write your words
On more than one panel this past weekend, someone in the audience asked "How do we get more books/movies/tv shows about _______?" where that blank was some variant of LGBT themes, other queer sexuality topics (like polyamory and BDSM), or third gendered characters.
And, on each occasion, I took it as an opportunity to speechify. In response to each of those occasions it was so clear how many people in the room were with me; you do enough of these things, believe me, you know when you have the room. It was also clear, each time, that some people weren't -- sometimes, because they didn't dare believe and sometimes because publishing's conservatism (in its non-ideological meaning) suits them quite well enough because it's getting their (normatively focused) books and stories published.
But I'll tell you, I'm sick of hearing that readers, that fans, that women, that queer people, that audiences of color don't have any power and therefore can't do anything about the way things are. I'm not sick of hearing about it because I think all those groupings secretly have tons of power; I live in the real world, and I sure see at least some of the ways in which they, in which we, don't.
However, I've never seen why my relative powerlessness is any reason to shut up and be grateful for what I've got.
So if you want to see more books about gay characters? If you want television with trans characters that aren't murder victims? or asexual characters that aren't treated as ill? If you want movies where the Asian girl isn't the tech geek and the Middle Eastern guy isn't the villain and the main drama about the interracial couple isn't about how they're interracial?
Tell your stories. Write your words.
Because yes, the entertainment industries have a concept of what the marketplace is and doesn't think there's a lot of dollars in the type of stories a lot of us are really fucking desperate for. And yes, we can (if we've the resources) vote with our dollars and time when projects we care about are released. But wow, I am so done with people telling me to be patient.
If you have a story you want to see, write it. And maybe you want to submit that novel or pitch that TV show, but maybe you don't or aren't ready yet. Maybe you just want to write fanfic. Maybe you want to self-publish on Lulu. Maybe you just want to talk about what your dream film would be like or post a wish-list of book concepts you wish you had on your shelves. Maybe you just want to tell the world who you, as an audience member, are.
But regardless of which of the above is the case, all of those things create a critical mass that demonstrates desire.
Because the Internet? Is one of the biggest and cheapest market research labs that has ever existed. Where do you think all these shows with buckets of m/m subtext have come from in the last five years? Some of it's the "bromance" trend that's been about trying to make light movies that will garner both male and female viewers, and some of it is queer implications being more acceptable, but some of it is absolutely, positively, an increasing awareness of fandom as it is engaged in across the Internet in places like LiveJournal. Fan-service, regardless of my frequent narrative frustration with it, is a good sign when it comes to our broader media production culture and what it can be.
And while we're here, let's face something else: a lot of pro-writers have come out of, or already exist within, the world of fanfiction. Whether you like their stuff or not or feel it's relevant to this discussion or not, Cassie Clare, Jaida Jones and Naomi Novik are all ours. And they certainly aren't the only ones. And they absolutely, positively aren't the only ones who ever will be.
So every person who works with non-traditional publishing, writing and information sharing online who includes narrative elements that the big publishers and networks are too nervous to give us? You increase the odds. You improve the market research data that is the reality of our existences. You raise the possibility that the next thing that goes from our computer screens into the bookstore is one of our stories, one of our stories we keep being told we should be good little children and wait for someone else to tell in a way that won't upset people who aren't like us.
But stories have never been about being good. Or about waiting.
"Tell me another one; one more story before bed, and then I'll go to sleep."
I said it as a child. Didn't you?
Don't you still when you stay up late finishing a book, marathoning a whole season of a show, or writing another fic about that character you really loved who died? One more story for him, for you, for us, before we all go to sleep.
Look, I didn't have the Internet around when I was coming to terms with my sexual orientation, and it was absent for most of my early fumbling around my gender identity as well. But I know enough people who are younger than me who say the Internet saved them.
So every time you write a story about the narratives we're just not getting enough of, there's that chance that someone, somewhere is going to read it and have that jumping up and down with joy moment that I always think of in terms of a scene from Velvet Goldmine, where Christian Bale's character sees bisexual rock-star Brian Slade on the telly and fantasizes about jumping up and shouting to his parents, "Look ma, that's me! that's me!"
If you have stories to tell, tell them. I can't promise you they'll get bought. I can't promise you that the publishing industry will get daring tomorrow or that most things on television will stop being a bucket full of race-fail. And I sure can't promise you that people who have benefited from the way things are will suddenly stop being angry and scary and let you in.
But on this issue, on the Internet, every story is a census form, a lottery ticket, a friend, and a hope.
Write your words.
Be out, if you can, even pseudonymously. Talk about where you come from, what you look like, what you desire. Share, if you can stand it, the consequences of being you. And discuss the media you love as publicly as you can; vote, not just with your wallet, but with your heart.
