Tag Archives: gender

Awesome writing resource: Diversity Cross Check

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I first heard about Diversity Cross Check on the Writing Excuses podcast (another amazing writing resource in itself).

So what is Diversity Cross Check? I’ll let them explain it for you….

Simple premise: You’re a writer interested in diversifying your characters, but you don’t share those experiences and you don’t want to offend anyone. A good resource is always those who understand firsthand what it’s like to live as such. So you visit the appropriate tag, find someone you’d like to work with, and contact them via whatever method they’ve provided.

How cool is that?

Often people lament about how little diversity there is in books. It seems an obvious thing to solve – write more diverse characters! Make them the protagonist! Avoid negative stereotypes!

It is easy, until you go to the next level down and start fleshing out said characters. Then you discover you have no idea what an Orthodox Jew would be doing at a certain point in their festive calendar – if you even know what that calendar is in the first place. Or the conflict a second generation immigrant from a specific nation in a certain city would be experiencing as they balance their new life against old world traditions and customs. Wikipedia can only go so far in answering these questions. It just provides more broad brush strokes for you to work with. The detail comes from those who live it.

The fear of accidental offence stops people from branching out from what they know. It’s limiting when it doesn’t need to be. Diversity Cross Check might be the best place to address an issue with a character you secretly want to write. Or it might ignite an interest in a minority waiting for someone brave enough to step forward and give them a main character voice.

Fortune Cookie

Writing and labels

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Yesterday, I was reading this article by Aminatta Forna entitled ‘don’t judge a book by its author’ and I found it absolutely captivating. It got me thinking about something which has been brewing at the back of my mind for a long time. It’s all caught up in that messy understanding of what I write.

When I get the opportunity to meet and mingle with other writers, the question often pops up. What do you write? I always hesitate and the word seems to get stuck at the back of my throat because it’s so obvious, surely: stories. The confusion and uncertainty comes from knowing the question that is really being asked is ‘which genre do you write?’

Which section of which bookshelf would you like to sit on?

But my honest answer is always in that one word. I generally waffle a bit about writing anything and everything, passing myself off as a Jack of all trades. Yet very few authors actually make it down that route. We all know that Neil Gaiman is the notable exception, even forgiven for that mild transgression regarding Duran Duran. All others must not pass without first declaring their pigeonhole.

I’ve never written science fiction. I don’t care enough about getting the science part right to make it an enjoyable experience for me or anyone else who might then get to read it. Fantasy, with much more leeway to veer around, I’ve tried. Horror. Romance. Short stories. YA. So called general fiction. I find a story rattling around in my brain and I write it down. It never crosses my mind to think in terms of genre first. A character whispers in my ear that they have something interesting to tell me and if they happen to be a teenager, a seventeenth century serving wench or a werehamster* then so be it.

I’m not a single characteristic. I’m a messy, complex human being. Likewise, I can’t see myself ever getting joy from being trapped in a single genre. But there is one thing I’m starting to realise:

I really don’t mind.

You can keep your labels to yourself.

 

*Never actually written a thing with a werehamster

Writing Excuses – Gender / Age Swap

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I’ve mentioned before that I’m a massive fan of the Writing Excuses podcast. For Season 10 they’re doing things a little differently, with writing exercises at the end of most episodes, rather than simple writing prompts. I’ve found these much more engaging, and have actually found myself working with them more than I ever did with the prompts.

writingexcuses

As part of the exercise for Episode 2, we had to take a short synopsis we’d created in Episode 1 and do a gender / age swap on the characters. This led to a massive lightbulb moment.

I would say that I love to write strong female characters, largely because we still live in a world where we have to use terms like ‘strong female characters’. Anyhoo, I found myself merrily swapping until the third character when I thought ‘no, I’ll keep this as a man otherwise there’ll be too many women’.

Feel free to internet slap me. I did to myself.

