Ask the Author: suprihmbe
Answered Questions (5)
suprihmbe
My mind. But Crossroads is based in the Black tradition of "literary hoodoo." It is also kind of metafictional-folklore-mythopoeia--and a revision of parts of certain texts, namely "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant, "Beloved" by Toni Morrison, and "Tumbling" by Diane McKinney-Whetstone. The idea somewhat began with The Magicians, which I love-hated.
suprihmbe
I don't. I have always wanted to create my own stories. I don't write solely from inspiration. I write because I read, and I write every day unless I'm sick.
suprihmbe
I'm currently working on a fantasy serial about a whore-friendly hoodoo borderworld. Originally it was supposed to be centered around a Harry Potter esque school, but I scratched that. It just didn't fit what I was going for. It felt too Western, and even though I am a Westernized African-descended woman, I wanted something more... me? African American culture is an amalgam of things. I wanted my story to reflect that. I am also an erotic laborer, and I wanted to center that and unschooling. I unschool my son, who may be autistic (we're getting him tested and he's in therapy). I wanted to discuss the future of whores and Black culture as I envision it, through the lens of Black magic. There are so many stories about Wicca and other European magic, and some European/British authors have even taken the liberty of presenting African magic/alchemy as they see it. I didn't want to write a story like that. I want to create something new.
suprihmbe
Write every day. Different kinds of writing. Journaling, blogging, tweeting. Read a lot. Not just what you want to write, either. Read mythology, poetry, history, science fiction, you need variety. Variety is seasoning. Read from different cultures. Study the cadence. Study their language. I like to read different translations of the same books. Translations by bilingual or native speakers are different than ones done by English-first speakers.
Listen to people talk. Eavesdrop. Be nosey. Listen to the different dialects of Engish, Spanish, Creoles. Learn a different language if you can. Spanglish. Black vernacular English. Gullah. It will help your dialogue. Read your dialogue out loud. That's the only way it makes sense (to me). Write down the funny things people say. If you are clever you might be funny.
If you have a day job, set a time to write. Don't expect to just have time. People like to say that if you really wanna do something, you'll make time. This is a lie. There are a lot of things I want to do, like knit daily, but there simply isn't enough time. You cannot *make* time. Humans do not create time, we merely live it and feign control. But time is constantly slipping away from us, plotting and plodding away. The days are getting longer, or shorter. So set a time to write. Thirty minutes. Two hours. Or quit your job if you can. Or go part time. Get married to someone who works and makes good money. Idk. Just set aside the time you have, or you may never write.
Listen to people talk. Eavesdrop. Be nosey. Listen to the different dialects of Engish, Spanish, Creoles. Learn a different language if you can. Spanglish. Black vernacular English. Gullah. It will help your dialogue. Read your dialogue out loud. That's the only way it makes sense (to me). Write down the funny things people say. If you are clever you might be funny.
If you have a day job, set a time to write. Don't expect to just have time. People like to say that if you really wanna do something, you'll make time. This is a lie. There are a lot of things I want to do, like knit daily, but there simply isn't enough time. You cannot *make* time. Humans do not create time, we merely live it and feign control. But time is constantly slipping away from us, plotting and plodding away. The days are getting longer, or shorter. So set a time to write. Thirty minutes. Two hours. Or quit your job if you can. Or go part time. Get married to someone who works and makes good money. Idk. Just set aside the time you have, or you may never write.
suprihmbe
I don't. I don't get writer's block, I get writer's burnout. I have an abundance of ideas but not nearly enough time or money to execute them all. One thing that helps me with this is to write the idea down and come back to it later. Coming back to it later may mean writing a short story about it, or incorporating it into another story I'm working on. When I'm burned out I take days off from writing. I read and watch TV during those days, because reading and watching TV are meditative for me. I don't actually ever completely stop working--my mind doesn't allow for that. What I do is keep a notebook with me and jot down ideas, problems with whatever I'm working on, why I'm stuck. And then I slowly unravel the knots until things make sense. I'm a good self-editor, because I see the story as a puzzle of sorts and I make cuts with no regret. Whatever I cut can always fit somewhere else at some point.
If you do have writer's block, my suggestion is to write. Or do something, and think about writing. I write every day unless I've hit burnout. But you cannot burn out if you never lit the flame and let it burn. Write daily. Find your average. Every day, try to go above that average. Hone your craft by pushing your limits a little. Eventually you will be able to tell when you've actually hit a wall. You will burn out. And then you will take days to reflect and know for sure that you will return. Or not.
If you do have writer's block, my suggestion is to write. Or do something, and think about writing. I write every day unless I've hit burnout. But you cannot burn out if you never lit the flame and let it burn. Write daily. Find your average. Every day, try to go above that average. Hone your craft by pushing your limits a little. Eventually you will be able to tell when you've actually hit a wall. You will burn out. And then you will take days to reflect and know for sure that you will return. Or not.
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