Diversity in Fiction.
Apr. 9th, 2011 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
misslj_authorI've been thinking about this for a while but it came to a head today after a discussion with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jerusalemorbust last night and a discussion between meredith_shayne and myself this morning. (Both of whom I hope will comment here. :D) The subject being multiculturalism and interracial relationships in novels and characters that are in some way disabled and characters that are over the age of 25. (Warning: this post does contain a bit of self-absorbed hyperbole alas.)
It's been on my mind so much, personally, because in writing my Archangels novel, I am very aware that choosing to have each of the ten Archangels be a particular race, I am putting myself out there to be potentially inflammatory and/or offensive. It's on my mind that I could be called a racist or accused of cultural appropriation. Not to mention the religion thing, but I'm choosing to ignore it for the simple reason that I ignore it in the book. They're Archangels, they have a job to do, there's no praying or reading of scripture or anything like that. They just happen to be made by God – and God means different things to different people – there's no pontificating about any religion because that's just not what I want to write about.
So, I have white, Maori, Indian (from India), Chinese, black, Russian, Columbian and Cambodian characters. I've asked a few people about describing these characters because I want it to be very clear that they are not the default of white, male, mid-twenties, because they can switch gender as they choose, they aren't all white, and, as Archangels, older than time itself, they really aren't in their mid-twenties. My main concern is stereotyping: I don't want to describe them too much but I don't want to scrimp on it, either.
They are, in their natural state, creatures of light and energy. They take human shapes so as to do their duties and interact with humanity and also, the pesky side effect of their natural state tends to blind and melt the brains of humans. So it's a protection for human eyes as well as a means towards interaction without too many problems. Of course, there are problems, because otherwise there would be no story, but that's not what I'm going to talk about here.
I don't want to do PoC a disservice or show disrespect in how I write these characters. They're all likable characters, they all have flaws. (She says with great modesty!) I don't want the colour of their skin or the race their chosen forms are to be a deciding factor in whether or not they're likable. In short, I am genuinely terrified of being disrespectful.
Then there's able bodied versus not so able bodied. I'm working on a sequel to City of Gold right now, and my two main characters are older men, one of them has less mobility than his partner. This is due to a war injury and because of it, his hip and knee play up. Now, that sounds all fine and probably, to someone who doesn't suffer this sort of pain and the debilitation that goes with it as it gets worse, nothing worth mentioning.
I want to say right here and now, that's bullshit. Chronic pain is, to be blunt, a bitch. I know; I live with it. Every. Single. Day. The pain and frustration my character suffers is familiar to me, because I deal with this myself. The atrophy of muscles, the irreparable damage to cartilage and nerves makes mobility difficult, makes joints sometimes unusable. This is hard for me to articulate here, actually – it's easier for me to do in fiction because I can separate myself from it, in a way.
The character doesn't talk about it unless asked directly and unless it's someone he knows very well, he'll just say it's a war wound and change the subject. (Setting is the Byzantine Empire, the year 1131AD.) Why doesn't he talk about it? Because he's ashamed.
I know what that feels like too. My own situation makes me ashamed to say the words, "I'm disabled." I hate that I feel shame when I say this, but the reaction to these two little words is either pity – and I don't want pity – or disgust. Neither reflect the reality of my life, but there we go. Now, I, like my character, don't want to go into the nitty gritty of it, but it wasn't a war wound for me. It is what it is, I live with it daily and I don't particularly like explaining it – even to medical professionals because there's always that lingering shame of it and that whatever I say will be met with pity and/or disgust.
And it is, each and every time. Even in, I'm afraid to say, some of my friends. I know they don't mean it, and I know it's not conscious. I know that the pity they exhibit is genuine compassion and they wish they could help or something, but... having this, living with this does not mean I need to be treated as any less a person. So yeah, it's a bugbear and I can completely understand why authors would feel concerned that they might give offence when writing a character with a disability that they themselves don't have or have direct experience with (i.e., caring for a relative, working in support for that disability, etc.).
Which brings me to my point, in a long winded way – how do we, as writers, approach these topics that we, personally, may not have experience with, without giving offence to readers who do ?
