• Blog
    • Librarytour Blog Archive
  • Welcome!
  • About

Phoebe Sinclair Writes

Phoebe Sinclair Writes

Category Archives: Writing Life

Meet Table for 7

04 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Tf7

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

book-love, writing

My writing group’s publishing collective was fortunate enough to be interviewed by writer, coach, and tea enthusiast Allison Pottern Hoch. We’re early days with Table for 7 Press, just two years (and four books) in. We’ve learned a lot, and are encouraged to keep pushing forward –gaining new skills and getting our work into the hands of readers.

Follow along with our journey on Allison’s substack, Books, Marketing, & More: https://pottern.substack.com/p/book-marketing-now-table-for-7-press

Exciting News! šŸ“š šŸŽ‰

09 Sunday Oct 2022

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Writing Life

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Book-announcement, Kidslit

I’m pleased to announce that my middle grade novel, CONFESSIONS OF A CANDY SNATCHER, will be coming to a bookstore / library / home-shelf near you in the summer of 2023! It’s being published by my dream publisher, Candlewick Press and will officially launch on August 15. I hope you will be able to join me in-person to celebrate at a book launch event in fall 2023. You can stay in the loop by signing up for my mailing list.

šŸŽ‰ šŸŽ‰ šŸŽ‰ šŸ“ššŸ“ššŸ“š ✨✨✨

Meet Jonas:

A night of Halloween fun gone wrong has Jonas wondering if he’s really a wolf in disguise in this fast-paced fiction debut delving into accountability, relationships . . . and zines.

For the past few years, twelve-year-old Jonas and his friends have competed to see how many bags of candy they can grab from unsuspecting trick-or-treaters. No one’s supposed to get hurt, just lose their treats. So Jonas is taken by surprise when one of his smaller targets fights back against his snatching attempt. He’s even more surprised when he starts to receive anonymous notes from someone who knows what happened that night. Jonas already has enough on his plate, between his parents’ ill-defined separation and his own guilt—guilt his friend Concepción challenges him to confront in a zine she’s creating around the prompt ā€œWhat’s the worst thing you ever did?ā€ It’s a complicated question, one that touches on issues of identity, maturity, physical boundaries, and safety.

Featuring zines crafted by award-winning illustrator Theodore Taylor III, Phoebe Sinclair’s debut novel relates an emotive, reflective story about the wonder—and mess—of growing up.

Join my mailing list to learn more and get notified when preorders are available.

National Novel Writing Month 2021: In Miniature

15 Monday Nov 2021

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Writing Life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

events, nanowrimo, writing

Nanowrimo – Present: the Mini Mo

This year, I’m trying out yet another of my alternate versions of National Novel Writing Month. A NaNoWriMo subversion, if you will. I call it: Na No Mini Mo. I find this acronym delightfully fun to say and, if you don’t think about it too hard, it almost makes sense. Instead of 50,000 words –50,000 awful, sloppy, silly, embarrassing, and sometimes enthusiastic words to comprise a novela (novelette?)– I’m committing myself to 5,000 words. Don’t laugh. It’s a respectable number, especially if you’re as tired as I am, and especially if you have too many jobs, (I do). So! 166 words per day. Sure I can write more, and I may, but only 166 words count. 

Nanowrimo –  Past: 🐶

Why take on this exercise (this sprint) if you’re gonna reduce a mastiff to a maltese, you ask? Well, for one, maltese probably drool less, and I hear they fit in your lap. This November, in Our Year of the Pandemic Cont’d, I’m not rocking mastiff energy but I know I could make it to the end of the block with a maltese. 

Besides, between 2001 and 2012 I raised up four mastiffs. I gamely appreciated the shaggy first, lost the second to a data crash (goodbye Orange Julius the clamshell MacBook), hate-wrote the fourth (that was an experience), and continue to feel great affection for the third, whom I’ll hopefully unconventionally publish once someone launches the type of platform on which it could thrive. (That third nanowrimo is a real pleasure pup.) . . . and NOW this metaphor has run its course!

I’d also like to make note of several NaNoVariations I’ve tried over the past three or so years:

  • NaNo: Steering the Craft writing exercises edition – ā€œFor this round, I’m interested to devote time to masterclass lessons from the indisputable, indefatigable, inspiring, pragmatic, kind, and kinda hilarious Ursula K. Le Guin, via her slim, powerful book, Steering the Craft – A 21st Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story.”
  • NaNoZineMo / ZineNoWriMo – Thirty mini-zines in thirty days (harder than it looked! So. much. drawing.)

While the real NaNoWriMo has a deservedly sizable following, my variations are engaged by essentially just me*. I’m sure there are other variations out there, too, like how I know at least one writer takes part in visual-arts focused Inktober (Hi, Erin! Check out her 2021 spooky Inktober micro-fic here.) I’d be curious to see who else is doing what NaNoWri-wise during November. Maybe this means you? What are you up to? Share with us in the comments!

