It is probably too early for a Christmas story but given that I want to make a point about what I earlier called "democratic writing" I am sharing a short story that I wrote last year for my yahoo group of former high school classmates. It was never meant for publication and so there was a lot of license that I took in writing this piece. Most of the friends liked it and one or two still get a laugh out of reading it. Please share with me anything that you've done that follows this genre (my invention) or simply work that is there but has not seen the light of day.
Gregorio's Christmas
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Democratic Writing & Writing that Transcends
One of the things that Facebook and Blogs have done is to democratize writing and publishing. The new e-book self-publishing phenomenon can be added to the above.This means that publishing is not the domain of a few editorial houses or magazines. People can now write for profit or simply to converse with their friends and those willing to read what they write.
There is something liberating about being able to write without thinking of where will "I publish this", though admittedly it is still the major publishers who dominate the process for serious writers. At the same time, publishing for kindle or other e-book distributors has provided more venues for writers of all kinds. And so we have more people writing and calling themselves writers than at any time in our history, although during the 1960s and '70s there were lots of free magazines and newspaper which provided space for more people to speak their mind.
I remember that when I was in my mid-twenties a number of magazines and newspapers sprung up in San Antonio that invited people in the West Side to submit their stories, poems, essays and interviews for publcation. They really did not have to be polished or even good to make it onto print. I guess there were some editorial guidelines and the editors--a husand and wife and friend team--did draw a line with the truly terrible submissions. But overall, if you had a passion and willingness to write you could end up a "published author". I never did publish with them being too self-conscious of my writing and figuring that I did not have anything important or interesting enough for them to want to publish.
Looking back now, I think that my reluctance was also due to my orientation for thinking about things that transcended the barrio. I had nothing against writing about the barrio landscape or the abuelitas, abuelitos or the day-to-day routines of Mexicanos which was a common theme in Chicano literature at the time. I believed, even then, that writing is universal and while the topic may be of a particular people, circumstance or landscape, good writing always transcends cultural, ethnic, racial and other boundaries. Consequently, my notion of good fiction rarely took place in the barrio.
When I became an editor of El Saguaro, a literary journal that came out of the Mexican American Studies & Research Center at the University of Arizona, I constantly tried to get Chicano writers to diversify. Most wanted to stay with topic of the barrio and in this they were following the advice of all writing teachers: "write about what you know". But I never believed that the advice was meant to keep us writing only about that which we experienced personally or about the people we interacted with daily. What we "know" can often be an idea, a character type, or something we read and fantasize about continually.
So, for one issue of El Saguaro I only accepted nontraditional--gothic, mystery, romance, avant-garde, etc.--Chicano literature. I had visions of someone writing a science fiction piece with Commander Valdez commandeering the U.S.S Enterprise, or about Inspector Roberta Castro figuring the murder case that had stumped everyone else. I would have even accepted a Mexican Animal Farm. Well, I didn't get any of those but I did get many other pieces that were non-traditional and incredibly creative and some even took place in el barrio. Even today I consider it a crowning achievement in my contributions to Chicano literature.
My own piece was about a Chicano military man called to govern a post-apocalyptic world. While liberal and progressive, he was called upon to save the Republic from some who had been his friends and people he had associated with in the past. The story was not about a Chicano saving the world from those who oppress but from those who felt oppressed. It was an attempt to tell a much more complicated story about leadership and governance.
Last year I wrote a Christmas story about a Chicano in Viet Nam who was going home after the Holidays. I wrote it for a yahoo group composed of friends that graduated with me from Sidney Lanier High School in San Antonio. This year I am hoping to write a Halloween story and I think I got one other person in the group to get excited about writing one also. So, great for our democratic writing.
I will be practicing my own democratic writing when I publish my novel this month on Amazon kindle. I have simply not found anyone who wants to publish a novel about a couple of Mexicans Americans in Viet Nam. The theme is universal--so much so that a Latino press did not want it because it was not Latino enough--and speaks to those who have gone to war and fallen in love.
Good writing is neither white nor black, brown or yellow, red, gay or straight. And it can be in any genre, landscape, with a multitude of characters (or animals) or possibly with none. But its message, in whatever form it comes--has to find application in particular stages of life of any or most people. Are there exceptions, yes, but most of the time no.
