Chapter 7 “From Story to Art” – Section 4 “Diversity”
With Links to Supplementary Material
Diversity—it almost seems a trap word meant for snaring unwitting people into a political debate. But why is it important to writing? Many will argue that it is a means of political correctness, popularity, and seeming hip to all your liberal friends at the coffee shop. While coffee shop creds are pretty important, the real reason for creating a diversity of religion, nationality, culture, ethnicity, philosophy, sexual orientation, gender, economic background, and any other sort, is that it gives a new layer of depth and realism to anything you write. By understanding the specific ways in which to apply diversity so that it adds this depth, we can also learn how to use it to empower both our stories and our readers.
Tip 1: Take the time try to understand what creates diversity among humans, and what diversity really is.
What makes one person, people group, or group of sentient beings, different than another? The first and most basic element is physiological difference—whether gender, skin colors, physical build and muscle, perceived level of beauty, or a even different brain makeup. While these do not necessarily dictate a person's fate, depending on culture and the time in history, each of these affects the way a person is treated their entire life. This leads to the second factor, which is experience—the history of how one has been treated, has treated others, and had to cope with the many different sorts of difficulties in life. These coping mechanisms or adaptions to the world around us lead to the third step, when humans create a culture for teaching children how best to adapt to the same future struggles and dilemmas (or lack thereof). These teachings form beliefs in the minds of the children—the entire three-step process creating an infinite amount of diversity on all three levels of difference between humans. Understanding this process for each and every character and group of people, both fictional and real, will teach you to portray them with respect, empathy, and accuracy.
Tip 2: Emulate the complexity and depth of the real world by applying the same sorts of diversity to your fictional world.
Whether you are writing fantasy, sci-fi, modern fiction, or anything else, you should have people groups who believe, and act, and talk, look, and dress differently than others. This will reflect the truths of reality—leading to a believably complex world that the reader is familiar with. That doesn't mean that you have to make it an overarching theme that dominates the story. Just know your cultures and your subcultures based on the geographical space your characters happen to occupy during the story, know how those cultures believe and view one another, and allow this to be a consideration when they interact or perform actions in the story. And the more different perspectives that you engage throughout the story, the more deep and complex your story will have the potential to become.
Tip 3: Avoid tokens, and view characters in more complex terms.
A problem with modern storytelling are “token” characters: the token black friend, token Asian, token female love interest, token orc, token elf, token mother, token child, token gay, token lesbian, token football player, etc... These don't have to be inherently offensive stereotypes, just characters with little to no personality outside their label—only present in the story to “be fair” or because they could not be avoided in the setting. Remember that characters, just like people, are more than stereotypes and cultural traits. Traits that come from being part of a culture or subculture, while important, still only comprise a very small percent of the complex makeup that comprises any character or person. First and foremost in creating any character should be a consideration for their experiences, their choices, their desires, and their struggles—with culture serving as a bit of rosemary on top to help bring the flavors together.
Tip 4: Seek to humanize and find common ground within opposing groups.
When people think about diversity in writing, they often assume that it means picking a subculture that is being treated unfairly and showing how evil the people persecuting them are. This is neither accurate to the reality of the multifaceted nature of even people who do evil things, nor respectful towards the victims you patronized; and you will simply fuel embitterment between the two groups in real life. Tell the truth, but seek to find humanity and a common spirit that uplifts both subcultures beyond their hatred, and which shows that they are more alike than they are different. Pinpoint problems, yes, but also propose a true solution to those problems, with respect, and empathy, and understanding to all sides involved—even if some people are acting out of the less noble part of their nature.
Tip 5: Remember that you have a very diverse group of people on your side.
By portraying diversity in the subcultures and cultures listed above, and treating them with respect and thought, you will not get the angry mobs on your side. Some publishing companies might be confused as to why your characters are not under their approved list of token heroes, and refuse to publish your book. And, if you're really good at your job, you may even get dirty looks at your local coffee shop. But the reading community—the people who love truly good stories—are tired of limited perspectives, bigotry, and a rosy black and white view of the world. It may take time, and be more challenging, but you aren't alone. And the fame of that quality of story will not be able to be suppressed for long—including among the many people who share in the cultures that you treated with such understanding and respect.
I don't normally do this, but I highly encourage anybody who is interested in this topic or who would like to see it in practice to read “The Sea of Trolls” by Nancy Farmer. It is my all-time favorite book and has taught me more about the sort of writer that I want to become, than any other. I highly recommend it. And if you enjoy and learn from it as much as I did, feel free to let her know so I can get some brownie points with my favorite author
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Diversity—it almost seems a trap word meant for snaring unwitting people into a political debate. But why is it important to writing? Many will argue that it is a means of political correctness, popularity, and seeming hip to all your liberal friends at the coffee shop. While coffee shop creds are pretty important, the real reason for creating a diversity of religion, nationality, culture, ethnicity, philosophy, sexual orientation, gender, economic background, and any other sort, is that it gives a new layer of depth and realism to anything you write. By understanding the specific ways in which to apply diversity so that it adds this depth, we can also learn how to use it to empower both our stories and our readers.
I read somewhere about 'the rule of three'. Have three of the character to avoid tokenism. Three black people, three queer people, etc. It's a good way to avoid tokenism (as long as at least one of the characters is present for most of the book.) And have them pass the 'racial bechdel test'- your characters of color interact and talk without talking about or focusing on the/a white person.
Another thing I've come across is white people being afraid to write non-white characters because they don't want to offend anyone or get it wrong. This is a legitimate fear but not as hard a problem as it seems. The way most people see it is you can write POC without being one, but don't write about their feelings about and experiences with racism (which I'm assuming is where most of the controversy comes from). You will 9/10 get it wrong and offend people. People have a tendency to project their opinions. Like if you think racism is no big deal or doesn't exist anymore, and you have your character say that, it becomes painstakingly obvious that you are using that character as a mouthpiece. I've read books where the black character will tell someone that racism is dead or that 'they don't see color', and while there are black people who say these things and think it, I could tell it was written by a white/non black person of color. Just by the wording and the presentation of the words in the narrative. People of that racial or ethnic group will be able to tell.
And when I say don't write their experiences I don't mean never have anyone comment on their skin (as this does happen) moreso don't try and 'insert' yourself. For example, if you are not asian but your main character is, don't attempt to describe how devastated they felt when they busted their ass studying for your algebra test, and their friends brushed off the hard work it took to make an A because "you're asian, of course you're good at math". You do not know that complex experience and the emotions that go into the thought process unless you have experienced it. What I'm trying to say is, write as many brown characters as you like, but don't overstep. Same for writing religion, disability and gender. I've closed many a book because of male authors terrible 'strong female characters' and their attempt at making her sound like feminist when she really sounds like a mans poor attempt at a "revolutionary" character. I hope I didn't babble, lol.
This is a fantastic list of tips and I really enjoyed reading it.
