Reading Outside of Your Lane
By Milo Todd | April 30, 2021 |
Once upon a time, I was workshopping a new novel. It was my usual sort of thing—transgender historical fiction—only this time I’d gone heavy in the slang department. I’d spent months researching the language of the era and had painstakingly placed the introduction of each unfamiliar word with context clues. I didn’t pause the story to directly explain any of the slang or trans-specific references, worried it would ruin what I hoped was a runaway-train effect to the plot. I also wanted to approach the story the same way as my protagonist: putting our community first and automatically approaching the reader as one of our own. I wanted to preserve a piece of history and make a point at the same time. I wanted to invite outsiders in without catering to them.
Despite a few words here and there that turned out could’ve used some more context clues, my workshopping peers, all of whom were cisgender, were largely quiet about the piece in its entirety and provided little feedback. One person, however, was insistent I wash the language clean and start over.
“Not writing with your audience in mind is selfish,” they’d said. “You should be writing this so that anybody picking up this book can understand these people.” I spent more minutes than I should have trying to help them break down what I felt were some loaded statements, but ultimately explained how it was impossible for me to write the story where any cis person could understand it—even those lacking a minimal understand of trans people—and still be able to tell the story I actually wanted to tell. “Then you’re a bad writer,” was the verbatim response.
No stranger to constructive criticism, I nonetheless left class that day more frustrated and exhausted than I’d ever felt after a workshop. I’d not only lost the majority of my workshop time on the needs of a single individual who wasn’t even my intended audience, but the experience exacerbated the doubt I carried not only for this particular novel, but for myself as a writer. (For more discussion and dissection of situations like these, I highly recommend Matthew Salesses’ Craft in the Real World.)
Among other subjects these days, I instruct various courses about writing outside of one’s lane. But I’ve since realized that the writing world has yet to properly approach conversations about reading outside of one’s lane. While we as writers have begun to embrace writing in voices that aren’t our own, we seem to have yet to learn how to listen to the very people we’re trying to emulate.
Just like writing outside of your lane, reading outside of your lane can strengthen your writing skills and your awareness of the world. But it can also have some challenges for people new to the practice. With traditional publishers beginning to consider more diverse and marginalized writers, if you haven’t yet come across a “non-traditional” book, you likely will in the future. And when that day comes, hopefully the below guidance will help you better understand how to see its beauty. Not only may this guidance strengthen the abilities of “traditional” writers to properly critique a future “non-traditional” workshop partner, but may also help “non-traditional” writers guide readers for their own work.
It may require an open mind. If Beyoncé has taught the mainstream anything, it’s that sometimes material is made for someone else. Novels written by writers outside of your lane may include content you’re unfamiliar with—such as slang, non-English words, or various cultural contexts—or be presented in ways that you’re not used to. While we don’t have the time to break it all down here, the way you’re familiar with stories being told is not always the way other people have lived their lives. The standard 3-act structure can be quite limiting at times. As such, in order to tell stories that don’t share such a particular type of existence or identity, people have written in spirals, fractures, braids, modulations, and countless other ways.
These approaches may be startling or confusing to you at first, which could create knee-jerk feelings of frustration, resentment, and even anger. Who are we, trying to make your pleasurable reading time so hard? But please know that we’re not doing it to make you mad; we’re doing it to tell our stories as authentically as we can.
It may require some extra effort. The contextual information is usually in there…if you keep a sharp eye. Many marginalized writers know that traditional publishing often requires we still make our stories accessible to a mainstream audience. To do that, we usually put in small extra details or context clues to help you figure out what a certain food looks like or what that word means or why that person just did what they did. Sometimes you might miss it. Sometimes the moment might indeed require a basic knowledge of the thing in question. But even if you can’t catch the full richness of the nuance, you’re often still able to figure out the broader context of the moment. I often think about the mahjong scene from the movie adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians. If Westerners are unfamiliar with the rules and symbols of mahjong, we might miss the intricate details of the moment and their powerful impact; the deeper meaning, as it were. But we’re still able to follow the overall story of what’s going on. We haven’t been shut out. We just have less knowledge about a given world than the people who live in it, and we’re the ones ultimately in charge of what we do and don’t learn.
It may require some extra time. Non-traditional storytelling, especially if it’s a new experience to you, may require you to sit with it after you’ve finished, continuing to process and absorb it, sometimes for days. It may be helpful to ask yourself some questions: Which parts of the book may have symbolized what? In what ways did the story go the way you expected it would and in what ways did it not? Why do you think this is? If you feel disappointed or unsatisfied by the novel, what were you expecting and where are those expectations coming from? If anything about the novel confused you, have you considered researching those parts to further understand the context and potentially bring yourself to a deeper meaning? Was it a weak novel or simply not the novel for you? It may be even more helpful to discuss these questions with someone else who’s recently read that book.
