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Weirdos Welcome From Cynthia Baseman Wait Til You Meet Rae And Braiden · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: Twenty one different podcasts, not podcast episodes. Twenty one different
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  Speaker 1: podcasts with thousands of episodes attached to each. That's what
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  Speaker 1: aero dot net is. It is a podcast network a
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  Speaker 1: r r oe dot net. If you want your rockstars,
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  Speaker 1: we got them. Why a authors? Oh yeah, If you
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  Speaker 1: want your mystery, your doctors and everything in between, we
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  Speaker 1: got them. Ero dot net a r r oe dot net.
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  Speaker 1: Enjoy your exploration. Hello and good morning everybody.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody is Cynthia Basement.
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  Speaker 1: How are you fantastic? Cynthia. I have been waiting impatiently
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  Speaker 1: to share a conversation with you because I love what
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  Speaker 1: you are doing with your magic words.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that is the nicest thanks. We're a
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  Speaker 2: way to start from Monday morning. Thank you for that.
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  Speaker 1: When did you realize that you weren't just putting words
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  Speaker 1: on a page, that there was something there and it
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  Speaker 1: was coming in the shape of story sharing. Anybody can
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  Speaker 1: stay I can tell a story, but you share a story?
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  Speaker 3: Oh well, I think I think it started with the
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  Speaker 3: obsession of when I learned about this is kind of
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  Speaker 3: close to home. When I learned about my niece's diagnosis
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  Speaker 3: and I started to see her life transform. That really
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  Speaker 3: just grabbed hold of me and I couldn't stop thinking
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  Speaker 3: about it. And then I began to research it a
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  Speaker 3: little bit, and then I began to.
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  Speaker 2: Talk to her a little bit more.
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  Speaker 3: And as I it was one of those things, the
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  Speaker 3: more you put into it, the more I got out
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  Speaker 3: of it. And at a certain point it took on
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  Speaker 3: a life of its own. You know, once you're writing
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  Speaker 3: and rewriting and getting to know these characters.
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  Speaker 2: It really just takes on a life of its own.
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  Speaker 3: I'm sort of like, I'm sort of like the pen
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  Speaker 3: and just the pen and something else is kind of
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  Speaker 3: moving my hand on it.
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  Speaker 2: Does that make sense?
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  Speaker 1: It does because I live in this force. And I
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  Speaker 1: always tell people that after all these years of writing,
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  Speaker 1: I said, none of this belongs to me. It's just
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  Speaker 1: it's this force talking to me. I just put the
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  Speaker 1: pin to paper, and then whoever is in this force
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  Speaker 1: is the one that takes control of it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And you know, if it's not working, oh god
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  Speaker 3: it because the force is like quiet, it's it's gone
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  Speaker 3: to like lunch somewhere and standing there to a linger
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  Speaker 3: thumb saying Okay, this isn't happening, this isn't working. So
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  Speaker 3: it's a lot of just showing up every day and
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  Speaker 3: making the time.
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  Speaker 2: You have that quiet space to be open to it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, because I mean, are you like me then when
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  Speaker 1: it comes when you get into that quiet space, because
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  Speaker 1: right away I'm going, oh, well, in my quiet space,
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  Speaker 1: for some reason, I hear music, and I'll go, wor'st
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  Speaker 1: the music on in the house And there's no music on,
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  Speaker 1: but yet for some stinking reason, I'm hearing it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot like that.
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  Speaker 3: But I think I think steps have to happen where
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  Speaker 3: you get into the space where you can hear it.
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  Speaker 3: I think a lot of research has to happen, a
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  Speaker 3: lot of conversation has to happen, at least in this book.
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  Speaker 3: Because this is not autobiographical. I'm not on the spectrum.
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  Speaker 3: I am the mom of two neuro divorced kids. They're adults,
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  Speaker 3: and as they stand down, Abbey, tis not my secret
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  Speaker 3: to tell they they're okay with me me saying that.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm not telling their story, nor am I telling
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  Speaker 2: my niece's story.
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  Speaker 3: But I am definitely informed by what their experiences are
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  Speaker 3: and have been, and that I think when you feel
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  Speaker 3: comfortable enough with your material that you understand it.
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  Speaker 2: Then you can hear that music you're talking about.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, when did you realize that you started feeling that comfort?
