Writing Diverse Characters

A photo from my trip to the beach.

I don't care to be a person who follows what others think. I'm not a person who follows trends or has to have the latest of anything.

However, I spent last Saturday at a Diversity Conference for Writers sponsored by Oregon Writers Colony. I didn't go to this conference because Diversity is the new buzz word. I went because I write one and soon two series who have Native American main characters. And even in my westerns I tend to add people from all walks of life. I've always believed the world was made up of a kaleidoscope of people.  From their ethnicity to their religion and every thing in between, having this mixture is a wonderful way to keep the world interesting.

Growing up the rural area where I lived was all white other than a few Basque families. Or so I thought. It wasn't until I was an adult I learned there had been a Black man living in one of the towns. I had never heard of him or seen him. I learned about all the different cultures, religions, and ways of life from reading books and watching television. There was a world of exciting people outside our little rural community.

There was a comment made at the conference that I wish I had had the nerve at the time to refute. One participant said she thought the rural people were the ones who held onto the old ways of White supremacy. Having grown up rural and continued to live rural, I don't see that. You could say she was bigoted toward rural people.

The speakers on Saturday were interesting, funny, and motivational. They talked about history and about change. About word choices and being aware of differences and not stereotyping or falling into the trap of trying to make them different.

We started off with a keynote address "Does Difference make a Difference for Writers?" by Kathleen Saadat. It was full of great words of wisdom and started the event off with a feeling this was going to help me be a better writer.

The first workshop I attended was Power, Privilege, and Writing with Emily Prado and Nancy Slavin. I have to say, I felt this one was too politically correct. There were words they said shouldn't be used that could have a totally different meaning than to be putting someone down. I think you can go overboard on this policing.

After lunch Poet, Emmett Wheatfall handed out a packet of his poems. They were thought provoking and made me realize a poem can sound better when read by the poet. They put the right emphasis on words to make the piece sound completely different than when reading it yourself.

Then there was a panel of  Poet Laureate Elizabeth Woody, comedian Debbie Wooten, Novelist D'Norgia Tayplor-Price, and  graphic artist and graphic novelist Brian Parker. They talked about "Including Many Voices in the Creative Arts and Publishing." The information about their lives, how they came to where they were and how to keep making Publishing a place that really encompasses all cultures was uplifting. Debbie had us laughing a lot!

The last workshop I took was "Writing About a Culture Other Than Your Own" by D'Norgia Taylor-Price. She has a nice delivery and gave us a handout and we had to pick a culture and world different than our own and take 15 minutes to write it up.

This was my short story:
Angela Flores stood on the small balcony of her new studio apartment. Three years ago she'd decided to become more than a motel maid. A month ago that dream came true. She'd registered at the Culinary Institute.Cooking with her abuela always made her happy.

She wanted a job, a career. Where even if she was tired at the end of the day, she would feel fulfilled. There had been too many nights her mother could come home complaining about her day.

Angela didn't want to be worn out and bitter in twenty years. 

 Children played in the street below. Luck and her aunt had found the small apartment that allowed dogs. Moving to town where she knew only her aunt, Angela wanted Melody with her. This area was pet friendly and a young mother in the building had offered to take the mid-sized poodle for walks every day while Angela was at school. 

Angela stepped back in the apartment to finish unpacking when Melody yelped.

She spun around and found a rock next to her cowering dog. 

I learned I have been doing everything right while writing my books with characters of a culture than my own. I've respected that they are people with the same feelings and dreams as me. But there may be some ways they live or even some aspects in life they will see differently than me. That calls for researching the culture and having someone from that culture review my writing before it is printed. That's what I do with a sensitivity reader. Someone of or who knows the Native American culture I write about who can tell me when I'm off or clueless.

I went to the conference to see if I needed to be doing something different and it turns out I've been doing what I needed to do to write characters in a culture other than my own.

My experiment with Dictating

Oh my!

Because I do so much driving several writer friends who use Dragon transcription software thought it would help me get my projects done faster if I used it.

I am going to be on the road a lot the next couple of months and if I could equate those hours into words on a manuscript, I would be a happy camper!

I purchased Dragon. I purchased the lapel mic and recorder recommended.

My first attempt was horrifying! at first I stammered, couldn't think coherently and even that wasn't as bad as the mispronunciation that came out in print when I downloaded it.

Here is a sample of the first attempt:

He may held up the held up the towels so that she would be the young woman stepped out of the tub when she felt the body pushing against the towel she wrapped around her. “Let me get this drain this water and then I hope you dress.” Lottie Mae it’s a golf Lottie made nerves to to put her hand in the water pulled the plug and let knowing that the team tend to the water was from all the blood that had been on the young woman. When she stood Dari found Dari just staring staring at herself in the small mirror off hanging on the wall. “I know you feel like your world has been turned upside down and that he’ll never be the same. But I can tell you from from experience that you will just give yourself time think positive. If taking me a while and I finally feeling like I be a whole person again and you will to.” Lottie started rubbing the towel on the girls body and she went and cried out.

