Now I'm Not ashamed to admit it, I've read a lot of YA and a good amount
of Children's Fiction in the past 6 or 7 years. All the popular ones
like Twilight,City of Bones, Wicked Lovely etc. I particularly love a
good Fantasy. The stories are captivating and a great escape for a young
child especially one who has a lot of responsibilities of those thrice
her age.
As other children played outside until the street
lights came on . I would sit at my window, their laughter the soundtrack
as I escaped into a magical land such as THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE
WARDROBE or A WRINKLE IN TIME. Books I had been introduced to by my
favorite Language Arts teachers who encouraged my love of reading and
story telling.
Those characters of my beloved books were usually
Caucasian. As a child absorbing everything as quickly as possible,
devouring these stories in large gulps at a time I hardly even noticed.
Now at the age of 23 reality has finally set it. After deciding that
there is nothing else I would rather do than to tell magical stories to a
younger generation I finally see the cold hard truth. There are very
few POCs in children's/YA literature and when there are they are very
minor, poorly done, card board stereotypes( More about the types of
stereotypes in later posts).
How frustrating. How frustrating.
As
a children's writer I face the challenge of trying to feel that gap and
build more diverse and well rounded characters. I want, No I need to
tell a story that children of all races and religions can see themselves
in.
But...
As a Black writer I feel lost at times because if
I make my main character a P.O.C is it going to be likeable? is it
going to be sell-able? And I think the most embarrassing thing to admit
is that I have no idea how to do it.
* Originally posted at whitneychakara.livejournal.com
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