Back in 2010, I decided to write a deaf private investigator ~ in
the 1700s. I called him a “Discreet Gentleman of Discovery” and he turned into
a five-book series published by Desert Breeze Publishing whose Editor-in-Chief
had a severe hearing loss. DBP closed their doors last year, so when the rights
reverted to me I re-edited and republished the series. And I decided to write a
sixth book.
That book takes place twenty years later and is the story of the
deaf foster son who takes over the discovery business along with his hearing
brother. His heroine in the story is legally (not totally) blind. In the 1700s.
For the record, I have excellent hearing. I am quite nearsighted,
but not to an extreme. I am writing “what I am not.”
Most discussions about diversity center on race, so my deaf
characters flew under the radar until 2016 when I had the audacity to apply to
speak at the Romance Writers of America national conference about writing
differently-abled characters.
A month before the conference, when the speakers and their topics
were published, I was publically and viciously attacked in a Twitter storm
which had me pulled from the program within 12 hours. Loooong story shortened,
after I did get to co-present alongside a very kind author with a hearing loss,
she said to me:
“The real question here is why aren’t we talking about this?
Why were you the one to stand up?”
Excellent question.
The world of “othered” people is clamoring for more books which
represent them. I want to continue to write books that represent them. But many
don’t think I should. Some call it “stealing our voice.” Others call it
“appropriating my culture.”
What they do not take into consideration are:
1. Right now, the demand far outstrips the supply. Better get
writing, and write fast, as the void is growing.
2. With all of us working together, then the “other” becomes
mainstream. Someone might read my “discreet gentleman” because they love the
rest of the Hansen series, and be so intrigued that they seek out other books
with deaf characters. Win-win.
3. Will everyone get it “right”? No. And that is true across the entire
spectrum of books about everything. But when we who are writing “what
we are not” are silenced, then those of us who 1) research heavily, and 2) utilize
those who know to proof our
manuscripts, are made the enemy. Lose-lose.
So I forge on. My next book after the deaf/blind characters has a
heroine with a trauma-induced stutter who passes herself off as a man ~ in the
mid 1800s. Not sure what will come after that. What I do know is that I will
continue to make my characters diverse.
In 2016 at the RWA conference, several people recognized my name
when they saw my nametag. Most were very sorry that they were not able to hear what
I had to say. One woman however, broke my heart when she said, “My nephew has
cerebral palsy, I wanted to write a character with CP but now I’m afraid to.”
I hugged her and whispered, “Write the damn book.”
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| KRIS TUALLA |
Kris Tualla, a dynamic award-winning and internationally published author of historical romance and suspense, has created a dynasty with The Hansen Series. A member of Romance Writers of America, the Historical Novel Society, and Sisters in Crime, she was a guest instructor at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. Two of her WWII novels have been optioned for a limited series.
5 comments:
Thank you for writing about what has sometimes been a painful experience, and for caring enough to persevere. From the outset, I have tried to make my stories realistic by including all sorts of people. If I only wrote about people like me, my world would not be at all realistic and would leave many readers feeling left out in the cold.
We all deserve to see ourselves represented in the books we read. As authors, we all have a responsibility to do the work entailed in writing authentic characters. It takes courage and commitment, and a willingness to own up to mistakes. The Writers for Diversity Facebook Group is a wonderful resource: a safe place to ask questions of people who "live the life" of the character you are writing.
Have courage! Write the damn book!
Kris, I to have had the wrath for writing what I am not. When I first published my Spirit trilogy with an all Native American cast- I had one Native American man who followed me on all the blogs I guested at and told me I didn't know what I was writing about and how could it write what I was not. Fortunately I had been in contacted with two Nez Perce people, a man and a woman. I'd researched and asked them many questions to make sure my books wouldn't offend and were written accurately (they were historical) The woman would take questions she couldn't ask to her elders. When I contacted the Nez Perce counsel because this man would not stop following and commenting on the blogs, they said they'd heard of me and my books and respected what I'd written. They would talk to the man. I didn't have him bothering me again.