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  Speaker 1: Because it really is. It's all trial and error the
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  Speaker 1: very first days, because you're experimenting, you're on a the source,
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  Speaker 1: you're learning new words, new patterns, you're listening to you know,
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  Speaker 1: other people speak as well as other people who write,
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  Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden it begins to take
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  Speaker 1: shape on your own page.
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  Speaker 2: It took a long time. Yeah, I mean I worked
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  Speaker 2: on this book for seven years. I do have a
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  Speaker 2: day job.
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  Speaker 3: I wish I could do all the things that I
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  Speaker 3: like to do and support everybody the.
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  Speaker 2: Way I want to, just on writing.
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  Speaker 3: But this is my first novel and it took me
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  Speaker 3: a really long time to figure it out, I should
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  Speaker 3: say first published novel. I did write a prequel to this,
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  Speaker 3: and when I finished it, it was like, whoa, I
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  Speaker 3: went to school on that and.
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  Speaker 2: This book isn't very good. So I kind of put
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  Speaker 2: that one away and then that I use some of
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  Speaker 2: those characters and went forward with this one.
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  Speaker 3: Ray the girl in the Spectrum, whose protagonist she was
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  Speaker 3: not in the prequel.
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  Speaker 2: She was inspired later. But you asked me about getting
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  Speaker 2: to that point. It just took a really long time.
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  Speaker 3: Keep a lot of a lot of a lot of research,
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  Speaker 3: a lot of talking to people. And when you're when
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  Speaker 3: you're getting into somebody's experiences and these things are like
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  Speaker 3: law and real and.
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  Speaker 2: Many times quite dramatic, you don't want to get it wrong.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's like mortifying.
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  Speaker 3: The thought that I could start writing about somebody else
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  Speaker 3: and maybe get.
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  Speaker 2: It not quite right wasn't acceptable to me.
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  Speaker 3: I had to feel it in my gut and my
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  Speaker 3: heart and my brain that I understood it enough to
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  Speaker 3: write about it.
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  Speaker 1: Do you ever just sit back and when when that
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  Speaker 1: character comes up, such as a Braiden, and you're and
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  Speaker 1: you're realizing, oh, it's taking shape right here in front
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  Speaker 1: of me. Now, I've got to build up a relationship
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  Speaker 1: so that Braiden doesn't take off on me or even Ray.
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  Speaker 1: And you're going, okay, guys, you got to hang out
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  Speaker 1: with me. Okay, I've got your word, I've got your voice,
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  Speaker 1: but you got to hang out with me.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 3: Because there's the characters were the grounding thing, they were
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  Speaker 3: the seed of the idea, and I started with that.
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  Speaker 3: Then there's plot, and I had to go through that,
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  Speaker 3: and I mean pages and pages and index cards all
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  Speaker 3: over the floor and trying to track things and making
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  Speaker 3: sure they made sense and were interesting and weren't predictable.
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  Speaker 2: And that was a whole nother.
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  Speaker 3: Side of it was this environmental scandal which the two
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  Speaker 3: characters bond over. So that was the Hey, guys, can
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  Speaker 3: you hang out with me while figure out what the
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  Speaker 3: other piece of it is? And the weird part is,
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  Speaker 3: I didn't even know this was going to be a
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  Speaker 3: love story that just happened.
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  Speaker 1: Was that a wine glass moment in the way that
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  Speaker 1: you went into your writing space and you thought, I
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  Speaker 1: just want to do something daring. I'll go back to
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  Speaker 1: the original if I have to, because that, to me
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  Speaker 1: is part of the fun of writing too, because you're
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  Speaker 1: in control.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I don't always feel like I'm in control, but yes,
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  Speaker 3: yes you have that moment.
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  Speaker 2: Well, sometimes it's like a tiger by the tail.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I have all these ideas and sadly you know
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  Speaker 3: this from your writing.
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  Speaker 2: You have to throw away a lot of stuff that's
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  Speaker 2: so great, sounds so.
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  Speaker 3: Great, written so well, but doesn't really doesn't really advance
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  Speaker 3: the story or causes some sort of disconnect where you're
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  Speaker 3: thrown out a little bit of what the trajectory is.
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  Speaker 2: That's what I mean about feeling a little out of control,
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  Speaker 2: like you love this thing that you like? I want
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  Speaker 2: that in there. No, it doesn't, unfortunately really fit.
