Phobias

Reading Magic on the Storm by Devon Monk this weekend, I came across this passage about an elevator ride:

He opened his mouth, thought better of it, and instead stood there and whistled.

Whistled. Using up all the air in the tiny, tiny room, filling it up with sound so that there wasn't even room for me to hear my own thoughts. There wasn't enough room for me to breathe. I closed my eyes and tried to picture open fields, blue skies, oceans, deserts. Big horizons, big space, big air.

Character flaws and phobias add color to a story. That elevator ride would have been boring otherwise. Drab walls, whirring noises, an annoying friend whistling.

I have a flaw too. I'm terrified of heights, and I have no idea why I feel this way. In high school, I couldn't get any higher than the second bleacher. Rock climbing with my fiance (now husband) at a rock wall studio, I could only climb two-thirds up the wall before I froze. Clinging desperately to the wall, I couldn't repel down until I had slowly crept down to the halfway point.

Working in a downtown 100 story building in Cincinnati, I had to take the elevator to the 70th floor. But I couldn't go past the 65th in the elevator. Even without seeing out the windows, I felt too high. I'd get off on the 65th and walk the rest of the way. Crazy, huh?

Hiking with my husband in Red River Gorge in Kentucky, I loved the mountaintops.

But I couldn't get within 6 feet of the edge. Even being that close, I had to sit down. If no one was watching, I'd have been lying on my belly.

Look over the edge? No way.

Worst was some indoor hocky stadium. No problems climbing up the steep stairs. No problems sitting at the top of the concrete tiers. But when I had to walk down, the world tilted at odd angles. I almost scooted down on my butt.

Except then I would have been trampled by the exiting throngs.

What about you? What are your fears? What are your characters' fears?

Sometimes My Characters Talk to Me

From deep inside Chester, something bubbled up. Something she had never felt before. It was like the apple that made her mouth water for more, like flying away from Ur'dea, watching the black planet grow smaller, like gasping for a breath of fresh air on that planet with the blue sky and not choking.

Like seeing Jaak's smile and knowing he'd do anything for her.

"It's called hope," Lelea said.

"What?"

"What you feel. It's hope."

"Hope?"

Lelea nodded. "Always choose the option that makes you feel like this."

This last line has been on my mind lately. I've been making some tough choices about my career, my writing, my life, my family, and I hear Lelea whispering in my ear.

A couple weeks ago, some friends advised me to look for a publisher for one of my stories. I had planned to self-publish. But weighing my options, I realized that one road made me feel heavy, empty, and dark while the other gave me hope. My heart lifted at the thought that gave me this hope, and I knew which road was right for me.

Lelea, with her crazy eyes and her innocent smile, is my better, wiser self. Or maybe the better, wiser person I wish I was. She is certainly a great friend, helping me to find my way.

Kickass Heroines

Here are three tips to develop a kickass heroine worth remembering:

#1. Create a unique heroine.

Many cliché heroines are one-dimensional: the lioness who needs help from nobody or the sack of useless that needs a clue or the nerdy girl who just needs a handsome jock to teach her how to be a lady or the ... [fill in the blank]

The truth is that people--male or female--are multi-dimensional. The lioness should have some hidden self-doubt, the sack of useless should have some hidden strength, and the nerd should have more to offer than what meets the eye. So design a character that is human, with strengths and flaws, desires and motivations, and a certain amount of grit.

Make her human.

I think I like seeing all kinds of heroines - there are hard ass bitches, and weak helpless creatures, and bossy mommys and ignorant aunties in this world and they all need some attention to give a well round world view.
--Malin Larsson

#2. Avoid the feminist soapbox.

With the rise of the feminist movement, many authors write heroines that dance circles around the men. Where the hero fails, the girl steps in and saves the day. That's a bit unrealistic, don't you think?

Men and women make a great team, balance each other out very well. A truly strong woman doesn't need to prove it and isn't afraid to show weakness. There's nothing wrong with accepting help.

Strength and courage do not always roar like lions.
--Sonia Carrière

#3. Embrace the femininity of your heroine.

I've known so many women who run from their femininty, preferring to be men. But a good heroine has stage presence, a certain charisma that makes them jump from the page, just as an actress with her feminine appeal makes the movie worth watching.

