Heidi Heilig

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Archives for May 2015

Writing Outside The Checkbox

May 18, 2015 by heidiadmin

You know those checkboxes you get on some official forms where there’s an incomplete list of races/genders and you’re like “Where am I on here?” and also “Is this, strictly-speaking, legal?”

Not even an “Other” box? 

Very few of us fit in neat boxes, but you can imagine a hypothetical and inclusive checklist. And I posit that most of us feel pretty comfortable writing characters with whom we share an identity–people who would check the same boxes as we would.

In seeking to write diversity, I definitely feel like I can speak for the type of people that would check the same boxes as me. I’m bipolar. I’m biracial. So I’m comfortable writing characters with mood swings or people who never feel quite at home in any one culture. Part of this is that I have a huge amount of lived experience to draw from.

And part of it, of course, is that I never have to fear that someone can accurately say to me “We’re not like that. You got it wrong.”

I hate being wrong, of course. Most people do. But it’s more than that.

Any member of a marginalized community knows how hurtful stereotypes and misattributions can be. (If one more mass murderer is diagnosed by popular opinion with “mental illness” post-rampage, I’m going to go NUTS.) (See what I did there?) I don’t want to feed into stereotypes. I don’t want to hurt people. I don’t want to make things even worse.

But I don’t want to do nothing either, because the status quo is actively harmful.

So how to try to make things better without making things worse instead?

Two things I recommend.

1) Read and support marginalized voices outside your own experience. Listen, like, buy, retweet, signal boost. And most importantly, do this without butting into the conversation to give your own take on other people’s lives.

2) Use the learning that naturally came from listening in your own work. Try to write outside your checkbox. My main character is mixed race, her father is a bipolar addict. Those are all things I’ve dealt with. But her best friend is Persian. Her surrogate father is Nuer. I am neither, but I did my best to research, to listen, to understand, and then to write a compelling cast of diverse characters.

Did I get stuff wrong? Very likely.

Will I apologize for getting it wrong when someone lets me know? Most definitely.

Would I rather have just stuck with people that were like me? Certainly not.*

After all, they can’t ALL be crazy.

Trying and failing is better than not trying at all. Do your best to write diversity well, and acknowledge in advance that you can always do better.

And then write books that can proudly check loads of boxes.

*That is, unless for some reason my portrayal of these characters causes massive harm to others. I really don’t think it will. But I may be utterly clueless. You have to leave open that possibility, the possibility that you are Utterly Clueless.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

How To Avoid Working On Your Work In Progress

May 4, 2015 by heidiadmin

Guess what I’m doing today!

If you guessed procrastinating, you are correct.

YOU WIN ONE MILLION INTERNETS.

I have a draft of book 2 that’s staring at me, and I’m steadfastly refusing eye contact. But my soft deadline is six weeks from today, which is coming up alarmingly fast.

Long ago*, procrastination looked like Netflix binges of crappy horror movies while I started internet fights. But now that I have deadlines and a small beeb at home, procrastination looks different. Here’s a list of things I do while procrastinating that still (hopefully) help me inch towards my deadline.

1. Research: This one’s great! Since I’m writing historical fantasy, I can still Netflix binge, but I get to watch documentaries instead of horror movies. Better for my psyche anyway. And I get so much inspiration from getting a visual on those old documents, photos, or letters they show with the slow Ken Burns zoom/pan. I’m not a visual person so watching something gets my brain firing in new ways.

2. Reading: This one can be dangerous. When I have writer’s block, reading is a godsend, but when I’m procrastinating, I’ll happily try to fool myself into thinking that my entire TBR list is vital to finish. I have to be selective because I will read and reread new books and old favorites, and I’ll never want to stop. Still, reading can help jog something that’s been stuck in my brain, so it’s vital. One thing that helps more than others is reading and critiquing for critique partners. Making my brain work on problems other writers are having is a good way to exercise my problem-solving muscles.

3. Blogging: HA HA. I actually don’t know if this one’s helpful. Obviously I should be laying down words on book 2 rather than here. Still, I can tell myself I’m being helpful to readers or getting out my angst or whatever. And there’s a limit. I can’t work on this post all day long. Eventually I’ll get annoyed with myself and go open my document.

4. Shaming myself by blogging about procrastinating: Yup. I’m annoyed. I’m opening my document.

*Before book 1 sold.

Filed Under: advice, procrastination, writing

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