Natural hair versus non-natural hair for AA females in romance books and the perception of AA female romance heroines

I can say that creating an African-American female heroine with hair that is not silky, straight and hanging to her butt, was a necessary decision for me to make in creating an AA female heroine. Whatever your ethnicity as a reader, you may ask, "What's the big deal?" The big deal is that there is still a standard of universality expected in a romance heroine. Especially when said heroine is not White. She's got to appeal to ALL readers. But the hard truth is, if you write niche romance, like I do, there is nothing run-of-the-mill about writing its heroines. I may sound like a broken record but major, traditional, established publishing houses DO NOT promote or scout out romances with non-Caucasian heroines. Yes, I know traditional publishing houses do not promote their authors very much period but writers of ethnic romance are really treated like the ugly stepchild. So if an author of ethnic/IR romance actually makes it past the scrutiny and "helpful criticism" of a gate-keeping editor and jumps through hoops and gets picked up by a big house, it's safe to say that the author's heroine has been watered down to be acceptable to the masses. Note: I don't know how she did it, but my fav author, the late L. A. Banks was able to craft truly ethnic females and amass a large audience. Her multicultural heriones stayed themselves and made her writing full and rich. But in general, most Black romance heroines found in the stories released by the big houses tend to be Caucasian chicks wrapped in chocolate shells. Harsh but true. Why is that? Because the traditional publisher will always hold up the low payout balance sheet for those romances and say that there is "no sizable audience for that kind of romance." Whoa! WTF does that mean? My take: publisher is saying that for whatever reason, the masses (i.e. the Caucasian female reader) didn't buy this book. And the publisher will use low rate of return for their effort as proof that the masses are not interested in reading multicultural/ IR romances. It is a double-edged sword. I've heard it all before: the Caucasian female reader will not buy a book with a heroine to which she cannot connect. The catch-22 of that scenario is that few, quality IR/multicultural stories are bought by traditional pubs to even be in the running to compete for "the masses" attention. I know that there are specific presses that print stories with multicultural characters. I say, "Thank God!" or our stories would never see the light of day. The unbelievable color politics in romance publishing is annoying. Funny, I don't recall any publisher asking non-Caucasian readers if they were able to relate to the chicks in all those England-based and Scotland-based historicals. Funny, I was able to connect to all those heroines with their upturned noses and flowing locks. I bought a shitload of those historicals with heroines named Bronwyn and Abigail, etc., who didn't even have a Black maid, which for a historical was a tad incorrect. People of color were servants in European households. But, hey I'm clouding the issue. The "Outlander" series is/was my favorite! Had no problem enjoying them. Hear that Big Six!

Anyway back to the natural hair theme. I,  unwittingly or defiantly, write African-American female characters without weaves, wigs or relaxed hair. And without any apologies. My heroine, Tina, sports twist-outs, coils, wash-n-gos and headwraps. And her lover loves it because it's her. Her goddaughter, Spechelle, who is a straight-edger, wears a natural fade. Their acquaintances or lovers may be of any color but these ladies stand strong in their own identity. Personally, I picked natural hair for them because the paranormal life-or-death story they are in warrants that they be ready to run for their lives or stand and fight for their lives at a moment's notice. You can't do that if your weave needs to be re-threaded or you're worrying about when you can get that relaxer touched up or if you are fretting that your wig may be knocked off your head as you flee.

I owe being able to write what I want, how I want, to my publisher, Extasy Books, a growing medium-sized press in Canada that appreciates the different and the daring in addition to making a profit. Wake up, American publishers! This is a diverse nation. Reflect it!

I wear my hair natural but I am not a natural hair Nazi. I've had relaxed hair in the past but never anything sew-in or detachable. The realization of something extra melded or glued to me always creeped me out because all I could envision would be the diaster of doing double duty: maintaining my real hair and maintaining the fake hair. No thanks. That is why my female characters stay with what is true and stay as close to themselves as possible.  A theme that is very crucial in my series.

The death of cursive and the dumbing down of generations

I may have written about this before so hang in there if it seems familiar.

