Exposure. Experience. The Enemy.

Hi

I said this week I'm going to talk about how to write diversity/about diverse characters. So I am.

We've all heard there are too many straight/white/male protagonists in (especially) sci fi and fantasy. We've also been told this is because most authors are straight, white, and male, and most readers as well. This is a) not true and b) not the problem.

It doesn't matter whether the author is straight/white/male. The problem is that those s/w/m authors (mostly) can't slip into the shoes of characters who are not straight, white, and male.

Let's be realistic.

A lot of the people who write can afford it. They aren't about to lose the house and go completely broke if they spend hours on end at their desks and do nothing but dream on paper/the screen (with the exception of pre-success Steven King, perhaps). They aren't in danger of starving or drowning (in bills). They have a quite comfortable life as middle to upper class income citizens. They're normal. They're mediocre. They're (beyond the writing) normal people with normal friends and a normal daily routine/life. They have little hardship in their lives beyond what happens to everyone once in a while.

Their experience has (probably) not brought them very close to different kinds of people. They'll have a standard day-job (Accountant? Programmer? Teacher?), where they meet the same people every day, talk in the same fashion, and generally don't educate themselves on lives that are different. They go on holiday once a year (or twice if they're a bit better off) and have little contact with anyone but their family and the hotel consierge/campsite supervisor during those two weeks.

This doesn't nurture diversity. It advocates same-ness - of which a lot more can be found in books than characters. The plots tend to mold together after a while and the settings are dull. I find it difficult to discover books that don't work by some kind of standard formula.

Then what's needed? How do you actually diversify your writing? You need EXP. Experience with capital letters. You need to expose yourself to different cultures (even if you just listen to rap instead of metal one afternoon) and you need to talk to as many people as possible. It's impossible to write a diverse book without thinking diversely on auto-pilot. Diversity has to be ingrained in you so it'll come naturally. You hear about a 'man getting caught stealing book covers'? What race is he in your mind? Does it come with a negative connotation (such as 'oh those Mexicans')? This is the kind of automatically diverse thinking needed... except it shouldn't be as racist and should come automatically when you hear something positive as well. 'Woman saves kid from shark'. What colour is her skin? White? Why didn't your mind come up with another ethnicity instead? It's because you lack exposure and experience. You lack life.

I've said 'diverse characters come to me instead of me having to make them diverse'. I've said this despite being a prime example of straight and white. Do you know why? I spent most of my childhood and teenage years in a poor environment. I wasn't always able to afford the books and tools we needed at school. Holidays were once every three years tops - and then only half a week in a cheap room at most.

Does this make me different or special? Does it make me better? Does it make it easier to write diversely because of this?

I think it does ( - even if the margin likely isn't high). I spent a lot of time on the internet in those days... and especially in MMOS. I got to know lots of different people from all over the world. And I loved it. I knew people from Mexico to Canada to Australia to all over Europe and the Asian Islands. I learned chunks of different languages and dismantled many a person's mind about their beliefs and religions and sexuality. I got to know a gay high priest (I'll use MMO classes to obscure identity! Yey!) who'd be killed by his boyfriend's dad if anyone knew. I got to know a sweet muslim archer who put his life on the line to protect his younger siblings over the years. I met a rich mage buying an apartment block to rent out to become even richer.

You know what I've found? It is simple. People are all the same. It doesn't matter what colour they are or what God they pray to (if any). When it comes down to it they all yearn. They all hurt. They all love and hate. The worst have vulnerable sides (like the elementary school bully who cried when his parents didn't show up for a piece we'd prepared) and the sweetest of them have vengeful sides (like the protecting archer who cried when one of his tormentors died in an accident).

This rant concluded (I'm not sorry. Injustice just riles me... even if I believe it gives people an advantage in other areas of life!) I still have questions that need answers.

I wonder whether all the trouble of going through a non-privileged childhood/life is worth it. I wonder whether being in a minority makes it easier to write diversely. Do straight white women have an easier time writing diversely than straight white men? Do people of obscure religions/upbringings see the world differently and thus more diversely? Do ethnic people and LGBT people find it easier to write about diversity because they can relate?

And most important of all...

What do you think about this? It's a theory. Does it miss anything? Post a comment!

I hope this post made you think (thinking is really the core of what this blog is about) and you'll have a great week! J.M.