Big Five, Sign On!

Hello!

What? Isn't it Monday? Why, yes, yes it is!

There are two things going on today. One is the Twitter push for the Big Five Publishers to be open about their diversity statistics via the Diversity Baseline Survey.

For the original tweet and petition from Lee&Low, click here.
Click here for more information about it from my writing pal SC.

So far, only Macmillan has signed the petition. If you've followed the #WriteInclusively or #WeNeedDiverseBooks hashtags, you'll understand the importance of having a diverse staff controlling what gets published.

As a child, there are only two stories I can remember reading that featured a young black girl. One was a book called Corduroy, about a teddy bear who wants to be sold, but the mother of the little girl who wants him says no because he's missing a button. The little girl is black, and I used to pretend that she was me.

The other book was an American Girl book for Addy, a slave girl in 1864. There have been many American Girls since Addy, but only one other that was a little black girl from 1850*, who wasn't a standalone character and was archived. The majority of the currently active dolls are not only white (6 of the 9), but little blonde girls (4 of the 6). Not only that, they archived Felicity, Kirsten, and Molly! (These were my three favorite girls.) No offense to the other little girls whom I haven't read as I aged out of interest in the stories, but these three were extremely diverse on the surface level alone. Felicity was a redhead who dared to put on pants in the 1770s; Kirsten was a Swedish immigrant; and Molly was the girl-next-door tomboy.

*Reading more on Cécile Rey, the other black American Girl, while I'm sure her character was whimsical, she seemed to be a pretty stereotypical black character. Paraphrase: Confident, curious, and loving the limelight, her lessons bored her, and she wanted to become an actress and loved to party. Hm...

And after 1864, where are the black American Girls? After 1824 where are the other American Girls of Color? Skimming through, I see Julie has a Chinese-American friend whose collection was archived in 2014. Can you imagine the interest the company could generate if they gave us, say, a black American Doll from 1958? Is that too hard a period to write about from that perspective? I know there is a glamorization of the time period because of the fashion and classiness, so maybe they just...I don't know.

And this is why it's important for people to mean what they say when they say they need diverse books. That also means you need to not only have people who advocate for diversity, but people who ARE diverse. They'll see those gems that the majority just might not feel are "right for them." They have a fresh take, a different eye. So I'm hoping the other 4 of the Big 5 will take a stand and follow suit.

Oh, by the way, this is a blog hop, so if you want to join in, scroll back up and click on SC's post to find the LinkyLink. :)

Friday Freeday: I'm not here today!

Good morning!

Today, I'm actually over at SC Author's blog for his new blog series about writing inclusively and diversity in books. You can click the link here, or his symbol for the movement on the right side of my blog.

Have a good weekend!

Friday Freeday: Being Black in Writerville

I alluded to this in my Wednesday post and am actually writing this on Wednesday because I won't be at my office.

But first, Happy Friday, and HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEENNN, ooooooo!!!!

Teehee. Now...

So, I'm black. haha (DUH, right?!). I don't call myself African American. I've often called myself an American of African Descent. That's more accurate. Africa's not even a country, so...anyhow.

Writing is already a profession/hobby/passion for which people give you strange looks when you tell them you do it. When I temped at Del State, an HBCU with a predominantly black staff, I used to work on my WIP at my computer. One of the ladies asked me what kind of stuff I write, and when I said fantasy, she was extremely confused (she kept asking me, "Like Star Wars?" which, duh, is science fiction). Black writers who do more than poetry and erotica? What?

Like, seriously, I had to Google black writers just now because the only one I could think of that wasn't Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, or the other classic writers was Zane. I know there are more because my cousin suffers through the WORST Netflix movies, some of which were based on books she'd read. I could be jaded, but in my opinion, black people tend to only read books that show them the "black experience": the streets, non-suburban, racial struggles, sex, hip-hop. I know that's partially untrue because my mother loves Shakespeare and Jane Austen, so I know there are more black people who do.

*raises hand* I didn't have the typical black experience, and I can't fit comfortably or truthfully into that kind of box, so I won't try.

There are 318.9 million people in the U.S. About 13% of them are black. About 190 of THEM (even though, some are probably nearly dead, and they counted Oprah, and I can't stand Oprah) are writers in some capacity. ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY! How many of THEM are speculative fiction writers?