Feminine means remembering you are a woman and there is strength in that alone.
--Renee Miller-Johnston

Feminine Influence on Sci-Fi

Saying I was a bit miffed after reading this article is putting it mildly. So I have a few things to say:

#1) Science Fiction, like any other genre, needs to have good story elements. Plot is a story element. Characterization is a story element. You leave one out, and your story is only half-baked, leaving the middle a slimy mess.

#2) I actually do agree with him that emasculated men in science fiction is really annoying. When the 95% of the woman in a story are superior to 95% of the men, you gotta wonder abour the writer's agenda. But having 95% of the men superior to 95% of the women, just makes me wonder about the writer's prejudice.

#3) If science fiction is about "doing things," then it is plot focused. If adding a feminine focus means more character situations as this author indicates, then there is now a better balance between plot and character development. A good story has both.

#4) Even Orson Scott Card writes for plot and character both. It deepens the meaning, the impact, and the power of his novels.

#5) It's not the fault of science fiction that boys aren't taking more interest in science and in accomplishing great things. Without a strong father figure in the home, there is a breakdown in the male ego. I have watched many families where the mother is doing the raising and trying to turn her boys into sweet, mild-mannered girls. The Christian church has gotten in a big huff, "Mothers should be in their homes." But I say that fathers are just as necessary. While growing up, it was my father that I needed to give me my sense of self.

#6) Why is it that boys are the only ones you want to entice into science? Because they are the ones who accomplish things? Excuse me, but women can add to the field of science too.

#7) Families need both strong male and strong female influence to survive. Society needs strong men and strong women to work. Government also needs strong men and strong women. For it is the balance of both that makes everything better. The fact is that men and women are different, and when they work together, that's when our world is in perfect harmony.

#8) I am not a feminist. I don't believe in a female agenda to drive out man, and I am not so insecure as to think that I don't need my husband's strengths. I know I make a better beta than an alpha. It's not a weakness on my part; it's just a different skill set. So instead, I believe in balance--balance between male and female, balance between plot and characterization, balance between yin and yang. That's what makes good science fiction, good stories, a good life, a good family...

Teenage Motivations

This conversation has shown that there are many deep thinkers among teenagers today—analytical minds that are willing to look deeply at themselves and at society—and then articulate clearly the truths that they have seen.

But today, many teenagers stagnate because adults give them no room to test an awakening that has grown in their spirits. They are relegated to the role of child, and parents seem so afraid of their children's failures that the teenager cannot learn from their mistakes. They do not make mistakes because their choices are taken away from them.


Historical Teenagers
Throughout history and throughout the world, many cultures and races and tribes of men ushered their children into adulthood at puberty. There was a rite of passage, a spirit quest, or a ceremony to mark the occasion. At twelve or thirteen, children became a contributing member of society. Girls were married and began having children of their own. Boys started to learn a trade.

Even the Bible shows a spiritual awakening that occurs at the age of twelve. Most of the strong people throughout the Old Testament, who changed things for the better, started their mission—their battle—at very young ages:

* Joseph was just 17 when he first had his dreams and was sold into slavery.

* King David was a boy in his father's field when he was anointed as king.

* Josiah was 8 when he began to rule, and then at 17, he purged the land of evil.

* Jeremiah was young when God called him as a prophet.

* Mary was in her early teens—as she was still unmarried—when she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus.

*And Jesus was 12, teaching the scribes and Pharisees in the temple.

Empowerment
In the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki, a father comes to Kiyosaki for advice. His son wants a car, and the dad doesn't know whether he should buy it for him or make the kid earn it on his own. Kiyosaki suggests that the father use this as a teaching moment, so the man and his son play the game Cashflow and discuss the wise use of money. Then the father gives his son $3000 with a stipulation that he cannot directly use the money on a car.

The boy starts investing in the stock. He studies books from the library and quickly loses $2000 of the money his father gave him. But he's learned some lessons and he goes back to get more library books. He's forgotten about the car—material possessions mean nothing in his newfound freedom.

But freedom isn't really the word, is it? It's purpose that he found.

Having a Purpose
Teenagers have a God-given mission—to change the world for the better—and instead they are acting the role of children, twiddling their thumbs, and being told that success (good grades, going to the best colleges, finding security in a good job) is all that matters. Because somebody wiser has learned from experience that that is how the world works.