People are people and love is love. Age, race, religion, disability, sex – none of this should matter. Unfortunately, because of societal conditioning, it does. And that's terrible.
jerusalemorbust last night and a discussion between meredith_shayne and myself this morning. (Both of whom I hope will comment here. :D) The subject being multiculturalism and interracial relationships in novels and characters that are in some way disabled and characters that are over the age of 25. (Warning: this post does contain a bit of self-absorbed hyperbole alas.)It's been on my mind so much, personally, because in writing my Archangels novel, I am very aware that choosing to have each of the ten Archangels be a particular race, I am putting myself out there to be potentially inflammatory and/or offensive. It's on my mind that I could be called a racist or accused of cultural appropriation. Not to mention the religion thing, but I'm choosing to ignore it for the simple reason that I ignore it in the book. They're Archangels, they have a job to do, there's no praying or reading of scripture or anything like that. They just happen to be made by God – and God means different things to different people – there's no pontificating about any religion because that's just not what I want to write about.
So, I have white, Maori, Indian (from India), Chinese, black, Russian, Columbian and Cambodian characters. I've asked a few people about describing these characters because I want it to be very clear that they are not the default of white, male, mid-twenties, because they can switch gender as they choose, they aren't all white, and, as Archangels, older than time itself, they really aren't in their mid-twenties. My main concern is stereotyping: I don't want to describe them too much but I don't want to scrimp on it, either.
They are, in their natural state, creatures of light and energy. They take human shapes so as to do their duties and interact with humanity and also, the pesky side effect of their natural state tends to blind and melt the brains of humans. So it's a protection for human eyes as well as a means towards interaction without too many problems. Of course, there are problems, because otherwise there would be no story, but that's not what I'm going to talk about here.
I don't want to do PoC a disservice or show disrespect in how I write these characters. They're all likable characters, they all have flaws. (She says with great modesty!) I don't want the colour of their skin or the race their chosen forms are to be a deciding factor in whether or not they're likable. In short, I am genuinely terrified of being disrespectful.
Then there's able bodied versus not so able bodied. I'm working on a sequel to City of Gold right now, and my two main characters are older men, one of them has less mobility than his partner. This is due to a war injury and because of it, his hip and knee play up. Now, that sounds all fine and probably, to someone who doesn't suffer this sort of pain and the debilitation that goes with it as it gets worse, nothing worth mentioning.
I want to say right here and now, that's bullshit. Chronic pain is, to be blunt, a bitch. I know; I live with it. Every. Single. Day. The pain and frustration my character suffers is familiar to me, because I deal with this myself. The atrophy of muscles, the irreparable damage to cartilage and nerves makes mobility difficult, makes joints sometimes unusable. This is hard for me to articulate here, actually – it's easier for me to do in fiction because I can separate myself from it, in a way.
The character doesn't talk about it unless asked directly and unless it's someone he knows very well, he'll just say it's a war wound and change the subject. (Setting is the Byzantine Empire, the year 1131AD.) Why doesn't he talk about it? Because he's ashamed.
I know what that feels like too. My own situation makes me ashamed to say the words, "I'm disabled." I hate that I feel shame when I say this, but the reaction to these two little words is either pity – and I don't want pity – or disgust. Neither reflect the reality of my life, but there we go. Now, I, like my character, don't want to go into the nitty gritty of it, but it wasn't a war wound for me. It is what it is, I live with it daily and I don't particularly like explaining it – even to medical professionals because there's always that lingering shame of it and that whatever I say will be met with pity and/or disgust.
And it is, each and every time. Even in, I'm afraid to say, some of my friends. I know they don't mean it, and I know it's not conscious. I know that the pity they exhibit is genuine compassion and they wish they could help or something, but... having this, living with this does not mean I need to be treated as any less a person. So yeah, it's a bugbear and I can completely understand why authors would feel concerned that they might give offence when writing a character with a disability that they themselves don't have or have direct experience with (i.e., caring for a relative, working in support for that disability, etc.).
Which brings me to my point, in a long winded way – how do we, as writers, approach these topics that we, personally, may not have experience with, without giving offence to readers who do ?
People are people and love is love. Age, race, religion, disability, sex – none of this should matter. Unfortunately, because of societal conditioning, it does. And that's terrible.
