so coincidentally. These comments came from friends and foes alike. And though I was annoyed by the reactions at the time (so sue me! I was 12-14 years old), I learned how much I had to delay resolutions. There had to be delayed satisfaction and a solution (if any) solved organically.
Fast forward to a secretarial position with the public education district office, and another short story was published. With many of my tales and ideas, I use my latest obsessions or readymade knowledge. Mine at the time was the history of the Middle east. Always fascinated by the cultures that gave us astronomy, algebra and the number zero, I decided it was time I wrote another story within my 'Tabber the Red' series. These are standalone yet linked stories set on a feline world. Yet, unlike what I was reading and seeing on shelves, my cats were upright, wore clothing, had different cultures, religions, were separated by ethnic groups and/or nations. So much like our world but so different.
My story took place during the ancient world of the lynx people. There was a messianic figure and the prophecy that drew him and his followers. Adventures ensued and this was one such tale. When my editor learned I could draw, he insisted I illustrate my story. I drew a caracal (a lynx cousin that inhabits the deserts) character wearing a head covering. The story was published both online and in a trade paperback edition. When I told one of my coworkers, who had showed interest in my writing, a budget analyst, about how to easily obtain the story, she told me that I must never give a story away. She told me that when it was available in print, she would purchase it.
I belatedly realized my coworker was Muslim and began to wonder if she would take offense to my story.
Later, she exclaimed excitement to me about the story and its characters. She thought that the Middle Eastern flavor of the book was thrilling. Its dark fantastic undertones she brushed off as she was used to reading horror. I was elated and told her I was glad she enjoyed it. That coworker told me she would keep up with my stories from now on.
Again and again, there is validation to this lonely life. It never fails to excite me that such seclusion from living in one's head can still lead to touching others.
Hannes Bok (Pulp artist and writer of the 1940s) and Flannery O' Conner (who drew politically-driven cartoons in her university newspaper). Need I say more?
Will post some more information about these two since I recently learned about Bok and O' Conner's artistic ability.
[from FB post on Dec. 13, 2013]
My last post started an idea about well-known writers who were made famous for their prose but not for their visual arts. In the previous post, I discussed J.R.R. Tolkien.
Now, I will mention J.K. Rowling. Wait, you didn't know that Harry Potter's creator is also an artist?
In an episode of "Charlie Rose", Rowling was inundated with questions by the prominant journalist/CBS correspondent. Rose showed a clip: it was one of the earliest illustrations of the boy-wizard...done by Rowling herself! She explained that she often sketched and jotted notes about the story that would capture the world's imagination!
Before HP illustrator Mary Grandpre''s iconic American 'look', Rowling had penned also the aesthetics... Footage of Rowlings 'doodles', one can see how very close Grandpre' came to the author's vision. Uncanny!
I want to take the time to give a shoutout to Lady Murasaki, a lady of the Imperial Court during the Heian Period, and who penned what many say is the World's First Novel "The Tale of Genji". This point is indeed historically significant. However, what makes the first novel crucial is the fact that Japanese women, during this era, were barred from learning to write and read the 'high form' Nihongi(Japanese Language) that only men could read and write.
All women, even the noble-born such as Murasaki, had to develop their own script! A female-written 'language'!
Can you imagine us modern writers not only struggling to pen our works, but the necessity to develop the language for said creative works!
And we wordsmiths complain about not finding the right words!
Over a week back from Tampa and I feel both elated and exhaustion. This March, I learned I was accepted into a graduate program, April, I was making preparations - on travel/school supplies - and by May, I was crossing my legs and fingers for my first term at the university.
Let's just say it was a blast! For those following me on Facebook, I have been posting a series of photos highlighting my adventures. However, there is a particular set of pictures that are near and dear to me. It was when our class trekked to the school's museum. In the rear were classrooms where a professor gave a presentation on the history of the printing press. Fascinating!! My classmates and I traveled a block or two to the university press' headquarters. In the next posts, I will show images of machines that helped in our becoming a literary country in the vast history of publishing. I hope you will enjoy.
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| "Antonio Di Castellan" by Carmen K. Welsh (c) |