Oh, I agree with gergiskhan that experience has deepened the adult perspective, but experience can only do two things:

* give you the opportunity to learn from your mistakes

* or just kill your spirit for adventure

With our society's focus on success, we are more and more likely to learn that living on the edge is too risky, and it is better to be safe than to live with vigor and passion.

Yes, teenagers yearn for freedom, but I don't think that is what causes teenage angst. It is bitterness that comes from the feeling of ineffectiveness when a passion burns in their hearts to affect the world with fire. And truly, our world needs such an awakening.

What Teenagers Need
Therefore, this is what I believe teenagers need from adults—what I hope to give my own kids today as well as when they are teenagers:

* An environment where failure is celebrated as equally as successes

*A safety net where experiments gone awry can cause the least amount of trouble

* The encouragement to try new things

* The empowerment to make things happen

* The respect and trust of a mind and a heart that is capable of making wise decisions

And The Winners Are...
It was a very hard choice to decide who to award the books to. Everyone was very thoughtful and well-spoken. The three finalists are:

Authorgirl4
Ilana Shayn
Olivia S.

Please email me at rita@ritajwebb.com with an address that I can use to ship your Little Brother books to you.

From the Mouth of Babes

Children make such wonderful writing material.

My littlest daughter--she's three years old--came running out of her bedroom at the end of naptime wearing nothing but her diaper.

"Where's you clothes?" I said.

"I'm naked," she says, "because I'm a boy."

"You're a boy?"

"Yes, I'm a boy shine-shess."

"A what?"

"A boy shine-shess."

"And boy shine-shesses don't have clothes?"

"Yes."

And what may I ask is a boy shine-shess? A scientist. (If it wasn't for TJ, I wouldn't have figured it out.)

So why is it that boy scientists don't wear clothes? I have no idea. Beats me.

What goes on in children's heads? Hmm, I'd really like to know.

Racism Part III

Reader Charles Gramlich made the comment about my article Racism Part II:

Unfortunate how easy even children find reasons to divide themselves.

Tragic, isn't it? When my kids were younger (toddlers/preschoolers), I watched children of all colors play together, completely unaware and unconcerned of the differences between them. So what happens in the two years between preschool and first grade?

It really is an important question that we, as authors, must ask ourselves. It is in understanding people that we can understand the characters of our books and the plots that unfold relating to those characters. So I would like to put forth a few ideas that may have helped to form this young boy's perspectives on the relations between blacks and whites.

It all started with his parents, I believe. Or rather to be more fair, I should say that I suspect. He wasn't allowed to play in our yard for the longest time. The girls were too young to play in the front, so they'd invite him to come play on their jungle gym in the back. Excited, he'd run inside and ask his mom. And then he'd always come out and say no. He wasn't allowed.

Then something happened one day. We were taking our kids for a bike ride around the block and they wanted to ask their friend to come with them. He went to ask his mom. She came out the door, looking like she was ready to start a fight. Until she saw me standing there.

She was shocked.

About as shocked as her husband was when my husband came to help him shovel the snow out of his driveway one winter day. As if he were thinking, why is this white man helping me?

She stopped. Not saying anything. And just stared at me.

"We're going for a bike ride. Could your son come with us?"

"Oh, yes. Yes. Of course. He knows he's allowed to ride his bike."

She turned and went inside. And I realized that she had expected that I would reject her son as a playmate for my children. She wouldn't let him play with our kids because she thought I would disapprove.

After that, there was never a problem with him coming over. She never stopped him again.

But I still wonder, what did she say to him before? Perhaps she said, "No, you can't play with those white kids." Perhaps she said, "Those white people don't want a black boy in their yard." Likely, she wouldn't want her son to face rejection for his color. She didn't want him to be hurt. As she had been hurt. She wanted to protect him. So she taught him to reject before he was rejected first.

Fear. The planting of the seeds of hatred.

Fear of rejection. Fear of things that are different. Fear of losing jobs to immigrants. Fear of not fitting in. Fear of disease. These are the things that build prejudices.

Yes, we all have fears. And it is a tragic thing that we pass them on to our children.

So think a bit about your own writing. How can you apply fear to character development? Because all cultures, all peoples, and all stories contain the element of fear. 

Check out Sir Pierre's blog, containing an excerpt of his writing. Though he has a bit of the talking-heads syndrome, the story is a bit intriguing.

I invite you to post a comment about how you've used racial tension in your own stories.