Crossing boundaries of culture, race, and class to create characters can be tricky, but as fantasy/romance author Mary Anne Mohanraj thoughtfully points out, "You will get it wrong. This is what you should do."
Children's book author A.C.E. Bauer makes the case that we can't include a character of a different race without seeing that "it's not like choosing the color of her hair."
It always helps to learn from one another's mistakes and processes, so I'm seeking input from my fellow writers. Here are my questions, and they apply to historical, contemporary, dystopian, and fantasy novels:
Children's book author A.C.E. Bauer makes the case that we can't include a character of a different race without seeing that "it's not like choosing the color of her hair."
It always helps to learn from one another's mistakes and processes, so I'm seeking input from my fellow writers. Here are my questions, and they apply to historical, contemporary, dystopian, and fantasy novels:
- When you crossed boundaries of power (cultural, racial, economic) to create characters, what behind-the-scenes homework did you do (research, interviews, etc.)?
- Did your editor ask for more research or tweaks when it came to issues of race, culture, or class? If so, when and why?