Writers in the Storm

by Lisa Norman

Are you feeling any tech stress? I know that I am. Hang with me for a moment, and I promise there is a happy ending to this post.

Some things I've heard authors say recently:

• I'll never learn all of the stuff I'm supposed to know as an author!
• I thought I could at least handle ____ (social media platform) but now they've changed it!
• Why can't they at least leave my word processing software alone???

Change is the only constant, it seems.

But the problem is: change isn't a constant. Change is an exponential function!

When I was in college, we talked about Moore's Law — about how the speed and storage capacity of computers would increase exponentially. Moore thought we would reach a point where they couldn't get any better. Moore's Law was replaced by the Law of Accelerating Returns.

Here's an executive summary:

An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the commonsense “intuitive linear” view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate). The “returns,” such as chip speed and cost-effectiveness, also increase exponentially. There’s even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth. Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to The Singularity — technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and nonbiological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light.

Ray Kurzweil

That was written in 2001.

Skip the grandiose predictions for the future and just recognize the prediction that the 21st century's progress will be like 20,000 years of what has gone before. We are living in a time of change so astronomical that it is hard to keep up.

The AI revolution is here, and even the most technically minded and future-looking experts are getting worried.

And despite the requests for a pause, most experts believe that not only will development not pause, it will speed up. AI is the nuclear arms race of technology, and we're only seeing the first glimmers of the supernova that is coming to our culture.

Let's talk for a moment about basic survival as artists in times of change. I grew up in a world without computers. I've seen a lot of technological change in my life, and I've watched a lot of creatives struggle.

When we talk about culture change, writers and creatives are critical in helping the rest of society adapt.

We have two basic choices: to adapt or not.

Do you want to adapt?

This is a nuanced question as each person faces their own limitations and challenges. I know writers who still write with pen and ink. Someone on Reddit accused me of being overly snarky recently for suggesting that choosing not to adapt was an option.

But I was being honest and trying to be caring. It is an option, and, for some writers, a powerful one. I wrote the first draft of this article with a stylus, because I wanted something close to the feeling of a pen. I wanted to slow down and think.

Don't judge those around us who choose not to embrace the latest technology. They are respecting their creative spirit. They may need to feel the flow of words tactilely.

Others may choose to embrace the change, bringing that new power into their writing. Likewise, don't judge.

Why? Because the one constant is change. Respecting the choices of others is powerful.

I know a NYT bestselling author who maintains an old version of a word processor on a non-internet-connected machine just for writing. Certainly hasn't hurt her success.

But what if the change goes deeper than just adaptation? What if you start to feel the walls closing in and the tension building?

You have choices. You can choose to ignore some new technology, wait until it is more developed, or play only with the toys that will make your life easier. Exercise your right to choose how and what you adapt to.

Technological stress is real. Don't ignore it. Don't downplay it.

Have a plan.

Disconnect

Step one is often to step away. Get outside. Walk in nature. Take a tech holiday. Tell everyone you're going off the grid for a bit. A day… A week… Longer if necessary.

As creatives, we must respect and protect our mental health. Writing and creating takes time, and when the world around you is spinning at the speed of a super-computer, filling your mind with every ping of your phone… step away. Take a moment.

If you find you are losing yourself in the day-to-day pressures, do what is necessary to step away.

Like my author friend who picked up a fountain pen to reconnect with his creative spirit, find what you need.

You may find that after a time away, you are more adaptable. Or you may find your priorities are clear and you know this change can wait for you.

Practice Just-in-Time Learning

Just-in-time (JIT) is a powerful technique developed by the manufacturing industry and applied to making parts available for assembly just as they were needed.

The concept here is not to learn what you don't need right now. If you think you will need to learn how to edit a video next year, don't study it now. Study it next year. Why? Because technology will change by then, and what you learn today will be obsolete then.

Use this principle to take away some of the "should" stress in your life. When someone suggests that you "should" be a master of advertising on a particular platform, think: do I actually need this today? If not, then you "should-not" study it today. Study it when you are ready to use it.