If a book seems too far out of your current understanding about that community, it might be best to put it aside for now, educate yourself about the confusion in question, and then return to the book. If it still isn’t quite at your speed, then try some other books written by that identity. Some will indeed be presented in a more mainstream or introductory way in order to help you understand, and then you can come back to the original book in question.
Not all marginalized-based media can be produced and presented with the mainstream in mind. If everything outside of the mainstream must stay at the introductory level or exist only as a form of educating outsiders, then we’re never going to move on to deeper levels of understanding one another. In so many words, it’s the difference between “teach me” and “I’d like to understand you better.” One still focuses on you, the other focuses on what you’re trying to learn.
It may require you to reflect upon yourself. It can be jarring to learn that you may not know as much as you thought about the world, find out your viewpoints may not be as accurate as you’d always believed, or realize there are whole worlds, communities, and experiences that you never even knew existed. You may find yourself slowing down as you read, stopping to reflect upon yourself, your own journey, and the thoughts you’ve evolved throughout your life. Don’t be scared of these moments. They can help expand your mind and help you grow as a person. Don’t stop reading such books if these moments happen; instead, read even more of them.
The opportunity to read outside of your lane is a gift. While select media isn’t created for you, we’re optimistic that you have the patience, open-mindedness, and eagerness to still be able to follow our stories. Some outside readers even deliberately seek out these different works to help expand their awareness of literature and of the world. I’ve known many people who have dedicated a full year to only reading marginalized work by marginalized writers. And while marginalized work in no way guarantees it will be told in a non-mainstream way, there’s usually still something quite authentic about the work that you may not have found otherwise. Those I know who stuck with the dedicated year all said they emerged different people for the better.
Even if you only choose to do it every once in a while, there’s nourishment in reading outside of your lane. Imagine everything you could learn by experiencing something not catered to what you already know.
On its maiden voyage of queries years later, I sent out my slang-laden novel to eight agents, received seven requests for the full, and landed three offers of representation within a single whirlwind of a week. It also secured me spots with Tin House, Lambda Literary, Pitch Wars, and Monson Arts. While I’d long since edited the book extensively to make it stronger after its earliest workshopping days, the heavy use of cultural language, references, and context—and my approaches toward them—hadn’t budged. After all of my anxiety and second-guessing of not only the book but of my abilities as a writer at large, I’m grateful I stuck with my instincts and kept the language of my novel intact. It turned out to be one of its biggest draws.
Do you have any experiences reading a novel that was different structurally or contextually than what you’d read in the past? What were your initial responses or thoughts toward that novel? If you finished it, how did you feel after you took some time to absorb and process it? Did your thoughts or feelings change? Why or why not?
Milo Todd is co-EIC at Foglifter Journal, runs The Queer Writer newsletter, and teaches creative writing and transgender history. He’s received awards, accolades, and fellowships from such places as Lambda Literary, Tin House, Pitch Wars, GrubStreet, Monson Arts, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. His debut, THE LILAC PEOPLE, publishes through Counterpoint on 4/29/25.
Outstanding piece. Thank you. As a gay author I can see your lane from mine, but I can’t wait to check out your books.
This is such a sweet message, Lloyd, thank you! And I love your wording; “I can see your lane from mine.” Wonderfully said!
Milo, you had me at “If everything outside of the mainstream must stay at the introductory level or exist only as a form of educating outsiders, then we’re never going to move on to deeper levels of understanding one another.” So beautifully said, and so true. I have this crazy idea that one day, we’ll all be in one big lane called human. Your words give me hope. Thank you for a wonderful wake-up this morning,
Thank you, Susan! I’m glad you enjoyed this post! And yes, I hope we all finally get to a place one day where we better understand one another, and there’s more diverse content as part of mainstream media.
Well said! One member of my book club grumbled that we were reading a lot of difficult books this year (difficult in terms of form and/or content). Still, they agreed with the rest of us that, like buried treasure, a difficult book could be more valuable in the long run. Such books stretch our minds and hearts; they reward the extra thought we put into them.
Thank you for this post offering such clear advice. And congratulations on the success of your book.
Thank you, Barbara! And I love your point about extra thought being rewarded.
I encountered some similar workshop feedback for my contemporary Native (Chiricahua Apache) hero. There are small phrases or references that most non-Natives won’t get, but I had to decide that was ok. It’s just a handful and not central to the plot. But they are like little welcome mats into the story for those who understand them.
