Much of
fiction writing about African Americans has been commercialized to
the extent that a majority of contemporary books by and about us
deal with the disaffected, the anti-social, the ineffectual,
downtrodden, with misbegotten individuals. An entire genre dealing
with African Americans offers, by and large, tales of malignant
families, of unwholesome and unfulfilling, miasmic relations between
men and women, most notably of black male bashing and, recently, the
trashing of black women by male writers. The purely negative. The
ugly. The writers know that the characters and conditions
about which they write are not representative of us as a people,
that their stories are about a small segment of the black American
population. But such stories are what the establishment - the white
editors and publishers believe reflect us as a people. And, most
especially, publishers buy these stories because African Americans
purchase them and read them. If you want to see a change, don’t buy
the books and don’t watch the sitcoms and movies.
It is far more difficult to write creatively, to develop great,
multidimensional characters and riveting plots; it is far more
difficult to portray family life convincingly with a strong
vocabulary and good writing skills than it is to tell stories about
stereotypical people. Stereotyped characters are easily forgotten,
because they are without depth, because the writer assumes the
reader knows a junkie’s prototype as a guy who sneaks around
corners, stays high and lives in the slums; that a university
professor is like a race horse with blinds, looking at and thinking
only of his/her subject of interest. This is not true, of course,;
these are stereotype of a junkie (who may be the man or woman
working next to you in your office) and of a professor (who may
spend his time away from the classroom shooting pool or practicing
jazz on his guitar). Beware of stereotypes.
Before I get to the business of writing strong positive fiction
that sells and sells well, I want to stress why stereotyped
characters, scenes, settings and themes make little sense in the
years 2000 and beyond. If you subscribed to the magazine,
American Visions, you may have read this. In an editorial
dealing with this subject, T. L. Jenkins, former publisher of the
magazine, wrote: "Yesterday’s minstrels should not be today’s
heroes." (American Visions, February/March, 1994. page 4).
Why? African Americans do not live in a vacuum. We are a part of the
larger society and the larger culture. We absorb it and contribute
to it. Most of us attend the same schools, subscribe to the same
ethics, worship the same God, salute the same flag, occupy most of
the same jobs, read the same newspapers - plus our own - have the
same sports heroes, watch the same television programs and pay taxes
at the same rate as our white peer. In light of this, does it make
sense that mainstream fiction by and about African Americans must
almost always focus on the worse elements of the sub-culture?
Why should we forever be represented as dysfunctional families,
undependable, worthless men and overbearing, disloyal and unfeminine
women? Why can’t we have compelling mainstream novels with
heroes and heroines who are indeed heroic, who are achievers? With
ordinary people like you and me?
Compare the biography of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall
with that of the great jazz singer, Billie Holliday. Justice
Marshall took advantage of every opportunity and made opportunities
for himself. Billie’s fame was as great as Marshall’s–outside this
country, it was greater–but she followed the road most traveled, the
avenue of least resistance and mortgaged her life for heroin. No
movie has been made about Thurgood Marshall.
The CEO of Beatrice Foods is black, so is the head of American
Express. I want to read stories about men like them. Allan Keyes is
not my hero, but he was the most articulate of all the 2000
presidential candidates. He doesn’t speak Ebonics. Nor do Marian
Wright Edleman , Eleanor Holmes Norton or Maxine Waters,
distinguished black women - national leaders, wives and mothers.
Fascinating women who lead intriguing lives within the context of
their supportive families. Can’t we write about people like them?
Like you and me? So how do we change the focus in our fiction
writing?
Novel writing begins with an idea. Chose a theme, a premise and a
setting appropriate to the execution of that idea. Then develop
characters that will bring the story to life and structure a plot
that will glue together all the facets of your story. At each step,
you make choices about the culture and identity of the people in
your story. These steps - idea, theme, premise and choice of setting
- determine, indeed they circumscribe - your remaining options in
presenting your story. These steps limit your characters, i.e., the
people who will make your story live, who will tell your story for
you; indeed, these four considerations determine the type of story
you will tell.
Have you ever wondered why African American romance novels exploded
on to the market in so short a time? Until recently, the majority
had men and women heroes and heroines who are moral, upstanding
citizens, respectable, witty, intelligent, accomplished people.
Families of individuals that are loving and supporting men who love
their women and their children, individuals who live in clean, drug
free homes and environments. Working people. The housekeeper, cook
and street sweeper can be noble, heroic people. A lack of education
does not imply lack of dignity and self-respect. The humble can be
admirable. Readers enjoy this respite from always reading of
themselves as misbegotten dregs of the cup. In these novels, a
scoundrel is offset by a man of principle. In my book, OBSESSION,
the hero’s brother was a spoiled devil, but when he learned that he
was a father, he assumed the responsibility of parenthood without
hesitation or question. I received many letter from women who said
they had feared Prince - the character - was just another example of
men who didn’t support their families, and they applauded me for
avoiding that.
Ideas
The writer begins the novel with an idea. Where do we get these
ideas?
The writer’s eyes and ears
are his/ her most precious commodity.
When you chose what to write about, you are also deciding what kind
of people to write about. Do you want to infuse your novel with a
message of hope, to give the readers a sense of well being, of
having been thoroughly entertained when they’ve finished the book?
Then why write about the welfare mother who had three illegitimate
children for a crack head who abuses her? I doubt that even she
wants to read about that life. Don’t readers get enough of that on
the TV evening news - which incidentally rarely if ever reports
about the normal African American family where there is love,
cooperation, dignity and mutual respect. The media do not ’s not
consider that newsworthy. At least, give them something different to
read about.
If you want to depict positive relationship in your novels, don’t
look to the street corner, but observe people in restaurants,
airports, museums, universities, at church, at sporting events, at
conferences class reunions, libraries and such. Watch old movies.
Many of them glorified family life; relationships between hero and
heroine were savory; men treasured women. If the old movie is about
any American, it can as easily be about an African American. We have
millionaires and billionaires, college presidents and bartenders,
tennis players and upstanding, God-fearing housekeepers, cooks and
mailmen working for a living. Look around you. And Listen!
Successful writers whether of fiction or non-fiction are careful and
sharp observers. Oh yes! And never be without pencil and pad.
Still no ideas? Try the literary classics. My book, Against All
Odds is about a family feud as in Romeo and Juliet, cohesive,
honorable families with strong men at their heads and women equal to
them. The Old Testament is a gold mine of ideas for contemporary and
historical novels. Consider Ruth and Boaz in the Book Of Ruth. Was
their ever a greater love story or a more uplifting one? Newspapers,
epic poems (Poe’s Eldorado…doesn’t it remind you of the search for
the Holy Grail?), biographies, book review magazines and so on… All
are great sources of ideas for your novels. And it is almost
impossible to go through the Sunday edition of a major newspaper and
not find an idea for a novel.
Don’t COPY the idea, but take the idea and explore it with a theme
of your own.
Once you have an idea, you must choose a setting, a premise and a
theme. These are road maps and glue for your story. They support
your idea and give it viability.
