Ask the Author: Simon Rumney
Answered Questions (8)
Simon Rumney
Pegboard, this is a tricky question which has its answer in a lifetime of pondering the illogical nature of racism.
I should say my Mother and Father were both racists which means I was raised 'racist'. Having said that, I have always found racism odd. As I grew older I kind of worked out how evolution may have programmed humans to be tribal. It made sense at a time when we needed to protect our waterhole, village, children from another group of aggressive humans. After all, it was the difference between life and death.
Obviously, the need to be tribal has become redundant in our modern societies yet the 'basic instinct' lingers. I am always amazed, stunned really, when an apparently 'intelligent' person says something racist.
Now, to answer your question. I wrote a female, Native American, character who is intelligent, and integral, and rational, and dignified. In short, I wrote a woman I could fall in love with. As I moved her along her journey a strong bond grew between Julii and I (all writers will understand the power of that bond).
Then, I let her fall in love with a Confederate Captain who had been wounded at the Battle of Shiloh and sent her on a journey into the heart of the Confederate South during the Civil War.
By the time Julii made it to Atlanta I was as protective as any lover or parent could be. As you can imagine, subjecting her to the irrational suffering of being hated for nothing more than her appearance broke my heart. I wanted to explain to the white people how cruel they were being at exactly the same time as writing their cruel behavior.
Because justifying racism is so hard to do when confronting it head on I now believe that every school child should be encouraged to participate in this kind of exercise. Try to rationalize hatred while imagine their mother is black, or a Muslim, even white and any of the thousands of different people it's possible to be.
I hope that answers your question.
I should say my Mother and Father were both racists which means I was raised 'racist'. Having said that, I have always found racism odd. As I grew older I kind of worked out how evolution may have programmed humans to be tribal. It made sense at a time when we needed to protect our waterhole, village, children from another group of aggressive humans. After all, it was the difference between life and death.
Obviously, the need to be tribal has become redundant in our modern societies yet the 'basic instinct' lingers. I am always amazed, stunned really, when an apparently 'intelligent' person says something racist.
Now, to answer your question. I wrote a female, Native American, character who is intelligent, and integral, and rational, and dignified. In short, I wrote a woman I could fall in love with. As I moved her along her journey a strong bond grew between Julii and I (all writers will understand the power of that bond).
Then, I let her fall in love with a Confederate Captain who had been wounded at the Battle of Shiloh and sent her on a journey into the heart of the Confederate South during the Civil War.
By the time Julii made it to Atlanta I was as protective as any lover or parent could be. As you can imagine, subjecting her to the irrational suffering of being hated for nothing more than her appearance broke my heart. I wanted to explain to the white people how cruel they were being at exactly the same time as writing their cruel behavior.
Because justifying racism is so hard to do when confronting it head on I now believe that every school child should be encouraged to participate in this kind of exercise. Try to rationalize hatred while imagine their mother is black, or a Muslim, even white and any of the thousands of different people it's possible to be.
I hope that answers your question.
Simon Rumney
I'm afraid my whole life has been something of a mystery. My bio on Goodreads is in-fact a chapter from 'The book of Amazing people'. The story of my life in that chapter informs every story, and every character, I write.
Simon Rumney
Another War is the third in the three book series 'Our Eternal Curse'. I chose War, self-esteem and racism because unlike sexuality these are behaviors we can all change if we chose to.
Simon Rumney
When I'm writing a book I become obsessed. At night I dream about the story and characters. In the morning I am compelled to start writing until I just 'conk out' and cannot write any longer. After that, I think about the story until the next morning when I am fresh and ready to write again.
Simon Rumney
I'm writing my auto biography to help me understand myself.
Simon Rumney
As they say, "A writer must write." Don't be afraid to fill your hard drive up with nonsense. Writing is a craft. Imagine a cabinet maker filling his workshop with years and years of wood shavings. It takes years to craft a fine cabinet and every shaving represents another lesson learned. Words are the same. It takes years to craft words into books and every word you type is another lesson learned. P.S. If you ever write a best seller everything on your old hard drive will become valuable.
Simon Rumney
I have to write! Writing quite laterally saved my life! I know this is a dramatic statement but if you read the bio on my author's page you will understand.
Simon Rumney
Luckily, I have never suffered with writers block. When I sit down at the computer I don't know what's going to come, the words just appear in my head.
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