Here's a very modern example. Want to automate your social media posts? (By the way: there are reasons not to do this...) How you would do this a month ago is different from how you can do it today.

Give yourself grace. You aren't behind on your technical skills. You're practicing just-in-time learning.

Find Your Peace

While the world is spinning faster and faster, don't be afraid to look to the past for peace. Consider meditation or prayer, yoga, or other options to help you reconnect with yourself and the spirit that drives your creativity.

Enjoy time with your pets. Work on a tactile hobby that you may have set aside.

Remember your goals and what drives you as a creative. This is especially important for introverts.

Connect with Others

If you are an extrovert, connect with humans. Talk about the experiences you are having. Explore options together. Maybe you connect with a group of other writers and each of you commit to explore one new technology and share it with the group. Work together. Also: keep an eye on your friends during these stressful days. Be there to help and encourage each other.

Play

This may be counter-intuitive, but if you see a new technology that catches your interest, play! When I was first teaching computers, I noticed that those who used them to play games became more comfortable with the new technology. When we feel like we must race to learn and perform, play can feel wrong. Play can feel like a distraction. I assure you: play is one of the best things you can do for your stress that will actually help you manage technological change with ease.

The World Needs Creatives

As creatives, we are more needed today than ever before. Our creations can influence change and improve the possibility of a brighter future.

Your pen, your voice, your next AI–inspired creation, could be exactly the thing someone on the planet needs in order to see that brighter future. Or it might be the healing that helps them adapt and survive.

Respect your creative spirit. Know that no matter how fast the world is changing around you, you have control over your responses.

Have you been feeling any tech stress lately? What ideas do you have for survival?

About Lisa

Lisa Norman's passion has been writing since she could hold a pencil. While that is a cliché, she is unique in that she wrote her first novel on gum wrappers. As a young woman, she learned to program and discovered she has a talent for helping people and computers learn to work together and play nice. When she's not playing with her daughter, writing, or designing for the web, you can find her wandering the local beaches.

Lisa writes as Deleyna Marr and is the owner of Deleyna's Dynamic Designs, a web development company focused on helping writers, and Heart Ally Books, LLC, an indie publishing firm.

Interested in learning more from Lisa? Sign up for her newsletter to see upcoming classes on her brand new learning platform!

Top Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay

by Jaime Buckley

I was asked to do this article, and I thought it was a mistake. Attempting to write something, to say something profound or inspiring, that belief intensified. Sitting alone in my office, looking at the creations that fed and clothed my family for decades, the truth poked its head out from the collections and waved tiny fingers at me.

“Your purpose isn’t to inspire these readers, you fool,” it whispered. “You’re supposed to warn them!”

That made a lot more sense.

After 11 fantasy novels, more than a million downloads of my comic books and graph novels, I still frown at myself in the mirror. Publishing thousands of articles, building blogs, creating podcasts, games, and illustrating for many famous and hundreds of not-so-famous clients wasn’t what I had planned. I’d taken the wrong path. Riddled with guilt and anxiety, my fractured heart beat with sorrow and disappointment, tormenting my every thought. Each character I’d grown to love, each fantastical place I walked in my imagination, was tainted.

Without warning, my mind cracked.

In less than 48 hours, I’d yanked my works from the world. Every book, every novel, every newsletter and cookie I could find, I deleted, wiping 20 years of dedicated effort from the internet. My heart still pounds thinking about it — trembling fingers trying to end my existence in the eyes of the world. Hell, I even deleted my Instagram, Twitter and In-Yer-Facebook accounts.

Dear reader, I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.

I want you to consider pulling the plug sooner.

It’s Not As Crazy As It Sounds

I’m pretty confident that you don’t know me, but I know you.

You’re the smart, creative one. Underestimated by those around you, there’s something special inside trying to get out. You want to give birth to this idea so the world can experience it.