Cursive. What would I do without you? I write out all my manuscripts in longhand cursive on yellow or white legal pads with ink pens or no. 2 pencils. I like that I don't need to sit in front of a radiation-emitting monitor for hours waiting for inspiration to hit. I create wherever I want, whenever I want without benefit of a charged iPad or tablet. And I don't need an electrical outlet to write.

Why?

Because I know cursive! Block printing is for babies. I love the loops, squiggles and curlicues of cursive that I learned waaaay back in grade school. It was called penmanship and you practiced everyday until you got it right. I was so proud to be able to sign my name like the grown ups and not print like the babies. Plus, I went to Catholic grade school so the education was top notch then. And free. That's another post for another time though. Anyway, the very distressing thing is that public school systems across the U. S. are doing away with cursive handwriting instruction in their curricula. Are we returning to signing crap with an 'X' or leaving your thumbprint on a piece of paper. Sounds very slave- and indentured servant-like to me.

A prime example of the concept at work (or not working) was during the Zimmerman trial. Witness Rachel Jentel shocked viewers by saying that she did not know cursive. Me, I was shocked that she had come through a school system that NO LONGER TAUGHT cursive. That was shocking, clutch-the-pearls time to me. Sad. Whole generations and classes of people reduced to block printing who can use a computer and watch videos and will be able to ask you, "Would you like fries with that?"  Yes, I said it.

Cursive not important anymore? Yeah right. If I were a parent of a kid who attended a school where cursive was no longer taught I'd worry. I'd worry because I bet you dollars to doughnuts that prep schools, private schools, charter schools, schools full of rich kids and schools run by religions and any school with sense are still teaching cursive. Always remember: Your kid will be competing with those kids (for jobs, college) from a disadvantaged place. Your kid will be in the starting block with a deficit! So you ask what can you do if your kid goes to one of  those sub-par, no-cursive-taught-here, no-teaching-anything-important babysitting services called a school? I say start a cursive learning class in your neighborhood on your own. Parents could pool money and hire a tutor. Or get really drastic and put your kids in a school where cursive is still taught. It's their future.

The sweet, the sensual and the erotic

I have read all “heat" levels of romance. Crafting any of these levels takes skill. The writer of each type has to know how far to push the envelope in what he/she is writing.

Sweet romance’s hottest moment might be what movie directors used to do in films when a couple was about to have sex. The movie scene would discretely cut to a billowing bedroom window curtain or rain beating against a window. So in sweet romance writing the scene may end before the couple gets to the bedroom and then pick up at some point after the loving (few hours later, the next morning, etc.) Also there is usually no harsh cursing. An example from my personal bookshelf is BEAUTY by Susan Wilson. Great plotline. Great characters that linger in the mind. Did I miss the sex scenes? No. Would I have liked a few? Probably but they weren’t necessary. The author’s command of the writing elements made the omission of sex scenes correct.

Sensual romance. Most romance books I’ve read and certainly the ones I write are sensual. These stories (mine and others’) depict the sexual affection the hero and the heroine have for one another. It’s not better than the sweet romance category; it’s another facet of a wide genre. The ones I loved were any historicals written by the “Avon Ladies”, that tight, well-oiled, successful machine of romance writers at Avon Books back in the 80s and early 90s. Even today I’ll re-read a classic by Woodiwiss or Rogers or Jenkins when nothing is calling to me from my TBR pile. Yes, those historicals could have some thin plotlines but I adored the descriptions of the locales, the era and of the fearless hero.

Now we come (no pun intended) to the erotica category. Always, always, always there will be people who call it porn. It’s not porn. It’s not even porn with prose. It’s a story with explicit sex scenes woven into a well-written story. Or at least that’s what it’s supposed to be. And this is the debate about the erotica category. The focus of the book is sex. And I call them books with the side eye. I’m going to put my neck on the chopping block here. Ten pages is not a book. I repeat. Ten pages is not a book. Yes, I know that this length and a little longer are popular on Amazon. I suppose people don’t have time to invest in a long book. But I must comment, “Why does one read a book?" Is it not to relax and unwind? Does everything in this life have to be short, hurried and frenzied? Quick service, fast food. If you are taking the time out to read a book, don’t you want to savor it? I really do hope this rushed atmosphere is not indicative of your sex lives. If it is, no wonder most folks are sexually frustrated. But that’s just my observation. I am into relaxing and taking my time, so in my purview, ten pages is not a book. I name these short works, “written extended sexual encounters.”

