Hi friends,
A few quick news items:
Endpapers is 20% off at Bookshop.org during June for Pride Month, along with 24 other wonderful adult titles!
I was thrilled to chat with Crystal Sarakas for Off the Page on WSKG radio. We discussed genderqueer identity, 9/11, fear, and hope. I hope you’ll give it a listen.
LitHub published this beautiful piece that honors the history/significance of LGBTQ+ authors and literature, and I was very happy to be included: Ten LGBTQ+ Authors On the Books That Taught Them.
One morning this week I wrote a new scene for my novel that led to a bigger realization about the project. At first there was nothing particularly notable about it, at least in terms of the process. I approached it the way I’ve been doing for most of this story so far: opening my notebook and seeing what comes out, without overthinking it.
What ended up on the page was the narrator making an unwelcome discovery, which she needed to hide from two of the other characters. It was a fun little scene, and I enjoyed writing it, but while I had this character frantically scurrying around, looking for a way to cover up her secret, it dawned on me that a lot of what I’ve written in this book so far revolves around characters hiding something — whether it’s an object, a dead body, or something about themselves.
More than an hour later, while I ate my breakfast, I was still thinking about it, and it made me wonder why I’m so focused on hiding. Am I, myself, trying to hide something? Or maybe find it? If I am, I suspect the process of working on this book is going to show me what it is. To be fair, all three of the books I’ve written (or partially written) so far have revolved around hiding. But in my other books, it was less of a conscious effort than it is in my current project and more something my characters had to learn they were doing.
It also got me thinking about how this is one of the things I love most about writing. These unexpected patterns that arise almost on their own. I love being surprised by the different themes that assert themselves in different projects. The creative process unearths something in us and shows it to us in a very particular light that we might not otherwise not be able to see.
So here’s a prompt for you: This week, pay attention to the themes that have been showing up in your current projects. Do you notice a pattern? If so, can you lean into it a little more — put your character into a situation that addresses the theme head-on? For example, in my case I might give one of my characters something new to hide that has very high personal stakes if found — and then have someone find it. How would that change their relationship? The characters’ trajectories? The whole story?
If you don’t like what you come up with, you can always throw it out. But it might also offer you a more interesting way forward, or at least a new idea to hold in your pocket for later.
If you try this, I’d love to hear how it goes! Meanwhile, I look forward to next time.
Yours,
Jen