You may not know what this idea is, but you know it’s important. If crafted, it’ll improve minds, hearts, perspectives, maybe even inspire the life of a reader. You know it’s important because that ‘feeling’ inside you won’t leave. It catches your attention repeatedly, tugging at your mind, because it wants to be given life. It wants direction and purpose, which is why this idea chose you.

Did you love it, nourish it, wrap your arms around it when it tried to walk on its own? Did you defend and protect it from those wanting to harm or even kill it? Have you even considered these things?

I didn’t.

When the greatest idea of my writing life was born, Wanted Hero, I fed it coffee and cigarettes, stunting its growth. As it hungered for nourishment, I kept it alive on doughnuts and pain killers. When it looked to me for validation, I didn’t speak the truth or provide sound instruction like any good parent would. I feigned encouragement, ignored its critical development, then linked its value to the screwed-up opinions of those around us who never gave a damn. That’s right, those who had nothing invested, nothing to contribute, became the taskmaster and gatekeeper of my fictional child.

I’d earned a place in hell, alongside puppy haters and those who talk during movies.

What was my great sin?

I allowed outside influences to change the original, beautiful content of my story. Wanted Hero was a creation that had called to me from the void of creativity, pleading to be loved, nurtured, and cherished, and I betrayed it.

I compromised.

Tainting The Original Idea (Tsk. Tsk.)

The idea of Wanted Hero was a simple one. Being a new father, I hoped to craft a fictional world to inspire my children where challenges were solved and overcome by everyday people. Stories that would allow my kids to discover critical answers, even if they wouldn’t listen to their father. Stories to encourage them, learning more about themselves, discovering what they thought about various subjects all on their own.

Being raised by a marketing executive father, this ‘simple’ idea soon became a career for me. The possibilities of this story blazed in my mind like a neon ‘OPEN’ sign. I envisioned stories in every genre and projects to span every demographic. Monetizing became my first compromise. Not that making money is wrong, but it became my obsession, rather than the story itself.

I could publish the story, sell it as digital PDFs, make games, t-shirts, mugs, and a message board kids would interact on. To make the dream even bigger, I envisioned a ‘culture’ fostered by a website that would connect readers. Contacting programmers in India, I requested bids to construct my dream.

This was back before World Anvil, and the internet was ruled by those who wrote HTML, and I’d forgotten my foundation.

The story.

Screwing Up A Good Comic Book

I’d always intended to create Wanted Hero as comics, so that’s the route I went. Drawing them traditionally, I scanned each page onto my desktop and published them as PDFs, selling them years before the Kindle existed. I dubbed them ‘eComics’ and sold them for ¢.97 each. Buy one, print as many as you wanted, so long as you didn’t alter them or sell them. Before the year was out, I had over 750,000 visitors from 60 countries.

Still don’t understand how that happened.

One customer would pay me extra to print each issue at the local copy shop and mail it to him. He sent me an email, asking if he could tell a few friends about the comic book. I said, “Sure. I don’t advertise, so that would be a kind gesture. Thank you.” He replied the following day, informing me he’d shared the comic with thousands of his fraternity brothers over Facebook.

With the increased sales, I could pay my mortgage that month.

As the comic grew in popularity, I made my next compromise. There were people online who impressed me, and I thought it would be awesome to make them into comic book characters and show kids that ‘heroes’ exist. It was a good intent, and many people I wrote about became friends. They also shared the comics within their circles, expanding the story’s reach.

I shifted and changed the story to include more and more people. New characters, never part of the original story, took over the comics. Before long, I couldn’t recognize the storyline. I’d built a world I no longer knew… or loved.

Flipping Off The Universe

Now that I look back, I’m grateful for the car accident. I think it was the Universe taking to me. It was saying, “You screwed up, Jaime, but I’m going to give you a second chance. Get with the program.”

If only I was smart… and less desperate.

With mangled hands and losing my fine motor skills, the comics died. In depression, I walked away… never telling my readers what happened. I know that sounds bad, but my life’s dream had ended. My wife and oldest daughter soon convinced me to take Wanted Hero and write them as novels in place of comic books.

