After drinking lots of coffee, I think I’m finally awake! I have plenty to do at the day job today but as I was downing the last of my coffee, I came across this fascinating blog post at Chasing Ray.
In the post, What A Girls Wants #3: Representing All The Girls, Colleen states:
“In the sea of titles with straight white female (blonde) main characters, there are disturbingly few that are African American, Native American, Jewish, Muslim, Asian American, Indian, LBGT and on and on.”
While this is true, I think the tide is changing. At least my hope is that we are on the verge of changing that.
She poses the question of should teen authors represent a vast variety in their works and includes some answers from various writers. One that stood out for me was from Zetta Elliot:
“Writing a convincing character takes more than imagination—and that goes for EVERY writer. Just being black and female doesn’t make me an automatic expert on everything having to do with black women. There are differences in class, sexual orientation, nationality, age, ethnicity, etc.”
A group is so much more than its surface. There are many, many facets. But as I’ve said before, I think the tide will change (hopefully) and in the future I see more books with diverse protagonists and characters.