I also had a big pushback for more description of Ceremony. But I stuck to the most minimum reference and instead focused on the (universal) family dynamics that were occurring in the scene. A Native beta reader later told me the level of detail was just right. If it wasn’t, I was prepared to remove it.
There is a mindset that comes with white privilege, that curiosity rules. That curiosity is some path to great intelligence. Yeah, maybe, but when it comes to cultures, it needs to stand back and accept that some things are not here for your dissection.
On a higher level, as you mention, not all stories fit into the 3 Act or hero ARCs. I hear this, 100%. For some of us, life is not a battle to win, overcoming obstacles and enemies. It’s more an acceptance and embracing of the constraints Fate gives us. Like poetry, within the form’s constraint, we find the freedom. Plus, my favorite books are the ones that change me, the reader. How about a Reader ARC?
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I deeply appreciate your touching on all these issues. I wish everyone in the writing community could read this.
You make excellent points, Ada, thank you! I’m sorry to hear you’ve had experience with this stuff yourself, but I sincerely appreciate your contribution here. And I love your idea about a reader arc!
Not sure how appropriate this is, but as a result of an uncomfortable conversation with my 14-year-old granddaughter about non-binary gender identity I was wondering how this would work in the written word. Specifically, I’ve been thinking how writers would bend the lexical and grammatical rules of English in order to use they/them pronouns in place of cisgender personal pronouns. As a cisgender person it makes no sense. What are your thoughts?
This is a great question, Bob! A short(ish) answer here, but basically they/them pronouns can be used singularly without grammatical issue (Merriam-Webster has since confirmed this and even named “they” as their word of the year in 2019 due to a 313% spike in searches regarding gender over that past year alone), and have actually been in use at least dating back to Shakespeare. (He indeed used singular they/them pronouns in some of his own work.) Likewise, essentially all of us today use singular they/them pronouns in our daily life without even realizing it: “Oh no, someone forgot their phone at the bus stop! I hope they realize soon and come back for it!”
For cisgender people who are working on wrapping their heads arounds around they/them pronouns, I feel the struggle isn’t so much the grammar or usage in itself, but rather the concept behind a SPECIFIC usage (in this case, specifically being used for someone non-binary in relation to their gender identity). As you continue to learn about transgender and non-binary people and exercise the use of they/them pronouns toward relevant people both toward them and in your own head, it’ll eventually feel easier for you. I hope that helps!
As an agent, I deliberately look for fiction that is not more of the same, especially when it broadens a body of literature. All genres need to grow.
Publishers are, today, highly receptive. So are readers. Take the type of SFF loosely labeled Afrofuturism. Writers like my client Nnedi Okorafor have found a strong audience, and that is only one example from one category.
How, though, does a different world invite in readers from this world? Actually, writers have always faced that task. An historical setting, another land, people whose lives, work, society and thinking are not white, male, cis and Western…there is nothing new about that in literature. My shelves and yours are already full with other experiences. It’s one of the reasons we read.
Should authors make a world accessible? Ask me, different worlds and lives connect not because they require contact clues or advanced reader knowledge but because we are all human. If a character finds something ironic, say, and conveys why it’s ironic, well then it’s ironic. No research required. If a parent is a tyrant, ha, not to hard to identify!
Certain words or references may send us to the dictionary or to Google but the human experience does not. We read for what is new and also for what we have in common. Write that and readers, I find, have little problem going on any journey.
This is a really important post and gets to the technical topic of accessibility, many thanks.
Thank you for sharing, Donald! I’m glad to hear that you’re an agent that’s been embracing work that you feel will help broaden the body of literature.
A wonderful, inspiring piece. Thank you. Any book outside my normal lane, in the end, stretches me. The reading might be more difficult at the time, but I’m no longer the same afterwards. It’s a healthy feeling, the knowledge you’ve been mentally kind to yourself. Oh how I know about that mourner’s silence when awaiting a response in that lane. It’s the response that says, “If we ignore it, it’ll go away.”
These are great thoughts, Christina! And I agree that the “mourner’s silence” can often mean “if we ignore it, it’ll go away.” It’s a tough feeling to receive.
*Apparently my first comment didn’t stick. If it later repeats, my apologies.
I thank you for this post, Milo. It was informative and inspiring. Whenever I’ve read outside my lane there’s a stretching that occurs within as my mind tells me I’ve done something healthy for myself. It’s like the moments after yoga.