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  Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Cynthia Baseman coming
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  Speaker 1: up next. The name of the book Weirdos Welcome you
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  Speaker 1: kind of love this one. We are back with Cynthia. Baby,
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  Speaker 1: when did you realize that? Only because in my last book,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it was a totally one hundred percent different book,
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  Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, I went, like the idea,
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  Speaker 1: but I think we need to do something with the characters.
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  Speaker 1: You can keep the one that you were doing, but
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  Speaker 1: I know, you know, the best thing you do is
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  Speaker 1: just not go that route at all. So you're like
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  Speaker 1: your own director and producer sitting there in that writer's chair.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's longer in that chair, Hume.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god. Oh so true. Yeah, because other people
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  Speaker 1: don't understand it. All they do is they bring judgment instead.
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  Speaker 3: Right, Well, that's why you have to be very very
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  Speaker 3: careful as to who you're bringing into that circle. I
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  Speaker 3: don't have a ton of people read my work as
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  Speaker 3: I'm going through. Really, I have a wonderful editor that
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  Speaker 3: I've worked with. Her name's Benaaur. She's in New York.
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  Speaker 2: She's absolutely brilliant and I love her. I wish she
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  Speaker 2: lived closer. I'm in California, as you know.
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  Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
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  Speaker 3: She's somebody I trust, and you know, I'll send her
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  Speaker 3: chapters and she never She's not the kind of editor
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  Speaker 3: that that writes for you.
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  Speaker 2: It's not that sort of thing. She's more like a guide,
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  Speaker 2: a voice of reason in many cases.
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  Speaker 3: And I always know when I have to go back
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  Speaker 3: and do more work when the conversation starts.
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  Speaker 2: This is a really good start, Cynthia.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, ye oh my god. Well then what
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  Speaker 1: you need to do is have a couple of days
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  Speaker 1: in radio when the program director sits down to you
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  Speaker 1: and says, you know, I liked it, but you know,
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  Speaker 1: and you're going, my god, it was one of the
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  Speaker 1: greatest breaks on the planet, dude. I like, we're going
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  Speaker 1: to try something else next time. It's not it's not
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  Speaker 1: I'm not that I don't like it. It's just if
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  Speaker 1: something was missing.
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  Speaker 2: Mm. Yeah. And that's that's the you know, that's that's
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  Speaker 2: the lump in your throat. You get oh no, and
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  Speaker 2: there's nothing to say.
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  Speaker 3: There's nothing to say, there's no there's no defending it
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  Speaker 3: or anything like that. You have to listen to the complaint. Well,
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  Speaker 3: that's that's why I'm out. Don't don't always have to
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  Speaker 3: agree with it, but you have to.
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  Speaker 2: Listen to it.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly. Well, Mark Twain really put a lot of emphasis
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  Speaker 1: on authors having their own accent as their writing, not
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  Speaker 1: necessarily speaking, but writing, And how did you protect that
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  Speaker 1: with that editor?
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  Speaker 4: Do?
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  Speaker 1: It's like, this needs to stay my style because sometimes
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  Speaker 1: with my editor. There was one editor on my second
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  Speaker 1: book where she goes, I'll edit the darn thing, but
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna spell my name backwards. I don't want people
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  Speaker 1: to know that it's me, and it's well, it's because
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  Speaker 1: I wanted. I was really really strict and strong on
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  Speaker 1: it has to stay my style. These are my words,
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  Speaker 1: and this is how I really do try to express it.
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  Speaker 1: To me, it's the the artsy FARTSI kind of a vibe,
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  Speaker 1: but it still tells the story. Like my last book
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  Speaker 1: was fifty eight pieces of poetry these that that basically
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  Speaker 1: told a story. And I think that twenty years ago
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  Speaker 1: they would have looked at me and said, don't even
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  Speaker 1: call me back, just just don't, dude, I don't like
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  Speaker 1: your idea. So I mean, how did you deal with
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  Speaker 1: it in protecting your writing, because you do have a style,
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  Speaker 1: and I love the style that you're presenting.
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  Speaker 3: I didn't have a problem with that and this editor
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  Speaker 3: that was never an issue.
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  Speaker 2: Good. Uh So locally I didn't. I didn't have to
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  Speaker 2: fight for it.
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  Speaker 3: I I had the character's voices very very clear in
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  Speaker 3: my head. And again that took time. I mean really,
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  Speaker 3: it just took time to get there. This is before
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  Speaker 3: I'm even writing dialogue or.
