Creative Writing
Tip:
Avoiding Stereotypes
The tough but kind police officer. The African
American who speaks only in street slang. The wise old lady. We know a
stereotype when we see it, and we see them way too often.
The problem with stereotypes, setting all political correctness
concerns aside,
is that they are just shortcuts for character development – and the reader
knows it. As readers, we don't want to waste our time with characters we have seen
far too often. Stereotypes break our connection with and interest in the
story, the same way clichés do.
As for political correctness, I believe that it merely replaced one set
of stereotypes with another. Instead of the tomahawk
wielding "injun" who grunts "Ugh. White man speak with forked tongue," we
now have the meditative Native American with long hair, fringed buckskin
jacket, and dreamweaver medallion necklace who utters greeting card wisdom
like "We cannot own the earth. We are the earth."
The antidote to stereotypes is to create well-rounded characters with
clear and human motivation. Even a character who appears briefly in a
story can benefit from depth and complexity. Such characters add
realism and depth that draws us further into the story.
Listen to Bruce Springsteen's song "Paradise" from his album The
Rising. He takes us inside the mind of someone who is preparing to
commit a suicide bombing. Springsteen shows the character's longing for
his loved one and awareness of impending loss. This image haunts and
frightens us much more than the stock character of the rabidly fanatical
terrorist.
Developing motivation and complexity is especially important in
developing a character's ethnicity. Instead of using cookie-cutter stereotypes to
broadcast that a character belongs to an ethnic group, use ethnicity as
one more way to add richness to a character.
Start by being aware that members of an ethnic group do not all act the same way. A
Jew from Brooklyn is not the same as a Jew from Atlanta or a Jew from Tel
Aviv or a Jew from Buenos Aires. Also, a Chasidic Jew is far different from a Messianic Jew or a Jew
who hasn't been in a synagogue since his father's funeral. "One size fits
all" does not apply to Jews or any other ethnic group.
Instead, determine what a character's ethnicity means to him or her.
How much does that person identify with that group? Is
it something he or she is proud of or ashamed of? Is it a source of
strength or a stumbling block? How has that character been treated because
of his or her ethnicity? What about the character's parents and
grandparents?
By exploring a character's ethnicity, age, or profession and its
meaning to that person, you can create an engaging character and avoid the potentially
offensive crutch of stereotyping.
Related Topics
Creative Writing Tips
Offline
Writing Communication Tips Technical
Writing Tips
|