*Update: a buddy-colleague and his teen daughter have now signed on to NaNoMiniMo

News from the Homefront

23 Sunday May 2021

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Boston Moments, Readin', Writing Life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

boston, fanfic, publishing, reading, writing, zines

Oh, boy. It’s been four years. FOUR YEARS, since I posed to WHL. In that time, those YEARS, I’ve:

  • Written some fanfic
  • Worked steadily at my two jobs
  • Avoided landing any additional jobs
  • Made some new friends
  • Created 30 zines for National Zine Writing Month (which isn’t actually a thing)
  • Sold a novel (deets to come)
  • Read 100+ picture books
  • Set down roots more firmly in our chosen Boston neighborhood
  • Started an indie publishing company with my writing buddies
  • Grew a mid-life appreciation for bubble tea

Also, I accidentally lost the url to this blog. Thus, we’re now at phoebesinclairwrites.com. I miss my wholeheartlocal address, but perhaps this is for the best. I still want to wax romantic about my adopted city, about the many beautiful little things; small, bright or shadowed moments. Yet, with so much on the horizon, this field needs grow a little wider, wilder.

Looking forward to catching ya’ll up, hopefully. Soon.

Whole Heart Update – Spring 2018 Edition

19 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Boston Moments, Community, Learnin', Readin', Writing Life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

boston, comics, events, fandom, inspiration, learning, poetry, spring, writing

Hi! I’m checking in, after many months way. As I wrote back in the winter, I’ve been taking time off from Whole Heart Local, my trusty blog and web home since 2011. There are a number of projects in the works that I’m pleased to finally have an opportunity to note. Several are writing projects, several relate to paid-work (read: jobbity-jobs), several more are straight-out wanderings, and at least two aren’t mine. Several + several + several adds up to A LOT, hence my continued absence at WHL and well as MIA hours of sleep. My mom, and maybe somebody else, says ā€œyou can sleep when you’re dead!ā€ and, while I might not go that far, I’ll admit that I’m proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish recently.

Writing

Edits: Intermediate Fiction Novel
Those of you who know me personally, or have met me and asked what I’m writing, will recall that I’ve been plugging away at a novel featuring a 12-year-old, Halloween, and a zine. As I wrote in a blog post for my Fellowship, at 13-years-old the manuscript has out-aged the protagonist. Nonetheless, I’ve got stacks of colored index cards, notes, writer’s critique group edits, and Scrivener’s document files at the ready to make good on completing yet another reorganization/revision. Stay tuned.

Edits: Other Manuscripts
You can read more on this blog’s Writer Page, but suffice to say that there are a number of other projects idling on the runway for when the above novel manuscript achieves lift-off, in whatever form that takes.

Fellowship: Writer’s Room of Boston
Early in 2018, I applied for a Fellowship at the Writer’s Room of Boston. Writing space is something I’ve long struggled to obtain –especially space near to home. I was honored, grateful and excited to be awarded the Ivan Gold Fellowship for 2018, which means I’m able to access a quiet, retreat space in Downtown Boston, shared with paying members of the room and other Fellows. So far, I’ve been utilizing the space at least twice per week and it’s making a significant difference in my productivity. Equally important, the Fellowship has raised the profile of my creative writing endeavors in an increasingly overcrowded schedule.

An requirement of my Fellowship is to pen WROB blog posts, check ’em out:

  • Writer’s Math
  • Why Review Books? A Personal History

WROB work station

Community: Boston Writers of Color
This Facebook group, supported by GrubStreet, is comprised of writers in the Boston area. Even though I’ve only been able to make it to one IRL event, meeting other writers of color in my vicinity and learning what they’re working on, struggling with, and achieving energizes me. I’m following and participating in an effort called the Rejection Joy Tally, where people send in notice of their rejected submissions. Related, I attended a Submit-a-Thon event back in March, where writers of varying ages and backgrounds gathered at Grubstreet to submit work to publishers, contests, journals, etc., as well as work on projects to shine them up submission-ready.

Paid Work

Community Liaison at Agassiz Baldwin Community
I know that some in the Interwebs-sphere believe that I’m a librarian because I endlessly talk about books, reading, and libraries. In fact, I am not. (I did work in a library during my teen years.) As is the nature of nonprofit work, my role at Agassiz Baldwin Community comprises many disparate elements. My title, Community Liaison, I tend to oversimplify as ā€œwriter and charmerā€ or, even ā€œI talk to people.ā€ I primarily organize and support a nearly 50-year-old neighborhood advocacy group, and secondarily manage long-standing community events; ā€˜master’ several websites; and, more recently, provide facilitation and communication supports. What I deemed a job for a decade looks more and more like a ā€œlife-style.ā€ It’s completely bizarre and unpredictable. I love it.

