Finding Diversity
We walked outside after we got home from work!
I know, boring, but it’s fucking February! This is a big deal to us.
I’m still editing the contemporary novel. I have a list of revisions I need to make:
Fix the family scenes
Stop white-washing LA
Explain the living arrangements better
Stop white-washing LA (If you follow It’s About the Book reviews, you know what made me think about this now.)
This novel has diversity, but not enough. The Mexican first love, the German replacement (who is white, so probably doesn’t count), the charming and talented African American actress, the Puerto Rican dating disaster. The talent agency I’ve created focuses on diverse performers, but most are not major characters and don’t have names.
Both of my main characters are white, middle-class cis-male almost-celebrities. They’re like…B-List? Maybe C-List? They’re surrounded by beauty and color and I need to show that.
I know. This should have been a focus while I was writing. In my defense, I live in white middle-class suburbia. I befriended the first black person I met in real life because OMG A REAL BLACK PERSON. (And he’s hilarious. Besides, Consuela would have tried to strangle me in my sleep if we weren’t friends.)
I live in the biggest city in my state, and I still see a wall of mostly-white, everywhere I look.
I want to change that in my stories. I want my world to seem natural, but I also need it to seem real. The real world is alight with the brilliant colors of the rainbow, and beyond. It’s time to bring that light into my novel, and let it shine.