What I Write About

My friend David and I were talking a week or two ago about writing. We're writers. It tends to be the topic of conversation whenever we get together or get on the phone. He talked about his mission statement as a writer.

What do you write about?

He posed the question to me. I suppose I've thought about that question from time to time over the years. I don't know that I've ever had a great answer. I used to think I wrote about identity. People finding their identity, trying to figure out who they are. I had plays about a gay guy who fell in love with his straight best friend and a couple who are trying to figure out who they are in a relationship. I wrote about an asian actor masquerading as a latina actor to get roles. Those plays feel very much about identity to me. They're also extremely gay. And I suppose you could put gay on the list of things I write about. More often than writing about my cultural roots. The last "identity" play I feel I wrote was about a painting and its influence in three different eras, although I'd also say that play was about objectification. Although, you could also say that's about identity - who are you to someone else, how people see you.

Then my Dad died and I started writing a lot about death. I finally had characters who died in my plays or were dealing with some sort of death. I didn't deal with that at all in my earlier work. I wrote a play about a man mourning a life he never lived with a person from his past. I wrote about school shootings. And this latest play is about the year my father died. The next play idea has to do with two ghosts - or spirits - of people from the past. But it also has to do with identity in a way as well. But I think it goes further than that - it does deal with legacy and what you've left behind when you've gone.

I don't know if I had a great answer for David that night we were on the phone. I was stumped.

Today I was listening to a podcast where a playwright was being interviewed and the host asked her what she writes about. I thought about David's question again. And then the idea of adapting popped into my head. I write about characters who adapt. That can mean that they're survivors. That can mean that they're people who are one way with one set of people and another way with another set of people. It can mean that these characters change to please others. It can mean that they struggle with their identity. It can mean that change based on what's asked of them.

As a person of color, I'm highly adaptable. I was the brown kid who went to school with the white kids and came home to my small middle class home and spent the weekends in East Los Angeles with my Mexican grandmother taking the bus. I do a lot of adapting to my surroundings - and some of that adapting has caused me to think about who I am in the world. It takes different forms, but I think my characters do that too.

Now, why is this a worthwhile exercise? I don't necessarily need to encapsulate what I'm about as a writer - that's what audiences and critics do. I can muse on themes that I keep coming back to. But that kind of analysis I usually save for my therapist or for other people to tell me what they see. I don't know if I want to completely know what I'm about as a writer and if I should write to that - or if my instinct would be to write away from that. I suppose it's an interesting thing to think about. I just don't know how much time I want to spend dwelling on it. I'd rather be surprised by what people find in what I write. That's where the interaction and the magic happens.

My intention is to be surprised.
My intention is to be excited for what happens next.
My intention is to be dedicated to my work.
My intention is to work hard.

I am grateful for friendships that keep me afloat.
I am grateful for breaks.
I am grateful for blowing off steam.
I am grateful for all of the fun I'm having.