Embracing difference
By Juliet Marillier | December 4, 2008 |
How politically correct is your character list? Within the limitations of your setting, how wide a range of ethnicity, skin colour, age, gender, sexual orientation and ability / disability do you include? Do you play safe and focus on a narrower range of characters reflecting, perhaps, the demographic of your target readership? Or do you provide a broad snapshot of your story’s setting without even needing to think about it?
In my recent novel, Heir to Sevenwaters, it becomes known that a significant character – let’s call him X – is gay. This is not a major story development, though it does play a role in the future of a couple of characters. It simply comes out in conversation, and our protagonist is a little surprised that she has remained unaware of it until then. Her immediate acceptance of the revelation without any fuss mirrors the way I would respond if I were in her situation.
This particular aspect of the book sparked some interesting feedback. Although there are some bold fantasy writers out there – Jacqueline Carey comes to mind, with her liberated society of Terre d’Ange where the guide to sexual behaviour is ‘Love as thou wilt’ – I think fantasy readers are mostly quite a conservative lot. Many of my readers already knew X, a major character from the previous book in the series, Child of the Prophecy. They didn’t know the nature of his relationship with his close friend, Y.
Firstly, some readers congratulated me for including a gay relationship in a no-fuss, positive way. I was pleased, since that was exactly what I’d intended to do. Secondly, some (female) readers expressed disappointment that X was not going to feature in a heterosexual love story at some point in the series. I’d expected this reaction and could completely understand it.
The third reader response troubled me. One or two people thought this development was not right for the character – they saw it as inconsistent with the way I’d written X in the earlier books. Now, a writer never likes to hear that her characterization isn’t working for readers, especially when good characterization is a particular feature of her storytelling. I couldn’t quite work out why anyone would say this about X, because the bond between X and Y was there from quite early on, though it could at that stage have been no more than close friendship. Why didn’t it ring true for some readers? I’m not sure. Maybe people don’t expect to find a gay character felling opponents in combat or leading a daring raid into enemy territory. Some may wonder why I chose to put a gay character in the story at all, to which my response would be, why not?
Let’s go back to the question of how inclusive a cast list may plausibly be, not just in terms of sexual orientation, but also ethnicity, age and all those other parameters.
For me, it’s all about context. Forget political correctness (as demonstrated in the carefully multi-racial student body of Hogwarts School.) Just stay true to the setting and style of your story. Let’s say your book is set in a small outback town somewhere in Western Australia. In such a town you’ll find Anglo-Celts, Australian indigenous people, people of Asian extraction and a variety of others. There’ll be a wide age range. There’ll be people with disabilities. Attitudes in such a small town will be conservative, so people’s sexual orientation may not be public knowledge. How much of this you want to put in your story is entirely up to you as writer. What story do you want to tell? What elements do you need to do it the best you can? Just make sure you know your setting and its people, so what we see of them – a lot or a little – rings true.
If the story is set in early medieval Ireland, as mine is, most of the characters will be light-skinned Celts. The age range will reflect the shorter life spans of the time – if a person survived the years of childbirth, battles, nasty accidents with pitchforks, there was a reasonable chance of living to, say, fifty. Disabilities? They were treated quite differently in those days. Sexual orientation? The relationship between X and Y might not have been as readily accepted as it is in my book, but I had a dual purpose in including it. As well as fitting neatly into the plot and theme, it allowed me to demonstrate my central character’s outstanding quality, the one that makes her the emotional heart of the story: her readiness to accept difference.
How broadly focused is your current work? What factors determine your cast of characters?
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Juliet Marillier has written twenty-four novels for adults and young adults and two collections of short fiction. Her works of historical fantasy have been published around the world and have won numerous awards. Juliet’s most recent series was Warrior Bards, of which the third and final book, A Song of Flight, was published in 2021. Her collection of reimagined fairy tales, Mother Thorn and Other Tales of Courage and Kindness, had its trade release in 2022. Mother Thorn is illustrated by Kathleen Jennings and published by Serenity Press.
Juliet is currently working on a two-book fantasy series. The first book in this duology, The Amber Owl, will be published by New Dawn in February 2025.
When not writing, Juliet looks after a small crew of rescue dogs.
I haven’t yet read your newest book (still waiting for translation to Portuguese) but having a gay character doesn’t shock me at all. Persons with different sexual orientation always existed in all places in time (they tended to hide their feeling then). And people that critique those persons have always existed too.
It’s impossible to please everyone and I think you did well in following your heart . Even yesterday I read the reviews on your book and they are all wonderfull! – You can see some of them here – https://noticiasdafantasia.blogspot.com/2008/12/heir-to-sevenwaters-reviewscriticas.html
When I write I see the characters in my head. Some have dark skin, others don’t. So far I haven’t introduced a gay character but who knows in the future. What determine my cast of characters? Have no idea, I just follow the wind and I love all of them, even the bad guys. :)
“I couldn’t quite work out why anyone would say this about X, because the bond between X and Y was there from quite early on, though it could at that stage have been no more than close friendship. Why didn’t it ring true for some readers? I’m not sure.”
