I’d given up on reporting on the nonsense that passes for
sincere engagement on the matter of diversity in romance publishing. Look. It
was always diversity in the field. Be it the characters in a book or the kinds
of authors writing them. It’s was the industry (mainstream writers, traditional
publishers, bloggers, reviewers) that was loathe to acknowledge it. I’d
gone on to simply write what pleases me. You wanna read it; you will. I
can’t make you. I know that the arrangement I have with my medium-sized romance
publisher In Canada, and my occasional venture into self-publishing will keep
me sane. It will keep me from taking seriously the project called “inclusion.”
So, I’ve weaned myself off these rants unless I stumble across something that further
exposes the deliberate tone deafness amongst the players in the mainstream
industry.
Look. I do not know how many times I must say this. But I’ll
say it again for those late to the party. This diversity in romance publishing mess
is a shell game that the Big 5 publishers own. They aren’t letting go anytime
soon. These publishers direct the game where, how, and when they want it. If
one wants one’s “diverse” anything published by any of the Big 5, one WILL
follow their rules. And if one is a writer of color, and one craves publication
with any of the Big 5, one will fall in line and write what the Big 5 tells one. And that means how to
pen that character of color if one wants that tome to see the light of day. That’s
the price one pays for validation and inclusion. So, ok. Go for it.
I will re-iterate. If one wants a book not tinkered with by
gatekeepers, one’ll have to go fish in the Indie pond. The truth is the
“diverse” historical as published by traditional houses is engineered like a
GMO product. I give props to any writer who can create in that atmosphere.
Now on to the post in question. The website’s (Smart
Bitches, Trashy Books) past post on the subject of historical romance when the
main characters in the book AREN’T Anglo and rich is a winner. There is nothing
wrong with the actual essay. The guest poster (an academician) penned an entry
that asked when were writers going to pen characters OTHER than Anglos in their
historical romances. The credentialed poster knew her stuff (listing eras that
had non-White people with terrific tales doing things that needed to be written
about). She simply wanted to know what would it take to have these tales appear.
Where were the stories? Who was writing them? “Cuz she wasn’t seeing them and apparently,
girlfriend was T-I-R-E-D of reading about titled, pale males in love with equally
pale women. She dared to suggest that these
missing stories were worth creating and that since most historical romance authors
weren’t tackling it, they needed to start. Her other issue was that since Anglo
authors weren’t writing what she wanted to see, that perhaps, (gasp!) non-White
authors were or would.
WELL, HUNTY.
Those suggestions brought out the wide-eyed and willfully
ignorant who all wondered, with mouth gaping, what the poster was talking about
because those books are everywhere.
Then mainstream reader after mainstream reader, and several mainstream authors,
proceeded to list every mainstream historical romance book that had ever included
a character with as much as a sunburn. They flooded the comment thread with
recommendations. Oh, there were a few divas present, who from their tone were
itching to show their azzes, but amazingly, it did not devolve into “Mean
Girls” 101 like this topic had before on that blog.
And people think the romance biz is gumdrops and
rainbows and unicorns? OH MY.
Problem was every single book rec’d was by a White author
and had…wait for it, wait for it…a half-Anglo/half -Something-or-Other-Hero/Heroine.
Anglo-Indian. Anglo-African. Anglo-Chinese, etc. Characters where one probably
had to squint, cock one’s head to the side and then ask them to stand in a
certain light to see that they were not Anglo. Just a smidge of another
ethnicity to make the hero/heroine “exotic” and qualify to be mentioned on the
thread. A sort of “Look what they wrote. See. These books exist!” Ok. I get it.
These books were written by folk who know their audience. Their audience does
not want to see any full-blooded anything get the happy ending. Unless, it’s
some bare-chested, Navajo brave getting it in with an Anglo chick . Wait. I’m digressing. Anyhoo, the writers know
that a real story is secondary and their audience is reading it for the sex
scenes. Lots of readers don’t mind that. So, these cobbled-together books with scant
stories peopled with half-Anglo sheiks or brahmins or Indian chiefs are now representative
of a DIVERSE historical romance. Yanno, my grandma used to say, “Half-assed is
half-done” and “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” Personally, I believe
it’s an Interstate by now.
YEAH. EASE ON DOWN THAT ROAD. BUT WATCH OUT FOR THAT SEMI!
Every book rec’d had that kind of main character at the
center. Written half-assedly. Why? Because that side of a mixed character is
all those writers know. Because it’s safe and it’s their ethnicity. Every non-White
writer on that thread saw that 1,000-lb. elephant in the room but few Whites on
that thread did. Yet they, and readers, continue to complain that today’s
historical romances bore them, are colorless.
WELL…in order not to be bored, wouldn't one need to read a historical by a non-White romance
writer? One who does not have to follow guidelines, right?
Yo, you can’t get a different view of a landscape when
you insist on staring out the same window.
Anyway, the comments to
the post went on and on and finally morphed into excuses by the time the thread
ended.
Another eye-opening experience.
Let’s cut to the chase. The truth is the mainstream reader
has little interest in reading a historical with non-White characters written
by a non-white writer because too much REAL will dull the fantasy. They want nothing to
interfere with that fluffy dream. Tea-Time, carriage rides, frilly dresses, gardens
and aristocracy is what they want. As far as tons of readers are concerned, and
have been brainwashed to believe, fully Black, Hispanic, Chinese characters should
only play the help and scurry around in the background serving drinks, or doing
chores or warming someone’s bed. That type of reader cannot fathom any of those
people being front and center in a story, not exhibiting those tasks. “It’s too
implausible” I’ve heard some say. It’s sad because a non-White author is the
ONLY one who is going to give plausibility to them. It’s disturbing that some
readers can’t handle it. They aren’t used to it. I guess reading that non-White folk made a life for themselves, NO MATTER WHAT ISH SWIRLED AROUND THEM makes ‘em uncomfortable. And goes against what they've been taught.
How do I know? Keep reading.
After all that kumbayah, hand-holding, I-Read-Others
solidarity on that SBTB post of a few weeks ago, a post just THIS WEEK on the
same blog asked visitors what they were reading. And what did the readers say?
They responded with a slew of books they were not that fond of but had kept
slogging through anyway. Mind you, some of these were the SAME people who’d
been clamoring for recs of diverse
historical romances written by non-White authors weeks before on the other
post. So what happened? Didn’t they even bother to check out WOC in Romance to
see what diverse historicals were there? Guess not. If
they had, they would not have been slogging through that standard BDSM pill or that
New Adult snooze-fest. If they’d gone to WOC in Romance they would have picked
up some great books. Whatevs. Like I’ve said before: Either the historical
romance centered on non-White characters WRITTEN BY NON-WHITE AUTHORS, who have another insight, is wanted
or it is not.
Just like one can't be a little pregnant.
So, Progressive Reader, you want historical romances with
diverse, main characters who don’t bore you? Stop thinking that all non-Whites
played subservient roles in history. Not all life in the past for non-Whites
was one of misery. But to unearth that, an author has to do research. Imagine
that. Writers of color who pen historicals do that all the time. The
mainstream, traditional authors you stick to. The ones who you hope will give
you that, don’t and won’t. So, if you are truly interested, you’ll find
them. Now put down that boring book, stop with the excuses and go get what you
say you want.
I rest my case.
