I was recently inspired by countless posts and articles to make a huge change in the way I write. To be honest, I have always been terrified of representing someone different from me in writing. What if I represent them wrong?
Failure is an awful (and admittedly ridiculous) fear of mine. Even if I'm the only one to see it. Even though I know that everyone makes mistakes, no matter how cautious. And even though I realize that it negatively affects my writing and, after all, words on a computer screen can easily be erased and fixed.
Anyway, I completely threw myself into this new project. In some ways it feels like a completely new way of writing, but really it's just a new experience. Right now it's a word document of random scenes that I hope will be turned to a novel. And every single character is different from me in major ways, most of them in more than one major way.
Before now, the most "diversity" shown in my writing was an occasional dual point of view that included a male character. Now I have a cast of different races, sexualities, genders, and personalities. The characters are interested in things I don't care all that much about myself. And it's not as difficult to write as I thought. But it is scary.
Things grew easier when I stopped trying to write a novel. Because even if this doesn't turn out to be anything linear or cohesive, it is an experience. It's a huge step for me as a writer. And I need these random scenes, whether or not they show up in any sort of final copy, to get to know my characters as people. To allow them to show themselves.
So that's where I'm at now. If you're a writer, how much diversity do you include in your work? Is it a struggle, or was it in the past? Do you have any tips?
I think it sounds like you're in a very cool place with your writing. I've been dying to write a character of a different race, sexual orientation, or culture, and like you, I'm afraid of representing the character wrongly. What if I end up using stereotypes without even realizing it? So I've decided to do some research and read as many books as I can that are diverse, especially non-fiction books that can help give perspective on what it's like to live in Iraq, or to be gay, or to be disabled. I really think that will be a huge help.
ReplyDeleteI really need to read more diversely as well. Sometimes it's difficult to notice that I don't until I take a step back and look at my recent reads, but I should do that more often.
DeleteGood luck with your research and your writing! I hope all goes well for you.