Why Fiction Is Dangerous

In celebration of tomorrow's release of Neil Gaiman's latest novel The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, I thought I would finally take a moment to share his thoughts from BEA on why fiction is dangerous.

On the last day of BookExpo America 2013, Neil Gaiman held a panel and Q&A session called "Why Fiction Is Dangerous" It was one of the major highlights of my trip this year. After speaking to us, at length, about what inspired his two new books, Mr. Gaiman said, "So those are the two main books I have coming out and that has nothing to do, at all, with why fiction is dangerous." The audience laughed because, I suppose, they were as engrossed as I was with everything he had told us and had completely forgotten about the promise of this panel's title.

While the rest of the talk was filled with laughter and frivolity, the crowds offered up a respectful silence interrupted only by murmurs of consent as Neil Gaiman told us why fiction was dangerous. He said,

• "Fiction is dangerous because it lets you into other people's heads,"
• "Fiction isdangerous because it gives you empathy,"
• "Fiction is dangerous because it shows you that the world doesn't have to be like the one you live in, which is incredibly dangerous for the world."

In 2007 Neil Gaiman was invited to the first officially recognized science fiction convention in China. He was curious about the country's sudden embrace of the genre, so he pulled aside one of the party officials to ask, "Science fiction has been very much frowned upon and regarded as dangerous and subversive for a very long time in China... Why have you said yes to this?" According to Gaiman, this was the man's response, "In China we are really good at making things that people bring to us... but we don't come up with them, we don't invent, we don't innovate. We went to America recently and we talked to the people at Apple, at Google, the people at Microsoft and one of the things we asked all of these people who invent and innovate was What did you read as children? And they all said, 'We read science fiction. We read fantasy. We read this stuff and thought, The world doesn't have to be like the one we are in right now. We can change it.'"

I sat there listening to Neil Gaiman and realized how beautiful danger can be. I understood how make-believe is the gateway to possibility and I remembered how closely linked imagination is to intelligence. Fiction is dangerous, in the same way our lives are: they are both unpredictable and take us down roads we may never have dreamed of traveling. 

I was so inspired by this talk, I created a Facebook cover to share this sentiment with all my facebook friends. Here it is, in case you wish to do the same (you can click on it so you can see it clearly without the sidebar interruption):

What are your thoughts on the danger of fiction?

How has fiction inspired you to think differently about your own world?

IWSG: The Reality Behind The Fiction

One of the amazing perks of spending time at BEA (BookExpo America), is the opportunity to meet authors, see them speak and to learn from them. Last week I tried to get to as many panels with authors speaking as possible. On this trip there appeared to be one main lesson the fates wanted me to learn: most fiction (if not all) is born out of reality. I suppose this is something I knew one way or another, but I had deluded myself in the sense of how much of a reality can still be alive in the words and worlds of a fictional tale once it is done.

Sara Farizan is the author of a YA novel called If You Could Be Mine that is coming out this August. This will be her novel and while I have not started reading my copy of it, I am looking forward to it. It is the story of a seventeen year old Iranian girl, Sahar. Sahar is gay and has been in love with her best friend since she was six years old. The story centers around her family dealing with this reality, while also trying to protect her, in Iran where homosexuality is a crime, but sex reassignment is legal and accessible.

When Sara introduced herself to the crowd who came to see her speak, she began with, "I'm super gay," and, as you may have already guessed, she is Iranian. Sara wrote the story of what could have been her own life if her parents hadn't moved to America. She went back to Iran to research the world she could have lived in and wrote what could have been her life story.

When it came time for me to see the author I waited all week for, the lesson sang true again as Neil Gaiman spoke about the inspiration for his new novel, The Ocean At The End Of The Lane. This was particularly compelling to me, as I tend to think of Mr. Gaiman as a fantasy writer. Again, the idea that works of fiction are based in reality is not one that is new to me, but when Neil spoke of the farm down the lane from his childhood home, the secrets his father kept from him and the family he always dreamed of writing about - all of these things that didn't just feel like the shadow of a basis for a story, but true stories in their own rights, I began to see how much one's reality can safely bleed into their work without it being memoir. I began to understand that one's story can mark the first steps in the "once upon a time..."

I started to wonder why I have been working so hard to try and make stuff up. I began to wonder what about my ordinary life could be transformed into extraordinary fiction. Is there something in my past? Something I observed, or lived, that is waiting to be fictionalized?

The answers to those questions are, of course: yes and yes. The bigger question this insecure writer has to ask herself, then, is, Am I ready to tell those stories? That is the hard part.

I am nervous about diving into that end of the pool, but when I think of those I saw this week, I realize that this leap of courage can come at any moment. Sara Farizan is a debut novelist who used her life as inspiration for her MFA thesis. Perhaps she was brave enough because she didn't think it would reach a public audience. Neil Gaiman, on the other hand, has had this family in his head for years. He mentioned them in Stardust and The Graveyard Book before bringing their full story to life now. So I don't know if my reality will make its way to my fiction yet. I don't even think I am ready for it. However, I am worried that my fiction will continue to fail until the day I am courageous enough to fully embrace the reality that belongs there.