There are 6 essential ones, according to Troy L. Wiggins. So that's 3% of black writers...What's the math on 6 out of 318.9 million? I feel like there will be an e next to the number (THERE IS! 1.880924913477454e-8).

So, prologue aside, when it comes to writing what I love, fantasy, I feel like I have a double-edged sword to battle: how can I be accepted by black readers who may not even read speculative fiction (though I know they're out there because I'm one), and how can I be accepted by non-black speculative fiction readers of a world dominated by non-black writers, agents, and publishers?

Because:

Just read an old review that said moving epic fantasy away from medieval Europe makes it hard to relate to the characters. Harder for whom?

— Debra McKellan (@DebraMcKellan) October 17, 2014

That was in response to a review I read about Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which I think has been taken down since I tweeted...I tried not to respond in a way that seemed attacking, but it was a serious question I had.

My WIP isn't set in a medieval European world, and when I had tried to do it even a little bit (Ghuli spoke straight out of King James's world), it sounded horribly forced. So there are elf-like people and giant-like people, but the world is an American Progressive Era world. The ones who lived in what would probably be considered medieval European were wiped out before the story began. You see mules and steam-powered vehicles more than horses and only one actual castle. The characters speak differently depending on their nationality, but there are no forthwith's or Your Grace's (though I do use howbeit and my lady). Will readers who love Euro-centric fantasy be okay with that? My main character is a young interracial (by our definition, but not by their world) woman whose main issue is borderline (or just completely) existential, but not because she is a person of color. Will black readers be able to understand her inner plight without needing her to be worried about her color?

Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory created a WONDERFUL non-medieval European world in their Enduring Flame Trilogy (it had dragons, but there were ZOMBIES, too!). I related so well to the characters and loved that trilogy so much that I penned myself after their legendary hero, Kellen the Poor Orphan Boy.

I want people to read my book and not be put off that they don't see what they're used to seeing. There are no knights and dragons and fair maidens that some relate to fantasy. The black and blackish people aren't oppressed or living in neighborhoods to which others relate. But I want PEOPLE, not just black and not just white, to be able to relate to the big picture. I want them, like we all do, to like my MC just for being her, and I want them to appreciate this new world I'm presenting to them without feeling isolated because of what I didn't do in the story.

I also want to be an inspiration to upcoming writers who, like me, want to be a voice that can break through the tropes and trends and do it successfully. SO, here's to hoping!

Thanks for staying so long, if you did. I hate long posts.

Wednesday Words: A Hundred Thousand of them!

Happy Wednesday!

By Blood We Live was CRAZY good! I'm so glad I stumbled onto Glen Duncan. Phenomenal writer!

On a whim a couple of weeks ago, and I tweeted the article I'd read, I decided to look up black fantasy writers to see what I'm working with, so to speak. (Being a black speculative fiction writer is a totally other topic, and I'll probably work on that for Friday, but...) The article gave me SIX fantasy AND sci-fi writers, only one of which I'd heard of already, my spirit animal/vampire mother, Octavia Butler. The writer of the article said there were more, but geez, can you write an article with a list, or something? (I'll Google them, but still, if he could only pick 6, then I imagine there aren't that many others.)

I went with whichever cover gripped me most for fantasy (One book was voodoo-y, and the cover of another was jungle-looking, sooo...) and chose N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which is actually Jemisin's debut. The cover is AWESOME. Look at it. The story is set around the daughter of an outcast princess whose grandfather named her one of three heirs to his throne. So I'm guessing a fight to the death will ensue.

Now, because it is Wednesday Words, I will be using Random.org to pick a page and a line from the page to give everyone (and myself) a taste of what I'm reading.

There are 427 pages in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and Random has chosen page........358.

There are approximately 21 lines on that page, and they're all like half sentences (the print is wide-set), so I'm going to go with sentences today. Random has.........gone down the middle and chosen sentence 10.

I consoled myself with the fact that at least the poor soul in the oubliette was dead now.

Yikes.

Friday Freeday: Black Fiction

Hello!

My sister posted this question on Twitter earlier, and I think it's a good question:

Does "black fiction" really need a separate section?
— Cinnamon Sprinkles (@TheBossLadyK) January 31, 2014

Unfortunately, I went to Wikipedia to get this next fact. lol African-Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population as of 2010. I remember learning that and being surprised, because Dover, Delaware, is about 40% African-American.

