My Way of Tackling Diversity in Romance
This (long) post is not to bitch or complain or to make people stand up and defend me, so I hope you don't take it that way. But in reviews and comments, I've been criticized for not including a lot of physical description of my characters. So I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that and explain why I choose to write my characters as I do.
First, let me say that those criticisms are completely valid – I don't include a lot of physical description, unless it's pertinent to the plot (as it is in my HYDE series). But I do it on purpose and with a definite, possibly idealistic, goal in mind.
I'm caucasian. When I spend time in the sun, my freckles come out. I have blah-brown hair and hazel eyes. I haven't been a size 4 since I was in high school (if then). My chest is on the smaller side and my butt is on the bigger side. I think I'm attractive but not beautiful. So, physically, I'm nothing like a traditional romance heroine.
HOWEVER, when I read a romance, I want to identify with the heroine. I want to BE the heroine – at least when she's being funny, or smart, or getting together with the hero. And when I write a romance, I want every single reader to be able to imagine herself in that role, regardless of her ethnic background, hair color, or dress size. I also like the idea of readers using their imaginations to create their perfect man as the hero. I frame him a little – he has dark hair, or is exceptionally big, or has intense, angular features – but let the reader fill in the rest. Because my “perfect” man isn't your perfect man, especially if you have a thing for blondes. Sorry. ;)
Growing up, I mainly read epic fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and mystery. In those genres, a character's eye or hair color doesn't matter beyond being able to keep track of who is who. What matters more is being able to immerse yourself in the thoughts, fears, and struggles of the main character. When I started reading romance, I found myself skipping over parts that made the heroine different than me. Because, for the time it took to read the book, I wanted to live in the heroine's shoes. Anything that reminded me I wasn't actually her broke me out of that and brought me back to reality, which isn't nearly as fun, believe me. :)
While I completely understand that some readers want/need more description, it doesn't make sense for me to write things I would skip in someone else's book. I respect everyone's reading preferences. Truly, I do. But I feel strongly about inclusivity, and this is the way I've chosen to deal with it. That goes double for my HEIGHTS series, which deals with slavery, freedom, and prejudice within the caste system of the supernatural world.
Until I began talking about diversity in literature with other writers, it didn't occur to me how much it would suck for a reader to always have to read about heroines who didn't physically resemble them in any way. Many writers are deliberately writing heroes and heroines from various ethnic groups, and I think that's awesome. My approach is a bit more subtle, I suppose, but might not always be. In fact, Davyn, the demon hero of UNEARTHED, makes a joke about how humans feel the need to define his ethnicity. The muse for an upcoming hero in my ONCE AND FOREVER series is Sendhil Ramamurthy from Heroes (oh man, is he gorgeous). But will I go into my character's ethnic background? Probably not, unless it's integral to his journey and growth – things that are universal to the human condition, things that we all can identify with.
I have Mexican-American characters, African-American characters, and mixed-race characters in my books. But I don't always mention it because, in my opinion, it doesn't matter what they look like. It matters who they are. What they do, what they love, what they are fighting for.
After reading some of the criticism, I considered changing the way I write. It hurt that people hated the book because of that or that they didn't understand what I was trying to do. Then I came to the conclusion that yeah, there's definitely some room for growth in my descriptions of setting and mood. But even though not everyone will like my minimalistic physical descriptions of characters, that's okay. Because I like it, and I feel strongly about my reasons for doing it that way.
So all this to say: I accept the criticism and respect the opinions of those who hate the lack of description in my books. I hope they can also accept my reasons for writing the way I do. If not, that's okay too. Thankfully, there are lots of other authors who write detailed descriptions of their characters brilliantly for all of us to enjoy. Can I hear an “amen”? :)
Good job, hold your own! I personally don’t find it an issue. I understand why people focus on it, but it shouldn’t be a deal breaker. I feel like the world we live in puts great priority on the physical, that mindset tends to dominate everything we do/engage in.
I don’t know why you wrote the post. I love how you write. Your choices are what makes you individual. Do you know it honestly didn’t enter my head to question at all. But, however written it, great post.