Of course, in writing down my original little synopsis, at no point did I think to myself to hold on, there were far too many men going on here. In my defence, it was a piece of historical fiction, so I do have the weight of history behind me when making women secondary in the key moments. Yet in an entirely fictional realm, I had automatically restricted the characters, and the only female in the story was about as dynamic as a Disney princess. Not one of the newer ones either. One of the ones that do the cleaning until their prince comes and they can finally live out the rest of their mundane lives in a better frock. Whoop!

Completing the swap, the synopsis now actually seems much less mundane and prosaic; something I could actually consider building up into something bigger, rather than just a simple writing exercise done for fun. The question of why these characters weren’t the ones that presented to me intuitively is something I will have to dig deeper within myself to try and understand. I’m hoping the awareness at least will mean I pause for a moment next time and ask myself: am I just following the well-worn path that society and history has already conveniently laid out in front of me?

You can access the writing excuses podcast here. It’s well worth checking out.

Boys Books or Girls Books – Who Cares?

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Having read yesterday about the young girl who asked a publisher to change a book because it was ‘for boys’, it made me think about my own Christmas shopping experience at the weekend. Specifically, Toys R Us *shudder*.

Now, I’m not going to find fault with them particularly, as they merely stock the toys that are made by various companies. But it was the first time I’d been in a toy shop in years, especially for such an extended period. The one thing that struck me was the amount of toys that were still ‘for girls’ – invariably in a garish pink – and others that were for boys (emphasis on farts and gore). I did, happily, see one science set with a cartoon girl on the front, but it should be noted, it was one in a very large number.

I get it, I really do. It sells. We live in a material world and that no longer just applies to Madonna. But it was somehow just really disheartening. I was looking at the really cool stuff and then getting a disappointing sense that it wasn’t for me. If I feel like that in my thirties, when quite frankly I don’t actually want to play Transformers*, then what message are we sending to young brains?

Luckily, my parents had the good sense to buy what I wanted and not force dolls and pink on me. Besides, I can remember it like it was yesterday. *ahem*

By the power of Grayskuuuuuuuull

By the power of Grayskuuuuuuuull

More importantly, they certainly didn’t make that mistake when it came to books. My sister, happily a my-little-pony-style-girly-girl who definitely went super pink when it came to toys, also got the gender neutral treatment when books were given. A good story is a good story. Books of facts and games are informative and fun, regardless of how you happened to be born. Books of adventure could be for us just as much as fluff and nurturing. And I get the distinct impression, looking back with my adult hindsight, that neither parent wanted us to grow up to be damsels in distress. They wanted us to be independent and successful; secure in ourselves.

So I guess I wanted to say a big well done to all those parents who are trying to bring up their kids to consider all the options because, sadly, you’re still fighting against the same tide my mom and dad were thirty years ago.

*This may or may not be the truth

My original 1980s Optimus Prime

My original 1980s Optimus Prime

Gorgeous Daily Planner

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Despite the fact I’m currently on a writing sabbatical, I still have a lot to do each day. Get up. Get dressed. Drink Coffee, that kind of thing.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t treat myself to a little reward every now and again. Whilst out and about, I stumbled upon kikki.K – an amazing stationery store (international shipping appears to be available).  So, in a true effort to combine creativity and productivity, I bought myself this notepad:

notpad

 

There are just enough fun elements in there to keep it interesting and reduce the friction of looking at a boring old ‘To Do’ list. I like the idea of tracking water intake as a default, as this is a habit I try to keep up with – a handy little reminder is always good.

It’s impossible to deny that this is aimed at a female market, but as I’m a woman I don’t massively care. There were no real male equivalents though, even though the concepts on there are just as applicable. I know many men who are trying to drink enough water, narrow down their top three priorities and manage an ever-growing task list. I am not sure they are so intentional about rewards, but then maybe I’m the one perpetuating gender stereotypes here too?

treat

Anyway, after all the hard work of writing this post, it’s apparently time to reward myself with a glass of wine…