Associate, Essential Partners
I started attending workshops and training at Essential Partners, then Public Conversations Project, to gain skills to help me better serve the Neighborhood Council (see above.) Several years passed and I got in deeper with the EP crew –showing up to pretty much any free learning opportunity they hosted. In 2016, I was invited to take part in a pilot apprenticeship program and BAM.Ā To my surprise and absolutely no one else’s, I’m now officially working with EP as an associate. What am I doing, people often ask? With my super-impressive colleagues, helping people and communities develop the skills and knowledge to successfully engage across difference. (Also, this winter I got to work with two very different communities in NYC and Wyoming –so yeah, there’s that. #wander!)

Freelance Consulting
Not sure how to describe this yet as it’s a thing that’s happening almost without my calling it forth. ☺??!

Wandering

Mentor for Institute for Nonprofit Practice
I was invited to mentor a Community Fellow student at the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. My bright, skilled mentee and I met a few times during the winter and spring and discussed what I’ve learned working in the nonprofit sector for over a decade, as well as both of our early community building experiences. It was hard to imagine what else I might offer to someone who is already so well prepared to stride forward and lead. In that paradox of imparting knowledge and insight, I gained as much as I shared.

Learn more about the Institute: https://vimeo.com/230456427

Fan Fiction Theatre
Although my affection for fan fiction is apparently never dying, I myself am not really an author of such. Except . . . I am? Or, was! At age ten I wrote a poem in the voice of Samwise Gamgee and kept it because it turns out I’m an excellent archivist of my own work. Good thing: that poem came in handy for the Fan Fiction Theatre, a fun and hilarious event hosted by The Ladies of Comicazi, a volunteer-run ā€œcommunity devoted to consuming, critiquing, and creating comics and pop culture.ā€

Check out the LOC blog for a full recap of the event.Ā In brief: I read two poems to the great amusement of those gathered. The opportunity for old work to find new value and an audience was a treat.

  • J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sam Waxes Wise
  • Nobody Wishes Batman Happy Father’s Day

Phoebe fan fiction theatre

The Human Library
The Human Library is an event that I’ve been itching to host in some form or another, so I jumped at a chance to participate when I saw Cambridge Community TV and the Cambridge Pubic Library had collaborated to run it. The goal of the event, originally out of Denmark, is to challenge prejudice by bringing people of different identities together to learn about one another. ā€œReadersā€ are invited to check ā€œBooksā€ out for a specific amount of time, and precautions are taken to ensure that the experience is safe and pleasant for everyone. I signed up to be a ā€œBookā€ and my description was:

Title: Writer, Wanderer, Friend . . . Radical?
Excerpt: Meet Phoebe Sinclair – writer, wanderer, friend and radical. She is ready to discuss her experiences growing up during the ā€œcolorblindā€ 1980s, and also to talk about natural hair, fresh food warriors, and the Nation of Islam.

About seven people (some in groups) checked me out for 30-40 minutes each, and I engaged in conversations about what it means to be a radical (which, admittedly, isn’t a title I normally claim); what I write; and most intriguing to me, what it means to wander. I’m still thinking on the experience and would definitely do it again. Cherry on top, I ā€œchecked out the bookā€ that is the new Cambridge Police Commissioner Branville G. Bard, Jr. Fascinating.

Podcasts
Participating in the Fan Fiction Theatre spun several other opportunities for me to get my wander on. One was being a guest on Paragraph’s Lost. Host Tim Hewitt and I chatted about my high school self and I read several poems that I’d written during those years. Tim’s impressively apt episode description: ā€œPhoebe makes strides to stay an individual while balancing two high schools and a library gig. Parents magazine proves invaluable.ā€Ā Take a listen.

I’ve also been a guest on the fun, funny, and insightful Ladies of Comicazi Podcast, sharing reactions to the movie Avengers: Infinity War, with particular attention to how Marvel movies’ treat female characters. Take a listen.

Partner Projects

Literally, my partner’s projects. Although I’m not directly involved with David’s music endeavors (I cheer from the sidelines), I’m including them here because GO DAVE!!! and also being exhausted vicariously is 4realz.

Double Star
After a year of band and song development, Double Star has launched and will soon be playing on a stage near you (in greater Boston.) Self-described: “Double Star fuses female-fronted alternative rock onto a chassis of R&B inflected punk. With their emphasis on vocal harmonies, effected guitars, catchy melodies, and R&B rhythms, they recall The Clash, Belly, Big Star, Liz Phair, Ramones and Indigo Girls.”

Like ā€˜em on Facebook to catch ā€˜em live!

Double Star_FB

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
As Music Director for an outdoor performance of my favorite Bard comedy, David teams up with a Double Star bandmate and other area musicians. The show is being produced by Theatre@First, a volunteer community theatre based in Somerville, MA. Performances continue to the end of June 2018, and you can learn more on their website.