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  Speaker 2: I mean if there's if there's bits.
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  Speaker 3: Of dialogue, of course, I you know, I have endless
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  Speaker 3: notes and notebooks and things like that where a look
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  Speaker 3: of something or or a phrase will.
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  Speaker 2: Be like, oh yeah, I have to steal that, this is,
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  Speaker 2: this is, this is I have to use that.
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  Speaker 3: How But I think I had I had that down
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  Speaker 3: and I didn't I didn't really have to monkey with it.
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  Speaker 3: That really wasn't It wasn't a big issue. But going
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  Speaker 3: back to your poetry, I really love that idea of
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  Speaker 3: telling a story through pieces of poetry.
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  Speaker 2: That's really cool. Yeah, it was like that.
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  Speaker 1: It was one of those things where I in the way,
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  Speaker 1: and because I want to know how this story came
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  Speaker 1: to you in the first place.
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  Speaker 2: I was.
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  Speaker 1: I was walking through a mall here in Charlotte, and
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  Speaker 1: John Lennon came into my heart for some stinking reason.
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  Speaker 1: Had no idea. Then I go back to work at
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  Speaker 1: the radio station, a piece of poetry falls out of me.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going, I don't even know what the heck this
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  Speaker 1: is even all about. And then I go back to
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  Speaker 1: the mall. I find out that mont Blanc has is
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  Speaker 1: selling a John Lennon mont Blanc for to raise money
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  Speaker 1: for mentally challenged students and and and people with mental
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: health issues. And they were trying to raise awareness. And
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  Speaker 1: I said, where's it at. Well, it's hidden were you're
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  Speaker 1: not going to see it. I said, I want to
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  Speaker 1: see it, and so I ended up buying it. But
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  Speaker 1: that's what wrote this story. And I said, if I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to write a book about John Lennon, it has
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  Speaker 1: to be in poetry form.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: So so then how did you come up with your style?
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  Speaker 1: What was your thunder behind your writing?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think I'm very inspired by other authors, right,
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  Speaker 3: and Jandy Nelson, who's amazing, and I love her work.
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  Speaker 3: She had written something in dual perspective and it was
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  Speaker 3: so sophisticated and so engaging, and lots of disturbing stuff.
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  Speaker 2: In there too. I mean, you know, you need the dark,
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  Speaker 2: you need the light. It doesn't it doesn't.
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  Speaker 3: You know, stories don't really stick with you unless they
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  Speaker 3: kind of take you through the whole gambit. Right, but
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  Speaker 3: this this story.
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  Speaker 2: I think what you're asking me is like, what inspired me?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, all right, Well I have to say
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  Speaker 3: when my niece got her diagnosis and I began to
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  Speaker 3: learn about it, I did become a little bit obsessed
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  Speaker 3: with the idea of what does it look like to
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  Speaker 3: be a girl in high school where you are considered
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  Speaker 3: a freak by many and who just don't.
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  Speaker 2: Get you, who make all kinds of assumptions about you.
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  Speaker 2: And high school's hard enough, right, high school can be
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  Speaker 2: great too, but it's hard.
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  Speaker 3: Any little chink in the armor becomes a pothole really fast.
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  Speaker 3: And that idea of being in high school where you
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  Speaker 3: have one foot in childhood, one foot in adulthood and
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  Speaker 3: you've got something going on, what does that look like
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  Speaker 3: every single day? What does that feel like? How do
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  Speaker 3: you get through it? And emotions are so big at
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  Speaker 3: that time, and they're really fun to write about, and
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  Speaker 3: I think that, But I wanted readers to be able
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  Speaker 3: to look at this thing and either see themselves and
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  Speaker 3: in the Braiden character, someone who's so proud, who doesn't
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  Speaker 3: want to anyone to see that chink in his armor?
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  Speaker 3: What is that like to go through high school and
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  Speaker 3: be a guy that everyone thinks is kind of the
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  Speaker 3: cool guy at school. I'm a nice guy at school,
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  Speaker 3: a scholar, off athlete, all that, and inside you are crumbling.
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  Speaker 2: You're barely holding it together from this the second you
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  Speaker 2: step on campus till the minute you get home. I
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  Speaker 2: just really became swept away by it, and.
