Friday, March 22, 2019

Guest Post: M. Jameson ~ WHY A YOUNG ADULT ALTER-EGO?




Diverse Reader is excited to help introduce JM Dabney's YA LGBTQA+ alter-ego M. Jameson! They are here today talking about why the new angle and what it means for all of you! So, check it out.





WHY A YOUNG ADULT ALTER-EGO?

First I want to thank Diverse Reader for allowing me space today to talk about a very scary subject for me: Young Adult. You wouldn’t think it would be a big deal, but I’ll explain why in the following rambling paragraphs.

I’ve been writing as J.M. Dabney for several years now and my style is Body Positive/Diverse Romance and Fiction, but I was once asked what scared me the most to write. I didn’t have to think too long on it, Young Adult, but a very wise woman said that my message was needed in Young Adult.

And from that suggestion, M. Jameson was born. As a Gender Nonconforming person who never felt at home in their body, my teens were a nightmare. I was fat. Baby Butch. And searching for my place in the nineties while firmly in the closet. From what I can remember from twenty-plus years ago, not much has changed. Teenagers are still searching for themselves and their safe spaces. While there’s more places for LGBTQ+ youth to come into their own, we still have a long way to go.

We live under the expectation of society. How we’re supposed to look or behave, and with social media culture we’re very much judged on the filtered selfies. As with my adult stories where I say Even the Broken are Beautiful, I’m writing YA under the philosophy that Every Body is Worthy. I want to show fat and happy teenagers who live without shame. The Trans persons who cry the first time they put on their binder or buy their first packer, or look at themselves in the mirror as they wear their first dress. I want to show the non-binary teen that their existence is worthy. That being Bi or Pan or Asexual is an existence to be proud of and to fly that flag as if throwing a fist in the air to resist.

Being ourselves and loving who we are is the greatest revolution. And I want my stories to be a protest against a society shoving a checklist down our throats on the daily. If one of my stories as M. Jameson can show someone they don’t have to suffer on the journey to self-acceptance than I will call it a success. That our futures aren’t a tragedy in the making.

But mainly I want to share stories that show it’s okay NOT to be okay. That we all struggle and come into our own when we’re ready. My stories will range from Romance to Horror, because I think the genres of YA should be as varied as its adult counterparts.

This is going to be an incredible journey for me and an immense challenge, and I hope I just don’t fall on my face when it’s said and done.






COMING SUMMER 2019

WHAT WE ARE - Bohemia was a sanctuary in a world where Tabitha and Orion didn't fit. Words were where they found their peace and comfort. Notebooks of tattered, coffee-stained sheets held their dreams of when high school ended. Other visitors to Bohemia left pages for all to read and some were addressed to specific people. Letters exchanged to make them feel less alone but hidden in the guise of anonymity. Words were everything, and there was a glade of laminated pages waiting for free moments and proof that no one was ever truly alone.




TEASER




ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M. Jameson is a young adult author who writes body positive and diverse romance and fiction. Everyone should see themselves in the stories they read. Young adults especially should see that they are worthy to be the star of their own story.
Jameson is Gender Nonconforming and uses the pronouns they/them. 


SOCIAL MEDIA/WEBSITE







Art Done By Lex Chase


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