And I still write Native American characters. I believe they are a minority that has flourished when others would have not. I want to portray them the best I can and have readers who help me.
I have also had characters with disabilities. And so far no one has blasted me, but I agree, if we, who are not what we write can show these people in our books, others may treat them differently. And we should not be harassed for shining a good light on them.
Thanks for being at Romancing the Genres today! And keep writing. Now I have to go get your book. It sounds great!
Kris, I recall the 2016 Storm over your RWA National's presentation and I read a couple of days of PAN forum "discussion" about diversity and inclusion. I wish the RWA Board luck in coming up with a win-win solution.
Everyone has a bias about something. I've one about the color orange and the vegetable eggplant. Some people ridicule the comparison but if people can't agree on something as simple as a color and a food, how can they agree on something far more complex regarding diversity and who has "the right" to write about differently-abled characters.
So, I come back to what Sarah said "Write the damn book" and more specifically we all need to write the books to the best of our ability, doing the work, the research, using the expertise of someone who is living that life. I don't agree that we should stop or not write these books.
We're very glad you were able to join us this month as we Celebrate Writing Diverse Characters.
Thoughtful post, Kris. We all have to find a way to be a good ally for those who are in underrepresented or diverse groups, and do what is best in our eyes. Not everyone will agree with our choices. For myself, I try to show diversity in my characters, but let others write #ownvoices main characters. But I won't judge other writers who come up with different solutions.
Thank you for bringing up this topic. It is a dilemma I believe all writer's share, including those who do write about themselves or their own underrepresented culture. I too have been afraid to write diverse characters within the contemporary romance arena. I have left all my diversity to fantasy and SF because people seem to accept those representations better.
I took a class on writing diverse characters from Barbara Binns--a member of this blog. When I shared my concerns and experience around writing diverse characters she reminded me of something really important. She reminded me that no population or category of people is homogenous. In other words, what one member of that population thinks is not necessarily indicative of what all members think. I do highly recommend her class. Even though I consider myself a pretty diverse thinker because in my large family I have in-laws from many races: African American, Indian (from India), and Mexican. I also have nephews and nieces who identify as lesbian, gay, and gender fluid. And one niece who is married to a transgendered person.
In spite of all that, Barbara's class REALLY challenged my thinking about diversity in all those ways where I did have experience AND in ways I never considered. Her examples are stellar and I will continue to return to them again and again to remind me of both the diversity of human experience, as well as so much we have in common.
In terms of those who loudly complain and call us to task, it is one of those things that we all experience even when we aren't writing diverse characters. Whenever you write emotional novels, you are tapping into a deep place in your readers psyche and that can definitely trigger painful experiences.
One of my contemporary romance novels is about my heroines rape and its after effects on her view of herself and her view of relationships. I have been raped myself, but I know that my experience is not that of everyone else. I've also been rape crisis counselor in the past. IN spite of all that, when the book came out, someone gave me a bad review telling me that anyone who had really been raped would never act like my heroine. They would never be able to have a sexual relationship so soon afterward.
I could have fought with her on that and gone into my personal history. Or been scared that I'd misrepresented the experience. Or just been concerned that I had a review denigrating my book on it's core principle. Instead, I wrote her privately and told her I was so sorry she'd experienced that and that it was so painful. If she'd like to share her story I would love to hear it and keep it mind for future books or discussions with readers. She shared her story through emails and just in sharing it, she felt heard and respected. She has now become one of my biggest fans.
I've always believed, and still do, that if we write from true emotion with every character that we will be true to the story and the individual, no matter the background. When it comes to love and loss, heartache and triumph, we are all alike. It is when we make assumptions as to how a particular group talks, walks, stays undercover or comes out, that we can run into difficulty.
I agree with you Kris, go ahead and write the book. I believe if we are doing it with love, our best research, and strive not to stereotype, that we should be proud of it. If the only people allowed to write about an experience are those who have lived that experience, we have defeated all the hard work of diversity--the work of being able to understand and identify with a person who has a life unlike ours.
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