A Writer's Dilemma - Writing and Racism

I used to worry a lot about a good few things in my writing. Some of them, well, I still do worry about. But there's one that needn't be worried about - for really anyone I've seen.

Let me lay out a scenario. You're a white writer, and you like to write novels. Now, many or most of the characters in said novels are white. You suddenly realize you have few or no black characters, few or no Asian characters, few or no Hispanic characters, few or no Polynesian characters, etc. Mostly plain old white. And you start to worry - am I being a racist? Is writing primarily Caucasian characters going to make me unpopular with non-Caucasian people? Is it going to offend or exclude them? This is exactly the scenario I've found myself in before. I have tried to amend it, of course, since then:

• Sam Bastikka and his son, Felix, from In Greater Hands are both Jamaican, and so black
• Alejandro Lorenz from A Broadway Waltz is Hispanic/Latino
• Chalera from The Treasure of the Twin Temples is Native American in basis, though from a fictional country
• Dominique Morales from The Treasure of the Twin Temples is Hispanic (duh!)
• Kate Venji from In Greater Hands is Indian

Above are my frail ways of mending the situation. But, you know, slowly perhaps, but truly, a question dawned on me. Is it racist to naturally have a tendency to envision majorly white characters? The answer in short, friends, is no, it's not.

Imagination and Familiarity

I like to think of it rather like the many images of Our Lady that there are. Think about it. An African painting of Our Lady depicts her as black, wearing perhaps a Nigerian woman's garb. But we know Mary was not Nigerian. A Russian depiction of Our Lady may have her wearing many mantles and layers of illustrious jewelry, as was the fashion of the Russian monarchs, and it may depict her with blonde or red hair. But we know Mary was not Russian. A Chinese depiction of Our Lady shows her wearing a kimono, having black hair and dark eyes like the Chinese themselves do. But we know Mary was not Chinese.

I think the reason people do this is because when they sympathize with a character or person, they don't just start being like that person, they start making that person like them. When we imagine a character, or in this case, Our Lady, we want her to be familiar to us - a part of our lives, and our culture. Now, whatever that respective culture may be, it's usually not the one that Mary really came from. But we paint and draw her akin to us nonetheless, because we not only want to see us in her, but we want to see her in us - we want to imitate her. So we start by giving her something in common with us.

Writing is exactly the same way. When we make a character, the character usually starts out with something in common with us. Think about it - every single one of your characters, Writer, even villains, even the ones who don't physically look like you, have absorbed some part of you from their beginning. And chances are, later on, you started to absorb them too (although hopefully not as much so in the case of the villains). But we start with familiarity in our imagination, so it shouldn't shock you that that's also how we start out in writing. If we start out with white characters, it's usually not because we're racist, it's because we're white. I mean, black writers probably start out with black characters. It's just natural. We write what we daily see around us; what we look in the mirror and see; what is familiar. This is why most girl writers tend to have female main characters, and other way around for guy writers. This is why many underage writers (like myself) tend to have younger main characters, while sometimes older writers will write older main characters naturally. It's not racist. It's not sexist. It's not age-ist, to make up a completely new, ridiculous word. It's. Just. Natural. So don't be embarrassed by it.

Writing What We Know

This is similar to the concept of familiarity - we write what we know. Oftentimes, also, the races and respective looks of our characters depend on what kind of a culture we set them up in. Kudos to the people who make up their own cultures, but even those are based off of something. And when we write cultures, we like to use ones we know well.

Most Irish-descended writers I've met write at least part of one of their stories (if not far more) in a Celtic or Celtic-based setting. An African friend of mine particularly favored African settings. I myself am Norse-German, and as I am writing my newest novel, I'm finding that I unintentionally somehow picked a Germanic setting. There's a simple explanation, again. An Irish person likely has their talkative Irish grandparent to tell them all about beautiful ole Ireland. My African friend's parents always told her stories from Africa when she was younger. I myself have been told quite abundantly about my Viking and Frank ancestors, I assure you. So the cultures we know the most about tend to take precedence in our writing... and those usually tend to be the ones we have that wise old granny or storytelling uncle from.

But Should We Fight It?

This is the big question. Is it racist to write that way naturally? - no. Is it racist to wittingly keep writing that way? - well, no. Obviously, we should all strive for a certain amount of variety in our characters, in every aspect of them, which includes race, nationality, and looks, but that's not correcting racism, that's just good writing - a writer's common sense, if you will. If all our characters looked and acted the same, it would be quite old after just one novel, much less an author's whole repertoire. So it is definitely good to explore other types of people - not just racially and culturally, but psychologically and characteristically as well.

However. That being said, you shouldn't push yourself to write in a way that is estranging. So, yes, have multiracial characters and stories, but don't make all of it that way if it feels unnatural. Don't try to write what you don't feel comfortable with. So if you're uncomfortable writing a guy's POV, then do it less than the girl characters'. If you're uncomfortable working with a culture you don't know - research, of course, but if it's just not your thing, then just do it less than you do your signature cultures. As for characters of other races - strive for it! But don't put it before writing well and writing what you want to read.

What do you think? Anything to add? Have you ever struggled with this dilemma or something similar? Chat with me! - I would love to hear your thoughts. :)