I know well the mourner’s silence that ensues in that lane after presenting a story to readers. It’s the response that says, “If we ignore it, it’ll go away.” It’s a lane that shouldn’t end, but like all lanes, should branch off into a glorious network. That should be the future of reading in our age.
Haha I see your other comment, but I appreciate your extra thoughts!
Milo, thanks for a thought-provoking piece, with many powerful points. In particular, I freaking LOVE this:
“I wanted to invite outsiders in without catering to them.”
I think that’s a brilliant approach, and I also believe an added benefit it can have is to make the reader feel smarter when they begin to comprehend something that is initially unfamiliar. I first noticed that effect when reading William Gibson’s Neuromancer, which was heavy on futuristic slang and techie terms, and VERY light on explanation. His lack of explanation was surprising at first, but after a while it began to feel like a vote of confidence on the author’s part, implying to the reader: “you’re smart; I don’t need to spoon-feed you.” At least that was my reaction, and it’s a model I’ve tried to emulate. Similar to Donald Maass’s comment, I think that if the story is compelling enough, the reader will put the work into “getting” it.
While I am totally onboard with the value of reading – and, with great care, writing – outside of one’s lane, I am curious about your thoughts on how effective workshopping is, in a group with some or all non-kindreds. I’ve shied away from sharing my stuff with other writers whose tastes differ widely from my own. And I’ve felt unqualified to critique work in genres that are very unfamiliar to me. This has kept me from being very active in writers’ groups, instead focusing on exchanges with individual writers. But I know Chuck Palahniuk found the workshops led by Tom Spanbauer enormously helpful, so I’m wondering if I need to reconsider this mindset. How do you think writing groups with differing tastes – and lifestyles – can find value in critiquing work from various lanes?
Thanks again for a wonderful post!
That’s very sweet of you to say, Keith, thank you! I’m glad you liked it. And I agree with the belief that readers may feel an even bigger reward with a book they stick with and take time to think through. (At least, that’s how I feel when I do it!)
That’s a great question about workshopping across lanes. I could talk about this–like most of the stuff the post touches on–for hours. I believe workshopping across lanes is one of the most helpful experiences any of us can have as writers and as people. BUT, it can take much more effort and mindfulness to be successful, especially since so many of us aren’t used to it and/or may be anxious about messing up.
I believe such a workshop works best when it’s 1) non-silencing, with 2) the workshoppee’s ability to provide specific questions they’d like feedback on before or at the start of the workshop, 3) the workshoppee’s ability to speak up whenever they feel the conversation is going in a direction they don’t feel is helpful or relevant to what they want the story to be, 4) the instructor is keeping a close watch on, well, everything, and stopping any issues in their tracks to return to productive conversation, 5) the fellow workshoppers are respecting the boundaries of the questions the workshoppee has requested, and 6) that any extracurricular thoughts, opinions, or questions are left for the end, dependent on remaining time and if the workshoppee would like to hear them.
There’s a little more to it than that, of course, but I’ve instructed workshops this way with great success. I truly believe that workshopping across lanes–no matter who is workshopping who or what the genre is, etc–is vital in helping all of us become more aware of how individual the creative process is, and therefore help us learn to clear out our own minds of biases and opinions that we otherwise may believe are facts or MUST KNOWS. It can also be both humbling and soul-nurturing, the ability to listen to, focus on, and meet the needs of a person entirely different than ourselves. (And honestly, just learning how to clear out your own head of self-opinionated clutter and assumptions is a fantastic tool when writing your own work. I say this as a perfectionist who always wants to badmouth his own writing in the middle of writing it.)
Of course, there’s a special kind of magic in a marginalized person being workshopped exclusively by a group of their own peers, but I do believe that people outside of a given lane can still be very helpful workshoppers if they approach the workshop with the workshoppee in mind. (Also, if a marginalized writer is looking to be traditionally published, it’s still helpful to hear the thoughts of mainstream readers, and they can decide if they want to make certain changes or clarity based on that feedback.) Ultimately, I think workshopping across lanes goes sour when workshoppers are approaching it with themselves in mind instead of the workshoppee and their story. I always remind people that we don’t workshop someone’s story to turn it into what WE want it to be; we workshop someone’s story to help make it the best version of itself it can be.
Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses dedicates a notable chunk to various workshopping methods that could produce better results for marginalized writers (and, arguably, anyone), if any writing instructors out there are curious for some new workshop ideas.
Thanks for reading my thoughts, Keith! Hopefully something in there helped you out!
I should clarify that when I said the workshopping method above can take more work, I meant only at first. Once given writers (and the workshop group itself) get(s) used to this style of workshopping, it gets quite easy, very enjoyable, and–oddly enough–more laidback than the standard workshop method.
