f2m:the Boy Within ‘The Two of Us’ and Writing From a Different Perspective

Check out the f2m: the boy within Book trailer

We’re co-authors who are very different.

Ryan Kennedy and I collaborated on writing ‘f2m; the boy within.’ Even choosing the title was shared. Ryan thought it sounded like texting. I wanted a sub title, which would hint the YA book, was about transitioning gender.

Like most people I didn’t know much about terms like mtf or ftm before I started researching this YA novel. ( mtf is Male to female) ( ftm is female to male)

But Ryan did.

We called our novel f2m to describe how we worked 2gether. Across two countries (Australia and New Zealand) on Skype, web chats and email, and across genders and generations.
He is inbetween my kids in age.

A family friend, I knew him when he was passing as an 11 year old girl.
Now he’s a man, and this is his first novel. But our character Skye-who is later named Finn, is 18, just at the age when big decisions have to be made about ID and formal stuff like driver licenses, passports, work. Skye is a punk, and punk music is another language I had to learn as well as the language of gender.

What’s the novel about?

School-leaver Skye plays guitar in her all-female Chronic Cramps
band. Making her name in the punk/indie scene is easier than
FTM (female to male) transitioning: from Skye to Finn, from girl
to man. Uncovering genetic mysteries about family heritage tear
the family apart. Trans gender identity is more than injections and
surgery, it’s about acceptance. Going public, Finn sings ftm lyrics on
TV. With a little help from bemused mates and family who don’t want
to lose a daughter, but who love their teenager, Finn is transitioning.

Ryan says: Being the transgender half of the writing team, it was up to me to bring my trans perspective and make the transition story real. It would take years of research for a non-transgender person to write this kind of story while accurately reflecting what we feel and experience during transition. At the same time I didn’t want to ‘represent’ all trans people by presenting only one way to transition. This is just one possible way to transition and not the correct way or the only way. It’s a fictional character’s experience based loosely on my own.

Hazel says:
‘I think a good writer needs to be androgynous and able to create credible characters of gender, age and interests different from their own biological details. The skill is research and observation PLUS I think you also need an expert reader from those areas to check you have picked up on the nuances of other gender or occupations. I’ve written from the viewpoint of a 21 year old male expeditioner in my ‘Antarctica’s Frozen Chosen’ but checked with other expeditioners I had the male viewpoint right. That’s why Ryan was such an important co-writer on ‘f2m’. It was a genuinely equal partnership, even if it was his first book and my 200th.

In the YA novel f2m’the boy within, we’re in the situation of having an 18 year old protagonist who transitions from female to male (although always male inside).. Do you use ‘he’ or ‘she’ ? The great challenge is the pronouns, and trying to write a blurb where the protagonist changes gender in one sentence. And not making a complex situation sound glib. But it’s been a satisfying working partnership, especially as we’ve done much online. Exciting. I think writing from a different viewpoint for the length of a novel is excellent discipline for an author.

What about the punk research?

Ryan says:

I’I was just as committed to presenting an accurate version of the punk scene as I was a transgender character. It’s a culture that’s often misrepresented. On the musical side there’s everything from pure noise bands to skilful musicians, and everything from those who’ve had many music lessons to self-taught artists. The fans are diverse and welcome diversity, and there’s a culture of questioning and equality. I found it a great setting to explore my identity and I am dismayed when punk is portrayed as being wild for the sake of wild. Its rebellion is usually focused towards social change. Some rebellion is healthy. Transgender people are gender rebels.’

The electronic way in which we co-wrote this novel, using Skype and email has been an innovation. So it’s been pleasing to see the way YA bloggers have picked up the novel for their reviews and guest blogs. We hope that soon it will go into an audio format so you can listen to ‘f2m;the boy within’ and maybe one day watch the film or TV adapation. We’re open to new media offers! But at 70,000 words , the novel is a bit long to Twitter.

Check out the authors websites –
Ryan Kennedy – www.ryanscottkennedy.com
Hazel Edwards – www.hazeledwards.com

If you would like to find out more about the book and the topic the following reviews are very thoughtful-
The Great Raven
January Magazine
Reading Stack
Genre Flash

Garth Nix at Mosman Library!!

Hi Guys,

Garth Nix is coming to Mosman Library to talk about his new book, the final chapter of The Keys to the Kingdom series Lord Sunday on Tuesday 16 February at 4:00pm.

Master of the Incomparable Gardens, the last of the Trustees, and the most powerful Denizen in the house, Lord Sunday is a fierce opponent. And Arthur is running out of time.

What will be revealed when the Will of the Architect is finally made whole?

This is a free event and a great chance to listen to a fantastic writer talk about a fascinating series.

Bookings are essential and can be done at the library or by using the Make a booking at the top right of this screen.

Check out Garth’s website here or his facebook page

For any more info get in touch with the library on 9978 4091

Edwina Harvey guest blogs on The Whale's Tale!!

Hi guys, and thanks for giving me the chance to chat to you about my new SF novel, The Whale’s Tale and also about the part I play in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

I think I fell into science fiction before I even knew what it was. I enjoyed watching TV shows like Astro Boy, The Thunderbirds, Dr Who and Star Trek when I was a kid, and I still do!

I’m also a self-proclaimed “whale and dolphin geek”. I started collecting dolphin and whale figurines while I was in high-school, and I started reading non-fiction books about them around then too. I was horrified to learn that many cultures around the world still hunt whales and dolphins, especially when so many sub-species are considered endangered because of declining numbers.