It was a crazy thought — I wrote comic scripts, not books — but they applied the thumbscrews of love with a heavy dose of female perspective… and won. I started writing and found I didn’t suck at it. As another perk, my new boss had connections with a famous New York Times author in the fantasy genre. He introduced me to the author, and I received encouraging feedback and instruction. Enough to catapult me from depression into a creative frenzy once more.

In 2011, I published the first book in the series. With little to no marketing, the first book sold roughly 23,000 copies. Writing was also more fun than drawing, prompting six more novels the next year. Rebuilding the website, I sold digital copies and connected with readers through a blog. All I’d changed, though, were a few details to appeal to a wider demographic.

The Universe had smashed the ‘reset’ button, giving me a second chance, and I’d ignored the offer. The books had the flavor of the idea, with little to none of the substance. My writing became focused more on world building, not the hero or the adventure.

I’d compromised again.

Never-ending Conflict

The thing about telling a lie is you maintain that lie as questions arise. I’d lied to myself about what I was doing, and each time the Universe whispered over my shoulder, questioning my actions, I’d adjust my answer to justify my current position.

I told myself the books weren’t selling enough because:

• each cover needed to be remade;
• all the prices needed to be adjusted;
• they don’t have enough exposure;
• the website isn’t interesting enough;
• there wasn’t enough marketing;
• I’d done the wrong marketing;
• my focus wasn’t on the right audience.

Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.

I’ll never know what could have happened. I never wrote the actual story. What I dreamed up in 1990 never saw the light of day. On this corrupted path, I created something else. I built what I believed people would want, instead of crafting the story that called to my soul. Can’t recall when I turned down the wrong path, but I’m not sure it matters.

What does matter is taking full responsibility and accountability for compromising on the best creative idea I’ve ever had.

Then correct it.

You Get To Choose Your Path

It wasn’t too late to do the right thing.

That’s why I pulled the plug, dear reader. The weight of my grave decisions destroyed me. The core of my very nature is that I love people. My own children and the surrounding youth are a significant part of who I am and why I do what I do. I’m a father of 13 children, grandfather to 23 grandchildren and I’ve taught over 1000 youth over 20+ years that they matter.

Yet I spent my professional career telling a lie.

That isn’t what I want to be remembered for.

Take this personal and painful life lesson I’ve shared with you, and prevent your own heartache. Avoid disappointment and shame when you look in the mirror. Take your time. Give life to your brilliant idea. Nourish and encourage your characters. Help them fulfill the measure of their creation, to connect with readers and spark the wonder within minds and hearts.

Do… not… compromise your story.

You will regret it. Of that, I know.

What do YOU want to be remembered for?

by Amy Winters-Voss

Imagine if someone claimed they were giving your minority representation in a book or movie, but it was so far from accurate you didn't recognize your people in it? How would you feel if the group you are in was always the one killed off in stories or added to the stigmatization of your group? Unfortunately, it happens all too often.

Cultural appropriation and representation are volatile topics. Someone will always be quick to call you out when they have a different understanding than you do. But, we could hurt people if we don't take care. It’s what I hope to bring to your attention today. It's especially important for those of us who aren't minorities. We need to see where things in our creative work can go in a direction that would reflect badly on another group.

Additionally, I'll also touch on hurtful stereotypes and non-ethnicity minorities. Next month, we’ll talk about what we can do to ensure our work is respectful. One or two articles are only a starting point on these broad issues. I’ll only be able to graze the surface of each to bring them out into the open. If these are new topics for you, let this article be a jumping off point for research. If you’re familiar with them, let it be a reminder to be vigilant.

Why me?

So why would a white woman be writing about these topics? I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to meet people from every continent, and even one that worked in Antarctica. I’ve always had an interest in other cultures and people groups. But I know not everyone has that chance. We can grow up isolated, in ignorance, or get sucked into negative thoughts around us.

