she's the man

There are a rash of blog posts this week about writing "characters of color" and the other, etc, etc (Moonrat on Jews in Dickens, and Megan Crewe both have interesting posts up :) ).

I don't really worry about writing about people who are different races from me.  That just sort of happens on its own, maybe because this area, and my social circle, are racially diverse.  

I do worry about class- my default is something like lower-middle, and it's tough for me to create characters who don't think about money in the "have some, need more" kind of way.  Though- maybe that's how everybody thinks of money?  

Haha, that's actually the problem, right there.  

But honestly, I just try to make money more or less important to different characters, and for them to have a range of occupations- that's the best I can do, class-wise, and I think it's good enough.  

My concentration is always on "who is this character as an individual?"

Sometimes that individual is white, sometimes black, sometimes hispanic, sometimes Asian- whatever.  Sometimes that individual is broke, sometimes has a stable job, sometimes is ambitious.  Pretty much no one is independently wealthy, and pretty much everyone is on the lookout for more money, but that's my own little preoccupation- I hope it's an inoffensive and minor one.  

The "other" I have the most trouble with is: men.  Especially fathers.  Or interactions between men.  Close male friendships.  I concentrate on the character's individuality and do the best I can, but I suspect that I unwittingly feminize the way my male characters look at the world.  I even have trouble remembering to make the male characters physically larger or stronger than their female counterparts.  Being a man is nearly unimaginable to me, and that's a very, very bad thing.

Race and class are abstract concepts, and they don't really have to do with a person's inner being.  But sex and gender might- I don't know.