Thanks for taking the time to post such a thoughtful and informative response. From reading your response, and reminding myself that the workshops Palahniuk raved about were led by somebody with more experience than the other members, I’m starting to think that the key might be to have a workshop with a clear leader – or at the very least, a designated facilitator.
Some writers’ groups I’ve encountered are essentially democracies, which can offer all sorts of ways for things to go off the rails. From being in many bands, and working on many group projects in the corporate world with no clear leader, I’ve learned the hard way that pure democracy often leads to its own special kind of chaos. :)
You’ve given me – and all of us – a lot to think about. Thanks for doing that. I like thinking.
Designated facilitator versus democracy–that’s an important distinction, Keith. I gave up on groups and writers’ workshops for just this reason. Democracy kept producing conditions that led to monologues and mini-tutorials, but group etiquette kept everyone silent, including me. The sense of being held hostage voided most of what might have been learned.
Love this, Milo! Thanks for such a thoughtful, thought-provoking piece.
Thank you, Gwen!
Thank you for this empowering piece.
I’ve long concluded that the *mainstream* is not the mainstream but what a particular faction of gatekeepers in power wants to proclaim the *mainstream*. We’re immersed from birth in this *mainstream* culture until it’s the accepted indoctrination as the way things are.
This indoctrination first came into sharp focus for me in Catholic school. The nun teaching my class about Egyptian history tried to gloss by Hatshepsut as an uninteresting and minor Pharoah. I remember my 15-year-old self raising a hand because of my keen interest in Ancient Egypt. I quoted what I had read on Hatshepsut. It made them, in my POV, the most interesting of all the pharaohs. Born a woman, they proclaimed the gods turned them into a man to make them Pharoah. They took the throne and a wife and ruled the land of upper and lower Egypt. I got sent to the office for *disrupting* the class by speaking this truth. That’s always been the way with the *mainstream* in power.
However, to dismantle the *mainstream* culture, the gatekeepers of that said culture need to be dismantled. You have to ask yourself WTF these gatekeepers are guarding. The answer is white *skewered Christian* supremacy. Ironically it’s not even on par with the teachings of Jesus that they claim to follow, and is also why for a long time, the Egyptians pictured in Anglo history as white.
Too often, I have found in my experience *gatekeepers* who disagree with the *mainstream* view but *play the game* on what our society stipulates *sells*, to keep in business.
Newsflash: *Mainstream* sells because *mainstream* society indoctrination claims this is what is the real world is, when all you have to do is look around to realize factually, it’s not the real world. (Sorta like the current GOP agenda).
I think this view of what is *mainstream* is changing (faster now since the pandemic), but the groundswell has been here forever. Diversity is factually the mainstream. It’s just spun for sociopolitical reasons as not. Still, both a change and a reckoning are raising their voice, and humanity is listening. Because instinctively, society knew this all along.
Thank you, Bernadette! Your thoughts here are a great contribution to this whole subject. (There’s so much more to be said that there just wasn’t space for in the post!)
Thank you for this thoughtful piece, Milo.
Julie
Thank you, Julie!
Great and important topic. I recently read “Sand Talk” by Yunkaporta. The words are English but I could tell it was written in a language I don’t know. In the end, I might have gotten 10% of it or maybe 25%, but what a valuable 25%. It was a great honor being allowed into a space that was not created for me.
Thank you for sharing, Nora! I’m glad to hear how you stuck with “Sand Talk” and at least enjoyed the 25% you understood!
I love this article so, so much! Several of my friends read only in a single genre, and this is absolutely mind-boggling to me. There are so many things to learn just as a human being. But there’s all kinds of writing tricks to be picked up along the way that not just one genre can give.
And when it comes to your own writing piece, maybe your audience is peeps who have been/are there and also those with an open mind who don’t mind doing a little googling? That’s what I do with historical fiction or fiction based on other cultures if I get confused. Not seeing the difference.
Thanks again for the article! :D
Thank you, Chryse! I agree that I don’t quite understand people who only read in one genre/lane. It’s like eating the same thing for dinner every day!
Thank you for the reminder! Keep the language that best tells the story. If you have the right context, readers, even those not in your audience, will figure it out if they spend the time.
Wonderful words. Thank you for writing them!
Thank you for the kind words, Amy!
I’m a professor and a romance novelist. I love this article and just shared it with our university Safe Space training coordinator. I think this should be required reading for all! Thank you!
This is so great to hear, Sharon, thank you for sharing it! I hope it helps folks out.