Hmmmm…generic whiteness
I came across THIS (which I can’t believe I didn’t see before, this is something I think ALL writers need to read) and it really got me thinking. If you read the post it isn’t surprising if it leaves you thinking, anything who is even half awake should end up with gears chugging away in their head after it. It’s hard as a writer not to consider your own writing when you read something like this. So, yeah, I went there. Here are some of my thoughts, lj cut for the disinterested.
I thought about the fact that with all my white MCs (not many of those to be truthful), and I think most of my secondarys that are white, I make it clear their heritage/culture beyond simply the whiteness. To me, it’s a part of who they are. What really got me thinking after I read this post is the fact is I didn’t ever notice the fact that so few of the books I read who have white MCs mention their culture. The characters are simply white, there families are white, with no mention of anything beyond that.
I guess when I wrote the novels/stories in question, I just took for granted if they were a character of any importance, then I would fully need to develop them, and that their culture was a part of that. I never thought of that as an unusual way of character building, but perhaps because my own culture is so very important to me, the cultures of all my characters are an important factor as well. Even if they are mixes in heritage, there is generally one or even a couple cultures they most strongly identify with.
Ancestral Magic: Meg is Irish and Welsh by heritage, Zoya immigrated from Russian, and The Harpers are Irish (hmmm I think I ran out of white folk here)
Okay thinking about Ancestral Magic the only white characters of any note are my villains the Donaldsons, for which I never do go into any culture where they are related, because they don’t really identify with a culture. They see themselves as White Americans, and part of the social elite. Except for Tom, but I’ll not spoil his surprise…you’ll have to read the book when it comes out in a few weeks *wink*
ETA: jesurgislac makes a really good point below. Though in a couple cases my villains do not see themselves as having any cultural or ethnic identity, I as the one creating the characters are aware of their culture as Americans, and how that affects their way they see others as well as how they see themselves. Even when I don’t go into describing that identity in the written work, I still remain aware of it in my own mind because of how it affects the wholeness of the characters themselves.
I remember in my ramblings, it seemed odd that of all the character I focus on, they would be the ones I would spend no time delving on where they came from, what their background is, nothing of that sort., when in most other cases I make a character ethnic/cultural identities easy to pick out (hopefully without beating the readers over the head with it :) ) My apogees to my readers for being unclear, and thanks to jesurgislac for poking me about the mistake. I urge writers to check out these comments below to find some important insight in things to think about when writing such characters.
Natural Order: Greer- Irish (okay, I’m seeing a pattern here, but I swear not all my white folk are Irish.), Wanda and her daughter Alexia - they identify as German, and though I don’t go deeply into the topic, I do clue folks into that by the names Wanda names her kids. (oops I think I ran out of white folk at least on the good guy side)
Once again my villain’s heritage is not mentioned, though I am aware as I am with all my characters what heritage they descend from. I really have to be. I’m wacko particular when it comes to choosing names, and that almost always goes back to a character’s cultural background. As a writer I can’t imagine writing a fully developed story without it. Even in my short stories, or flash fiction, if I’m not able to go into detail about a character’s culture, that culture (s) are still part of that characters development, which will most often be shown my the name I choose.
I won’t bore you all my listing through all of my stories. And since I’ve been up thinking about this since 4am I worry that I’m not being completely coherent. (never check lj when you can’t get back to sleep…it won’t help), and if I am I apologize. Read Mary Anne Mohanraj Gets You Up to Speed, Part II. You’ll be glad you did.
I thought about the fact that with all my white MCs (not many of those to be truthful), and I think most of my secondarys that are white, I make it clear their heritage/culture beyond simply the whiteness. To me, it’s a part of who they are. What really got me thinking after I read this post is the fact is I didn’t ever notice the fact that so few of the books I read who have white MCs mention their culture. The characters are simply white, there families are white, with no mention of anything beyond that.
I guess when I wrote the novels/stories in question, I just took for granted if they were a character of any importance, then I would fully need to develop them, and that their culture was a part of that. I never thought of that as an unusual way of character building, but perhaps because my own culture is so very important to me, the cultures of all my characters are an important factor as well. Even if they are mixes in heritage, there is generally one or even a couple cultures they most strongly identify with.
Ancestral Magic: Meg is Irish and Welsh by heritage, Zoya immigrated from Russian, and The Harpers are Irish (hmmm I think I ran out of white folk here)
Okay thinking about Ancestral Magic the only white characters of any note are my villains the Donaldsons, for which I never do go into any culture where they are related, because they don’t really identify with a culture. They see themselves as White Americans, and part of the social elite. Except for Tom, but I’ll not spoil his surprise…you’ll have to read the book when it comes out in a few weeks *wink*
ETA: jesurgislac makes a really good point below. Though in a couple cases my villains do not see themselves as having any cultural or ethnic identity, I as the one creating the characters are aware of their culture as Americans, and how that affects their way they see others as well as how they see themselves. Even when I don’t go into describing that identity in the written work, I still remain aware of it in my own mind because of how it affects the wholeness of the characters themselves.
I remember in my ramblings, it seemed odd that of all the character I focus on, they would be the ones I would spend no time delving on where they came from, what their background is, nothing of that sort., when in most other cases I make a character ethnic/cultural identities easy to pick out (hopefully without beating the readers over the head with it :) ) My apogees to my readers for being unclear, and thanks to jesurgislac for poking me about the mistake. I urge writers to check out these comments below to find some important insight in things to think about when writing such characters.
Natural Order: Greer- Irish (okay, I’m seeing a pattern here, but I swear not all my white folk are Irish.), Wanda and her daughter Alexia - they identify as German, and though I don’t go deeply into the topic, I do clue folks into that by the names Wanda names her kids. (oops I think I ran out of white folk at least on the good guy side)
Once again my villain’s heritage is not mentioned, though I am aware as I am with all my characters what heritage they descend from. I really have to be. I’m wacko particular when it comes to choosing names, and that almost always goes back to a character’s cultural background. As a writer I can’t imagine writing a fully developed story without it. Even in my short stories, or flash fiction, if I’m not able to go into detail about a character’s culture, that culture (s) are still part of that characters development, which will most often be shown my the name I choose.
I won’t bore you all my listing through all of my stories. And since I’ve been up thinking about this since 4am I worry that I’m not being completely coherent. (never check lj when you can’t get back to sleep…it won’t help), and if I am I apologize. Read Mary Anne Mohanraj Gets You Up to Speed, Part II. You’ll be glad you did.