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  Speaker 3: I knew that I wanted readers to look at this
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  Speaker 3: thing and say, either, yes, that is me. I see that,
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  Speaker 3: and thank god somebody's writing about it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I don't feel so alone, or the others,
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  Speaker 4: the ones who were like making that quick assumption, this
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  Speaker 4: is a freak, this person's you know, dangerous, this person's
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  Speaker 4: an idiot, this person's whatever.
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  Speaker 3: Who were making snap judgments, which we all do. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: I'm certainly guilty of it. And I wanted someone to
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  Speaker 3: be able to read this and say.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, shoot, I'm that person. I'm that person. I've done that.
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  Speaker 2: I've done that so many times.
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  Speaker 3: I did that, you know, forty five minutes ago when
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  Speaker 3: I was walking down the street and I saw blank blank,
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  Speaker 3: And that really was fuel for me as I went
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  Speaker 3: through this thing, because I did want to reach people.
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  Speaker 3: I desperately wanted people to read this and either see
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  Speaker 3: themselves as that person who's struggling or see themselves as
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  Speaker 3: that person who's.
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  Speaker 2: Uh oh, maybe what I thought I knew was wrong?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you find yourself being a
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  Speaker 1: sideilent watcher or a silent wolf in the way of
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  Speaker 1: being the observer and somehow, some way it becomes words
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  Speaker 1: on a page.
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  Speaker 2: All the time? Yep, yeah, all the time. I can
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  Speaker 2: help myself.
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  Speaker 3: True.
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  Speaker 1: It's like time, I'll give me five more minutes. I
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  Speaker 1: just got to write this down. Just give me five minutes,
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  Speaker 1: it's all I want. You're done in time. It's like,
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  Speaker 1: oh my god, here we go again.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah. And you can't even write down the stuff
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  Speaker 2: fast enough.
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  Speaker 1: No, when you can't read your handwriting afterwards.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah. Or in the middle of the night, Oh.
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  Speaker 3: You wake up and you're thinking about something and I'm
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  Speaker 3: grasping for the pen and the paper that's on my
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: nightstand and I'm scribbling stuff. And then in the morning,
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: I'm like, what, wait, Okay, I kind of remember that.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: What was this? It's so frustrating.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Wow, So where can people go to find out more
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: about your first novel? And I know there's going to
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: be many more to come? And I hope that you
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: know as much as you know. You said seven years.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: In my mind, them going okay, I get it. That's
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: pretty average. Two and a half years, five years, seven years.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: I pretty much hear that all the time. So I'm going, Okay,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: she's got it in her. She's got enough for at
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: least five more novels in her.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: Well. This book is easy to find.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's on all the internet outlets, and I'm
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: hoping that more people find it in libraries.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: That's starting to happen a little bit.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: And I found out this week that public school system
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: in the area is going to have it as part
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: of this semester's required reading, which I can't tell you
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: the helpful circle that is. I think that made me
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: happier than anything really. So the fresh we're going to
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: read it and then there is a special needs high
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: school and they are using the book this semester as
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: a group read with our teacher, and.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: That also is really really gratifying.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: And I have seen the special needs classrooms in my
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: area and they're really amazing teachers and they're incredible human beings.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: That are in this class there with these kids for years. Yep.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: And one of my sons did work as a student
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: aid in one of these classes, and he did have
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: that moment after.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: The first day or two where he wasn't sure he
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: could handle it, and he stuck it out, stuck it
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: out for two weeks, and then he said, this is
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: the best class I've ever had in my life.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Absolutely human beings, very very human. Yeah wow, wow, Wow.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: You got to come back to this show anytime in
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the future. And I do so strongly suggest that you
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: get this book into the hands of those at imagine
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: On here in Charlotte. Imagine On is for young adults
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: as well as younger than that, and they put so
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: much emphasis on getting these younger readers to read the
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: why A books, and not only that, but to really
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: kind of study who the author is and to kind
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: of emulate their style and see how they were able
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: to do it, but that's the sole purpose of imagine
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: On is to get into the imagination of a growing
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: literary world.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: I love it and I will definitely look them up.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Thank you for that.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: You bet well. You got to come back to this
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: show anytime in the future. The door is always going
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: to be open for you, Cynthia. I love where you
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: are with your writing and where you're going to be
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: growing in the future.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Er, thank you for having me.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: It's been such a pleasure to talk to and I
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: can't wait to come back and talk to you again.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Be brilliant today. Okay, all right, you too, than you