My Blog Talks to Me

16 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bloggin Noggin, Writing Life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

inspiration, writing

The spark.

autumn_leaves_sun

I’m biking, walking, working, showering, and suddenly there’s a voice. It’s my voice, but not. It’s Whole Heart Local.

Ideas spool out. Emotions, snippets, funny asides. In my head, a dialogue that I don’t quiteĀ direct. Mostly, I listen. Mostly, I feel it out . . . a blog post is born.

I write what I hear. Listen more. Worry some (though not nearly as much as when engaged in writing fiction), and consider possible repercussions. I edit, then post.

To some this might sound like magic. Just another writer/artist out there, myth-talking my process. Others know this process well -they flirt or fight with their own versions.

For me, there is a type of magic, but more an experience ofĀ wonder and gratitude. The effortĀ can be delicate, sensitive to disruptions. Which is why,Ā WHL posts recently dried up. Too much on my plate.

sun_through_leaves

When I’m not writing for WHL, I miss it. There is a satisfaction that comes with getting a blog post just right -unexpected spelling errors, spacing issues, left-out conjunctions, and all. The imperfect perfect that I stretch for.

Am I back on task with WHL? Nope. Fall wasĀ just as event, activity, and responsibility heavy as last spring and summer. But it still speaks to me, WHL. IĀ race to capture the words –whether I’m biking to work, showering, reading, whatever.

As long as it speaks, I’ll try to keep listening.

Fanfictions I Have Loved: An Interview with Nonymos

22 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Learnin', Readin', Writing Life

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

comics, fandom, interview, writing

Welcome to my first WHLĀ interview! With a writer no less! A fanfiction writer! I’m so excited!!! Clue screaming and wavy arms, a la Muppets.

Okay. Now I’ll quit with the exclamation points. But I can’t stop won’t stop my gratitude towardsĀ Nonymos, whose exciting, smart, adventurous, and well-composed ficsĀ promptedĀ me to establish a OTP before I even knew what the term meant. It was through interacting with her in the comments section of a story that anĀ idea was birthed: maybe other folk who’ve been curious about fics but feel too shy to try ’em . . . or people who love learning about artists’ processes . . . or maybe even interview-junkies, will want in on this conversation, too. You’re welcome.

Nonymos was ever so gracious as to embark on this effort with me. Who knows where it will lead?Ā Here we go. Oh, wait. In the spirit of full-disclosure, some non-graphic but nonetheless adult themes are discussed below. If you click through to fics, please be aware of the same (save for the non-graphic part).

1. Starting from the beginning, what did your early reading life look like and who are your writing influences?

Most of my life has been devoted to reading. Even as a little girl it was all I wanted to do—I exhausted my parents asking for my favorite books to be read again and again and again, and that is actually how I learned how to read, when I was four years old.

When I was a kid, I read a lot of early YA stuff and a boatload of Franco-Belgian comics (I still know them by heart.) I’ve also been very interested in manga for a couple few years. After I got into fandom I started reading American comics, and my collection is steadily growing. All of this taught me about the importance of having good characters and an engaging plot.

The love of beautiful writing came when I started my Literature studies. During those years I caught up on all the classical reading I hadn’t done before. It taught me how to analyze, criticize and dissect a piece of fiction; and it also helped me understand the value of poetry in language—aka why it’s possible to write a good book about nothing as long as it’s well-written. But I firmly believe truly great books are the ones that know how to combine good writing with good content. I was already writing a bit then, but that’s when I really started seriously, and I haven’t stopped since. Won a couple of prizes for short stories, which was very encouraging.

My Masters thesis was about the fantastic in modern fiction. Most of it focused on Argentinean author Julio CortĆ”zar, who taught me how to use words beyond their immediate meaning, and Neil Gaiman, who… NEIL! GAIMAN! I think I can safely say he’s my favorite author. I’m still not done talking about American Gods. I never will be.

I’m in the middle of another Masters now (in publishing) and working a part-time job in a publishing house. My job there is to screen the manuscripts, which as you can imagine fits me perfectly. It’s also teaching me to see books from the other side of the publishing barrier for the first time. I’m still learning a lot inside and out.

2. When and how did you arrive at fanfiction?

I first became familiar with the concept of fanfiction when I was fifteen, thanks to the manga community. What little I read was in French, and as embarrassing and cringey as you can imagine. Baby’s First Fandom! I quickly lost interest in it, and for a couple of years I was convinced I was done being into stuff ā€œso obsessively.ā€

Fanart_WarChildren_Parisa

Illustration by Parisa for ‘War, Children’ saltdryad.tumblr.com

Oh what a fool I was.