Romance writing for me is the more imaginative of writing categories. Erotica may be the most imaginative genre. The sex in erotica is definitely the focus. It is usually very hot and veers into the realm of the unreal.  Erotica can be dangerous dark, playful, forbidding, vanilla, MM, FF, MFM, FMF or interracial. It blends quite well with paranormal, Sci-fi and the were/vamp/shifter tales.  I think with better crafting and building of stories, better plots (plots period), and by not rating a story by how many orgasms one can squeeze into ten pages, erotica could hold its own with the rest of the genres in romance writing.

So which level do you read? Any? All? A blend?

 

 

Here we go again, or did we never leave?

Well, you are getting all this insight on things racial while I wait for the galley to be returned for corrections on book three UNION of the FELIG CHRONICLES, my IR/paranormal  romance. Believe me, Nate and Tina do not deal with this ish.

I am going to expound on a subject that the USA loves to react to but does very little to nil to really speak on. Let’s get ready to speak about racial slurs. Now those of you who are sensitive, or get the vapors or avoid “impolite things,” go away now! ‘Cuz it’s going to get a little warm in here.

I am tardy commenting on the whole fray around the use of the word n-i-g-g-e-r. I put stops between the letters so those of you who did not go away, won’t faint. I shall not be using the soft-shelled euphemism, ”n-word.” Hate that stupid term.  Anyhoo, I want to quote something that my grandfather used to tell me. He was paraphrasing the words of Stepin Fetchit, a Black vaudevillian of the early twentieth-century. He used to say, “I do not hate being Black. It’s just that it’s an inconvenience sometimes.” I know now, as I have gotten older what the saying means. It is tiring. Racial slights and slurs directed at me now, elicit yawns and eye-rolling. I cannot be bothered to respond to tiny minds whose lone thought in his/her almost empty head is to yell, “N-i-g-g-e-r,” at me for some reason only he/she know. I simply walk away or reply, “Miss N-i-g-g-e-r to you!” Now, if the cretin approaches me and I can’t get away, it’s on.

I tire of reading indignant Caucasian people writing in the comments section of some article which chronicles how the latest Caucasian public figure who got caught (Are you listening Riley Cooper?) using the word, n-i-g-g-e-r, in public is being subjected to a “double standard” when Black citzenry call the person on it. I say double WTF? and double yawn. Freakin’ first of all, why does any Caucasian feel they have the right to use the word with a Black person? What is the allure? What is the intent? And don’t tell me, “You guys use it with each other all the time.” WRONG! I don’t use the word. Period. Other black folks need to wake up and cease and desist with the word, too. And do you know why? Because it’s ugly.

I know my history and nowhere in that past history in this country has a non-Black person EVER used that word to show kindness or used it as an endearment. Not a one who has used it with me or with the elders in my family who lived through the Jim Crow era, have EVER meant anything nice. Let me explain it. No matter how numbing to the ear it has become, be it in song, in print, by friends, in movies---no matter how good the intention may be, it’s WRONG! It is a word that was created and used to make the person it was hurled at, afraid, docile and to feel less than the cretin hurling it.

It is the purpose of all and any racial epithets. And you know full damn well what I mean. Do not act dumb. Let’s take a stroll through the American showroom of abundant, wicked racial slurs. Behind door number one, along with n-i-g-g-e-r, we have s-p-i-c/ w-e-t-b-a-c-k for the Hispanic/Latino community, depending which Coast one lives on. Behind door number two, we have that oldie but goodie, k-i-k-e for our Jewish friends. Oh yes, the showroom is bursting at its bigoted seams. And last but not least, we have h-a-r-p for those of Irish descent, w-o-p for Italian Americans and k-r-a-u-t for German-Americans. I am exhausted. The showroom should have a tram running from door to door.

Ah, America! The land of those free to insult one another in many colorful ways.

