I started writing the Saint Clair Blood Descendants in my head between 3 and 5 years ago. Every time I was in between reading books or had a few minutes to spare while waiting in line somewhere, I would think up another scenario for my characters. Although I love books where the places/times/universes are fictional, I have been inspired by fantasy writers whose stories are in modern times. I feel like I can identify with the character who just got caught in a traffic jam more than I can if they had to hop on a dragon and get to work...not matter if the character is an elf or vampire or witch. But, there is always something missing in fantasy books.
As an African American reader/author, it is hard to find a connection to some of the characters in fantasy books. It seems that most of the heroes and heroines are fair skinned and blue-eyed, which is fine, but I wanted to identify more with them. In my mind, my characters have always been all colors so that everyone can sit down and lose themselves in my story. But, having a story in your mind is not like having it on paper.
Writing has never been hard for me. I have a degree in History so researching and story telling has been something I had to do for years. But writing a novel, something that is a creation of my mind and not of past events, is a daunting task. The moniker 'Just do it' was easier said than done.
One day I was reading a book in a very long series and (I want to check with the author before I use her name and series just to be sure.) up until a point in the series, there were no characters who looked like me. No dark brown skinned characters at all. Again, this is fine. I was a die-hard fan of her books and her stories and was waiting with bated breath for the next book to be released. I was surprised to find that she added an African character in her book...and not as a villain. I was overjoyed and sent her an email immediately, to let her know how much it meant to a fan and to thank her. And (drum roll please).........she emailed me back! I love her for that and started to formulate my story again...that was July 2011. Then, I did what most people do with their great story ideas...NOTHING!
Saint Clair Blood Descendants series is a true expression of faith in myself. I have at least 3 books planned out in my head with no definite end in sight. The first book, "Blood is Darker Than Water", will hopefully be completed in time for the holidays and will be sold on Amazon, Barnes N Noble, Smashwords, Kobo and any other site for independent authors. I will also be providing an online excerpt of the book in a future posting.
Thank you for visiting my site and getting to know a little bit about my project. I hope you enjoy it.
I fully understand what you mean about not being able to relate to characters in books when they aren't non-passing minorities. I think that's why kids don't like reading nowadays. I remember having to read classics by only white, American, or European writers (Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Charles Dickens). But what about great writers like Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, Massimo Bontempelli, Ben Okri, Sandra Cisneros, Martin Luther King, Jr., Alex Haley, and Ralph Ellison? Why weren't they on the reading lists in school? I'm sure if they were, things would be so different for people like us. That's why I'm really happy that you're writing. Maybe you can write something that we all can relate to.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comment. I know that we all brush our teeth and drive cars the same way, but there are differences and they are wonderful. My first series is an Urban Fantasy and the differences are mostly in appearance. I do have another book floating around in my head that is really different and I will see if I can format it for young adults.
ReplyDelete