Shelf-Conscious Katie

Enough of the educators who were at NCTE ‘16 have asked me for the transcript of my keynote there that I’ve finally decided to post it. Here it is, give or take.

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This is going to be about heroes.

I’m going to tell you three stories about heroes and bravery, and then I’m going to tell you how all three of those stories could be told differently.

Nowadays, I find myself a professional storyteller. A maker of heroes. I spend my days putting swords in stones, monsters under beds, ghosts in attics. I have learned that often the difference between a hero and a villain is merely the narrator I choose for the lens of the story. I have learned, too, that the difference between a horror and a romance is sometimes as simple as where I choose to begin the story. A tragedy and a comedy can convey the same events — the difference is in how you tell them.

I’ve also learned that this isn’t just true of the stories I write. It’s true in the story I’m living. The first hero I ever built was myself.

So. These three stories. I’m sharing these three stories about heroes because I want to talk about how the most important stories we tell are the ones we tell about ourselves. Those who have the power and wherewithal to change the narrative of the events around them are the ones who will change the future. Those who have the guts to say “that’s not my version of events” when they hear someone else telling their story are the ones who get to own their own story.

Here is story number one: I drove down to NCTE from my home in Virginia on Saturday. It was supposed to be about a seven and a half hour drive but it turned into a ten hour trip because of Atlanta traffic. Because of my car’s tiny gas tank, I ended up stopping for gas three times. Each time I pulled into a station, a thing happened, the same thing that’s been happening every time I park my car in a public place for the past month. I’ll get out of my car and swipe my card at the pump, feeling like there are eyes on me. I plug in my zip code and put the fuel nozzle in the car, and as I do, I’ll see that the eyes are attached to a motorist or a pedestrian who has paused to stare at me. By the time the tank is full and I’ve gotten my receipt, I’ll discover that they’ve made their way over to me. The conversation goes pretty much the same way every time.

But it wasn’t that Henry was less of himself in English. He was less of himself out loud. His native language was thought.

“I thought we were all going to Venezuela.”

Thank you. 

the raven king countdown → day fifteen

TRK Predictions Day that’s all there is

So. The last book in the Raven Cycle comes out tomorrow, April 26th.

As a writer, you can’t truly predict how you project will land once it makes its way out in the world, especially when you’re talking about the final book in a 1,800 page series. There are just too many moving parts. Too many readers wanting too many things: it’s impossible for all of the desires to co-exist, especially as the desires often contradict each other. It’s impossible to guess what the over-arching reaction will be.

It’s possible to hope, though.

And I hope that it hurts.

Not the way that the Internet thinks. The Internet widely believes that all authors are fiends who delight in the suffering of readers, but I don’t want readers to be sad. At the end of the Raven Cycle, I want readers … to want.

I don’t want them to be able to say what it is they want, though — I want it to be a bigger thing than words. I hope they get to the end and don’t know what to do for the rest of the day. I hope they feel unsettled and needing of something more. I want messages that say, “Stiefvater, please, I just want … ” and then silence. They don’t know what they want. They just want.  

The Raven Cycle has always been a series about what makes a hero and about wanting something more, and while I can’t expect anything and be sure of it, that’s what I hope gets stuck in people’s minds.

This is the last day of the Raven King Countdown, because it’s out on shelves tomorrow. That’s all there is.  

Thanks for the ride, guys.