Charlie Alice Raya

last updated: 5 January 2025

About the author, incomplete – see also charlie-alice-raya.org

I think I was not yet in school when I built my first town, in the late seventies. I was worried about the threat of a nuclear war, and so I built an underground town where I and quite a group of people could stay safe. I remember a tunnel like hall where we all lived, and I recall climbing up a long, long ladder to see whether it would be safe again on the ground. There was this huge single tree in a desert-like space, but I don’t know whether we all went up there or not.

My first town – and then so many other things happened. Today, I think I should have studied town planning, architecture, landscape architecture, physics (always had a thing for physics and remember very little) and everything to do with nature, film and the brain. What a collection, but probably quite an accurate picture of what my mind enjoys most. Oh, and I’d like to learn some crafts. I have this wonderfully grumpy character in the easy town books, Roger, 72, who is a master of seven or eight crafts. Alice, the main character, gets to learn a bit of a craft in book 6, maybe I will, too.

The easy town story covers a period of seven years. Absolutely unrealistically, but it’s important for the story dynamics that the town is completed within a year. Even after that year, I kept building. And I remember laughing about myself because I would find yet another reason to add this or that building to the town.

Anyway, so much for a little warm up. The about me on this website focuses on writing. You can find more general insights on the Charlie Alice Raya website and some bits and pieces on all 14 project websites. Yes, I know 14 websites are a lot, but if you take the time to visit even a few of them, you’ll see that it actually makes sense to give each of those ideas and topics their own space.

liquefied, 2012, © Charlie Alice Raya

The easy town idea

In 2012 my friend Easy was placed in an artificial coma and eventually parked in a nursing home.

In the debris of this event, I found the idea for Easy Town, which started as a small village centre where Easy and his fellow patients could find stimuli for their hurt brains, in workshops, gardens and cafés.

In the following years, I treated the easy town ideas as purely non-fictional, always asking how to finance something like that while maintaining my independence.

I used stories to test ideas for the town, and in 2016 a story came up which was more complex and more intriguing than any I had done before.

It was only a week after I finished the story that the idea to write it down crossed my mind. I had three main reasons to follow through with that idea.

One, I loved the story, and this way I could preserve it.

Two, this story is a perfect playground to test ideas, to play around with concepts, and while doing so, to have some fun.

And three, eventually the story could finance some of the easy town ideas.

colours extreme, tree barks, © Charlie Alice Raya

Alice

Alice is one of the main characters in the easy town story.

The original story was never intended to be shared, so Alice was simply me.

When I started making notes for the books, I considered replacing Alice. But that worked as little as replacing Jack (which I also attempted). Whether I like it or not, both characters are essential to the story, and everything about them plays a role, sooner or later.

Besides, writing Alice meant I didn’t have to worry whether a character like her is realistic or not. /:-)

Alice hasn’t heard the term non-binary yet, but she will in book 3, shaping, and though she has little time for it, it will set her on a journey. She knows who she is, she just might have to reassess who other people are.

When I think about the big differences between me and Alice, one thought always pops up first: Alice is edited. And that always makes me smile. I can think of so many situations when I wish I had thought before speaking.

Mind you, Alice does get a few original outburst, but I have come to appreciate the chance to mull over statements and to edit them. And mostly that has nothing to do with censoring, it’s more about clarity and asking whether this or that is what Alice really thinks or even wants to think.

Apart from the non-binary developments, where I am clearly ahead of Alice, there are other issues regarding my past where it seems to me that Alice is further in the healing process. And that gives me hope.

Plus, Alice gets really good at stick fighting, and I haven’t even begun. But I hope, I will.

How I came to writing

I grew up to the sound of my mother’s typewriter. So writing was something familiar to me, even before I could read.

There is more to it, but I will leave that for later.

Why a pen name?

When I listened to my mother, typewriting her book, I didn’t dream of writing a book, I dreamed of getting myself a new name.

My mother wanted to call me Ella after Ella Fitzgerald, but, according to my memory, the East German government deemed Ella a nickname and only allowed Ellen.

I never liked either name and called myself Elli. I thought I wouldn’t get away with calling myself Ello or Ellu.

Anyway, because I have no bond to my names, I happily embraced the idea of a pen name. And by now Charlie Alice Raya is more familiar to me than the passport name.

fairy land, 2015, © Charlie Alice Raya

Why Charlie Alice Raya?

I wanted a name which reflects my duality, and which has a sound I like.

There is more to it, but again I will leave that for later.

rising, light dance, 2011, by Charlie Alice Raya

rising, light dance, 2011 © Charlie Alice Raya

Why I never attempted to make a name for myself

I think it was in 2020 when it crossed my mind that this question might need addressing. The answer is still sketchy, but it should give you an idea.

To start with, a name doesn’t mean anything to me. Building a town experiment? Great. Initiating a photo collection of all shapes and colours of faces with tips for optimal lighting? Fantastic. Finding Jeballulo. YES, please. But a name? What’s that good for?

Well, right now, it would make things a lot easier for the easy town projects. But unfortunately, I overlooked that point.

Independence was always important to me, and so I often chose to work on my own, instead of becoming part of an organisation or a group, where I could have made a name for myself.

And while I am looking forward to working with others in the future, I am glad I had these years of digging deep into many subjects, independently and without many distractions.

I am still not eager to make a name for myself, but it’s time to share the results of years of work.

Again, there are some other points, and again I will leave those for later.

PS: Jeballulo comes up in book 2/2, travelling, Romania.

Why is there no publisher?

When I started to write book 1, beginning, I put the question of how to find a publisher off. To be frank, I didn’t even want to think about it. And then I realised that I had a good excuse not to use a publisher: the easy town books are (among others) about rethinking business practices, and that includes the publishing industry.

By now I have a rough idea what a publishing house for the easy town books could be like. You can take a look at these ideas on the book stations website.