Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

I'm off to a less than stellar start this writing week. I didn't realize I had put my full name on my Love's an Open road prompt when no one else did. Embarrassing. AND I missed the opportunity to DO one because it was a bidding war (well not really but it was first come first serve) for them. I did get my prompt picked up but since it happened during the power outage I totally missed it. I offered to beta read and I'll look to see if there any abandoned prompts I want to do.

In the meantime I want to try for the m/m/m anthology by Wayward Ink but man there is very little time on this one (or it didn't show up the last time I looked). I KNOW I know I said no more anthologies but it might be nice to be in with another publishing house. Also I wanted to revisit my Athens trio from the above mentioned group's prompt last year which is STILL my highest rated story (I find that oddly embarrassing).

But it also got me thinking about diversity of characters. No not gender or race since I've discussed that before, though that still applies, I just meant am I writing the same sort of characters again and again. IN some ways I am. Is that a bad thing? I don't know. Maybe.

I look over my collection of characters and realize I've written exactly one overweight character. ONE! Ben, my chunky Native American boy from Splinters of Silver and Cold Iron. Wow. I tend to write middle class characters but I am working with two wealthy characters now, Aneurin and Arrigo. (though I suppose most of my vampires are wealthy) and that's easy. It's the lower class characters I struggle with and don't often use.

In that respect Luc is being very hard for me to write because not only is he poor, which isn't that hard, but he's also uneducated and that IS hard. It shouldn't be. I should write him like he was one of my students because I teach in an area of high illiteracy rates. I'm struggling with his dialogue especially.

I tend to keep to a certain group of jobs too. Doctors, nurses, teachers and cops. I know a lot about them. Is that a certain laziness on my part? Maybe. I find it hard to research things I don't like just to have a character be that thing. I won't write things that are badly researched (or I should hope not). There are a ton of careers I just have no interest in and would probably lose interest in writing about.

I would like to write in the future someone in the funerary business and a dancer (though after an injury that forces him into another career) or singer (after a psycho fan has ruined his voice, do we see a theme? CoM and her damaged men....might that be predictable too?) I think that sort of research would be fun.

I don't write many children. Maybe I should stretch in that direction. I had considered writing a YA about a teenaged mother. That would be a stretch.

Still trying to figure out a way to do racial diversity that doesn't make me feel like I'm walking on egg shells. In the 90s I had more racially diverse character than now. Thanks to the internet, all I see are people accused of racism for NOT using racially diverse characters and at the same time being blasted for NOT using them right. In the back of my head I have this voice saying you haven't written a Native American in nearly a decade and this is why. Am I being stereotypical by having Thanda being dark-skinned and into music, yet another little voice asks. Warun was African-Asian and no one seemed to notice and was that because he was a doctor? I don't know. I could be reading far too much into it, worrying too much.

So how about you? Are you in a character rut too? What plans do you have to work on that?

Also I'm so sorry I couldn't be in Orlando this weekend with Dreamspinner's Author Workshop. They went to the P.House!


Yearly word count -

12365 / 110000
(11.24%)

Been another shit week for writing. Even before the power went out. I've lost most of my motivation for working on Blood Red Roulette. I edited nothing for SPlinters. I did try to start something new. Mostly now waiting on edits from Soldiers of the Sun so expect whining and crying and other hysterics.

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Awww, the Parliament House! I wonder if Miss P is still the M.C. there for the drag races.

I was thinking the other day about my OCs and wondering if I was writing the same characters over and over. Even if I put them in different circumstances.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I know. I really wish I could have gone.

Yeah, same here. Speaking of which I found some of Fen's story printed out. Do you want that back? I wasn't sure if you had it somewhere or not

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Sure, send Fen's stuff back. I think I have it on my thumbdrive, but another copy isn't that bad a thing to have.

It sounds like it would've been a much better trip than the one you had.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

okay I'll send it along sometime

yes it did. Oh well I need to get someone to cover this summer so I can go to Tampa

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Coolness.

True, true.

[bay115.livejournal.com]

Thanks to the internet, all I see are people accused of racism for NOT using racially diverse characters and at the same time being blasted for NOT using them right.

There is truth that a lot of times a white person's voice is often heard more than a person of color's, hence there needs to be more racially diverse writers. My problem though is some people can be pretty nasty about this, leaving some writers like you very intimidated by this. I can totally understand your anxiety as no matter what there will be those not happy because you're someone writing a different race.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

There is truth that a lot of times a white person's voice is often heard more than a person of color's, hence there needs to be more racially diverse writers.

Absolutely. I am all or this. It needs to happen. And you're also right, there will be people unhappy....about everything. You have to recognize that and set it aside. In some ways you can understand it. In the past people of non-Caucasian races were used as nothing but comic relief or otherwise very negatively. What needs to be remembered is times have changed, maybe not as much as they should have but still. Most people (I should hope) will not do that these days.

And still I see people saying we shouldn't be allowed to write Non-Caucasians (or hetereosexuals be allowed to write gays because man is that STILL a huge issue). It can get you down if you let it.

[crack-alchemist.livejournal.com]

As a writer, this drives me nuts. Your characters are your own, no matter their color or ethnicity. Non writers think that, for 'diversity's sake' you can fit your character into a mold that satisfies.

Don't let these people intimidate you into making YOUR characters something they're not.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

That's a very good point. To add to that authors need to just let those comments go. I've seen far too many authors, including a few major ones, try to defend themselves. It never goes well. It takes one negative comment that will probably soon be forgotten and fans it into something that'll go viral in an ugly way.