The year 2012 was a game-changer. It’s ridiculous but it’s true. If I hadn’t decided to go and see Avengers with friends, my life would have been very, very different. I came out of the movie absolutely hyped up on fun. My classical training infused me with a vague contempt for mainstream stuff—but Avengers smashed through those barriers. To the point that I yearned to stay in that universe for a bit longer; a feeling I hadn’t had since my manga days. Mostly I longed to explore the fallout of what had happened between Clint Barton and Loki Laufeyson. So I wrote a fic. It’s still on the AO3. It’s absolutely terrible. But it sated my need at the time. I stepped back thinking I was done.

But then I wrote another one. And then another one. I fully expected the obsession to fade eventually, like it had every time such a thing had happened to me before. But it didn’t fade. It just branched out; through it I discovered a lot of new things (Tumblr, its particular brand of deadpan cynicism, and many things about gender and sexuality) and learned a helluva lot about writing, thanks to the feedback of my readers and my own continued discontent with what I was posting.

3. Your style has a lot of interesting rhythm: bold sentence variation and moments where characters go completely stream of consciousness. Is this flow intuitive, are you drawing from influences and/or writing instruction? Maybe a mix?

Thanks! And no—I am utterly unable to follow instructions when it comes to writing. Europeans in general consider that writing cannot be taught, only learned. I mostly agree. I write what feels right. Same goes for influences; I let myself be influenced, it’s not conscious work. So yes, it’s mostly intuition.

It’s when I reread myself that some instructions come into the mix—kill your darlings; show, don’t tell; substance over style. I try to delete as much as I can. Tighten up my writing to the max. If I’m using several sentences to express one idea it’s not good. Reread, delete again, aim for maximum efficiency.

4. What’s easiest and most difficult about writing fanfic?

Writing fanfiction is addictive. Mostly because it’s so easy. (It’s a slippery slope, too—my first stories were bad because I mixed up easy and cheap.) The characters are already there. The universe is already there. All you have to do is combine them in new and exciting ways. And you get so involved in it—because you’ve spent so much time there, it’s like home. I’ve read stories I would have found absolutely inane if they’d involved original characters; but since they were about my OTP they were suddenly fascinating.

There’s nothing I find difficult about writing fanfiction in itself. The difficult part happens when it’s time to break the habit—aka when I work on my original stuff. I get frustrated with my characters because I do not immediately love them and know them. I must relearn patience and worldbuilding.

5. What’s it like writing in a second language?

Immensely satisfying regarding the punctuation. Bet you didn’t think I’d say that!

The French dialogue is in hyphenated form, and it’s absurdly frustrating.

Observe:
ā€œWait,ā€ said Bucky. He was shaking. ā€œThat’s not what I meant.ā€
Ahh. So clear. So clean-cut.

And now with French punctuation:
— Wait, said Bucky. He was shaking. That’s not what I meant.

I HATE THIS. Of course you could use French quotation marks, but it’s a tiresome and frankly old-school business. Punctuation forces me to pace my writing (and particularly my dialogues) differently in English and in French. Same goes for vocabulary. Some things cannot be translated. Such as ā€œWhat the hell?ā€ There is no equivalent in French. Of course, it goes both ways—I’ll think of a perfect French phrase, and then I’ll grumble trying to express it in English.

Mostly I’m a lot more confident when I write in English—and that’s because I am tone-deaf to a lot of preconceptions and subtleties. I learned English at school. I’ve become more comfortable with the language as I wrote and I read and watched movies in it. But it’s not organic to me and it never will be. When I write in French I agonize over every single detail; I am aware of the hidden meanings under every single word; every single sentence seems either too heavy or too bland. In English, I’m happy when I achieve proper grammar and when I manage to get my point across. It’s relaxing.

6. In the first story of yours that I read, “In The Details” from “The Marvel Fractions” series, New York City factors largely. Have you ever visited? What is important to consider about describing a location not your own?

Nope! Never been to New York! (I did spend three hours in JFK once, on my way to Arizona. But that was after writing the fanfic, anyway.) But it didn’t matter. I wasn’t writing about New York; I was writing about Clint’s building in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which is largely described and explored in the comics. I didn’t feel the need to learn anything about the real New York. That happened later—when I wrote War, Children. For that one I did a lot of research.

I think the most important thing to consider is this: if you’ve never been there, then you’ve never been there. You don’t know how it actually is. No amount of research is gonna change that. So don’t spend too much time waxing poetic about the atmosphere of the city—describe the building or the street you need, and move on.

7. Continuing with “The Marvel Fractions,” this series was my first time reading about a deliberate and positive mismatch in sexuality. One protagonist – Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye- identifies as straight and the other -Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk- doesn’t specify any sexual identity, yet [spoiler alert!] they get together. Of course, both are solidly heterosexual in the Marvel Comics canon. What drew you to depicting the characters this way?

I actually already wrote a huge rant about this here http://archiveofourown.org/comments/28327105 if you’re interested.

