I am fascinated by perceptions. When I talk to people about my books it is always so interesting to hear what their perception is of what I wrote. And, how those perceptions are so different from person to person. Also, the perceptions they make of me as the writer based on what I write. I cannot tell you the number of folks who have asked me if I am lesbian because some of my characters are, or if I have a husband and a man because one of my characters did, etc.
"Umm, NO, it is fiction my dear..."
"But the characters seem so real, ring so true..."
"Thank you very much, but it was just my imagination once again, running away with me..."
I recall my first book was filled with umm language (cussing). I was writing in the voice of a brother from the hood, who had made good and he cussed. When I would go out on signings or discussions people were first surprised to see I was a woman and then that I looked so conservative and didnt lace my conversation with expletives. Ha!
The next three books had little cussing but there was some sex, actually, in Cinnamon’s Universe there was much sex…I could see a few wondering if I got down like that!
Then, I changed the game and wrote a young adult book and a couple of non-fiction books, and other fiction that was different in tone than the others, but still in my voice.
The other day I was talking to a reader who has read all my books and she said, “I can always tell a book that is written by you, but I never know where you are going to go or in what voice because you write genre-less.”
I took that as a compliment because I really do want readers to know me when they read me, but I don’t necessarily want them to have preconceived perceptions about future work, because I am bound to go anywhere with my writing.
The same is true of me as a person, I ask that people get to know me because there is a lot going on in this 5’10” frame that from day to day might be different than what is perceived. I love when I meet people who look one way or act a certain way but when I get to know them, there are so many more layers going on than imagined.
That makes people complex and mad interesting. And that is what I try to do when writing, give you people that are complex, different than expected and mad interesting.
Love and BLESSINGS!
angelia
www.angeliamenchan.com
