How to Tap Into Vulnerability and Show Strength in Picture Books

Why is it that when so many of us sit to write, we look outward for motivation? We look for a muse. Why, instead, don’t we look inside ourselves? ( Fracturing Fairy Tales to Jumpstart Your Writing .) Inside our hearts and minds are vast memories and feelings that transcend time and space, fusing themselves into our very being. We are vessels of all the inspiration we could ever need. Yet, our default is to look outside of ourselves. Perhaps it is easier to look outward than inward. Perhaps looking inward comes with resistance because it requires us to be vulnerable. I was filled with equal parts joy and hesitation when writing Xavier’s Voice . I always write from the heart and portray characters who experience a wide array of emotions. Yet, I felt like, up until that point, I’d always played it safe. I would say that Tameika, in Not Quite Snow White , was the first time I’d explored depicting a character who was vulnerable in more than one way—her body (height, weight, and skin color). In some ways, I’d given her my childhood vulnerabilities. I was a short, fat, brown-skinned girl who attended predominantly white schools during my early years. I felt vulnerable, particularly when I was at school. It’s funny how even if no one points out our differences to us, we still have a way of feeling them in certain spaces. I truly wanted to explore that self-awareness of vulnerability in Xavier’s Voice , and I felt like a young, Black boy would be the perfect character to do this. Unlike Tameika, I didn’t want his skin color to be the focus. I wanted his vulnerability to be invisible but still seen. Readers will see Xavier struggle to make friends. They will read words that describe techniques he’s learned in therapy. I also wanted to capture the vulnerability of friendship. This meant that I had to explore my vulnerabilities again. Writing Not Quite Snow White helped me develop a process to do it, but it didn’t make it any easier. Writing from the heart […]

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