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Tanya Lloyd Kyi's Small-Town Tales

Tanya Lloyd Kyi is the author of the YA novel Anywhere But Here, the story of young man whose small town is a trap he's desperate to escape. But there is often more to small-town life than it seems, as Lloyd Kyi had to figure out for herself and as she portrays in her novel. As she explains here, however, her small-town parents didn't think her message was clear...

Book Cover Anywhere But Here

Tanya Lloyd Kyi is the author of the YA novel Anywhere But Here, the story of young man whose small town is a trap he's desperate to escape. But there is often more to small-town life than it seems, as Lloyd Kyi had to figure out for herself and as she portrays in her novel. As she explains here, however, her small-town parents didn't think her message was clear...

*****

My parents were offended when they read the first draft of my novel. And my sister suggested I change the name of our town. 

 “It’s a little harsh,” she said, of my portrayal.

 “Didn’t you read the last chapter?” I asked. “It’s redemptive.”

I admit it: I love small town jokes. You know you’re from a small town when you don’t use your turn signal, because everyone knows where you’re going. You know you’re from a small town when you schedule a party according to the police schedule, because you know which officers will bust you. You know you’re from a small town when you dial a wrong number and talk for 15 minutes anyway.

Those of you who grew up in the big city will think these are exaggerations. And you will be wrong.

I spent every teenage day plotting my escape from the truth of these jokes. I wanted out of my small town more badly than I wanted my backcombed hair to last through the next bush party. But here’s the thing … you can take the girl out of the small town, but you can’t take the small town out of the girl.

I get asked for directions more than anyone I know. It happens all the time. Because when you grow up in a tiny place, you make eye contact. In Vancouver, that’s apparently code for “I will help you find your way.” What people don’t realize, of course, is that I might give them small-town directions. Such as “turn at the big blue store, then go straight through the stoplight, and left at the Anderson place.”

I am geographically small town, forever.

I fell in love with Vancouver the first time I drove through Stanley Park onto Georgia Street and saw all those buildings stretching into the sky. But I haven’t left my small town behind. Not in the ways that count. I know my neighbors. I talk across my back fence and water the blueberry plants in the schoolyard. And I couldn’t believe it the first time I went to a potluck in Vancouver, and people brought food they’d bought from a store. To a potluck! I could never do that.

A few years ago, my parents respectfully requested that I stop referring to their town as “the sticks” in my blog posts. It was a hard habit to break. But here’s the thing: by that time, I was using “the sticks” as a term of endearment. Because there’s a little small town in most of us, and the world would be a better place if there were a little more.

That’s what my novel’s final chapter is about. And even though my main character’s a teenage boy, and even though he hasn’t yet explored the wider world, the lesson of small-town goodness is one he come to learn. 

Though in the end, I did change the name of the place in my book. To make my parents happy.

It was the small-town thing to do.

Tanya Lloyd Kyi and her family live near Vancouver. Visit her at TanyaLloydKyi.com