writing community – Page 56

Friday Five: contemporary Hispanic authors you should read

You can be forgiven for not knowing we are in the midst of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Even I, a pocho but still proud of my Hispanic heritage (or Latino/a/x, if you prefer), often find myself taken by surprise when this annual event shows up on the calendar — probably because it’s a “month” that really isn’t. It starts in the middle of September and ends in the middle of October, an oddity that probably contributes to its lack of visibility.

Hispanic authors, too, often lack visibility in the mainstream of literature. Now that we’re almost a week into National Hispanic Heritage Month, I want to devote this Friday Five to Hispanic writers. Although many exceptional U.S. writers have Hispanic roots, they’re often overshadowed in the literary world.

Generating ideas: the ‘What if…?’

A friend and I were talking recently about generating ideas for our writing. The friend asked what method I use to come up with ideas, and asked if the characters I wrote about were actually me in disguise.

So, to answer the last question first: No, my characters are not about me, or based on me. They are not autobiographical.