'It was a lie that people like me can't write books': Nic Stone on stories we must share with the world
Nic Stone talks to the audience on Tuesday, April 25, Warriner Hall, on the campus of Central Michigan Univeristy, Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
When Nic Stone, The New York Times bestselling author of young adult literature, stayed in Bethlehem, a city between Israel and Palestine, she met an Arab Christian family of four sons and one daughter.
The daughter was telling Stone of her ambitions and dreams to study in the university in the United Kingdom. However, her family stayed in Bethlehem for six generations, and the girl didn’t have a passport to be able to leave.
“It was her story that made me want to tell stories that I was hearing,” Stone said. “It was that story that made me start questioning things.”
Now whenever Stone writes, she asks herself what the story can tell and why. On April 25 with the Central Michigan University Stone shared her writing path, how reading stories have the power to change ones perspectives and the world and why empowering voice in ourselves is important.
The power of stories
Stone said being able to read, write and share stories is “much of a privilege” we have today. She referred to the American history when only white rich men were taught to read and to write.
“Initially if you were an enslaved person, and you were taught to read, both you and the person who taught you to read were in a whole lot of trouble,” Stone said. “Eventually, enslaved people were taught to read the Bible, and specifically the parts that supported their enslavement.”
Reading can change the world, Stone said. When people get a chance to share their stories, they connect with and impact other people, she said.
Because of the power stories have, it makes sense why some people want to ban them, Stone said. She had her books banned in some places as well.
Stone’s bestseller in the New York Times “Dear Martin” tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who writes letters to Martin Luther King Jr. after a police officer handcuffed him without explanation, inspired by the events of Jordan Davis murder.
“My one issue with “Dear Martin” is it’s still so relevant,” Stone said. “I am looking forward to it being historical fiction.”
As “Dear Martin” tells an important story, some places ban the book. According to the WJBF NewsChannel, Stone’s “Dear Martin” was removed from the school curriculum in Columbia County, Georgia, Stone’s home state.
Stone said she always hears about her books ban from teachers who reach out to her.
“This is rooted in really strange ideology,” Stone said.
A lot of book banning comes from an idea of “protecting children,” Stone said.
“I think that this idea that there is some standard for what a kid can handle in any particular age is ridiculous,” Stone said. “A lot of these book banners frame really the removal of any books that don't center a very specific demographic as being harmful to children.”
Today, Stone said, children are in need of stories that show experiences that are different from theirs.
“I think about the fact that we live in a country where I children die due to things like gun violence,” Stone said. “And these are things like mass shootings are typically carried out by people who have really “interesting” ideas about people who are different.
“Being able to empathize with a person who comes from a different background or a different place or religion and being able to connect with the emotional experience of being human, I think would make the world a lot better and softer and kinder place,” she said.
Fictional stories we tell ourselves
To make the world continue going around, it is important to not be afraid to share our individual and collective stories, Stone said.
As Stone engaged with the public, she asked what the richest place on Earth was.
“The cemetery,” she said.
“I guarantee you there’s some cemetery on Earth that has a cure for cancer,” Stone said. “The cemetery is a place you would find … all these people who were brilliant but went to their graves without allowing their stories of your dreams out of their bodies into the world.”
Since 1985 to 2012 Stone has never imagined herself to write a book. Then she read the “Divergent” by Veronica Roth and was able to relate to Christina. “A person like me,” Stone said, existed in a story, and survived till the end of the book.
Then the “fictional story” that Stone told herself about being an unimportant human being was destroyed.
“It was a lie that people like me can't exist in books,” Stone said. “It was a lie that people like me can't write books. It was a lie that people like me don't write books that other people want to read.”
Now Stone has 13 published books, six of which are New York Times bestsellers.
Stone told the audience to close their eyes and think of a fictional story that they are telling about themselves that keeps them from doing what they want the most.
For future writers and college students, Stone advised to be creative when sharing their stories and write what moves their heart.
“One of the messages I will be attempting to deliver tonight is that whatever story is inside you … you don't put it out into the world … that’s where we find (people) don't know … how to continue moving forward in a way that's actually beneficial to everybody,” Stone said.
After Stone’s speech, attendees were able to engage in a Q&A, take pictures with Stone and have their book copies signed.
Laura Baker, a CMU 2009 graduate, and Abby Camara, senior, attended the event because they love the stories Stone wrote.
Baker as a high school English teacher said her students love Stone's books, because she has powerful things to share in a way that is interesting for young adults.
“(Stone’s) stories are incredibly important,” Camara said. “I think (from) the different perspectives that she brings, (reader) can gain that perspective, put (themselves) in that character's shoes, see the whole entire picture of all different aspects of their lives, (it) is really important in the way that it can be accessed through literature.”
Stone said she is working on a new young adult book project and a middle grade book project about a character that was in one of her previous books that the readers will see soon.
To learn more about Stone and read her books, visit Nic Stones website.
