An interview with...
Tina Lear
Tell us one of your first experiences where you realised that language had power.
I was twelve, listening to Joni Mitchell's second album, "Clouds." There was a song on there called "The Fiddle and the Drum," and it broke me in half about war and conflict and everyone's intolerance for anger and disagreement. I understood stuff I was too young to understand. I cried for reasons I couldn't name. I felt seen for things I knew nothing about. Words have power.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would you say?
I would say, "You're gonna do what you're gonna do. No one can stop you from that. But eventually, (and I hope sooner than I did), you will learn not to believe everything you think. You will learn that life can be fun, and that you don't have to earn that AT ALL. You can have ice cream, just cuz. You don't have to be good enough for anyone out there. You can be sweet to your own self. And--this is the most important part--you can let everyone else in the world have their reactions, without that determining whether you're good or not. That's not yours, and you don't have to carry them around.
Have you ever written under a pseudonym?
I think when I was very young, I used Valenteen (with no last name), and I tried Tinaruth for a while (also no last name). But I've never published under a pseudonym.
What kind of research do you do for whatever it is you’re writing?
I just came out with a poetry book, but I didn't do much research for it--only because I keep all my poems in a folder on my laptop. However, for the fantasy novels I'm writing -- one soon to be published, the other is its sequel -- I try to read in its genre (fantasy). It's not much in my strike zone because so much of that is epic in nature, and full of dragons, and swords--and my writing is much more family drama related, only in a world with magical laws and seasons, different spirituality, and some wonderfully odd ideas about sexuality.
But I discovered "The Last Unicorn," and fell down loving that book. So. Reading much more in that genre will be some of my research.
Also, I have a very spotty community of faeries in this world I've created (called StoryEarth--where all stories have their lived life). They don't show up often, but they're strong when they do. And they're not necessarily warm and fuzzy. They are sometimes pranksters with a mean streak. I've had to do research on faerie lore so that I can mine some of those details for my 'people.'
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of a different gender to you?
My own biases about them. My own misconceptions. Everything I don't know--especially what I don't know that I don't know. But if I do write for a different gender, it goes back to the research question. I'll write a scene, or discuss what I want to see with someone of that different gender, and ask, "Does this feel real to you? Could it happen this way?" It's extremely informative and enlightening to do it this way.
Do you believe in the dreaded Writer’s Block?
I don't, for me. But I could never speak to anyone else's experience. For me, writing has seasons. I wrote songs and sang them from 1968-2000. Wrote the words and music for musicals from 2000 to about 2012, and then, after working my way through 3/4 of the fourth draft of my fourth musical with the brilliant Elise Forier-Edie, I just stopped. I had nothing more. I don't think of this as a block. I just think the river in me for that work ran dry. It was a shame, but it's been years since I played the piano or sang. And that used to be my whole identity.
But I've never stopped creating. My new season started in 2012. I started writing a play in 2012. It eventually became my first novel StoryEarth Chronicles: The Sting Baby which is only showing its face this year (2023) as a finished book. Started blogging in 2016, and over the years, it's grown into a weekly event. I'm currently pulling together a creative nonfiction book from those posts (working title Stumbles Into the Dharma: How to Fall Down and Rise Up, and Still Enjoy the Ride).
I do believe that there are many periods when I'm not doing my best work. But continuing to show up is all I ask. Being willing to write "the worst stuff in America" (thank you Natalie Goldberg) is all I ask. That tends to subvert the idea of Writer's Block, because you're allowed to write garbage, so what's stopping you?
I think that's probably one of the best strategies ever--for creative any artist. Show up. Do the work, and be willing for it to be garbage. Do the best job you can. Then show up again. Over and over till they tenderly slide your eyelids down.
"Situations are the face of my guru, the presence of my guru." Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, by Chogyam Trungpa
I was twelve, listening to Joni Mitchell's second album, "Clouds." There was a song on there called "The Fiddle and the Drum," and it broke me in half about war and conflict and everyone's intolerance for anger and disagreement. I understood stuff I was too young to understand. I cried for reasons I couldn't name. I felt seen for things I knew nothing about. Words have power.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would you say?
I would say, "You're gonna do what you're gonna do. No one can stop you from that. But eventually, (and I hope sooner than I did), you will learn not to believe everything you think. You will learn that life can be fun, and that you don't have to earn that AT ALL. You can have ice cream, just cuz. You don't have to be good enough for anyone out there. You can be sweet to your own self. And--this is the most important part--you can let everyone else in the world have their reactions, without that determining whether you're good or not. That's not yours, and you don't have to carry them around.
Have you ever written under a pseudonym?
I think when I was very young, I used Valenteen (with no last name), and I tried Tinaruth for a while (also no last name). But I've never published under a pseudonym.
What kind of research do you do for whatever it is you’re writing?
I just came out with a poetry book, but I didn't do much research for it--only because I keep all my poems in a folder on my laptop. However, for the fantasy novels I'm writing -- one soon to be published, the other is its sequel -- I try to read in its genre (fantasy). It's not much in my strike zone because so much of that is epic in nature, and full of dragons, and swords--and my writing is much more family drama related, only in a world with magical laws and seasons, different spirituality, and some wonderfully odd ideas about sexuality.
But I discovered "The Last Unicorn," and fell down loving that book. So. Reading much more in that genre will be some of my research.
Also, I have a very spotty community of faeries in this world I've created (called StoryEarth--where all stories have their lived life). They don't show up often, but they're strong when they do. And they're not necessarily warm and fuzzy. They are sometimes pranksters with a mean streak. I've had to do research on faerie lore so that I can mine some of those details for my 'people.'
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of a different gender to you?
My own biases about them. My own misconceptions. Everything I don't know--especially what I don't know that I don't know. But if I do write for a different gender, it goes back to the research question. I'll write a scene, or discuss what I want to see with someone of that different gender, and ask, "Does this feel real to you? Could it happen this way?" It's extremely informative and enlightening to do it this way.
Do you believe in the dreaded Writer’s Block?
I don't, for me. But I could never speak to anyone else's experience. For me, writing has seasons. I wrote songs and sang them from 1968-2000. Wrote the words and music for musicals from 2000 to about 2012, and then, after working my way through 3/4 of the fourth draft of my fourth musical with the brilliant Elise Forier-Edie, I just stopped. I had nothing more. I don't think of this as a block. I just think the river in me for that work ran dry. It was a shame, but it's been years since I played the piano or sang. And that used to be my whole identity.
But I've never stopped creating. My new season started in 2012. I started writing a play in 2012. It eventually became my first novel StoryEarth Chronicles: The Sting Baby which is only showing its face this year (2023) as a finished book. Started blogging in 2016, and over the years, it's grown into a weekly event. I'm currently pulling together a creative nonfiction book from those posts (working title Stumbles Into the Dharma: How to Fall Down and Rise Up, and Still Enjoy the Ride).
I do believe that there are many periods when I'm not doing my best work. But continuing to show up is all I ask. Being willing to write "the worst stuff in America" (thank you Natalie Goldberg) is all I ask. That tends to subvert the idea of Writer's Block, because you're allowed to write garbage, so what's stopping you?
I think that's probably one of the best strategies ever--for creative any artist. Show up. Do the work, and be willing for it to be garbage. Do the best job you can. Then show up again. Over and over till they tenderly slide your eyelids down.
"Situations are the face of my guru, the presence of my guru." Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, by Chogyam Trungpa