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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