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no subject
Date: Tue, Apr. 26th, 2011 07:42 am (UTC)Those descriptions and examples are fabulous. I find that sometimes I get so caught in the box of what I want to say versus how to say it that breaking out of the box of want into the wider realm of the how needs a good, hard kick from a third party - and this is perfect. This has given me so many ideas to follow up on and I really appreciate it. It's a good point that readers won't remember without subtle reminders throughout the narrative - definitely something I'll keep in mind.
Thank you for clarifying the differences too, in Cultural Experience, I've already learned so much from what you've explained to me and I really do appreciate it.
no subject
Date: Tue, Apr. 26th, 2011 08:12 am (UTC)I'm so glad we started talking today!
no subject
Date: Tue, Apr. 26th, 2011 08:40 am (UTC)I was raised a Mormon (no longer one - I left the LDS when I was 16 and that was a looooong time ago!) and part of my degree was History of the Early Church which was absolutely fascinating, so I'd love to talk religion and theology as well.
I am too, it's been awesome. I'm really glad I friended you, I wish I'd looked at the Goodreads LJ forum posts earlier.
no subject
Date: Tue, Apr. 26th, 2011 08:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Tue, Apr. 26th, 2011 10:25 am (UTC)I'm sorry to hear about the cold causing you problems. I've been having mobility issues for several months and I'm hoping the coming summer will finally ease them. I'm trying to avoid knee surgery but as each year passes I'm beginning to think it might not be an option. I'm going to fight it to the end though!
I have two revisions due in the next two weeks and then edits on my summer release. After that I have a 60k due July 5th and another due September 5th, so it's a little crazy on my end of things right now. Book one of The Angelic Prophecies is going to be 80K and hopefully done in November, December at the latest. That's 200K in 8 months, doable if it flows but a little crazy considering I don't know what the rest of the year brings.
I've spent the last year as a statistic of the recession. The non-profit I worked for closed its doors last March with little warning. There was supposed to be a follow-up service that we were all eligible for later that year, but it never materialized. There's been financial considerations of course, but it was the best thing for my writing. After a very long pause I finally got my second publishing contract last July, had a Christmas release, got my third contract in March that will have a July release and should be hearing back on my fourth contract sometime in the next week with eagerness for me to turn in book three by July which would be my fifth contract and release in December.
All of that is possible because I was home. I don't know what happens when I'm back in the workforce. Right now it looks like I'll be back in the game in June, full time, benefits, the works and I'm grateful, I truly am. I'm just concerned.
Okay, It's almost 4:30am here, I should go and sleep. Have a wonderful day and I'll talk to you later. Are you on facebook?
no subject
Date: Wed, Apr. 27th, 2011 02:24 am (UTC)From that, I went to uni and did a BA in film making and history. History is my main love, particularly medieval and Byzantine. Post uni, I wrote a thesis on women's clothing in the 12th and 13th centuries which was peer reviewed and has been used in a lot of things, from TV documentaries to historical reenactment of the period, the latter being something I loved doing until several years ago when the disabilities grew worse and put a major kaibosh on *all* activies.
I feel your pain with the knee issue - joints are awful when they're damaged. I don't blame you at all for fighting the surgery as long as possible, I'm in a similar situation and baulking because I had two surgeries on my left wrist - which is now totally unusable - that went wrong. My mind set atm is that I'd rather deal with the pain as best I can and have the limited mobility that I do than go through surgery and risk it not working because of my experiences with my wrist.
That is an amazing amount of writing you've got lined up, I'm in awe that you're able to get it done in that time! Who do you publish with? I'm a sucker for angel-based fiction, so I'll be making a note of your Angelic Prophies novel for when it comes out.
I can understand the concern - the time and energy that work takes up and then figuring out how much of both is left over at the end of the day for writing is sometimes like juggling greased juggling balls. Which part of the US are you in? I visited for the first time last year and saw Oregon, Washington state, DC, Maryland and parts of Philadelphia and LA and Canada - I loved it, such a beautiful country and everyone was so warm and friendly and welcoming. It was a wonderful experience and I'd love to go back.
I am on Facebook, though I don't use it much. Most of my social networking is done on Twitter and here on LJ. I never thought I'd have much use for Twitter and now I'm addicted to the thing!