How do you decide on what to write?

- Hi, I'm Kelly Yang. - And I'm Katie Camelo. - And you are listening to Story Kind, our new podcast. - Hi, Kate. - Kelly, I'm so glad to see you again. - I'm so glad to see you. - Kate, have you been working on a story or are you thinking about a story? - I have been working on a story and it will all discover this together as we talk more and more, but I do so many drafts. The story will be with me for a while. What about you? - Oh my gosh. For me, I have been thinking about a story for a year possibly. And I had to put it aside 'cause I was working on something else. And now I'm just kind of coming back to it. Let's dive into our writing question today. Our writing question today is, how do you decide on what to write? - Oh wow. And should I go first? - Well, last time you were talking to us about seeing an image and I really wanna go deeper into that. So what do you mean by that? And what kind of image can you give us a sneak peek? - Oh, sure. No, I won't give you a sneak peek. (laughing) But I will, right here, 'cause it's never far from me, it is the notebook where when something feels like it's gonna be a story, something that I see, it goes in here and I keep a running list in the back of this notebook, of things that I see that I think could turn into stories. Things that I see out in the world, things that I see in my own head. I just learned that what it's kind of like, it's kind of like a treasure map with an X on it when I see an image that it's like, it's dig here. This is where the story is. And sometimes this list that's at the back of the notebook and it's a question I have for you about, well, you just said you were working on. I'll carry these things around for years. I'll transfer them from notebook to notebook and it's just patiently waiting until I, the voice of the image shows up and I know what to do with it. Does that make sense? - I love that. I mean, don't you feel sometimes the stories are like our little children and they're like, it's my turn yet, it's my turn yet. - Yeah. - No, or sometimes in the very same way, you're pushing them out the door before they're ready. 'Cause I will find, it's like, okay, that's a really compelling image. I'm gonna make it into a story and I'll work on it and work on it and it's not working. And I put it aside and I have learned over a long period of time not to give up, but it's just not ready for it to be told yet. - Right, right. - So if an image or a name is where things start for me, where do things start for you? How does this work for me? - It's similar in that it usually starts with something I'm feeling like an emotion and it could be something that I'm seeing. Like I'll never forget when I was in first or second grade. This kid stole my eraser. I had one of these eraser pencils where you could like click on it and then the eraser would come out and I don't know where I got it. It was really, it was like a prized possession. (laughs) And Little Kelly was just obsessed with it and I went to the bathroom and then he just took it from my desk and told the teacher that it was his. And even back then I must have been like seven or eight. I remember thinking one of these days, one of these days I am going to write about that. And I did. It's in the front desk books and it was a pivotal scene. But yeah, you talk about carrying something for years. It's just like everything else we talk about that prompts like 30 questions in me. - Yeah. - But one of them, I mean because one of the things that I would love to talk about is the fact that you and I are here as adults and those eight year olds that we were are as present. - Yeah. - And that is part of why we do what we do. - Absolutely. - Absolutely. - Why do you think that is that we've been able to almost preserve the eight year old? (laughs) - I don't know, you know, it's like I remember the very first time, this is when when Dixie got published, I was doing one of the very first interviews I'd ever done. And the person turned to me and said, "How do you get into the mind of a ten year old "and I was kind of like flagregasted by the question "because I said, but I was a ten year old." But I think a lot of people forget that kid self. And we haven't forgotten that. - Yeah, and I feel, I'm almost like, because when I was a kid, I had to grow up so quickly that I almost didn't get to have a childhood. And there was a part of me that just always wanted to protect parts of my childhood. Like I would cling to certain memories because they were the memories that proved that I was still a kid. And maybe because I clung so hard, I protected that kid. And you're right, like that kid is definitely still part of me. - Yeah, no, it's so interesting. So I mean, the question was, - Where are we? - Where are we? - Yeah, where do we start? But I mean, that's where we've come back. - Yeah, who that? For me, that emotion, what I was experiencing, which was the injustice of having an eraser get stolen, I see that injustice play out even now. Like I'll see people being mean to each other in the grocery store or whatever, little things. And it'll just trigger, like I remember that feeling. And then sometimes that will then lead to, okay, obviously I have to unpack this feeling. Like obviously I have some work to do here. You know, I need to sort out my feelings through a