I’m tired of heterosexuality as the norm. But I’m also a bit tired of ā€œeveryone is inexplicably queerā€ rewritings in fandom (though I ain’t judging—I’ve done it before and will do it again!) I wanted to try something different. Clint Barton is conspicuously heterosexual in the comics, having had many affairs with numerous women. Bruce Banner spends too much time on the run to ever really focus on romance, so his canon is more flexible and so he was the one I chose to depict as (presumably) pansexual.

And I really like writing about uncategorized love. In the end, are Bruce and Clint boyfriends? Are they ā€œjustā€ friends with one-sided benefits? It doesn’t really matter. They’ve become family to each other. The rest is just… technicalities.

8. Continuing with this subject, sexuality and sexual situations factor significantly into fanworks. I’m fascinated by the idea that many (female?) writers are not only focusing on same sex male pairings, they’re also imbuing men with feminine values, strengths, and cultures while at the same time remarking on masculine values, strengths, and cultures. What are your thoughts on this?

Fandom is definitely a female-dominated space. It’s amazing in many ways, but it also has its shortcomings. People have criticized the staggering amount of M/M pairings by accusing the female writers of fetishism (the same way straight guys enjoy lesbian porn.) For some of them it’s definitely true, but in our general defense (speaking for the MCU fandom here) I can say this:

– Setting aside love interests (Peggy Carter, Pepper Potts) and secondary characters (Maria Hill, Darcy Lewis) we only have two female characters: Natasha Romanov and Wanda Maximoff. Neither of them has their own movie, and I can’t recall a single line of dialogue between them.

– Fanfiction is about pushing back against a very patriarchal mainstream media; so we write lots of queer characters, lots of men who are actually allowed to access and express their feelings, and lots of women who do not engage in sex and/or romance. When you add all those factors up, you get a predominance of M/M pairings.

– Seriously. We’re desperate for male characters to finally get a bit of sweet lovin’, and we’re desperate for female characters to do literally anything else with their time. Look at how Tumblr reacted to Pacific Rim, Captain America: Winter Soldier and Mad Max: Fury Road. It was like a breath of fresh air.

Society and entertainment influence each other. People do what they see, and write what they do. I think writing stories is essential to shaping ourselves as a culture. Despite the very real threat of fetishism, I think fanfiction is mostly a feminist endeavor.

9. It’s not an exaggeration to say that fanfic writers crave comments! How does reader input impact your process? Do you have rules around criticism or negative comments?

In my author’s notes I’m regularly screaming I LIVE FOR COMMENTS! and encouraging readers to leave comments as long and detailed as they want. Feedback is essential to understanding what works and what doesn’t when it comes to posting a story. You learn how to reference it better, so readers find it more easily; you learn how to pace it better, so your readers will be hooked after the first chapter and willing to bear with you for several thousand words; you learn how to maximize the emotional impact of your writing, so readers will want to read more of your work. Puzzling out all that would be a lot more difficult without comments!

And it’s about the joy of sharing, too. The happy feedback loop of fanfiction is so pure. I had fun writing this; you had fun reading it; let’s rant about the things we love!

Criticism is always difficult to absorb, but it’s also needed. If it’s polite and legitimate, I’ll welcome it. But negative comments—people who just come in to say ā€œI didn’t like itā€ā€”those are just malicious. If I’m reading something I don’t like, I just close the tab. The author doesn’t need to know about it. Thankfully, gratuitous rudeness isn’t encouraged in fandom at all, and I’m happy I never had a lot of comments like this.

10. Name three other artists, writers of fanfic or otherwise, to whom you’d like to give a shout out. What should we know about them?

Speranza! One of the most amazing writers in the MCU fandom, imo. (20th Century Limited should be illegal.) Everything they touch turns to gold.

M_Leigh! Her works are spectacular (I am still sobbing over Middletown)—and she’s the co-founder of Big Bang Press. Now that’s applied fanfiction.

bluandorange! Their writing and drawings leave me breathless—but mostly it’s their meta I’m awestruck by. Their opinions on Steve Rogers heavily influenced the way I write him.

11. Okay this last question is inspired by one of my new favorite podcasts, Fanbros. At the beginning of each episode, the hosts dub themselves with funny and clever code-names, which they call AKAs (also-known-as). In the spirit of fanfic, where writers largely go by pen names, what other monikers might you choose for yourself?

Oh, I didn’t know about that—thanks, I’ll go listen to them! And um… I don’t know… This is Nonymos, aka Nobody Expects the Superhero Obsession. Keep writin’!

Enter the Twitter: Slush Pile Edition

20 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Writing Life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

gratitude, social-media, writing

Interrupting this regularly scheduled WHL to re-post tweets. Yeah, I said it.

