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 is challenging because it requires a hefty amount of mental work, but the greatest challenges can reap the greatest rewards. Here’s how you can tap into vulnerability and show strength in picture books.
1. Assess your comfort level.
I’m a believer that the best stories come from within. This is why the first step requires you to lose the muse. In other words, lose the idea of needing to find outside inspiration. Instead, decide how personal you want to get. We all have different lived experiences. There may be some parts of your life that you’d rather not probe, and that’s okay. You don’t have to. You get to choose how vulnerable you want to be.
2. Identify your vulnerability.
Vulnerability is about occupying a space emotionally or physically. I’d even go as far as to say situationally. It is the space in which you feel exposed because someone or something is able to hurt, harm, or influence you. The vulnerability you wish to explore in your writing should be one that resonates with a child. For example, a child who is economically vulnerable may face food insecurity. Identify the vulnerability This may be something you’ve personally felt or empathized with at one point in your life. Acknowledge those feelings. Sit in that discomfort.
3. Acknowledge.
Once you have acknowledged those feelings and mentally sat in the discomfort of the vulnerability, I encourage you to freewrite. Freewriting is one of my favorite writing exercises by far. The purpose of doing a focused freewrite at this point is to explore the raw emotions, thoughts, and reactions that are associated with this vulnerability. In true freewriting form, don’t stop writing to edit or revise. Let the writing flow for 5-10 minutes. (Note: You’ll likely use little to none of what you write here. The point is to get you in the right headspace.)
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4. Disrupt.
Now, you may have written your freewrite in the first person. You may have written it from another perspective or point of view. It doesn’t matter. The next step is to disrupt the vulnerability. Consider what would bring ease. Envision the thing that shields or protects one with that vulnerability. Notice that this is not a savior situation. I’ll use myself as an example. In some situations, I may be vulnerable because of my skin color. I can’t be saved from being Black. Instead of thinking that a character with a vulnerability must be saved, consider what could bring that character ease in the uncomfortable situation that made them feel vulnerable. Earlier, I used a child facing food insecurity as an example. Consider what you could introduce to the story to ease that child’s situation. Perhaps the child somehow gets the idea to start a food garden at school. Everybody eats! Vulnerability disrupted.
5. Proceed.
Proceed with your regular writing process. Construct your picture book as you normally would with these things in mind. Select a structure that allows you to best tell the story with kindness, compassion, and respect.
If being vulnerable on the page is something that you aspire to do yet still aren’t sure if you’re ready to do as a picture book writer, consider this: The strength that you find to tap into your vulnerability transcends the page of the book and encourages a young reader/ listener to find a similar strength. Even if they have never been able to put their feelings into words, you’ve now given them two gifts—affirmation and hope.
Not only do they now know that they’re not the only ones to have ever felt a certain way or gone through a particular situation, but they also know that within them is the strength to face their situation head-on. You have the opportunity to be an ambassador of “Take action!” and “Never give up!”. You just have to be vulnerable enough to see it, strong enough to feel it, and determined enough to write it.
Check out Ashley Franklin’s Xavier’s Voice here:
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