While I was growing up, members of my family spoke badly about others, particularly black people. I don’t think they even thought about how bigoted what they said was and being called racist would have shocked them. But I can’t deny what I heard. If they were alive today, I hope they’d see things a little differently. To my parents' credit, they worked hard to take that out of our family culture—sharing the racist things that disgusted them. Another generation later, my husband and I expanded on trying to eradicate bigotry in our family.

Have I had to face my own ghosts of beliefs about people groups? Yes, multiple times. But I long for the day when we as a world society see everyone as equals. May our writing be a step in that direction.

Now, for the tough topics.

So what is cultural appropriation?

The Oxford Dictionary says it's:

The unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.

Let's take a look from a minority standpoint, specifically. The Florida Seminole Tourism website (for tourism on the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation) says:

Cultural appropriation is commonly used to identify when the imagery, fashion, practices, music, or artifacts of a culture are removed from their original context. The significance is ignored and they are taken and used by someone else.

Basically, I read it as we want to know the culture and see what they ‌feel is ok and what isn't, and ensure we respect those wishes.

Cultural Appropriation Examples

If this is a new topic for you, a few examples may be in order.

• One of the most common complaints I've seen from minority groups is someone not of the culture wearing a symbol or dress with deep meaning, such as a Native American war bonnet as a costume.
• Another is writing about a part of the mythology when a people group asks others not to. An example is the w**digo—an evil, cannibalistic spirit that used to be human. The Anishnaabe people even avoid saying its name, so I opted to not spell it out completely here.
• "Namaste, Bitches!" I don't know how many t-shirts I've seen this on. Namaste is a greeting of respect in the Hindu beliefs. A gentleman from India taught me it meant "I salute/bow to the divine within you." So the t-shirt phrase flies in the face of the original meaning.
• A Swedish friend of mine throws a fit every time a new Thor movie or a new "Viking" game comes out. He just wants them to do research, ask questions, and represent his ancestors properly.

Hurtful Stereotypes

These are the nasty cousins of cultural appropriation that stuff people into a simplified idea, boxing them in. They turn people into things. My eyes were opened to some of the awful stereotypes of Asian people after reading Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. If you write about East Asian cultures, please give it a read.

What are some of these stereotypes for various groups? I'm sure you've seen these before: "sexy Asian lady", "noble savage" Native Americans, "Nazi German", and "damsel in distress". Each of these devalues the people group being portrayed. Characters in your work need to fill more than a shallow role. 

With the hurtful stereotypes, it’s worth spending time on the fact that minorities are often the ones killed off in a story line. Glancing at TVtropes.org, here are a few particularly ugly ones: “Black Dude Dies First” and “Middle Eastern terrorist”.

Please don’t just put a minority in your storyline to kill them off, even if you have them make a noble sacrifice. Remember, they need a presence with powerful agency, just like every other character. 

Negative Tropes

Negative tropes enforce how society sees a group. A friend of mine has had to raise her half-black kids to be careful when choosing clothes they wear and about what to do if a police officer stops them. She isn’t the only one. Many black parents face having “the talk” with their kids on these topics.

Also, please be careful when putting a minority in as a terrorist. Terrorists come from every group. In the US, one of the first names that comes to mind is Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber—a white guy. After the September 11th attack in 2001 by Al Queda extremists, it wasn’t safe in the US for people perceived to be Arabic. But were you aware that US citizens of Arabic descent helped hunt down remainders of those cells? I didn’t think about it until my friend mentioned his dad was one of the brave guys that helped.

Media often perceives Africans as not having access to and being very behind in technology. Yet, a friend from Ghana has a cell phone and uses WhatsApp all the time for international calls. She taught me how to use the app!

Descriptions

Please, also consider how you write descriptions of people. A few examples: comparing skin color to foods and using the words “almond eyes” in order to describe an East Asian person’s hooded ones. These are considered bad form by the groups being described. Would you want someone to ask if you tasted like, say, chocolate? Yet, I’ve heard of black people being asked that very question.

There are many, many more hurtful stereotypes. These were just a small sample.