A Bit of Background
This past week, I participated in an event where I pitched two of my unpublished novel manuscripts on Twitter as part of an eventĀ called ‪#ā€ŽDVpit‬. Essentially, it was a giant, Twitter AcceleratedĀ Slush Pile for would-be, hope-to-be, will-be authors, specifically writers of color and/or folks from marginalized or underrepresented communities, and works featuring the same. Why?Ā Because have you seen publishing? Because agents and editors and writers and readers and their familiars have long been feeling the lack and seek to address it with, among other perhaps more traditionalĀ methods,Ā ā¤‘s.

Something About Process
I have an affinity for hyper-summary. Usually I can’t get this function to work with my own writing, but thanks to #DVpit (Kudos Supreme to organizer, literary agentĀ Beth Phelan) I was inspired to get down in it, chopping words LEFT and RIGHT! The situation looked a lot like this:

 

OK Fine, The Tweets
For the most part, these are posted in the order I wrote them, with the initial efforts taking themselves quite seriously and the latter . . . well. You’ll see.

Note: mg = middle grade; novelette = wee novel

Three_Tries_Tweet_1Three_Tries_Tweet_2Confessions_Tweet_1Confessions_Tweet_2Confessions_Tweet_3Confessions_Tweet_4Three_Tries_Tweet_3

I’ve got a few favorites. How ’bout you?Ā 

Researching for the WIP

06 Wednesday Jan 2016

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bloggin Noggin, Librarytour, Writing Life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

as-we-are-living-it, book-love, boston-public-library

For the first time in my (admittedly selective; and I don’t manage the selecting) memory, I’m juggling four major writing projects and this blog, which is a long-term effort in its own right. It’s a curious feeling like, at any moment, one project will tumble, ripe from the tree, and some force will pluck it up, cart it off. Well . . . one can hope. And work. And see what happens.

Library books in black and white

Learnin’ from the good ‘uns

A Question, Ms. Woodson?

09 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Librarytour, Writing Life

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

book-love, cambridge, cambridge public library, events, kids, writing

Jacqueline Woodson.Ā If you don’t know her, you should. Not just because she’s one of the premier writers for young people (whose career I’ve followed since I was a high school student), who happens to be African American, who happens to be a New Yorker. Not because her memoir-in-verse, Brown Girl Dreaming, won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2014. But because here’sĀ a woman who can answer her some reader-questions.

Jacqueline Woodson on stage

Apologies, Ms. Woodson. This photo is . . . lacking.

The first time I saw Ms. Woodson on a tour for her then newly published picture book Show Way, children lined up to ask questions. I was amused. Impressed. A toddler approached the mic in her mother’s arms.

My second experience wasĀ at the Cambridge Public Library as part of Cambridge Reads. Children waited patiently in two lines and spoke with bravery, curiosity, clarity, humor, and the desire to know. Be known.

Book fan reads along with speaker

Here we see a fan reading along in Brown Girl Dreaming. No KIDDING.

Okay,Ā I thought,Ā this is a thing. In all the author talks, book signings and panels I’ve attended in my 30+ years, I’ve never seen such thoughtful and relentless interest from children as at Woodson events. Is it because Jacqueline speaks to them as she would any person, child or adult? Is it because the first child asked a question that didn’t even touch the perennial ‘where do you get your ideas’, and broke some kind of good-question seal?

In my experience, in mixed groups of adults and children it’sĀ usuallyĀ the adults who dominate. Not here. Adults stand back: the true creatives have arrived.

Reading #1: Monday, March 12, 2007, 6:30 PM

Jacqueline Woodson’s Author Visit at BPL Connolly Branch (JP) 2007
ā€œThis celebrated author of children’s and teen books will discuss some of her work, including her new novel Feathers. The event will include a question and answer session and a book sale and signing (courtesy of Jamaicaway Books). Co-sponsored by the Foundation for Children’s Books. For ages 5 and up.ā€

Questions (items in parenthesis are my notes):

  1. Are there men in (the picture book) Show Way?
  2. What inspired you to write (the middle grade novel) Mazion at Blue Hill?
  3. Do your books affect your emotions [while you’re writing them]? (asked by little boy)
  4. Do you research?
  5. Did you need to go to college?
  6. What did you lie about when you were little? (In her talk, Woodson explained that, as a child, she was a terrific liar. She was fortunate enough to have a teacher tell her that, instead of lying, she should ā€˜write it down, because then it will be fiction.’)
  7. What’s your favorite genre?
  8. Did you have a favorite author when you were growing up?
  9. What kind of books did you like best? (Answer: poetry)
  10. Did the song ā€œLocomotionā€ inspire you while you wrote your (middle grade) book Locomotion?
  11. Are your characters actual or made-up people?
  12. Which of your books do you like the most?
  13. Who was your favorite teacher?
  14. Why did you write Locomotion in verse? (Asked twice)
  15. Where do you get the titles?
  16. Did you achieve any of your goals that you had in 5th grade?
  17. What advice would you give to young writers? (Answer: Read. Write 2x a day. Believe that you have a story to tell. Call yourself a writer. Show your writing to people that you trust.)
  18. What make you choose writing? (Answer: Couldn’t have a career in professional basketball.)