There have been a lot of experiments done that show dolphins appear to be very intelligent creatures . In the past many scientists, including John Lilly, have experimented with dolphins and killer whales to see if they could communicate with humans, and those experiments were successful to a certain degree.

That idea stuck in my mind. I believe dolphins and whales are sentient creatures. There have been numerous cases of them interacting with humans from dolphins saving drowning swimmers, to humpback whales carefully moving their pectoral fins out of the way so they didn’t hit a diver. So then I started asking myself “What if…?”

What if these creatures had a voice and they could tell us what they thought about being hunted?

What if they‘re as intelligent as us, or even more intelligent than us?
Lots of people around the world listen to whalesong. What if aliens also liked hearing whales sing?

And what if a Japanese teenage girl and a humpback whale – two past adversaries- were thrown together? In this case on the whale’s spaceship while he toured the galaxy performing whalesong. Would the whale’s memories of the past stop him accepting the girl because of her heritage?

That’s pretty much how The Whale’s Tale came about. I don’t think it’s as dorky as it sounds whenever I try to describe my book to people.

My book’s fantastic cover was produced by brilliant young artist, Elleanor Clarke. I’ve worked with her before when she designed a cover for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. I’m a member of the Andromeda Spaceways co-operative. We all take turns at doing different jobs, and editing issues of the magazine which is available in print and PDF form through andromedaspaceways.com

Reading submitted stories, and editing four issues of Andromeda Spaceways has taught me a lot about how to improve my own writing. I don’t only write science fiction either. I’ve had a couple of stories published in collections for children, and I’ve written interviews and articles, including an article on how to turn your dog into transport published in Grass Roots magazine recently.
I’d be happy to chat to anyone and answer questions.

Edwina

George Ivanoff guest blogs on Gamers' Quest!

Hello to all the readers of Wired 4 Teens. Thanks for letting me be your guest blogger today. For those of you who don’t know me from a bar a soap, I’m the author of the new teen novel, Gamers’ Quest. It’s a science fiction book with a healthy dose of fantasy elements (dragons, mages, that sort of thing) and a computer gaming story. Anyway, I thought I’d start the blog off with a little bit about how I came to write Gamers’ Quest.

It actually began as a short story, ‘Game Plan’, which was published in Trust Me! (Ford Street Publishing, 2008), an anthology edited by Paul Collins. I was inspired to write the story by a documentary about online gaming, which showed how people all over the world were immersing themselves in fantasy games to the detriment of their real lives, which they considered boring. I wanted to turn this around and ask: If a person lived in a fantastical world full of exotic dangers, what sort of computer games would s/he play?

It was only after fellow author, Meredith Costain, suggested that it would make a good basis for a novel that I stopped to think about it. And once I did stop to think about it, there was no turning back — the characters and the environment seemed well suited to a longer story.

Okay, now that the intro is out of the way, I can get to answering some of the questions that you guys sent in.

Who is your favourite author, and what books have you read lately that you liked?

My favourite authors include Carole Wilkinson, Richard Harland, Terry Dowling and John Christopher. I’ve read a lot of really good books this year. Here’s my top 5 teen books for 2009:

5. It’s Yr Life by Tempany Deckert & Tristan Bancks
4. The Slightly Skewed Life of Toby Chrysler by Paul Collins
3. Vulture’s Gate by Kirsty Murray
2. The Loblolly Boy by James Norcliffe
1. Worldshaker by Richard Harland — Actually, this book has shot into my all-time top 10!

And I’ve just started reading The Whale’s Tale by Edwina Harvey. I’m only one chapter into it, but it’s hooked me.

How long does it take to write a book?

It really depends on the book. Gamers’ Quest took about three months to write and then another few months of re-writing as it went back and forth between my publisher, my editor and me. All up there were eight drafts.

Will there be a sequel or any other books written in this world?

I planned Gamers’ Quest as a stand-alone novel. But after I finished it, I ended up writing a couple of short stories, using the characters and the world, for the book’s website. I enjoyed revisiting the characters so much that I’m now thinking about writing some more stories for the website. I don’t have any plans for a sequel to the novel… but who knows, if I get a good enough idea I may end up writing one. But for the moment, I’ve got other projects I’m working on.

Okay… that’s it for the questions.

Now, there’s just one other thing I wanted to say. The work doesn’t finish when the book is published. In fact there seems to be even more work in promoting the book than there is in writing it. I’ve put together a website for the book http://www.gamersquestbook.com and had a computer animated trailer put up on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vCC-l34Fgo ; I’ve started using FaceBook and Twitter; I’ve been doing book signings and interviews, and other things like this blog — all so that people will know that I and my book exist. So, if you’ve got a spare moment or two, check out the website and the trailer. And if you’ve read the book, drop me an email and let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading my guest ramblings today. :)

George

Guest Blogger George Ivanoff

Gamers’ Quest author George Ivanoff will be writing a special one off guest blog here on Thursday 19 November!

Gamers’ Quest is about Tark and Zyra, two teenage thieves in a dangerous world where magic and technology are deeply entwined.

Their quest is to reach Designers Paradise. Though as games and worlds begin to merge, danger threatens at every turn!

Check out the Gamers’ Quest website at www.gamersquestbook.com or the book trailer for more info on this unpredictable and fast paced story!

Write up a question for George to answer in the comments section below!