Race in Literature

When I first started writing, I always made my main character female. It wasn’t a conscious decision that I had taken weeks to think about. I'm female, so my characters are female. As I got older, I wanted to experiment so I tried to write from a male perspective. Having never been a male, I had to do a little research. I asked my husband and my friends' husbands lots of random "what if" questions and used their responses to shape how my male characters would react. I thought about all the people I've known or observed in my short life and borrowed personality traits and gave them to my characters.

I like to play around with techniques and points of view. Experimenting helps you grow as a writer. And it's fun to get outside of your box and not write the same thing all the time. 

But then a friend asked me if I deliberately thought about what race my characters are. Up until this point my female leads had always been black or bi-racial. I think that she asked because the story I was working on at the time, my female lead had pale skin and pink hair. While I always made the main cast of characters diverse, I never really worried too much about race. I just created the character I felt would best fit with the idea I was crafting at the time. 

But her question made me start thinking about whether or not I had a responsibility to make my characters dark skinned. Being part of a community that's under represented in all forms of media around the world, her question made me think that I was somehow doing myself, my children, and my community a disservice by creating light skin characters. But then I worried that if I deliberately wrote only about dark skin people, then I'm putting myself in a box and limiting how creative I'm allowed to be. 

This can be a controversial issue. It typically comes up for discussion after the work is finished and becomes popular. Depending on who the author is determines how their subject will be discussed. A white author will inevitably be accused of cultural appropriation or using white privilege to profit off a disadvantaged group. While an author of color won't get those same criticisms. 

And I know it's annoying, but I'm going to say it anyway. I see both sides of the issue. As a writer, you just want to tell your story. You want to take that great idea you had in the shower or on that drive to work and give it everything you have. But depending on who you are, there will be layers of censorship. But understanding others pain is important. Understanding what you can and can't say is part of being an adult and living in society.

As an artist, it never feels fair when you're the one being censored, but leveling the playing field for the marginalized is important. 

When I write, I don't want to worry about if my characters are black enough or not. I don't want to worry if I have too many females in the story and not enough men. I hate feeling like I need to make an inclusive cast for all the little kids who spend hours in a bookstore and never find characters who resemble them. For me, every character is like a new person i meet. They are who they are. They look the way they look, act how they act, and I don't want to apologize. 

Before you start feeling vindicated or offended, I am in no way giving permission for someone to start writing from the perspective of a person of color, as if they understand the history and pain that comes with living their life. Or writing a story rife with stereotypes. I'm just saying, I hate feeling like my work is being judged because I haven't given people of color representation when I am also a woman of color.  

 As a writer, all I ever want is to have people read and enjoy my story. When I come up with a great idea, I just want to write it and share it. 

As always, my posts are my personal thoughts. I write to start a discussion so that people can learn from me and so that I can learn from them. So, have something to say? Let's talk. But also, be respectful.