It may be that these readers were pushed out of their comfort zones. In your previous book, they were symphathizing with a gay character without them knowing it. Now that he’s “out”, they have to rethink the way they viewed him.
Sarah Monette is also fantasy writer who has a gay main protagonist, but he’s a character who happens to be gay, but his sexuality isn’t what defines him. Same with Diana Gabaldon in her Lord John series.
A writer has to be true to the character no matter what readers’ reactions are. No one blinked an eye at Dumbledore being gay, and if they did, they got over it.
Yeah, I definitely don’t think about “needing” to introduce characters to be diverse or PC. That’s not what a story is about (unless that’s what a story is about! :P) and my only concern is, What does this story need? Once I know that, I put in only that, nothing more and nothing less.
Granted, knowing that isn’t always easy…
I would say that inserting a gay or disabled character just for the sake of diversity is awful, and points out exactly what is wrong with the over usage of euphemisms and other PC garbage in our daily lives. I for one would never call a black character “African American” in the context of a story. It would only choke up the sentence in which it was used, and it is unnecessary. I do think that developing a disabled character would be quite difficult if the writer themselves are not disabled. It may be a good exercise in character development, but not necessary unless it fits into the plot somehow. I would say that diversity is only important, if it is important to the story.
I believe my work in progress to have characters that appear similar and simple on the surface, yet diversity is what lurks under the exterior. My story is set in an upper middle class suburb. Think Desperate Housewives with a few love handles — and it’s what behind the picket fences that are differentiating factors in their lives…and as those emerge, they realize things aren’t always what they seem.
I would like to add that in the novel I am working on right now, the main character interacts with several different tribes of Inuit Indians including different tribes of Eskimo Indians. These interactions are vital to the plot and depth of the story line. It took months and months of research to be able to portray these characters in a way that reflected their heritage, and social morays. But, I call them either Inuit or Eskimo according to their herritage, never American Indian, or Native Americans.
Unbounded has a pretty broad cast of characters, which is what the story demanded: Americans, Italians, an Asian man and an Englishman.
Attitudes in such a small town will be conservative, so people’s sexual orientation may not be public knowledge.
I planned to address this issue in my next work, though I’ve yet to determine the extent to which it will play out in the story. I agree that fiction should mirror life with regards to diversity–including how those differences would be perceived by others.
Interesting post! I’m intrigued to read both your series and Jacqueline Cary’s.
In my own work, a broadly multicultural, multi (sexual?)is the standard, mainly because my life is very diverse, including mixed race children and an uncle who was “married” to am man from my youngest childhood. And I grew up in heavily Latino neighborhoods, so that permeates everything. In The Lost Recipe for Happiness, the heroine is Latina/white, her love interest is Jewish, and two secondaries are gay men, and the motifs all come from the Day of the Dead.
It’s a lot easier to do this now than it was when I started writing!
Political correctness is still alive and well in some parts of Australian society, especially the arts and the school curriculum. While writing this post I remembered the experience of a close family member. As a recent art school graduate, she was personally invited to apply for a fantastic job illustrating primary school reading books. They asked her to do a series of sketches of children playing, which she completed in the couple of days provided. She didn’t get the job. Why? Not because her work wasn’t up to standard, but because she had not shown a sufficiently diverse range of children in the images (should have included kids of various racial backgrounds and perhaps a child with a disability.) This wasn’t in the brief she was given; it was something she was expected to think of herself. So in addition to missing out on the dream job, she ended up feeling as if she’d been accused of racism.
If we were writing the text for school reading books, we would probably have to build in a PC range of characters whether we liked it or not. I can understand the rationale for that but I don’t like the artificiality of it.
The only problem I really had with it was how easily accepted it was. I believe the informer said something like, “Everyone on _____ knows. I thought you did too.” to the heroine. I was under the impression that back in those times difference was not tolerated (as you demonstrated in your first book) and I can’t imagine homosexuality being acceptable to most folks. When I thought about X’s character it fit perfectly, I just felt that her reaction (and the implied acceptance of everyone at his home) was unrealistic. But I suppose it makes sense, given the hero’s uniqueness. Maybe it was just too sudden… eh, I dunno.
Overall it didn’t bother me… I think I prefer him that way. I just… can’t see him getting married and having a family.
If a character was telling me s/he was gay I would include it in the story, but not just for the sake of looking PC. I think everything included in a book should further some aspect of the plot or characterisation, as in your feeling that it was OK for this character to be outed as it emphasised your MC’s open-minded attitude to differences among people.
Becky, that’s a good point that a couple of people have made. Yes, I do realise that in that time and culture this kind of relationship would most likely have been kept quiet, as it would have been outside acceptable community standards (but not against Brehon law as far as I can discover.)
