Diversity

Since starting university I have had no time to read, let alone write. Every free moment I have to try to enjoy some peace and quiet all I can think about is that next chapter I have to read or that quiz that still needs completing. I hope that when I get into the swing of university life I will be able to relax and find time to read and enjoy the quiet. But even when I reach that point I don't think that I will be able to write because all my creative focus is towards school work.

I had an unfortunate venture into short story writing. I considered not mentioning this because if I didn't say anything then no one would be the wiser, but I told myself that I would be honest here and truly catalogue my writing journey.

Basically what happened is I finished writing a short story and submitted to a magazine. A couple days ago to was rejected. I'm not really feeling sad about it, mostly because I don't have any time to feel anything about anything. I am undecided as to whether I will try to get it published elsewhere, or even upload it here so that people who read this blog can have an ide what my writing is like.

But at this point I feel as though my writing is being put on hold. I did write a few draft posts on subjects that I can use for the next couple of weeks if I continue to feel uninspired. I guess I will just have to play this all by ear and decide what I believe is right. Because even though my writing is very important to me, university does come first. The luxury of long, lazy summer hours is gone.

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There has been an increased demand for diversity in books as of late. This includes race, sexual orientation. But while there might be some writers who are moving to include these things in their stories, they are also entering the danger of including these things only to say that they have. This person is only gay to fill a quota of another person is Japanese to make the cast diverse with no other reason behind it.

This angers me because these characters end up becoming caricatures of what they are meant to represent. These things are not what qualifies a person, it is simply another part of their biological makeup like being tall or having a quick wit.

Unfortunately, or fortunately in some ways, the books that handle these things we'll do them as their central story. The main character is gay and the entire plot is them coming out to their family. These stories are important, I'll admit it, but when that is the only way that they are used it becomes annoying and repetitive.

It was brought to my attention a little while back that there is even a trend in Hollywood that gay characters are eventually killed off. This usually happens when a gay couple has finally been established and they are happy. I don't know if the industry is aware of what is happening but it would be awful if that was done on purpose. This is even worse than the black best friend stereotype, even though that has become ridiculous as well.

Now, keep in mind that I am a straight white person so whenever I read novels I get to read about a lot of straight white people. I never feel as if I'm under represented in literature because straight white people are everywhere.

But it infuriates me that we get straight white people in all sorts of complex roles whereas the black person will be thrown in as a token for diversity. I want to read books that have all sorts of races and sexual orientations thrown in not because the author wants to prove to the world that they can do it and be accepting (though it's still great that they're trying) but that they're included because that is a better reflection of our society today.

From an outside perspective, if someone were to only read modern books and watch modern movies, no one has immigrated or moved and that we all still live within our separated races.

Also, a quick side complaint is that we never get to see inter racial relationships. There might only be two black people in an entire book but you better bet that by the end of it they are going to end up as a couple. This is does not reflect how our society works in the slightest. 

This is not to say that there aren't books that aren't doing this. There are hundreds of authors being published each year so while there might be a couple that handle these topics with a lot of finesse, there are others that don't. I can understand how apprehensive some authors can be about writing from a different race or a different sexual orientation but it's important to keep in mind that no matter what choices we make or what we look like, we fundamentally think the exact same way and react the exact same way. 

When I'm reading a book usually I don't picture the race. All the characters embody more of an aura than a physical form, and I've heard people mention that no matter what description they get from an author, they will change all the characters to their own race. While I have no problem with that, I would rather that we get that diversity from the start.

This is not the first time that this subject has been talked about and it certainly won't be the last. I only wanted to add in my two cents into the conversation. I appreciate you taking the time to read through it all and if you have any commentary on the subject I would love to discuss it with you as this is an important subject that I believe will only be fixed once we have thoroughly understood it as a society.

Here is some more links in case you want to look further into this: 
We Need Diverse Books
John Green: Why We Need Diverse Books (Video)
Picturing Characters - Book Chat (Video)
Where is the Diversity in Publishing?