When you are writing fiction, how close to your reality does your writing get?

What Are You Reading?

When was the last time you asked someone, "What are you reading?" Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club thinks it's time we start asking this question again. It was a question that inspired an exchange that evolved into his best selling work when he asked it of his mother while accompanying her to her chemotherapy treatment. From that question, and the discussion that spurred, he and his mother began a two person book club that read over one hundred books together before she passed away.

At the BEA Bloggers Conference, Will Schwalbe described his book tour for The End of Your Life Book Club as a crusade.  He said that we ask each other a ton of questions like "How did you sleep?" "Did you just cut in front of me on line?" and "Are you going to eat that?", but he wants us to start asking one other question a lot more often: WHAT ARE YOU READING? He wants everybody to ask everyone all the time. He told us  the following anecdote from his book tour to demonstrate the power of the question:

One of the best messages I received from my book was from a woman I met who was a grandmother... who lived in Florida... and her grandson did not. And she described to me the following exchange:

She said that when she called her grandson she would say, "What are you doing?" and he would say, "Nothing." She'd ask, "What are you watching?" he'd say, "Television." If she asked, "What did you eat?" he'd say, "Dinner." And when she asked, "Where are going?" he said, "Out."

So she decided one day to ask him, "What are you reading?" There was a pause, and he said, "The Hunger Games." So what she did was that she went to her local bookseller and she bought The Hunger Games and the next time they spoke on the phone, they talked about The Hunger Games. And they were no longer a grandmother and a grandson, they were two readers embarked on a journey... She said that one simple question, "What are you reading?" transformed her relationship with her grandson. (Will Schwalbe, BEA Bloggers Conference May 29, 2013)

I must admit, when Will told this story last Wednesday, I actually teared up. I believe in the unifying nature of reading. I believe that is what made the Twilight series so incredibly powerful - not just the story, but also the ability to be "on the same page" (so to speak) with so many other people. While the same might be said for shared conversations about television shows, or blockbuster movies, there is something much deeper and more intimate about the conversations we can have surrounding books.

With that said, I'd like to join Will's crusade. I am asking you today: WHAT ARE YOU READING? And, in an attempt to get this conversation started, I will answer it as well.

What I Am Reading
 

While I am currently buried in books (thank you BEA!) and I have started a number of them, there is one that I am focused on finishing first. It's Rush by Eve Silver which will be released on June 11th. Rush is a YA novel with wide appeal for both boys and girls.

The protagonist, Miki is an Asian American teen dealing with the death of her mother before she is thrust into a scifi parallel-type universe of her own. She is tasked, along with a team of other teens "pulled" out of their real lives, with battling a creepy alien race known as the Drau. As Miki gets thrust in between her ordinary real life world and her action-packed mysterious alter-life, I am fully engaged. In her real life she and her father battle with the realities set in by grief and she and her friends talk about boys, crushes and the hot new guy in school. When she gets "pulled" out of her real life there is no time to worry about any of that! She is fighting for very survival, while trying to figure a way out.

This book has been so much fun so far. It is a real page turner and I can't seem to stop talking about it. I'm still just as confused as Miki about what is happening to her right now, but that is so much of the fun. Pair that with the tension of what seems like a YA requirement: a love triangle, and  I am set. I look forward to hearing what other people think about this book when it comes out next week, but in the meantime I am just enjoying the ride myself!

What are YOU reading?

BEA 2013 - Time to Pay It Forward!

Have I told you how much I love you? Yes, you, reading these words right now on Rivera Runs Through It. If it were not for you, not for this blog, there would be no way for me to have experienced the magnificent weekend I just did at the BEA13 (BookExpo America 2013) in the Jacob Javits Center.

With that said, I understand that I owe you. BIG TIME.

It's coming. Very soon. In the form of book reviews, book giveaways and sharing of knowledge bestowed upon me over the last four days.

I hope you're ready.

I wish I was ready to start right now, but as I am exceedingly grateful that my body did not freak out at all during the hours of the convention as I feared (we had a couple of flare ups at night, at home, but - hey - I'll take it), I owe my body too. A long night of lazy morning Sunday kind of rest.

But, Cynthia, who commented on the blog yesterday pointed out, I need to share pictures as well. To keep you sated for awhile, here is a link to my Instagram account (I'm fairly new to Instagram) where I tried to share as much as possible while at the convention this week (I only wish I thought of doing this sooner!):

I hope you enjoy that for now. I know it isn't enough. You deserve so much more. You should check out the pictures to see what's on its way! Happy reading. Happy writing. And, as always, thank you for reading Rivera Runs Through It!

BookExpo America 2013 Livestream

The time has come. The big book party is here and just in case you can't make it out to the Jacob Javits Center on one or any of the days, we'll bring it to you. Watch the BEA Livestream to see the big author events and book reveals as they happen!

Wednesday (May 29, 2013) is just the BEA Bloggers Convention, so there won't be any new live materials until Thursday, but while you wait for that, check out the preloaded videos BEA has posted to get you ready for the main event!

I promise, if I see any of the cameras recording while I am there, I'll be sure to wave.