Bitch is the best name for a magazine ever. Hands down. Next time you see it on the newsstand, buy a copy. Next time you are puzzled about what to give someone who would love a "smart, snarky, hilarious, and feminist response to popular culture" you should buy them a subscription.
The Bitch blog has one of the best interviews with me. Thank you, Ellen Papazian, for asking awesome questions.
What do you think about it? Let them know in the comments section of their blog and/or here. They are also looking for suggestions about other YA novelists to interview? Whom do you think?
Ready…
Today’s advice: "I am not a writer except when I write." Juan Carlos Onetti
Set….
Today’s prompt: Movement = story.
Today you are going to take a walk. Or a run. Or you are going to draw circles on a sidewalk and hop between them. If all else fails, you are going to close your eyes and rock back and forth.
The movement of your body will help move your story. I swear.
You have a mantra to repeat while you are moving your body through space and your mind through time. Here it is.
_________________ (insert name of character) wants __________________ (insert character’s desire), but then ________ (something) happens and ___________ (make up something)
You might want to write this mantra on your hand. On a piece of paper at the least.
Ideally? You are going to say this out loud. Over and over again.
Once you have filled in the blanks, repeat it, dreaming up another scene.
You might feel dumb, but who cares? You are creating art. Your are summoning ideas out of the ether. You are entitled to look and feel a little silly, if that’s what it takes.
Warning: be prepared to be flooded with ideas. If this happens, you have permission to stop moving and write them down. But start moving again the instant your mind starts to wander.
Scribble….Scribble…. Scribble…
I love that prompt. It’s kind of bizarre, I have chronic illness which limits my ability to move, and when I do move, it’s with pain. But since I’ve started writing, I’ve wanted to exercise, to be in motion, to connect with the physical aspects of myself even when they do hurt. I wonder if it is the writing, something to do with it, or if it’s just coincidence or finally being rested from a physically trying eight months of school.
Also, it makes me ridiculously giddy to see you proudly acknowledging your feminism. In sociology, one of our first classes, the professor asked who considered themselves feminists, and I was the only one, in a class of, I don’t know, fifty or so, to raise my hand. A very sad moment for me.
I read that interview yesterday and I loved it! I especially loved:
“I write for myself—I think we all do—but there’s always that very human desire to connect with another person, whether it’s a conversation on the subway or the market or whatever. And so when you can write something that’s important to you and it turns out it’s important to somebody else, and maybe as a tool that that person can use on their path—’cause a lot of the letters say, “I didn’t tell anybody I was raped until I read your book, and then I went and I told and I got help and I’m feeling stronger”—I am speechless. What an honor that is. It’s very moving. I can’t be real articulate about it. That’s why I wrote that poem.”
I feel the exact same way. =)
=( I would have raised my hand, too. I have the same experience with that often.