Bethany C. Morrow: On Sirens, Sisterhood, Writing YA and Her Novel, "A Song Below Water"
Bethany C Morrow’s YA debut, A Song Below Water, is a fantastical story that weaves racism, social justice, identity, and politics, with the magic and power of sirens. In Portland, Oregon, it is dangerous to be a siren as a Black woman. Tavia, a siren, uses American Sign Language to push against the mesmerizing call that burns like a fire in her throat. If released, it could mean she is silenced forever. Effie, takes to the waters of her local pool, as she starts to be haunted by her past. When a siren is murdered, the two teenagers, sisters by choice, must decide wither to keep their voices to themselves or let them be unleashed.
I spoke with Bethany about Black sisterhood, mermaids and sirens and writing her first YA novel, A Song Below Water.
The world of A Song Below Water contains fantastical elements with modern adaptations of mythical creatures. What initially sparked the idea for this story? Was there research involved?
The initial spark for this story came from saying/DMing my sister the phrase, “My voice is power.” It immediately made me think of a Black girl siren in a world where only Black girls are sirens, and the realization that they are hated because they are powerful in a world where someone else has taken ownership over being the powerful one. Something celebrated in them has consequences for her.
That didn’t require any research. I’m a Black woman with a strong conviction and voice. I am that siren, and I live in that misogynoirist world.
A Song Below Water really digs into the nuances of Blackness, of being a Black woman in a patriarchal and white supremacist society, as well as systematic oppression. Using one's voice is also a heavy theme throughout. Is this story a call to action for young readers? What do you hope your readers take away from this novel?
I wouldn’t call it a call to action, because that implies that young Black girls aren’t already doing so much work. I would call it a love letter, and a long overdue mirror, held up for them to see themselves the way I see them.
Tavia and Effie’s hair plays a pivotal role in this story — a shield, a way to mask insecurity, and later as a source of their true powers. Can you speak about this a bit more?
I simply represented healthy and realistic relationships with hair, and enjoyment as opposed to the shame non-Black people think is the default. By explicitly pointing to the ways in which society decides and informs us how we’re supposed to feel about our hair and how it’s supposed to be undesirable, we shift the blame of self-loathing from the victim and show the intentionality and source of that assault. I’m laying these things back at the responsible party’s door, and giving an unapologetically pro-Black girl/pro-Black hair space. It’s a love that’s not hard for us to have, it’s one that’s intentionally thwarted and sabotaged. There’s a difference.
I love the bond Tavia and Effie share, so close that they call themselves sisters. They are connected by their secret powers, dysfunctional families and traumatic pasts, all of which makes their relationship even more powerful. Are female friendships and sisterhood particularly important to you?
They’re connected by their love for each other, full stop. They’re not trauma sisters, they’re sisters. I’m connected to my sisters by love, not by genetics or shared dysfunctions. Black sisterhood is definitely of particular importance to me, because it’s lifesaving, and it’s what I know.
Mermaids and sirens are such a popular creature in mythology that we reimagine and repurpose in so many ways. What drew you to reimagine mermaids for this novel? What do they mean to you?
I didn’t really reimagine mermaids, because they’re not really seen on the page, other than in cosplay. Sirens are wholly distinct and separate from mermaids in my book, and they came fully formed in my mind from the phrase I mentioned earlier: My voice is power. It’s their whole identity and predicament summed up, and embodied by the real world identity and experience of Black women.
What do you love about the YA genre, both as a writer and a reader?
The YA category is vast, as is the adult category, so I love what I can find, and what can be accomplished, but mainly, what I love about the category is the audience. Young adults. I wrote ASBW to Black girls, to teens, and YA being an established place in the bookstore means I’m able to be really specific about that and know that they’ll know where to find it.
How long did it take you to write this novel?
I started writing ASBW in March 2016, and started querying in August, which means I finished before that, lol. I ended up doing an R&R for about half a dozen agents (a revise and resubmit or requested revision, usually with specific editorial feedback) which I delayed because I was preparing for my debut novel, MEM, to release. So I think I waited six months and then over the course of a couple of weeks, revised it before sending it back to the agents.
What does your writing process look like? Do you keep a specific routine when writing a novel?
I think at this point the only thing I could categorize as a specific writing routine is that I write on a regular basis when I’m drafting. That doesn’t necessarily mean every day, though it can. But it means I’m clearly in the process of writing a book, and it’s my main objective.
What have you been reading or listening to during this time of self-isolation? Any recommendations?
Like a lot of people, reading is difficult for me during this time because of pandemic distraction. I’ve recently read and loved GROWN by Tiffany D. Jackson, and earlier in the year I read MY SISTER THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite as well as RING SHOUT by P. Djeli Clark.
I’m listening to a LOT of Tanerelle after discovering her song “Nothing Without You” at the end of an episode of Insecure, and I’ve just been drowning myself in her music since then. I’m also listening to a lot of slowed + reverb music via Youtube. If you know, you know.
Bethany C. Morrow is a recovering expat splitting her time between Montreal, Quebec, and upstate New York - yet another foreign place. A California native, Bethany graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a BA in Sociology (but took notable detours in the Film and Theatre departments). Following undergrad, she studied Clinical Psychological Research at the University of Wales, Bangor, in Great Britain before returning to North America to focus on her literary work.
Though sociology and forensic psychology will always be among her passions, writing has been a lifelong endeavor. Whether in novels for the YA or adult market, novellas, short stories, stage plays, television pilots or short film scripts, Bethany's speculative literary fiction uses a focus on character and language to engage with, comment on and investigate worlds not unlike our own.