I’m sorry. I forgot that you have the I’ll let you I’ll let you do that drawing.” Lottie turned her back to the to the young woman and picked up the clothing that she had brought in and pick up the clothing that she had worn over here from from the from the from savanna.

It will take me a while to figure out what I was even saying. I was frustrated to say the least. I had asked on the Dragon FB group how about classic books I'd read at one time to use to get the diction correct. They told me to use my own chapters. I did and this is the mess I had.

After emailing with a friend who uses Dragon, I decided to find those classic excerpts. I did and read one into my recorder and uploaded it. then I went for a walk and dictated more of my book.

This is what I had that time:

Even his touch squeezing her hand with his gentle as a child. This large man would never hurt anything or anyone. That was one of the things that she had learned and one of the reasons that she her affections were growing him. “I know you would never hurt me. But the community the people,. I don’t want anyone thinking, or make for believing, I just…” She didn’t know how to say she didn’t want to ruin his reputation by there being friends or even more. It wasn’t just his invitation she was worried about, she’d had hers ruined before. And she didn’t want to go through that again. “I I have a path. The path that I don’t want to relive again.”

“I know all the women who work at the silver dollar has had trouble. Everyone in town knows that Bo has taken you and, and has given you new life. As your past doesn’t matter to me, I know the woman you are now.” Manfred continued hold her hand in his some skin softly back and forth across her palms.

Jingles warmed warmed her arms and settled in her heart. If there was ever a man, who could forget her past I love her for who she was, it was this man. She smiled at him, “I have dreamed of finding a man like you. Someone who would believe the rumors of my past, and would believe in me for who I am.”

Manfred smiled. He raised her hand to his lips, kissed it gently, and placed her hand back on her me and released her hand. “I know how to be a gentleman. I would do nothing to ruin your reputation. But I do wish to see you often. Especially after I have become your best student.”

The dictation is getting easier for me to do and it is picking up the way I say words better. I'm now a happy camper because I'll have 10 hours of driving this week that I can dictate and have a book to edit when I get home!

This is the book I'm working to get finished:

Layers of Editing

Every book, short story, or article that is written goes through levels of editing. 

First there are the layers you as a writer do to your work.

*Adding description and emotion.

*Checking pacing and realistic dialogue.

*Then the all important grammar and flow. 

After you’ve added all the sparkle you think is necessary, the story should/needs to go to one or two critique partners or beta readers. If they are good, someone who doesn't just say they love what you did, they will have more for you to rethink or make clearer that has to do with the big picture or character development.

Once your story has gone through your sparkle, your cp or beta reader, if you're sending to an agent or editor to read, you send it off. 

Agent or Editor Submissions:

 

You sent the story to an editor or agent. The call comes! They want your story. If it’s an agent who is very hands-on he/she may have some ideas for the story that will help them sell it to a publisher. Depending on how strong you feel about your story take those suggestions into consideration, after all, they’ve been in the business longer than you have. If an editor buys your story it has more edits to go through. The attitude you take while it goes through the edits could be the difference between you getting more contracts with that publisher.

 

The editor will read through your work and perhaps have some ideas to add to the story or ways to punch up the plot, emotion, or characters. Some may resonate with you and others may not. Don’t jump on the suggestions or decline them until you’ve had time to think about the editor’s suggestions. If you see how they enhance the story work on the changes. If you’re unsure, open up a calm dialogue with the editor discussing his/her reasoning and your reluctance. Remember the editor is working to make your story a best seller, so listen with an open mind.

Once the editor has the finished project the line edits may begin or they could have been in the major edits the editor asked for. Every house and editor does things differently. Again, keep an open mind, especially if your “style” isn’t conventional. You may have to again go to bat for your sentence structure to keep your “voice”. But don’t get snotty or obstinate. State your reasoning and work with the editor. 

The same goes for copy editing. They are the last round of edits, and they make sure the commas, colons, and hyphens are correct as well as spelling and sentence structure. Here again, you may have to work with them if your style is unconventional. Remain calm and discuss the reasons for the unusual style or concede here and there to allow them to make it clearer for the reader. 

Self-publishing:

If you are self-publishing, after you add in your CP or beta reader's comments and suggestions(again it is your book, make sure the suggestions enhance the story) the manuscript, short story, or article needs to go through a freelance editor or another person who you trust with editing. When that comes back, you again look it over, make sure their edits make senses. Read it through one more time and then send it to a  copy or line editor. This is a person who knows grammar and punctuation.When it comes back from this person, again, go over it one more time after adding their suggestions. 

No matter how many eyes look at a story there is always something that gets missed. 

The thing to remember with all editing processes from your critique partners to the editors and copy editors everyone is on your team and trying to make your story the best it can be. Don’t be a  diva and go at edits with the attitude your writing is perfect and you don’t require help. No one writes perfectly and having people with experience and expertise look at your work can only make it better.

Happy Writing!