In my fiction, I have written Native American characters (The Queen of Crows), Latina characters (“Tailfeather“), Black-American characters (“Tomorrow’s Precious Lambs“), and a mixture of characters from different European countries and other parts of the United States in stories like “Twin Designs“. I have not yet written, but plan on doing so at some point, a Japanese fantasy story and a Chinese horror tale.
In gaming, I strive to represent a mixture of female characters who do not wear chainmail bikinis. For example, when I wrote Exquisite Replicas, I penned an entire chapter from a fifty-year-old woman’s point-of-view. Mind you, I have nothing against chainmail bikinis, but I do like to offer multiple approaches for characters in my game writing. There, the issue of writing about race evolves depending upon the setting of the game I’m writing for.
Have I done this by choice? Did I know that I was going to write about different cultures when I wrote my stories and game material? Yes and no. I’m always excited to dive into a setting and I feel culture within the context of fiction is a crucial part of world building. I don’t write about different cultures than my own because I feel obligated to or because I’m trying to make a statement. I do it because it comes natural to me. In most cases the characters are, after all, human.
It deeply troubles me that our society has yet to move past labeling anyone who is not like us as “the other.” Even though my skin is olive, I have experienced many things in my life as “the other.” I think on some level anyone who’s been bullied or put down for being different understands (or should, rather) why race discrimination is a big deal. If we tap into our ability to empathize with another human being, I believe we’d have less problems with this. Now, before you say “Wheeeeee! Monica sounds like a crazy hippie!” Please keep in mind that I know people do very. bad. things. to other people and yes, they have to be stopped. However, I question why anyone would label an entire race of people as “bad” because of the rotten apples. I have nothing but respect for anyone in any military capacity; that has to be the toughest job imaginable and I feel we should do more for our veterans.
Anyway, I digress… Apologies…
Understanding that uncomfortable awful feeling of being punished for how you were born rather than who you are is why I obsess about immersing myself in a character or culture to get the details right. In a story, I want my characters to be believable, but I also want them to be read by anyone — regardless of race, religion, or creed. The trick, for me, is to provide enough details to let your imagination fill in the gaps. That means I look for the obvious errors that may remove the reader out of that experience. I don’t (and I mean this with all sincerity) create a character with a different cultural background or sexual orientation just because. There’s usually a reason why I do and, if you ever read my work, you’ll understand why. Culture is not a set of clothes I tack on to a character; it’s often integrated in the story and affects how the character sees and interacts with the world.
Yesterday, I found myself in an uncomfortable position. I’m working on a story for [redacted] and I realized that if I go through with what the story wants to be, I’m probably going to piss a whole lot of people off in the process. And I got mad! I was furious that I felt pinned to the wall, that I couldn’t write a story, because I was afraid of reader reactions that hadn’t happened yet. I questioned my sanity. I said: “Monica, are you sure you really want to write this shit?” Yes, yes I do.
Then, I got a comment yesterday from someone who was part Native-American who enjoyed The Queen of Crows. There’s always been this stigma related to non-indigenous authors writing Native-American fiction regardless of what tribe it is. Most publishers don’t want those stories either because it’s not a “hot” genre and I’ve talked to a few who were worried about backlash. I knew that before I wrote it, but I really wanted to write Mahochepi’s origin story because she’s a central figure in my urban fantasy setting. The goal was to get readers interested in my works of fiction, and putting this together helped me achieve that goal. But that doesn’t change the fact that the topic itself was taboo and, if I didn’t do it right, would backfire with a capital “B” as these things tend to do.
Sounds stupid, but it’s amazing what “one” positive comment will do sometimes when it hits at exactly the right moment. Anyway, I’m writing the hell out of this particular story and gods-be-damned it may piss everyone off, but it’s a story that needs to be told. For that matter, I hope people would seriously consider writing about characters that aren’t “the magical black man” or “the wise and honorable Asian master.” So tired of the tropes as a way to say, “Hey, yeah… So I suppose there’s non-white people out there. This one’s for you, bud.” There’s seven billion people on the planet. Of course there’s non-white people out there. As an author, I want to explore human nature within the context of my work and that means writing about people that aren’t like me.
Bah. If you need me, I’ll be over here, worrying about whether or not I’ve told you a good story. After all, that’s my job!
Mood: Contemplative
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Two. I think it’s a pot of coffee kind of a day.
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Holy hell, thirty on the Machine of Doom.
Word Count Logged Yesterday (not including day job): ~2,000
In My Ears: “Frozen Memories” on Winter’s Eve by Nox Arcana
Game Last Played: Farmerama
Movie Last Viewed: Red
Book Last Read: Leaves of Flame by Benjamin Tate
Latest Artistic Project: Byzantium chainmail bracelet with soft pink and black rings
Upcoming Release: Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem
Matt M McElroy, Publisher of FR Press, announced today that Slices of Fate, the collected works of author Eddy Webb, will debut early December 2011.