story, which is for me, that's always in why I write. - Right, no, and that's beautiful. And you know, it's like when I say this image that I've seen or imagined, and I don't know why it speaks to me, but it doesn't, I'm still all of those feelings, the longing, the hope, the fear, all of those are, like the image is something that holds all of those and the kid me gets to work through. And that is the beautiful thing about telling a story. And it's also, it's something that I like to say to people when they don't wanna write to get published. And it's like, that's great. It helps to write to make sense of the world day to day. - Absolutely. - And to keep it notebook for yourself where you just write for yourself to help make sense out of things. Storytelling does that, but writing things down. So that's why I talk so much about notebooks when I talk about writing, because it's a place just for you. - Just for you. - And you have permission to write whatever you want, right? - And I think that-- - And I don't wanna go off on the whole notebook tangent, but do you do-- - I do. - Here's my notebook. It's not as small as yours. I think yours is better. But I write everything down and I, you know, I have all sorts of other notebooks, but I try to free write. So we can talk about that in a future episode of where that habit started, when it started, where it came from. - Oh yeah, that would be so fun. - Yeah. - But it's so important. So now we're gonna move on to our silly question today. And the silly question today is from one of the kids who wrote me, "Why does Mia want a dog so badly? Mia from the front desk series really desperately wants a dog." And I think it's because a dog was out of the question for her growing up because she was moving so much. And so a dog really came to symbolize having a permanent home, like having a home that she could rely on as being there for her and having an address that she could rely on. And it just seemed like it was out of the question for so long. That's kind of a sad answer to a silly question. - It's not a sad answer. And I just do have dogs now. - I do. I have two dogs, Cody and Lacey, they are so sweet. Actually, they're very naughty. They have been plotting to steal food. Like literally one of them will create a distraction and the other one will just go to the kitchen. I mean, they have this whole thing worked out. It's like working together. That's great. And so we did get to the silly part of it. But to me, that is what it's a beautiful answer because dogs provide stability and comfort. - What about you, Kate? Do you have any pets? - Oh, sure you know me. - I do. He's not here right now because his name is Frankie and everything's about him. (laughs) So you can't record a podcast with Frankie and the ring. - Well, one of these days we'll do a podcast with just our dogs. - Oh, lots. - That would be fantastic. Is that the way that we sound right now? (laughs) Okay, wait, let's do that thing that we like to do where we talk about a favorite teacher library and from when we were kids. So I'll go first this time. I want to talk about the public librarian and the small town where I grew up. There was a library called the Cooper Memorial Public Library. And the library and the head librarian there was named Ms. Alice and there was a four book Maximum rule that you could check out at a time and I think I was like maybe eight years old or so when she came out of her office when I was checking out my books And said to the librarian who was checking me out you may wave the Four book maximum rule for Kate. I Love that you can check out as many books as she wants at a time. Oh my god And it was like one of those moments where I knew who I was in the world. It was life-changing. Yeah, I saw I saw who I was So yeah, okay For me as well. I had an amazing librarian at my public library named John Simon He unfortunately passed away, but he was incredible and he actually was the one who encouraged me to read whatever I wanted As long as I would read it and talked him about it afterwards And so I would sit there. I was like tiny and he was very tall. So it was it was a really funny scene It almost reminds me of a scene from like Matilda or something But I was sit there and just kind of talked him about my books and I was so shocked that this man was interested in what I thought about a book, but he was and that gave me so much confidence It really changed my life and you know what I love about telling these stories Is it somewhere right now? Mm-hmm some teacher or some librarian Is doing that is making a kid feel seen that way Yes And and changing their life. Yeah That's and that's another reason we're here talking together. Yes, so that we can give a big Thank you not only to those teachers and librarians who formed us, but to the ones who are forming readers and writers now Absolutely, and that reminds me that if you have a story to tell about your favorite teacher or librarian somebody you want us to give a shout out to Please email us At [email protected] or if you have a writing related question or a question that is silly for Kate or me about any of our books or a writing process or anything please email us and we will be sure to address it on the podcast Thank you guys so much for listening and we will see you here back next week Thank you see you next week bye Kelley bye Kate