This is a question I've asked myself many times when I've seen different opportunities promoted for working class writers in the UK and some of the articles written about those initiatives, asking "Where are the working class writers?" 

By most metrics, my background is working class, economically, and educationally. However, I generally don't consider myself a working class writer, but when I've asked how people define 'working class writer' many of the answers I've been given have been that the category is self-defined. So, I thought the question was worth exploring.

There have been a variety of really good initiatives advertised for the promotion of diversity and inclusion in publishing. When looking at the people who are published by different imprints in the UK, it is clear that these kind of initiatives are necessary.

I recall going through the metrics of publishing in science fiction and fantasy back in 2015 and 2016. There were some excellent data sources produced in the late Gardner Doizois's Best of Science Fiction annual anthology along with some excellent material contributed to the BFS Journal #16 back when I was the editor.

More recently, the BSFA has been involved in several initiatives to increase diversity, working to highlight the Nommo nominees, providing digital memberships to underrepresented groups, and more. This isn't enough, we need to be doing more and we are trying to at every stage. 

An element that affects any project to increase diversity lies in the fact that there are many underrepresented groups in the writing communities of the UK and the wider world. Defining a group that you are attempting to advocate for or champion does not necessarily mean you are unsupportive of other groups, but it does mean that there is a choice made and a focus given.

Growing up, my family were not wealthy. If there was something that I needed, my father would work hard to provide it, but his career wasn't a lucrative one. Circumstances made us a working class family, aspiring to be middle class. Most of my friends had more toys than I did, went on more trips abroad, etc. I'm sure we weren't the least privileged, but I'm also sure we weren't the most privileged. We were probably in the bottom third or quarter.

Other than my parents, I'm not sure if anyone realised this and I only really recognised this factor later in life, when I was making my way through university. I was part of the first generation in my family to go, but even then, I didn't think about it very much. I was fortunate enough to graduate before student loans became a necessary evil for young people aspiring to better themselves. I lived at home and commuted to university, cutting the cost of my education significantly.

Later, I moved into a career in teaching, starting in schools and then quickly moving to work in the university environment. From here I took a masters degree and then later, a PhD, taking advantage of any and all financial support that was available.

Throughout my academic career, I have always valued practical engagement. At times where I have been asked to lead or manage, I am the first to "get my hands dirty", and try to encourage others by example. I have little time for people in authority who are not prepared to put the work in on the ground. Perhaps this comes across in how I am when I socialise with others? I'm not sure. I know it does come across in how I live, day-to-day. I buy food based on how many meals I can make out of each item and I am painfully aware of incomings and outgoings each month.

Examining my writing, on the surface, there is very little that might represent the working class background of my upbringing. I write about spaceships and wizards, depending on my interest. Perhaps it might come across a little more in some of my short stories, but generally I don't feel that I am a "working class writer". I don't do the same kind of advocacy that I would associate with working class writers. But maybe there is more to think about and consider.

Looking back through my work, my Wisimir stories do describe an underclass in the city's society. Jack Von Drey finds allies in an outcast group, led by Lynchpin, a benevolent crime boss who saves those who have been cast out in the city.

In fact, Jack himself is a young man who was denied his family birthright. By stealing a bag of gold, he sets in motion a whole series of events that lead to an exploration of Wisimir's underbelly - people trying to survive and eke out a living any way they can. 

Some of my favourite characters in the series are harder harsher individuals, made that way by the lives they have been forced to lead. 

Lave Revolution was a story about overthrowing a tyrannical dictator, Hans Walden. The motivation for that was both internal and external. When writing the character Pasion, I was drawing on ideas from my undergraduate days reading Paulo Freire, and learning about praxis and oppression. The character Betrum Kowl was also subject to very specific discrimination, bullying and humiliation that caused him, eventually to retaliate.  

Later, I spent a lot of time working on the self-rationalisation of the dictator, Hans Walden. Trying to understand how an individual could justify their own monstrous actions 

Jezero (2024), the sixth Fractal Episode in my series of stories published by Flame Tree Press is perhaps the nearest to being a story about working class people. The story begins in the aftermath of Phobos Station being destroyed. The colonists on Mars are trying to survive as debris rains down upon them. In this desperate moment, they recognise the extreme capitalism that has shaped their lives since their arrival cannot be sustained. This is an opportunity for them to change the balance of power.

The Fractal Series describes a global capitalism that fuels humanity's expansion to colonise the moon, Mars and beyond. The brave individuals who choose to leave Earth for a life in these harsh environments do so knowing they are condemning themselves to debt. The price of travel is leveraged against each individual's contribution to their colony, or the facility they work in. The price is astronomical, but dangling at the end is the opportunity to strike out on their own, finding a way to establish themselves as essential parts of this new venture.

Within the Fractal Series, there is still an aspiration built into the system that promises economic freedom. But this is subjugation, dressed up as aspiration. An imaginative and vivid promise of a better life, drenched in debt and obligation. Eventually, something breaks and there is a chance to make something new, but as with any realistic circumstance involving oppression, these things are never simple.

So we returned to the title of this blog post. Am I a working class writer? 

Since I learned the word, intersectionality has always been something I strive to make part of my approach to life. Trying to understand how people are disadvantaged owing to some aspect of who they are is incredibly important to me and is one of the reasons why representations of disabled people (for example) are important in my stories.

As with many writers, my own experience also fuels my stories. Moments of hardship and success, moments of understanding and ignorance. When I read stories, these moments affect me, so in turn when I write, I try to find ways in which I can use what I know and understand to affect others. Perhaps that is a 'working class'approach? I don't know. But I do know  initiatives that support groups who are economically disadvantaged and help them get a voice and an audience is worth supporting.

Being a Healthy WriterGood progress this week. Different commitments have meant I am walking and active, doing things as well as editing and writing. Thursday was a tricky day though.I didn't sleep well on Wednesday night and had a 'heavy head' throughout the next day. When I set myself tasks to complete and don't reach them, the self-critical goblins emerge, telling me off for not doing enough. Ridiculous really, but my guilty conscious has always been a motivator, driving me to 'not let people down'.