The Problem of Culturally Diverse Novels

There's a problem here. People seem to be demanding more diverse novels, and I'll demand with them, don't get me wrong. Just let me get my picket sign.

Out of habit, I write white characters, because 1) That's what I read, and 2) I am white. Sorry. I want to write more diverse characters and I've even considered changing some of my existing characters to include a more diverse cast.

BUT there's a really big problem here that's holding me back.

There is undue pressure put on anyone trying to write diversely.

Allow me to show you what I'm talking about.

• Someone tries to write a Chinese heritage character. "She clearly doesn't know anything about this culture."

• Someone tries to include a black character or two in their novel. "Token characters. Such poor writing."
• Someone writes a Latina heroine instead of the white girl they were originally thinking about. "Where's the African-American representation?"
• The same author adds an African-American girl as well as the Latina girl's best friend. "Belittling the African-Americans," some complain. Still others say that she's "Trying too hard to include a 'diverse' cast."

How I feel with all this criticism.

Critics. M'dears.

You want us to include more diversity, but you're smothering us.

You want something, but you want it at a level of perfection that only you know. You're a prissy queen demanding one hundred dresses, but only giving the tailor one day to accomplish perfection. You're the scary boss lady from Smurfs who demands that her assistants give her what she wants even though she doesn't even know what she wants herself.

You're smothering us. You're smothering the writers. With all your demands, you're scaring everyone off. And I mean everyone. The people that try are shot down. Even the people who are genuinely from the culture they write about are often told they 'have clearly never been to XYZ place.'

To a lot of us, the task seems near impossible. If we try for diverse characters, we're automatically put under a microscope and scrutinized for even the smallest of mistakes. I even dare say that part of the reason why we still have so many whitewashed books is that the writers are being scared off. And not just the ones who would have done badly, either. There are probably countless writers who could have done a spectacular job with their diverse cast, but they too are afraid of the hopeless scrutiny they're going to be put through, so they never have the courage to try.

So what can be done?

All ranting aside, I think we're missing something pretty important.

I'm probably putting my head on the chopping block here, but I know many real people of diverse origins and races, and somehow I managed to notice that they're all people too. They're not just a culture or ethnicity, though the critics seem to think they must be, but rather they're people just like me. They buy KFC. They laugh at the same jokes. They watch the same movies. It hurts the same when their hearts are broken.

They're not actually that different from white people. I mean, of course, they are different. I can't act like our lives are exactly the same. There might be differences in how a household is run or the expectations the people hold themselves to. But I really don't think this should make the cultural or ethnically diverse characters any different from the others.

Because sometimes I have the horrible sinking feeling that in the end, we all just might be human.

So, the point of the last 600 words is that the grip around our necks needs to relax. I doubt even the critics learned to ride a bike the first time they got on, so they shouldn't expect the writers to get the book perfectly the first time they try. Give the writers some room to breathe as they test the waters in this brave new world of cultures. Give us some time and a little mercy and I promise we won't disappoint you.

Thank you.

What's your opinion on this? What's a good diverse book you've read lately? Let me know in the comments, and I promise I'll reply!

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