Other people I have to mention: The Slackers can always make me laugh out loud when I shouldn’t. Jen Deluca got me through a panic attack over edits without even trying. Zabe Doyle is my favorite person to brainstorm with. She can flail better than anyone I know. My third-grade teacher, Mrs. McBeath, told my parents to teach me to type so I could edit easily instead of erasing an entire page of work to add in a sentence, as I had been doing previously. One of my seventh-grade teachers, Ms. Dolinski, gave me space to write about things close to my heart. Numerous people, including strangers on the internet, helped make Emma’s Judaism and Jo’s Chinese American experience authentic. Thank you to Lauren, who let me take her out to coffee and ask her about her family’s Hanukkah traditions. Thanks also to Addie, Julia, and Andi for their help with the Hollywood aspects of the book.
Thank you to my parents, who let me have an old brick of a laptop when I was just a kid. It only had Microsoft Word on it. I wrote tens of thousands of words of mostly bad fanfiction, but I know there was bad poetry on there, too. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to improve. And thanks in advance, Mom, for the dog and tattoo you promised to pay for when I got my first book published.
I don’t know if Tash McAdam realized what they were getting into when they first shouted at me about fanfiction, but I’m so grateful that they did. They helped power me through the first draft of this thing, but more importantly, they got me through the Depressive Episode of 2017.
Christina Cheung let me steal her last name. She’s also read this book more times than anyone else besides me. She reads every word I write, and reads them again no matter how few changes I make between drafts. She asks me questions about characters and plots long before I have answers for her. My writing is stronger because of her.
And of course, saving the best for last—my wife, Brooke. Every time I said, “Can you believe this is happening?”, she said yes. Thank you for listening on every walk, every car ride, every time we waited for a meal at a restaurant, as I talked through trouble spots. Thank you for cooking and cleaning and reminding me to take breaks. Most of all, thank you for loving me—especially through copy edits.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What effect did the rumors have on Jo and Emma’s relationship? Do you think they would have developed feelings, or recognized those feelings, had the rumors never existed?
2. Jo was worried about taking advantage of Emma. Why is this? How did she ensure the power imbalance from their working relationship didn’t make their personal relationship unhealthy?
3. How does the book portray sibling relationships? Compare and contrast Jo’s relationship with Vincent and Emma’s relationship with Avery.
4. What trade-offs do Jo and Emma have to consider when deciding to be in a relationship? How might their reputations and careers suffer? Do you think it’s worth it?
5. Why wasn’t Jo publicly out? What factors affected this decision?
6. Discuss Jo’s relationship with her father and how it affects her and her decisions.
7. Tikkun olam is a Jewish concept regarding an individual’s duty to improve or repair the world around them. How does tikkun olam influence Emma’s behavior throughout the book, but especially in response to Barry Davis?
8. Why might Annabeth Pierce not have come forward about Barry Davis’s behavior earlier? What factors affected her decisions, both to stay quiet, and to eventually come forward?
9. Why did the suits at the network suggest Jo be seen out with a man? How might they have reacted differently if the rumors involved Jo and a man instead of another woman?
Photo by Brooke Wilsner
MERYL WILSNER writes stories about queer women falling in love. Born in Michigan, Meryl lived in Portland, Oregon, and Jackson, Mississippi, before recently returning to the Mitten State. Some of Meryl’s favorite things include: all four seasons, button-down shirts, the way giraffes run, and their wife.
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Something to Talk About Page 29
