Since this is a blog that is about writing (and other things as well) it seems only fair to talk about last year's NaNoWriMo.
Last year late in October, somewhere about the 20th of the month, my sister decided that it would be a good idea for the pair of us to write our own novels in November.
I think that you should join me this year for NaNoWriMo. It'll be a crazy ride, but someone has to take it!
Having written a detailed-to-the-max 50 page outline for a story a year or two (or three) ago, and rembering what madness that was, and the fact that I had about 10 days to prepare, I said no, as a sane person would.
Since my sister is SO not sane, she kept poking at me until I caved and made my NaNo account. I spent about three days working out a plot on lined paper, and came up with something that was drastically different than my usual attempted fare of fantasy-epic-adventures; a novel about teens putting on a production of Romeo and Juliet.
I love the idea, since in April of that year I had played Mercutio in my theater's show of the same, and therefore was bound and determined to give my main character, Alan, the same role.
I am so sick of not having lgbt characters show up in YA fiction, that I made Alan, Stephan, Melanie, Emily, Tanya and Oliver (all characters from that year's NaNo) either gay, lesbian or bi.
There were plenty of straight characters as well, but I found the need to include the lgbt ones irrisistable.
Mt book went off in a direction that I had no plan for it to go, and I am so glad for that. The creative flow of NaNoWriMo is unstoppable.
I noveled whilst getting ready for opening night for a show, and at the cast party, where I should have been socializing with my castmates.
I gave myself permission to make a glorious muddle of things, to add the man who says "dorf", the traveling shovel of death, and Katherine Bloodsaw.
I wrote late at night in a film noir setting, clacking away at my typewriter as the hours grew longer and I included dreams involving God, a gay man, and a missing pair of glittery jeans.
I word warred with random strangers, flipped out every time I wrote another thousand words, and I had a mentor who kept me on track to the 50k finish.
The long and short of it is this: Everyone should do NaNoWriMo.
Everyone should have a chance to douse their inner critic and do what makes them feel good.
Hell, douse the outer critics as well! They aren't you, and you need to nurture your own creative spirit. Nobody else can, will, or even should do that for you.
I guess that this stands as my open invitation to you all, then.
Come, join me, make mistakes, make art. Throw yourself into the joy of creating something that wasn't there before you started to make it. Live your life to the fullest everyday, and don't let the nay-sayers ruin your dreams. Dream big, dream on, and never, ever, ever stop.
Who's with me?
~Whimsy
I find that there are plenty lgbt characters in YA fiction, if you know what you are looking for. In John Green's WILL GRAYSON WILL GRAYSON, two of the main characters, one of them being a Will Grayson, were gay. Actually, there are a lot of books featuring lgbt characters. If you want a laugh, try HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE, A NOVEL OF SEX, LIES AND MUSICAL THEATER. I forget who it's by, but honestly, it made me laugh so hard my mum had to come check in on me and make sure that I was OK, and not dead.
ReplyDelete@Elle
ReplyDeleteI have read WG, WG, and I loved it. David Levithan is amazing with putting lgbt characters in YA fiction (check out Boy Meets Boy), and I loved that John put Tiny Cooper in as well.
However, if you look at the majority of the books on your average YA-section-of-the-local-library, you will see that most of the characters are straight. Yes, there's the sassy gay friend, and the token we-just-put-in-a-gay-character-so-we-look-all-diversified character.
I have read a LOT of lgbt YA fiction, but I still think that there is quite a way to go before the lgbt community is given equal respect, representation, and thought as all the straight teens/young adults.
It can seem that the gay characters are simply an afterthought to the main (straight) character, or if the main character is, in fact, lgbt, the character can seem incredibly sterotyped (gals who dress boyishly, guys who love showtunes, you know the drill).
I guess that since I am a part of the lgbt community, that makes me a bit more sensetive to the lack for lgbt characters. Yes, they are included more often than before, but not as often as they could be.
In addition to that, libraries can be a bit gun-shy about spending money on lgbt books, so for some of these amazing books to get read, the reader must actually buy the book themselves. I can't afford to buy every book I want to read, much as I'd like to, so the libraries are an invaluble resource.
Thanks for the book reccomendation, I've heard of How I Paid For College, but haven't gotten my hands on it yet (see above reasoning).
Thanks for taking the time to comment, lovely to hear from you!
~Whimsy