1/2 Hi there. I love your blog. I really appreciate what you do and I thought maybe you can help me w/ a problem. I'm writing a story of 4 friends in their late teens who commit small crimes to right bigger wrongs. The police finds out, the leader of the group wants to take the fall, but her BF stops her as one of their 'victims' are her parents and she thinks it would have smaller consequences for her (they wouldn't press charges against their own daughter).
2/2 My problem is that in my draft the leader is a clever black girl and her BF is white (the other is white and one has an Indian BG). The story isn’t really about racism, and I only noticed towards the end that this could be a really problematic issue. Should I change the dynamics? I’m sorry if this sounds dumb or ignorant, I just don’t know what to do. Thanks.
It doesn’t sound dumb or ignorant at al! The fact that you’re concerned tells me that you really care about diversity in fiction, which is awesome.
Whenever I answer a question about racism or writing PoC, I think it’s fair to come right out and say that I’m a young white woman, so my perspective may be far different than a PoC’s. But here’s what I’ll say on the subject.
First, your story doesn’t need to be about racism, but keep in mind that racism is something that PoC deal with, so it’s something that you may not want to overlook, even if it’s something subtle in how they’re treated by strangers, or assumptions that are made about them. It could be that even though your black girl is the leader, a stranger addresses one of the white characters when speaking to them as a group, assuming that this white character is in charge. That’s racism. And you’re commenting on it without making it an overall theme in your book, because racism exists in so many little ways that we often don’t realize.
Are you going to give your PoC character both good and bad traits? Are you going to show her as a real human being with desires, goals, fears? Are you going to give her decisions that she will make all on her own, which in essence gives her agency and some control over how the plot unfolds?
Based on your synopsis, these teens must be tough and brave. But will you also show your PoC’s softer side? At least in her thoughts and reflections? Because even the toughest people have them.
Basically, write a good, independent, fully developed character. Because that’s important regardless of the color of her skin, and then write your plot the way you want to write it. You have to love the story first, and if this is what you want to happen, then that’s what you need to write.
Writing is subjective, and while there are many things that are blatantly offensive, like slurs, overt stereotypes, tokenism (watch out for this), ect., there are also many times when it all depends on the reader, and that reader’s own experiences and background. Right now, your reader is you, so you do what you feel is best for the story. Later on, when your draft is complete, seek out many different readers to get an overall feel for how your dynamics come across.
I’m also going to direct you, and all of my followers, to Writing With Color. This blog is run by several PoC with different backgrounds, so if you have concerns, they are a good group to get in touch with.
