WRITE AGAINST TYPE by Sarah Raplee

BLIND LONG-DISTANCE HIKER TREVOR THOMAS
AND TENILLE, COLORADO TRAIL  2015

Want to make your characters well-rounded and authentic? Write against ‘type.’

Oxford Dictionaries defines a stereotype as “A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.”

The following examples of stereotypes apply to different groups if people:

• Mexican-Americans speak with an accent.
  
• People with tattoos are weird.
• Deaf people can’t speak.
  
• White people are racists.
• Native Americans live on reservations.
• Millennials have a lousy work ethic.
• Jocks are dumb.
• Lesbians hate men.
• People who need handicapped placards must look handicapped.
• Women make the best caretakers.
• Criminals have no good qualities.

The list goes on and on…

When you create a character who belongs to a marginalized group, or a group you do not belong to, don’t assume you know everything about them from your limited personal experience. Every group includes individuals that break the stereotype. Just because your grandpa is wise doesn't mean every Grandpa gives good advice.

Nor should you assume what you’ve seen in movies and tv shows, or read in novels is true for all members of a group. Stereotypes run rampant in the entertainment industry.

Writing stereotypical characters is lazy writing. Do your research to identify common stereotypes of that particular group, especially as depicted in movies, tv shows, video games and fiction. Talk to people who belong to that group. Ask them what they wished people understood about them. Learn about their culture, or how they do the activities of daily life differently than other groups of people.

Find opportunities to write your character ‘against type.’ For example, the heroine in my novel, BLINDSIGHT, is a red-haired Latina with pale skin and green eyes. Her father was from Chile, her mother was from Idaho. She goes against the stereotype of the dark-haired, dark-eyed, dark-skinned Latina. In fact, my research shows her looks, while not common in Chile, are not unheard of either. I also learned about some interesting Chilean cultural beliefs related to red hair which I touched on in my story. Going against type and including interesting cultural tidbits make her a more interesting, well-rounded character.

My heroine, Melisenda, is a blind wedding singer. I was friends with a blind wedding singer years ago when I lived in a different state and belonged to a support group for people with low vision. I had lost the sight in one eye from a medical condition and was at risk of losing the sight in my other eye. I spent a lot of time researching blindness and how blind people do things that sighted people take for granted. I also learned about some of the stereotypes that frustrate blind people. I decided to write Meli as a blind woman in order to refute some of those stereotypes.

Stereotype One: When a person loses their sight, they gain a ‘super sense’ in return.

This is a common theme in fiction, television shows and movies. A woman loses her sight in an accident and gains a psychic ability. A man loses his sight and becomes a superhero (The Daredevil). Blind people are forced to rely more and focus more on their other senses, but they don’t have “super” senses.

I write Paranormal Romantic Suspense. Meli does have a psychic Talent, but she was born with it. She lost her parents and her sight in a car accident when she was sixteen. The Universe did not reward her for her losses. Her “freak side” made adjusting to blindness that much harder.

Stereotype Two: Blindness equals helplessness.
Blind women, especially, are often portrayed as victims in fiction, television shows and movies. In reality, blind people tend to be quite resourceful and focused on their surroundings. In my story, Meli rescues the hero from a torture chamber. She knows she needs help to escape from the villain’s mansion into the wilderness, but she also knows she brings necessary skills to the table. She expects they will work as a team.

Stereotype Three: Blind people can’t camp, hike, rock climb, etc..

I knew from research this was not true. In fact, I was inspired to use a wilderness setting after reading about Blind Professional Long Distance Hiker Trevor Thomas. I revised Meli’s backstory so that her father was a forest ranger. She’d been camping and learning survival skills all her life, and her love of the outdoors drove her to learn how to navigate the outdoors without her sight. She learned to rock climb at the gym and later joined an outdoor climbing group.

The hero is from New Mexico and has little experience with the Pacific Northwestern wilderness, or with blind people. He comes to respect Meli’s skills and to realize his initial assessment of her as a necessary burden was wrong. She is an asset.

I strongly encourage you to use a sensitivity reader as described in C. Morgan Kennedy’s blog post, 5 Things You Need to Know About Sensitivity Readers. My sensitivity reader helped me to avoid some embarrassing mistakes. (We traded his read for my critique of his manuscript.)

I found a great resource for articles about racial, ethnic and sexual stereotypes on the ThoughtCo website, including Common Racial Stereotypes in Movies and Television.

What stereotypes many people have about you offend you? Please share in a comment.

~Sarah Raplee