So literature-wise, there is a smaller percentage of black writers. I can only imagine when you go into a bookstore and there's a separate section for black fiction, it's so black readers can find it easier? Black people in general like to feel that they are acknowledged, and if it were interspersed in general literature, I guess it would be harder to find...

At the same time, I don't think black people should limit themselves to just black reading, which I know people who do, to read experiences that they can relate to or topics that appeal to them. Black fiction generally doesn't appeal to someone like me, who grew up in a predominantly white community before moving to Delaware, because I didn't have the "normal" black experiences, so I tend to skip that section altogether anyway.

Also, I think when certain groups of people ask to be treated equally, they should also try not to be treated separately. I think a few authors would get a pleasant surprise and an increase in their fan base if their books were integrated with the rest of the fiction (not to say there aren't white people already reading black fiction). That's how I fell in love with Octavia Butler: I picked up Dawn because I saw "Butler", and I was thinking Robert Olen Butler, which is what I was hooked on at the time. Dawn is a Science Fiction novel with a black woman as the main character, but I'm sure white women could relate to the struggle Lilith was facing, trying to escape from hideous (albeit harmless) aliens who planned to mate her using their genes so humanity could go on. I never would have picked up Octavia Butler if it weren't next to Robert Olen, at least not as early as I did, and I'm glad I did!

So, to answer my sister's question, I would say, no.

The Color Line

Now, I've actually had this thought in the back of my head for years, but not until recently has it started creeping closer and closer into my frontal lobes.

Do I want to change the color of my main character??

At the moment, and as I've always envisioned it, Ghuli has mirrored the likes of Rinoa in FF8 and Dagger in FF9. Can I add pictures? (edit July 24: NOPE. lol Just read a blog about a woman who got sued.)

Here are some links. Rinoa. Dagger.

That pale, large-eyed, black-haired damsel. I've had the Crystal Bearers described in the same manner. Fair, dark hair, dark eyes.

For the movie adaptation (you know, for the book I haven't even published yet), I have SERIOUSLY been monitoring Jodelle Ferland to make sure she doesn't grow into some awkward looking child as most adorable child actors do. She's succeeding, thank God.

I also want Kristin Kreuk to play her mother, but anyway, that's part of the point. This face is the thing right now, as seen on those Fallen novels and Twilight, and TV's version of Vampire Diaries, Snow White every 10 years. That innocent, pale-faced, dark-haired damsel.

I used to just wonder, "What would happen if I made Ghuli brown?" out of curiosity. My first thought has always been, "What would the jewels in her hands look like then??" That's the big thing that stops me from changing her color. The jewels are white because they look good against just-as-white skin. White jewels embedded in a brown hand? I think of pus. Gross, I know, but my mother's a nurse, so that's what I think of. I thought of changing them to red to compensate, but then, I thought of blood. I'll come back to this in a moment.

Now I'm thinking, since we're inundated with this stock face, while beautiful, I'm now wondering if I should change Ghuli's color to propose a new type of heroine? I don't ever really jump into the conversations about race portrayal in movies and such, but if anyone else read all the racist comments that happened after The Hunger Games came out, it's clear that people have their ideas of who's innocent and who doesn't matter. Would the population accept a brown-skinned (and when I say brown, I mean like the crayon color, since many people label tan people brown and brown people black) damsel/heroine, and will my story get the same attention, or would it be shelved under "African American" literature? Not that it couldn't be as popular, but would it?

One simple question birthed SO many other ones! Well, I guess then it's not so simple.

I just asked my sister, and she said, "It would definitely get people's attention."

It also goes deeper, as a symbol of me embracing MY color, as a black girl who grew up in Southeastern PA just north of Philly where everyone's Italian or Jewish, so my identity was shot to Hell by the time I hit the first grade.

I think it could work. Perhaps a Kerry Washington type face? She could be the face of the Crystal Bearers. It's blowing my mind right now. And it's not like I'll lose the Jodelle Ferland face. In fact, the Crystal Bearers, like the Humans, can be black AND white! Epiphany #2.

So, I think I can do this (and I know it means going through another read-through to change any instance of describing Ghuli and identifying the Bearers as exclusively pale, white, fair, etc.). I think I will.

So back to the jewels, I think an amber stone would work, even a diamond...Let's do this.