Growing up with hearing aids, I lost myself in realities that weren't what I was experiencing. I didn't have to wear the annoying microphones that would feedback every time my hair touched them or my glasses moved. I didn't have to remember to look up (or put my glasses on) and try to follow by lip-reading. I didn't have to LISTEN with my ears and try to decipher what was said. Instead, I could use my eyes and escape from the world for.a while.
No Diversity
But, before long, I realized that while I liked escaping from my reality and the books I read, there wasn't a lot of diversity in the characters. Oh sure, you'd sometimes see a person of color, or a "bigger" person but rarely did you see a character who had a disability. While I don't think of myself as disabled, I wanted to see characters who were like me - deaf/hard-of-hearing - and how they would handle the shenanigans that happened to the people in the books. I wanted to identify with the characters, to imagine that I was the main character and everything was happening to me. Sure, there were a few books that featured deaf/hard-of-hearing characters (Sweet Valley Twins: Won't Someone Help Anna - anyone remember that one?) but most of them were written by a hearing author and the characters could magically follow along and their deafness was a side note - and didn't really change anything about the character.
Not only that, but I wanted to see characters who were "not normal" - and struggling with their identity, accepting their differences as part of them, as well as not giving a shit when other people made comments.
And not the "I'm not like the other girl" trope that is out there.
My Writing and Characters
So, when I really began writing - and not just scribbled stories to keep myself entertained when I got into trouble - I made a conscious decision that I wanted my stories to have deaf and/or hard-of-hearing characters as the main characters (not just a sidekick). Granted, most of them have more than one character that is deaf or hard-of-hearing. Some of them speak, some sign, but all of them have hearing loss and how they handle it, is unique to that character.
As I am a cis, white female, I do struggle to adequately write characters who are part of the LGBTQUIA+ community or the BIPOC community, but I am counting on my beta readers and, eventually (hopefully) my editor and agent, will be make sure that they are represented properly.
I wanted to create worlds in which young adults who have differences can find someone that they relate to, much like I had wanted when I was growing up.
Now, there were a few childhood books that had some diversity and struggles with identity - along with magical realities - that helped inspire my stories.
Book Inspirations
What books inspired me to create the diverse and magical realities?
There are two books that really inspired me when I was growing up: The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts and An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle. Both deal with characters who are different - and have to learn to accept who they are - as well as hints of magic in a "real" world setting. The world building in An Acceptable Time is amazing - and time travel makes the book (I'm pretty sure one of my favourite tropes would be time travel). Some of my favourite quotes are from that book. The Girl with the Silver Eyes made me believe in magic. Sometimes, I believe that book really introduced me to "magic," even though I read The Chronicles of Narnia and it is still one of my favourite childhood books, and how people could look at it as bad or good depending on who they were that emulates the real world and how people can look at being different as good or bad.
And then, I guess I need to mention one other book that shaped my writing: The Third Eye by Lois Duncan. Not only did you have a character who was different and magical, but her gifts could be perceived as normal until others realized they didn't have it - and they were genetic. There are other parts - how people treat her (scared, awed, etc.) as well as bringing up the age-old question of "if you have gifts, should you try to help?"
And if I'm honest, then I need to bring up The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. The question of "if you are different, are you unnatural" and how some will stand with you - those are the true friends and family - and others against you for being different.
I could go on and on about these books and probably find others. Needless to say, these books shaped my writing and my belief that differences should be celebrated. These books also helped me accept my identity as a Deaf person - and that I am not broken. We are not all the same and never will be.
These books were - and are - my inspiration. I still reread them to this day, finding little things within that I remember, or new quotes I like. I hope that my characters, world-building, and magic systems do them justice. And now, I want to go and reread these books... again.
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