Writing for Strangers?
In June of 2009, I was on my annual foray south to spend the summer with my then-partner in a Mexican border town. Every weekend we drove to Tucson, where food co-ops sold date logs rolled in coconut and museums held thousands of skinned-and-stuffed taxidermy animals from the Sonora desert. On one of these weekend trips, we visited Antigone Books, on 4th Avenue. And that’s where I found Ariel Gore’s book.
I’ve always wanted to become a famous writer. Who doesn’t? When I was six or seven, I wrote my first full-length fantasy story: “The Amber Ring.” It was about a young girl who finds an amber ring with a small 17th-century man trapped inside, the victim of an evil curse. It was thirteen pages long and even contained a witch. Later, when I was 9 or 10 and my parents had divorced, I wrote “Teens and Green Beans,” a short story about a girl whose mother forces her to buy a bra, and “Call Me Butterfly,” a piece about a girl whose mother disappears and the kids at school all make fun of her.
I like writing stories about people. I think people are fascinating and frustrating and weird. I’m all of those things, too. I am in love with writing because I can be completely honest in a way that verbal communication doesn’t always allow.
In her book, Ariel Gore suggests “writing for strangers,” to practice getting your work out there and making yourself vulnerable. So, here I am, writing for strangers. Thank you for stopping by; I love feedback, so never hesitate to get in touch.
Vanessa Shanti Fernando is a writer and many other things, too. She lives in Montreal.
Contact her at vshanti2@gmail.com
Publications
“Wanting,” in Dear John, I Love Jane: Women Write About Leaving Men for Women, ed. Candace Walsh & Laura Andre, Seal Press (2010).
The Number of Times You’ve Almost Killed Me While Attempting to Show Me the Moon, ed. Vanessa Fernando and Jason Fernando, Elephant Press Publishing (2009).
“Making Magic,” in Black Heart Magazine (2009).
“Intriguing Poses: Power, Language, and the Legacy of Colonialism,” in Voces (2009).
“The Body, Revolutionary,” in Subversions Journal of Gender & Sexuality 5 (2009).
“Vacancy,” in GirlSpoken : From Pen, Brush & Tongue, ed. Carol Kauppi, Heather Holland, and Jessica Hein, Second Story Press (2007).
“A Collaborative Interview with Youth and Seniors,” in Lester’s Army (2007).
“April 18th,” in Tall Tales and Short Stories, ed. Steve Van Bakel, Tall Tales Press (2003).
“Call Me Butterfly,” in Dream/Girl 16 (2002).