Possible SPOILERS for Heir to Sevenwaters below:
Now consider how it’s presented in the book. X and Y keep it secret beyond their home location. We only get a few people’s direct reactions. One is Clodagh’s, and I’ve explained in my post how this fits with her character and the story’s themes. One is Cathal’s. He is more of an outsider than anyone else in the book – this wouldn’t shock him. Clodagh’s parents are community leaders but also individuals. I believe each responds according to his or her own background, personality and circumstances. Sean is a pragmatist. He does what he judges best for the good of his family and all those he is responsible for as Lord of Sevenwaters. In fact, he never refers publicly to this matter – check out his speech to the local chieftains if you doubt me! There’s no implication that the wider community of Sevenwaters knows anything about this.
As for the location where X and Y spend most of their time, it has long been a haven for those who don’t fit into mainstream society for one reason or another. Bran’s warrior band was formed from just such men. That ethos would continue even after he had moved away. There is no way anyone would discriminate against these two in such a place.
Well, almost all of my main characters are gay men. That is just what I write. They have relationships, some get married and others don’t, and they deal with situations that straight people do.
When it comes to ethnicity and such, I don’t usually make the characters any one specific culture or race. Sometimes I’ll use a name or description to reference one but for the most part I leave that up to the reader.
J R, you make some good points there. It’s true, readers often make judgements based on their own beliefs or values. Anyone who expects Judeo-Christian values in any novel set in ‘the olden days’ might do some research into the culture of ancient Greece.
The period of my book is late enough in Irish history to have some extant written records, including substantial writings on Brehon law, as well as works of Christian scholarship. It’s at a time when Christianity is fast overtaking the older faith to which most of the central characters adhere. So there would be a double set of social expectations which might well require these guys to be a little circumspect in their behaviour.
Conversely, I think that if there is no diversity in a story (unless that is the point), then it simply shows that the author hasn’t done a decent job in fleshing out setting and/or characters. It’s just not realistic without diversity, whether it’s race, gender, sexuality, physical ability, etc. What I loved about the Sevenwaters trilogy is that even though there may not have been diversity in what we would consider “race” today, it did feature interactions and cultural differences between people who saw themselves as very different from each other.
Writing diversity (whether race, gender, sexuality, class or culture) is a part of good world-building and characterization. It doesn’t have to be the PC race thing that people in our times automatically think about when the word “diversity” gets mentioned. But diversity is a part of human history, and to ignore its ramifications and effects, slices off part of the human story.
My current WIP, an urban fantasy, includes an ex-Marine veteran of Iraq who happens to be Japanese-American and gay. Those particular aspects of his personality have little bearing on the story I’m writing, but this was one of those characters who pulled me by the ears and said, “Tell my story.”
“No one blinked an eye at Dumbledore being gay, and if they did, they got over it.”
I beg to differ. This revelation got a huge uproar from many HP fans. But when Ms. Rowling affirmed this fact, the roar quieted.
I don’t think those who were upset really accepted it. But he’s Rowling’s character, not theirs. So they didn’t have anywhere to go with their outrage.
I agree with Juliet. Including all racial and abilities smacks of artificiality to me as well. I see it especially in the Disney works. It’s like they seek ways to diversify their casts, even if in the regular world, people tend to stick with their “own” kind.
Research keeps showing us that we like to be with others who are like us more than with those who are different. It seems to be in our genes, this tribal affinity. I can’t see any reason to not write a story that shows this research in action.
But then I’ll probably never see my work published, either.
If you can do it well, it’s well worth doing, I think. But the key to writing well about characters of diverse backgrounds and experiences comes from the author’s own experience in these areas. If your social world is not particularly diverse, and if you have not fully explored the implications of the experiences of people different from yourself (whatever dimension we’re discussing), then the character itself will ring hollow, and the effect will come across as an effort to inject diversity for its own sake. In order to write across lines of race, class, or sexual orientation, it helps to have a depth of experience across those lines. If you do, the characters will come naturally and the diversity will take care of itself.
I realize this thread has been dead for months, but I wonder if maybe some readers were surprised about this relationship because in Child of the Prophecy, we were under the impression that Y had a crush on Fainne? Of course, there are at least half a dozen good explanations for that (my personal favorite is that Fainne wasn’t enough of a people-person to accurately judge whether or not someone had a crush, but I realize he could just as easily be bi, faking, or unaware of his homosexuality at that point), but this may explain why people thought the gay relationship wasn’t true to character.
I had to rush off and look this up, Emma! There is a slight hint of this, true – two of Johnny’s men show some special interest in Fainne when she visits the island.
X and Y are quite young at this point and may still be working out their true feelings for each other. But more likely, as you suggest, Fainne is so socially inexperienced that she misinterprets Y’s smiles and glances (after all, young Coll has suggested Y as a potential husband for her!) Y is a friendly, kind person and is just trying to put her at ease.
I seem to remember that it was after I wrote the scene in which everyone thinks X has drowned that I decided X and Y might have a closer relationship than that of best friends.