Representing People Beyond Bloodlines

What about other groups such as minorities of gender and sexuality, the handicapped, those with mental health issues, people following a particular religion, and disadvantaged groups like the poor?

The entertainment industry is often brutal to minorities—the LGBTQ+ community, especially. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I was skimming through “All 230 Dead Lesbian and Bisexual Characters On TV, And How They Died”. So the trope “Bury your Gays” really hits hard. There are stories where the “Anyone can die'' trope fits and is an equalizer of sorts. But authors and TV writers need to look hard into which characters they are killing off. Seriously.

Also, this group gets stereotyped to be the leak in any operation or the troubled villain. I’m looking at you “The Jackal” and “Tron Legacy” (think, Zuse)!

Hurtful Stereotypes

For physically disabled people, the hurtful stereotypes again include the villain. But there is also the helpless victim and the inspirational hero. Helpless victim is easy to understand. No one wants to be seen as unable to help themselves or needing to be saved, or not being seen as “enough”. Another personal example for you, when I was in elementary school, the dad of one of my friends was blind. He never let it stop him. Being blind was just part of him.

But what about the superhero one? Well, how would you feel about living up to the pressure of having to be superhuman? Of again, not being seen as normal.

For those with mental health issues, the challenges they face include a similar list, stories often overgeneralize, exaggerate, or trivialize them. Not all depressed people are suicidal, though stories will portray the most extreme option for “drama”. Mental illness should not be instantly associated with violence, yet it’s portrayed as that. How many killers in stories have a mental illness? Spreading misinformation does not encourage those who need to seek help.

https://youtu.be/WYerKidQGcc

Beliefs

People’s beliefs are close to the heart. Grouping all of one religion into the same pot is damaging. Portraying every Muslim (or any belief) as an extremist is vastly unfair. I know quite a few Muslims. My son’s best friend from elementary school follows Islam, as does his father. They are both peaceful men. Keep in mind, extremists exist in every belief set. Even Buddhism, which is known for its pacifism, has issues. Look at Myanmar where there is the forced conversion of minorities and in Sri Lanka which has persecution of Muslims.

Also, media mashes faiths together, such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism in movies like Kung-Fu Panda and Avatar. Or it rarely represents those who choose belief sets, such as atheism or agnosticism. 

Media often shows those who practice witchcraft as the villains: devil worshipers, curse slingers, craving to control and manipulate, “demonic conjurers of darkness”, “irresistible sirens of corruption”, or “idiotic flakes”. But the faith doesn’t follow the devil, discourages things like cursing, control, and manipulation, and there are many academics among them. (Quoted from a Discord Q&A with Sable Aradia - author of the The Witch's Eight Paths of Power: A Complete Course in Magick and Witchcraft)

Financial Disadvantage

Often, the poor are shown as “incompetent, delusional, drunk or foolish”, and in need of rescue (with a focus on the rescuer and “oh don’t they look generous”). Also, the “race” card rears its head again, with media showing more racial minorities as poor or as criminals, when statistically it’s not correct. More white people are poor and crimes are more often committed by whites.

Such a discouraging pattern, isn’t it? Minorities have long been fodder for stereotypes in media, which are shown as the defining aspects of a character. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Closing

Writing a minority character gave me a chance to dig into that culture more and learn what his culture feels is acceptable and what is not. Have I done things perfectly? Nope! Had my hand slapped a few times. I’m still learning. Thankfully, they were minor incidents, correctable before print!

In May’s post, I’ll share things we can do to show respect for and do our best to represent minorities and cultures that are not our own. Until next time, peace.

Where have you struggled with writing others respectfully?

About Amy

Amy is the author of the Liminal Chronicles series, a mythological/urban fantasy set in small town Japan that focuses on social redemption and found family.

She runs the vssCollab very short story challenge on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumbler and publishes the best of the entries in the online zine--'In Threads'. Additionally, she founded the Anvilite Streamers Corps and streams her writing and crafts on Twitch.

Top Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay