Same answer as where I discover the dead tree edition books I read - everywhere. These motifs no doubt emerge in my fiction. As a region, the West is the backdrop for a rich interplay of conquest, struggle, colonialism, industry, idealism, identity, and hope.
I also lived in Washington, Arizona, and California before moving to New England in 2012. More broadly, I think the American West in general has had a powerful influence on my writing. My hometown gave me a head start in thinking about a balance between assimilating to the dominant culture of a community versus outright self-ostracizing in the name of individual identity. I never encountered outright or malicious racism, but plenty of simple ignorance or unassuming exclusion-by-default. I was the ONLY student in my first elementary school that did not meet 100% of these criteria. I'm sure Boise is at least relatively more diverse these days, but in the late eighties and early nineties, it was a pretty white, Christian (mostly Mormon), conservative place to be.
#Focuswriter themes sc fi how to
I did have to learn how to be comfortable in my own skin though. I like that sense of community, and I think some of that sentiment has made its way into Red Soil and my other writings. And when a neighbor is in trouble, the whole neighborhood rallies and provides support in any way they can. You're bound to meet someone you know in the grocery store, and even if you don't know them they'll still say hi to you in line and ask how you are. Kids grow up together, live on the same street, go to the same school, play in the same sports leagues, etc. The northwest is a friendly place - neighbors know each other. I think growing up in Boise specifically affected my writing in two major ways: the power of community, and how to be comfortable being different from the community. To this day I consider Boise my "hometown." That's where I went to school and graduated from high school. I've lived in many places, but I did almost all of my growing up in Boise, Idaho.
0 kommentar(er)
