One of my goals in Straight Talk on Writing Race was to encourage and inspire writers -- some of the most creative people on the planet -- to come up with fresh ways of portraying race in stories for young people.
A twitter buddy responded to my article. "As a white author," she said. "I generally can't win when it comes to writing non-white characters."
"Fear of making mistakes is an honest answer," I told her. "Don't give up, it takes work, but that's true for those of us who aren't white, too."
So writers, here's your challenge: pick up a recent work, and think about how and why you DID or DIDN'T mention or describe race. Share the answer if you feel comfortable.
I'll start. In Secret Keeper, I didn't have to, because everybody in the story is Bengali (ha — that was easy, sorry.)
A twitter buddy responded to my article. "As a white author," she said. "I generally can't win when it comes to writing non-white characters."
"Fear of making mistakes is an honest answer," I told her. "Don't give up, it takes work, but that's true for those of us who aren't white, too."
So writers, here's your challenge: pick up a recent work, and think about how and why you DID or DIDN'T mention or describe race. Share the answer if you feel comfortable.
I'll start. In Secret Keeper, I didn't have to, because everybody in the story is Bengali (ha — that was easy, sorry.)