Comments on: “Fiction Is Just Nonfiction Through A Distorted Lens” http://theangryblackwoman.com/2008/02/15/fiction-is-just-nonfiction-through-a-distorted-lens/ Race, Politics, Gender, Sexuality, Anger Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:59:28 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Feminist SF - The Blog! » Blog Archive » Essays by Black SF/F Authors Exploring History, Culture, Race & Ethnicity http://theangryblackwoman.com/2008/02/15/fiction-is-just-nonfiction-through-a-distorted-lens/comment-page-1/#comment-4970 Feminist SF - The Blog! » Blog Archive » Essays by Black SF/F Authors Exploring History, Culture, Race & Ethnicity Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:04:58 +0000 http://theangryblackwoman.wordpress.com/?p=315#comment-4970 [...] Fiction Is Just Nonfiction Through A Distorted Lens by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu When you are athletically gifted, in many ways, it’s like having this weird magical talent. You can just do these things that people find amazing, yet, it comes easily to you. I was always the first chosen during games on the play ground. I was always the one racing and beating the boys. It was all easy, natural. Being in motion always brought me great joy. So I’ve known this kind of ability. [...] [...] Fiction Is Just Nonfiction Through A Distorted Lens by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu When you are athletically gifted, in many ways, it’s like having this weird magical talent. You can just do these things that people find amazing, yet, it comes easily to you. I was always the first chosen during games on the play ground. I was always the one racing and beating the boys. It was all easy, natural. Being in motion always brought me great joy. So I’ve known this kind of ability. [...]

]]> By: nojojojo http://theangryblackwoman.com/2008/02/15/fiction-is-just-nonfiction-through-a-distorted-lens/comment-page-1/#comment-4971 nojojojo Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:47:22 +0000 http://theangryblackwoman.wordpress.com/?p=315#comment-4971 <em>During Clarion in 2001, I started writing about this angry Efik woman (Efik is a Nigerian ethnic group) who found she had the ability to fly. She was a Windseeker. Her name was Arro-yo. I didn’t like her much because aside from being kind of mean, she was super promiscuous, and often irrational. But she could fly. </em> I always love hearing the origin stories of my favorite book characters. My own characters often start out as something equally WTFish, until I really think about them and refine them and they start to speak to me. But it's amazing to me that Arro-yo became Zahrah, this shy, proper (up to a point), insecure sweet thing. How the heck did <em>that</em> happen? =) During Clarion in 2001, I started writing about this angry Efik woman (Efik is a Nigerian ethnic group) who found she had the ability to fly. She was a Windseeker. Her name was Arro-yo. I didn’t like her much because aside from being kind of mean, she was super promiscuous, and often irrational. But she could fly.

I always love hearing the origin stories of my favorite book characters. My own characters often start out as something equally WTFish, until I really think about them and refine them and they start to speak to me. But it’s amazing to me that Arro-yo became Zahrah, this shy, proper (up to a point), insecure sweet thing. How the heck did that happen? =)

]]> By: Victoria McManus http://theangryblackwoman.com/2008/02/15/fiction-is-just-nonfiction-through-a-distorted-lens/comment-page-1/#comment-4972 Victoria McManus Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:11:33 +0000 http://theangryblackwoman.wordpress.com/?p=315#comment-4972 Ooh. SHADOW SPEAKER sequel? Ooh. Ooh. SHADOW SPEAKER sequel?

Ooh.

]]> By: Aaminah http://theangryblackwoman.com/2008/02/15/fiction-is-just-nonfiction-through-a-distorted-lens/comment-page-1/#comment-4973 Aaminah Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:18:52 +0000 http://theangryblackwoman.wordpress.com/?p=315#comment-4973 Very cool. I like how you address how our lives not only inform our fiction writing but how our writing informs our lives too. In the process of "researching" we open ourselves up to new ideas. For some of us, the characters we are writing are like real people, their voices inhabit our brain and we have a picture of them and everything. So it is kind of like interacting with a new person we've just met, getting to know them, and challenging our own ideas and perceptions by "hearing" about theirs. Very cool. I like how you address how our lives not only inform our fiction writing but how our writing informs our lives too. In the process of “researching” we open ourselves up to new ideas. For some of us, the characters we are writing are like real people, their voices inhabit our brain and we have a picture of them and everything. So it is kind of like interacting with a new person we’ve just met, getting to know them, and challenging our own ideas and perceptions by “hearing” about theirs.

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