So, I'm glad for Democratic writing, but not for the kind that is only about writing "of our own" and having it apply "only to us". Writing for la palomilla (the folks) only is like "preaching to the choir". It has its purpose and its place, but rarely does it expand the conversation.
I'd like to see if anyone has a different opinion. It gets lonely talking to myself. Familia, at least you guys write to me. That's if you are even reading this.
There is something liberating about being able to write without thinking of where will "I publish this", though admittedly it is still the major publishers who dominate the process for serious writers. At the same time, publishing for kindle or other e-book distributors has provided more venues for writers of all kinds. And so we have more people writing and calling themselves writers than at any time in our history, although during the 1960s and '70s there were lots of free magazines and newspaper which provided space for more people to speak their mind.
I remember that when I was in my mid-twenties a number of magazines and newspapers sprung up in San Antonio that invited people in the West Side to submit their stories, poems, essays and interviews for publcation. They really did not have to be polished or even good to make it onto print. I guess there were some editorial guidelines and the editors--a husand and wife and friend team--did draw a line with the truly terrible submissions. But overall, if you had a passion and willingness to write you could end up a "published author". I never did publish with them being too self-conscious of my writing and figuring that I did not have anything important or interesting enough for them to want to publish.
Looking back now, I think that my reluctance was also due to my orientation for thinking about things that transcended the barrio. I had nothing against writing about the barrio landscape or the abuelitas, abuelitos or the day-to-day routines of Mexicanos which was a common theme in Chicano literature at the time. I believed, even then, that writing is universal and while the topic may be of a particular people, circumstance or landscape, good writing always transcends cultural, ethnic, racial and other boundaries. Consequently, my notion of good fiction rarely took place in the barrio.
When I became an editor of El Saguaro, a literary journal that came out of the Mexican American Studies & Research Center at the University of Arizona, I constantly tried to get Chicano writers to diversify. Most wanted to stay with topic of the barrio and in this they were following the advice of all writing teachers: "write about what you know". But I never believed that the advice was meant to keep us writing only about that which we experienced personally or about the people we interacted with daily. What we "know" can often be an idea, a character type, or something we read and fantasize about continually.
So, for one issue of El Saguaro I only accepted nontraditional--gothic, mystery, romance, avant-garde, etc.--Chicano literature. I had visions of someone writing a science fiction piece with Commander Valdez commandeering the U.S.S Enterprise, or about Inspector Roberta Castro figuring the murder case that had stumped everyone else. I would have even accepted a Mexican Animal Farm. Well, I didn't get any of those but I did get many other pieces that were non-traditional and incredibly creative and some even took place in el barrio. Even today I consider it a crowning achievement in my contributions to Chicano literature.
My own piece was about a Chicano military man called to govern a post-apocalyptic world. While liberal and progressive, he was called upon to save the Republic from some who had been his friends and people he had associated with in the past. The story was not about a Chicano saving the world from those who oppress but from those who felt oppressed. It was an attempt to tell a much more complicated story about leadership and governance.
Last year I wrote a Christmas story about a Chicano in Viet Nam who was going home after the Holidays. I wrote it for a yahoo group composed of friends that graduated with me from Sidney Lanier High School in San Antonio. This year I am hoping to write a Halloween story and I think I got one other person in the group to get excited about writing one also. So, great for our democratic writing.
I will be practicing my own democratic writing when I publish my novel this month on Amazon kindle. I have simply not found anyone who wants to publish a novel about a couple of Mexicans Americans in Viet Nam. The theme is universal--so much so that a Latino press did not want it because it was not Latino enough--and speaks to those who have gone to war and fallen in love.
Good writing is neither white nor black, brown or yellow, red, gay or straight. And it can be in any genre, landscape, with a multitude of characters (or animals) or possibly with none. But its message, in whatever form it comes--has to find application in particular stages of life of any or most people. Are there exceptions, yes, but most of the time no.
So, I'm glad for Democratic writing, but not for the kind that is only about writing "of our own" and having it apply "only to us". Writing for la palomilla (the folks) only is like "preaching to the choir". It has its purpose and its place, but rarely does it expand the conversation.
I'd like to see if anyone has a different opinion. It gets lonely talking to myself. Familia, at least you guys write to me. That's if you are even reading this.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)