“Every story I create, creates me. I write to create myself.” Octavia Butler
It was a while back when I read books written by Octavia E. Butler. I have always charted my reading direction towards writers of colour, women, lesbians and other subaltern voices. My reading was across genres – non-fiction, fiction, sci-fiction, graphic novels and so forth. In my writing, I wrote stories about people who were subaltern, but who somehow seamlessly navigated life’s trials to come out on top. I created a coccoon where I found none. It was about and still is about creating a safe space for me to create myself as someone who has spent time hiding who I am due to heteronormativity and other constructs that by their definiton exclude, oppress, deny rights and vilify others
For me, I was filled up on stories of colonialism and neocolonialism, oppression and marginalisation, inequality and injustice, death and war. I used my knowledge to meander through a world of work that entailed writing about how to improve human rights, identify structures, systems and processes that held some back and extracted their lives from them, their very essence, just so others could live free and unhindered by the ramifactions of exploitation. So, in my own time, away from the world of work, I wanted to write about those who survive the chaos of the world, the injustices and the failures, without needing to loose themselves and their wonder at the world.
Today I had a discussion with a peer who said that true writers reveal the underbelly of life and shock readers into taking action. That is the true essence of writing. My view is that while there is a need for that, there is also space for writers who want to create worlds where they can feel what it is like to be the victor over a bully, or to feel safe in the wildness of nature without fearing being lost, or who find solace in the forgiveness of loved ones who can see beyond the ubiquities of random actions which may not always be perfect. I feel this is necessary – this imaginary world where you can play out what it feels like to be safe when you rarely feel that in waking moments. I remember writing a story (it is in my book ‘Reverence‘) about a person who is bullied at work for many years but somehow manages to come through intact and reverse the tables on the person who has put her through so much – it is a fantastical tale rooted in reality, but as a writer, I know what the reality is, I’ve seen it, I’ve experienced it like others, and the person bullied rarely gets justice. But it was empowering to write the tale, to find that I still have a voice and that it can be in print.
So, to go back to the Octavia E. Butler quote, creating the self is about many different things because we are diverse. The person and story that someone of considerable structural privilege constructs will be very different from the story and person someone who is excluded would construct and sometimes it is necessary to build worlds in print that allow people to imagine, for a moment, what it might be like, if things didn’t always reflect the random oppressive experiences that so many of us have. It gives us space to breath and there is nothing wrong with imagining gentler and more forgiving worlds. That said, I always find it way more fun to construct imaginary worlds so I can recharge.
Well, that’s my blog post! Remember, your writing is about you fundamentally, and your voice does matter.
Love, Olivia and Bailey
O. S. King 