Reading #2: Wednesday, November 18, 2015, 7:00 PM

Cambridge Reads, November 18, 2015,Ā Fitzgerald Theater, 7:00 PM
“Brown Girl Dreaming—a memoir of the Woodson’s childhood written in verse—is the recipient of the 2014 National Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor Award, the NAACP Image Award, and the Sibert Honor Award.

Jacqueline Woodson is the author of over two dozen award-winning books for young adults and children, including The Other Side, Each Kindness, Coming on Home Soon, Locomotion, Miracle’s Boys, After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers, and Hush. She is a four-time winner of the Newbery Honor Award, a three-time finalist for the National Book Award, and was recently named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation.

Cambridge READS, the Cambridge Public Library’s citywide book club, promotes the love of reading and facilitates community conversations about books. It includes book discussions at the Main Library and its six branches, and culminates in an appearance by the featured author.”

Questions (items in parenthesis are my notes):

  1. Do you have any messages of empowerment? (This was the FIRST question!)
  2. Are you still religious? Do you still practice [Islam]?
  3. What inspired you to start writing?
  4. How did you feel when you first saw your brother Roman?
  5. What was your favorite subject in school?
  6. At what age did you fall in love with writing?
  7. Did writing come naturally [to you]?
  8. What was the biggest change that empowered you as a person?
  9. What was wrong with the word ‘funk’?
  10. What was your reaction to meeting your dad for the first time
  11. Does Roman have a different dad?
  12. [What] did it feel like going over the memories after all those years?
  13. Why did you call your book Brown Girl Dreaming?
  14. Was it uncomfortable when your parents got back together when you were older?
  15. How did you feel when you were done writing your book?
  16. Is there one place you hold dearer in the places you’ve lived?Ā (‘Dearer.’ I struggled to containĀ my internal squee)
  17. Can you tell me the name of Roman’s father (Jacqueline: Sorry. No!)
  18. Everything that was happening around you, did it stress you out?
  19. Did your mom know the walls were painted with lead paint?
  20. Did you like being Jehovah’s Witness when you were young?
  21. Your first [draft] in pencil, or did you type it? (Jacqueline: pencil)
  22. Were you dyslexic in reading as a kid?
  23. What poem is your favorite in the book?
  24. Are you a New England Patriots [football] fan? (Jacqueline: “I plead the fifth.”)
  25. What inspired you to write [the novel] Locomotion?
  26. Are you still connected to your friends from way back when?
  27. Which [of your] book[s] was the most fun to write?
  28. When was your first book published?
  29. Why are you so poet? (verbatim: so poet)
  30. Will you be writing a new book soon?
  31. When your mother died, did you take a break from writing?
  32. If you could pick another career, what would it be? (see: basketball)
  33. Are you still close to your siblings and your uncle?
  34. When do you know when you’re done with a book?
  35. How did you get started writing Brown Girl Dreaming?
  36. What’s your favorite book?
  37. Do you start by writing your ideas in your head?
  38. You know when you were a kid, you couldn’t eat pork. Do you eat it now?
  39. How did you survive without cupcakes?
  40. You wrote a lowercase ‘I’ [on page ?]? Why? (Jacqueline: That’s an error!)
  41. [Which] do you like more, Feathers or Brown Girl Dreaming?
  42. Did you book about butterflies ever get published?
  43. What is your favorite book of the ones you’ve written?
  44. Does your brother Hope still sing?
  45. What was your least favorite poem in Brown Girl Dreaming? (Jacqueline: Those didn’t make it into the book)
  46. What’s your favorite genre to write?
  47. When your brother went to the hospital, did you regret how you felt about him earlier?
  48. Do you ever come up with ideas and then forget them? How do you deal with having more ideas than you can keep up with?

Jacqueline concludedĀ here, but there were more kids who attempted to join the line. They could have gone all night.

So. I look at these two lists of questions and my first thought is: whoa, Cambridge. My second thought:Ā these children (thankfully) have not yet perfected the unfortunate art of long-declarative-statement-masquerading-as-question. Third: I didn’t mean to spend the evening typing out questions (withĀ my thumbs, on an iPod) but I couldn’t help myself. They were too good.

And you, faithful WHL reader, get to share the bounty.

Children wait in line to ask quetions

The line v2

Look to photo’s center. See all those kids? Now double that number.

 

← Older posts

Copyright Phoebe Sinclair 2022

Website Built with WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Phoebe Sinclair Writes
    • Join 84 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Phoebe Sinclair Writes
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...