All these things are so much better than being patient.
And when people try to tell you otherwise? Don't let them.
They're lying.
And, on each occasion, I took it as an opportunity to speechify. In response to each of those occasions it was so clear how many people in the room were with me; you do enough of these things, believe me, you know when you have the room. It was also clear, each time, that some people weren't -- sometimes, because they didn't dare believe and sometimes because publishing's conservatism (in its non-ideological meaning) suits them quite well enough because it's getting their (normatively focused) books and stories published.
But I'll tell you, I'm sick of hearing that readers, that fans, that women, that queer people, that audiences of color don't have any power and therefore can't do anything about the way things are. I'm not sick of hearing about it because I think all those groupings secretly have tons of power; I live in the real world, and I sure see at least some of the ways in which they, in which we, don't.
However, I've never seen why my relative powerlessness is any reason to shut up and be grateful for what I've got.
So if you want to see more books about gay characters? If you want television with trans characters that aren't murder victims? or asexual characters that aren't treated as ill? If you want movies where the Asian girl isn't the tech geek and the Middle Eastern guy isn't the villain and the main drama about the interracial couple isn't about how they're interracial?
Tell your stories. Write your words.
Because yes, the entertainment industries have a concept of what the marketplace is and doesn't think there's a lot of dollars in the type of stories a lot of us are really fucking desperate for. And yes, we can (if we've the resources) vote with our dollars and time when projects we care about are released. But wow, I am so done with people telling me to be patient.
If you have a story you want to see, write it. And maybe you want to submit that novel or pitch that TV show, but maybe you don't or aren't ready yet. Maybe you just want to write fanfic. Maybe you want to self-publish on Lulu. Maybe you just want to talk about what your dream film would be like or post a wish-list of book concepts you wish you had on your shelves. Maybe you just want to tell the world who you, as an audience member, are.
But regardless of which of the above is the case, all of those things create a critical mass that demonstrates desire.
Because the Internet? Is one of the biggest and cheapest market research labs that has ever existed. Where do you think all these shows with buckets of m/m subtext have come from in the last five years? Some of it's the "bromance" trend that's been about trying to make light movies that will garner both male and female viewers, and some of it is queer implications being more acceptable, but some of it is absolutely, positively, an increasing awareness of fandom as it is engaged in across the Internet in places like LiveJournal. Fan-service, regardless of my frequent narrative frustration with it, is a good sign when it comes to our broader media production culture and what it can be.
And while we're here, let's face something else: a lot of pro-writers have come out of, or already exist within, the world of fanfiction. Whether you like their stuff or not or feel it's relevant to this discussion or not, Cassie Clare, Jaida Jones and Naomi Novik are all ours. And they certainly aren't the only ones. And they absolutely, positively aren't the only ones who ever will be.
So every person who works with non-traditional publishing, writing and information sharing online who includes narrative elements that the big publishers and networks are too nervous to give us? You increase the odds. You improve the market research data that is the reality of our existences. You raise the possibility that the next thing that goes from our computer screens into the bookstore is one of our stories, one of our stories we keep being told we should be good little children and wait for someone else to tell in a way that won't upset people who aren't like us.
But stories have never been about being good. Or about waiting.
"Tell me another one; one more story before bed, and then I'll go to sleep."
I said it as a child. Didn't you?
Don't you still when you stay up late finishing a book, marathoning a whole season of a show, or writing another fic about that character you really loved who died? One more story for him, for you, for us, before we all go to sleep.
Look, I didn't have the Internet around when I was coming to terms with my sexual orientation, and it was absent for most of my early fumbling around my gender identity as well. But I know enough people who are younger than me who say the Internet saved them.
So every time you write a story about the narratives we're just not getting enough of, there's that chance that someone, somewhere is going to read it and have that jumping up and down with joy moment that I always think of in terms of a scene from Velvet Goldmine, where Christian Bale's character sees bisexual rock-star Brian Slade on the telly and fantasizes about jumping up and shouting to his parents, "Look ma, that's me! that's me!"
If you have stories to tell, tell them. I can't promise you they'll get bought. I can't promise you that the publishing industry will get daring tomorrow or that most things on television will stop being a bucket full of race-fail. And I sure can't promise you that people who have benefited from the way things are will suddenly stop being angry and scary and let you in.
But on this issue, on the Internet, every story is a census form, a lottery ticket, a friend, and a hope.
Write your words.
Be out, if you can, even pseudonymously. Talk about where you come from, what you look like, what you desire. Share, if you can stand it, the consequences of being you. And discuss the media you love as publicly as you can; vote, not just with your wallet, but with your heart.
All these things are so much better than being patient.
And when people try to tell you otherwise? Don't let them.
They're lying.