#mondaymood – where I have
been leads to where I am going
“A people without the knowledge of their past history,
origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” -Marcus Garvey
I was walking around the college campus and as I passed one
of the professor’s offices, the quote above was on their door. It may me smile because I thought about how
much I enjoy creating backstories for the people, places, and things in the fiction
hat I write.
Now, my readers my never get to experience the full extent
of the backstories I have created, but it gives me comfort to know that my
characters have knowledge of their history, origins, and culture. For me, that is key to writing what I write.
Non-writers may not know this about writers, but our
characters talk to us. I mean, they say
stuff as we write, they wake us up in the middle of the night, they argue with
us, they tease us, they even encourage us.
We live with them regularly. It gives
me great joy when one of my characters ask me a question about their past,
history, origin, or culture, and I can give them an answer.
In the African American community, older people have been
known to ask… “Who Yo’ People?” And as a
writer, I have a duty to answer that question in some way about each one of my
characters, the places that they go, and the things that they encounter.