I would say, It's ok for her to be black. But don't make her come from the ghetto, with weave and doing crack, listening to wrap with twelve kids. The problem occurs when you make her like every black person you've seen on tv. What if she is from Paris, Germany or some other Country. How will she be different from the stereotypical black people you see on tv.
I agree. It's all good unless she is always talking about how she loves fried chicken and kool-aid and her babydaddy in prison.
Good luck trying to stop that. Do you know how many Mafia jokes I've heard in my lifetime? Heck, I don't even eat Italian food. And I carry a Zero Tolerance knife, not some cheap stiletto. Do you really think our modern enlightened society believes that? I was fired from a local publishing company, and the guy who was responsible for my dismissal shook like jello during the procedure. Gave me all kinds of severance benefits and agreed to pay unemployment benefits without question. He had heard a rumor that two of my cousins worked for the mob. Sheez Louise...
It's a sad commentary on racism when Mary J Blige's McDonalds commercial had to be pulled because she sang about fried chicken. Damned good thing she didn't mention watermelon. So who is the racist? The person who allowed that commercial on the air, or the people who decided it was racial stereotyping?
@everyone worried I'll make her "ghetto-fabulous": Haha, no way, Monique is totally different, for starters, her boyfriend is a mad scientist and he is most certainly not in prison (yet!) I don't know what kind of food she likes, but she is definitely more of a foie gras than fried chicken. She's very athletic so I think she counts calories. Actually, she is a bit of a snob, very well educated and quite badass. @Cogito: Watermelon? It's my favourite food! In my country, watermelons are awesome and now living in the UK for so long, I can't find a decent one (or mangoes for that matter). I'm always going on about it
Is there anyway I could get you to change the character into a gay, left-handed Bavarian dwarf? At least that way we could offend everyone and maybe get Gloria Allred to help finance your book because you're female.
No, sorry, there isn't. But perhaps you should wait for the book to come out and read it, before you make your judgements? Just a suggestion
Personally, I think the 'mad scientist' of the villain is a bit...er...cliched. :/ Can she just not be married? Male villains get to do their thing as bachelors, no? Why not her?
Well, I'm black and I'm a girl and I'm not offended by the idea at all. Can there be challenges writing from 'outside' of your ethnicity? Sure, but it's probably not much more challenging than writing a character who's a different gender or from another country. One word of caution though: be wary of portraying her as some sort of hyper-sexual temptress. It's not as much of an overt stereotype as the fried chicken and welfare thing, but it's an old trope that tends to upset people. Not saying she can't be sexual at all and I'm not saying you had any particular intentions one way or the other, but it's something to think about.
Race really shouldn't matter. I mean, sure, you might feel like her race may somehow insult whatever race you plan on making her, but it's not true. Seriously. You shouldn't be thinking that way. I believe that as soon as you start getting effy about doing something because of fear of stereotypes, thing's won't end well. These sort of thoughts (may) force your writing to feel self-conscious and doubtful as to the identity of your character. Still, I maintain that it doesn't make a difference. People of certain groups will always try to use whatever you do against you. Even the best of authors get's chewed out by egotistical reviewers who don't know what their talking about. Just go with it. However, if your having serious doubts about this, drop it like it's hot. A character will only sound as strong and as real as you believe her/him to be. Another tip would be to make her race unknown. It works, trust me. I've read a couple books where the author never tells you a character is whatever race, doesn't even use generic stereo-typing to tell you what the character looks like, and it makes the book better for it. Or better yet, drop it like a fricken bomb at later stages of the story. That should rip apart any kind of stereotyping fears you may have. One thing I try to remember is the characters character is who they are. Go about the story and have her be as mean as you want her to be, but only drop that bomb later in the book/novel/story. Try to be vague, don't say, black skin, go for something like, dark skin. Sort-of the same thing but it's not, it leaves more to the imagination and lets the character speak for who they are. Your character is not black. You character is (insert name). That's what makes a difference in terms of whether your stereotyping or not. When you think of her, she should come to you as she is. Not as a color or race or gender. Hope I helped..
Yes, but my mad scientist is different. Trust me, not a cliche at all Lol, I joke, look, I just called him a "mad scientist" because he is a scientist and he is messed up, but he isn't a comic-book character by any means. And they aren't married, they are having a clandestine affair. @Silhouette: that's a very good point, thank you She isn't a sexual tour de force, but she has relationship issues. @KazuHira: at her work, it's more of a problem she is a female than her race. Actually, race is not a problem in the book, vampires do not see race as an issue, and humans have largely moved on, so it's a non-issue. Also, of course, descriptions are as for any other character, not overt and not focusing on anything in particular. She will be known to be black but it will be done in the same way that will declare anyone else's physical appearance. I think by making it a non-issue in the book, it will speak loudly against prejudices we have in the society today. @Piankhy: haha, well, yes, I have baddie men too, but actually, come to think of it, there isn't a significant WASP male villain in it at all There are bad white guys, mainly politicians, but they have only themselves to blame for that
Ya' know, I thought about this last night. I have only two female characters in my story. One is the head of her government, the other one has more muscles than most of the other characters. In fact, they are really boys with boobs. They have to be that way. The government character needs to make unilateral decisions, and the muscular one needs to be in the company of men to advance the plot. You might make a very good case that these women are not typical, and don't live in your neighborhood. Well, very few of them live in mine, but they have at various times. The government head needs to be female, but I actually enjoy writing for the muscular one. So I guess a scientist can be "mad" just as long as no one criticizes me for including strong women without the hint of weaker ones.
@Tourist: Banal example, you are writing a story about white fluffy bunnies playing on the field in summer. Happy ending, everything is lovely. You'll get a host of complainers, from those who hate bunnies, or are scared of them, to those who feel that you should have written about black and red bunnies also, to those who feel that you were unrealistic because you didn't show at least one of them killed by a fox to those who will object to you writing about bunnies in the first place, you should really be writing about foxes. And then someone will come along and say you are actually hurting the bunnies by pretending they have such easy lives, you are devaluing their hardship and struggle for survival, and that you are responsible for everyone who, after reading your book, chooses to believe all bunnies are white, fluffy and happy, how dare you! There's just no way of pleasing everyone, no matter what you do.
When you reach my age it becomes a waste of time to try and please anybody. I write a story that I'd want to read. When you start writing stories to garner a demographic then you're making compromises. If you have a doubt or a concern, then do research. If it's an elf fantasy, then make sure your characters conform to the world you have provided. Personally, I like strong women--with beautiful hands. I've been a sucker for them since the age of five. YMMV. If you keep giving pieces of yourself away at the stage that I'm at, what little time you might have left is wasted pleasing everyone else but yourself. And that's the ultimate waste. Besides, what are they going to do? Yell at me?
You should be allowed to write a black antagonist without concern. Unfortunately, indeed, some people out there might be critical about this choice. Well, no matter what we write, someone's going to get upset. In the end, it's the author's decision.
