I may unintentionally offend someone within the course of this post

[seriousfic]

But then, that's every post, isn't it?

So I have this habit that comes in very handy when writing original fiction. And that's to step back and take a look at the archetypes you've construed, their place in the plot, what they're meant to do, and say "Okay. Does this character have to be white? Why is this character straight? Why can't this character be transgendered?"


"BECAUSE TRANNIES ARE GROSS, BRO!"

It usually results in a story that's both a bit more diverse and a better read. Like, I had this YA story where the female lead started out as a Chloe Sullivan type... crusader, very interested in social justice, very passionate... and that's all well and good, but then I made her a Hispanic woman (the book takes place in Texas, so how much sense would it make if there weren't a single Hispanic in the cast?). And suddenly the story is more interesting and even subversive, because there's a female Hispanic character who isn't all about her "salsa spice."

And there I was doing the same thing for another story I was writing, wondering why the cast had to be so white. The hero's story is that he's an immortal who's been exiled to Earth (specifically, America) for hundreds of years, so obviously if he's a minority that's a very different story then if he's white. And as interesting as that story would be (I mean, I'd read it if someone else wrote it), I don't think anyone's that interested in an Irish flatfoot's take on the past few centuries of race relations.

Then we have the villains, with whom we have both the obvious issue -- it's kinda weird if the only minorities in a story are the bad guys -- and the issue that if you're a shapeshifter who's infiltrating a society full of white privilege, patriarchy, and so on... isn't it in your best interests to appear to be a straight white guy?

Then there's another hero character, Ares. The idea there was that I was sick of every Greek mythology story doing Ares as the villain because he's the God of War (because war is bad. Let's go to war with the God of War!), and so it would be interesting to portray him as a hero. But he's a Greek god, so obviously he has to be Greek, and even if you portrayed him as very dark-skinned, he's still the thuggish, less intelligent, more brutal counterpart of Athena when it comes to warfare. Yeah, no unfortunate implications there.

But the character's evolved away from that a little bit and become... well... Arnold Schwarzenegger as portrayed by Brian Blessed, is how I like to think of him. He's very Dablone, he likes wine, women, and song... he's a take on the mythological Ares, but not immediately recognizable as such. So... why does he have to be Ares? Can't he be any suitably violent god from any pantheon?

So then I thought "Wouldn't it be interesting if he was an Asian god?" After all, he's abrasive, he's loud, he's uncouth, he's hypersexual... that's something you never see in Western portrayals of Asian characters.


Okay, almost never.

So now I just need an Asian god who fits my requirements (although any non-European god would be cool). Big bruiser in the grand tradition of Jayne Cobb, omnisexual/bisexual/homosexual (basically, he needs to like dudes somewhat), has a son (I could just make up a son, but that's a little cheap, don't you think?), and it would be cool if my mental image of him could be Toshiro Mifune. Because how cool would it be to be able to describe a book series as "Timothy Olyphant, Alan Tudyk, and Toshiro Mifune fight evil"?


Almost as cool as Obi-Wan Mifune.

Comments

[alara-r.livejournal.com]

Susano-o, god of storms, sounds like he'd be perfect for you.

I dunno offhand if he has a son. He's the brother of Amaterasu, goddess of the sun. He's a rude, crude asshole, and he's probably got a son, because it seems like every Japanese god or goddess does. And yes, you can totally write him as a Japanese Jayne Cobb.

(That pantheon also includes a trickster goddess whose name I forget, who once tricked Amaterasu -- who had gone in her house to sulk, and refused to come out, thus plunging the world into darkness -- by putting on a hysterically funny lewd dance, and having other gods hold a mirror to Amaterasu's door, so as soon as she opened the door a crack to find out what everyone was laughing at, she'd see her own reflection and think it was so beautiful she'd have to pursue it... until she was all the way out of her house, at which point everyone else showering her with praise and gratitude for coming out would gratify her ego enough that she'd stay out. You gotta love a female trickster.)

I also sympathize with your point about the shapeshifter. I have a character who's in essence a bodiless entity, but he has taken human form on Earth to try to do some stuff he can't do back home. One of his tricks is that he can blend in pretty much anywhere; he can just convince people that he belongs here, and no one questions him. And I actually want to have him point out, at some point, that that trick only works because he's manifested as a white male; if he were in the form of a woman or a non-white male, there would be places where people would question him unless he applied full-on mind control rather than the light touch he's using.

[jlbarnett.livejournal.com]

white male has become the generic for our society. Someone will want something, anything to establish the identity of a non-white character. ANd a lot of times a character is their to fill a role rather than be a character.

I've even seen stuff where someone reviewing a story complains about a minority character just reading like a white guy.

[mcity.livejournal.com]

Son Goku springs to mind, but that's because he's literally the only Asian deity I know slightly more than anything about.

[mcity.livejournal.com]

*slightly more than nothing

[liliaeth]

This is silly, (and self centered of me*g*) but it kinda reminded me of a fic I recently finished.

It was a Supernatural fic, and I'd added a character who was a social worker that was taking the boys away from John. And while I was writing it, at one moment, it hit me that there was no reason why this char had to be white. (I think this was about right after the point where I was thinking of making her husband black and then I realized, she didn't need to be white either) So I changed her earlier description, and even made a few notes about how her being black would affect her in a way that would add depth to the character.

I've been on a kick of that recently, that when I add oc's that I try and add characters of colour when possible. And while adding supporting characters from the show, that sometimes it might be a good idea to focus on the often lesser used characters of colour than make the so manieth fic with only white chars.

[escapay.livejournal.com]

I concur with Susano-o, he's quite the bad tempered deity and gave birth to 5 sons (I think it was 5) using his sisters necklace, while she gave birth to five daughters using his sword (make of that what you will).

While Susano and co are Shinto deities you also have Bishamon, or Bishamonten, a Bhuddist derived deity that originates in india but was adopted by the japanese as a god of war, and also the punisher of evil doers.

I could come up with more but my textbook on Asian mythology is downstairs.

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

While Susano and co are Shinto deities you also have Bishamon, or Bishamonten, a Bhuddist derived deity that originates in india but was adopted by the japanese as a god of war, and also the punisher of evil doers.

The problem with having a story full of snarkers is that someone would inevitably shorten his name to Bishie and no could ever take him seriously after that.

[escapay.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is a problem :/

[tristianmakhai.livejournal.com]

You know, it was doing exactly that (the 'why does this character have to be...?') that landed me in femslash and eventually actually figuring out that whole sexuality thing (or at least coming clean with myself. It was Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, Haruka/Michiru were awesome, and I was creating a few original characters. And I looked at one in particular and thought 'why in the hell do you all have to be straight?' From that came one of my best original characters I've ever created, she started something, a full focus on a character as an honest to god person (at the time, the fandom was all 'OC's are the work of the devil. boo, hiss!').

Granted, I barely got anything written on the story, but it was that thought, late at night that really started something. From that point onwards, it was always taking a closer look at my characters, wondering if they were a boy or a girl, where were they from, where they gay, bi, straight? Authenticity and all of that.

Knowing you ask the same question probably explains just why I pretty much adore most of your writing (I say most, because I haven't read it all). I like people who actually think about writing. And your snark constantly has me cracking up. So,I just thought I'd say there's definitely people who very much appreciate your efforts to diversify writing.

Oh, and I don't know if you have a stance on it or not, but there is an Anthology of Steampunk stories out, all lesbian focus, and it's *extremely* diverse in terms of race and origins of the main characters. Knowing your stance on such things, something tells me that if you don't mind steampunk, you'd like it. (http://www.torquerepress.com/fiction/steampowered.html)