You’re probably saying, “Get over it. Lighten up. We’re all post-racial here.” Please! I’d like to throttle the idiot who coined that annoying, inaccurate term. Just because the US President is Black means nothing in the healing of racial tension. There is a contingent of White folk (Teabaggers, etc.) out there who think Barack Obama should only be SERVING DRINKS in the White house, not SERVING TWO TERMS. They went apeshit, built fortified bunkers "cuz the race war is coming"and went DEFCON1 when he was elected. So spare me the “post-racial” bullshit.

So when will I get over the racial slur thing? Here’s my deal. I’ll get over it when all those slurs I catalogued above get written into songs like the word n-i-g-g-e-r is written into songs. Let those songs get approved and released by major record labels for mass distribution. Let young people of ALL ethnicities memorize the lyrics, sing them at the top of their lungs and cruise in cars down city streets. Maybe I’ll get over it then and maybe we’ll be “post-racial.”

Except, it ain’t gonna happen. Why, you ask?

Because ALL of those ethnicities know better but most importantly, ALL of those ethnicities know the difference between an ugly slur and an endearment. 

Use of social media in plotlines and in promoting one's writing

If a book's characters use modern, up-to-date methods to communicate (Facebook, Twitter, etc,), do you find that believable? My main character blogs, use a cell but that's the extent of it. In the paranormal universe I just don't think the hero/heroine has time to tweet or FB. I mean really are you reading a romance book for the characters' tweeting skills? Unless using Twitter is a main part of the plot, I don't think so. I won't and don't use them in plots. In storylines with a lot of action, suspense, danger, no one has time to tweet. They are too busy running for their lives or saving the world or simply desiring that last human touch before it all falls apart. Maybe if I were more proficient in my use of social media, my characters would be too. But I doubt it.

See, I am not a pushy author. I write. I get published. I promote to the best of my ability which means I do not annoy the potential reader. Yes, I know that there are scores of writers who everyday, all day, shill their work. I promote too but through my website, my blog , several review sites, etc. I put myself in the place of the reader. I would not like to see a promo in my inbox a gazillion times a day whether it be on FB, Twitter or regular email for a book. Having to promote gives me hives. It's the whole acting like a trained seal trying to get attention without ticking people off or falling off that ball. Right up there with walking a tightrope. Plus, I am one of thousands vying for distracted attention of a small audience in a very crowded market. And to be truthful, promoting on Twitter is like pissing into the sea. It's hit or miss if I'm catching anyone's eye. I'll get a pro to pitch my stuff for two weeks in key places and I'll do my part elsewhere (Blogtalkradio, other authors' sites) but have no fear I will not become that pest begging you to read my latest. It's the quickest way to get remembered for the wrong reason.

Hey, thank you!

Dear Readers,

I am done ranting for now. Sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do though. Well, this short post is for all those who have purchased my books and especially those who in the last week bought BOTH volumes of my series at once. A big shout out and thank you to all. Again, and even I am getting blue in the face from repeating this: UNION, THE FELIG CHRONICLES, BOOK THREE is coming out soon! It really does exist. In fact, I have two more volumes done and waiting to hand in to my publisher. Book four is called PARADOX and Book five is called IDYLL? Can't wait to get these installments out to you. You deserve them. Maybe because of the delay, I could persuade Extasy Books to have discount of some kind on the purchase of the whole series so far? Anyhoo, once more, many thanks to those of you who have pulled out your wallets and have been financial with me. Keep watching this space and my website (www.pjdeanwriter.weebly.com) for updates and another updated book trailer. In the meantime, reacquaint yourselves with Nate's and Tina's diverse, courageous love story and of course keep reading my blog posts. Much appreciated. 

Sharing sites, torrents, free reads, free uploads, freeloading or" What can I get for nothing?"

If you have ever read any of my blog posts, you know by now I speak my truth with a precise focus. This post will be no different. My topic today is the notion amongst readers of any genre (it seems that it's prevalent in the romance category) that free reads of some sort are expected. Hey, I know money is scarce. I live in the same economy you do. But if you got something to download a book onto, well... let's just say that I don't think you are worrying about how much data plans cost. Look, I know that folks will do as they please or as they feel they have to. It is not my job to wag my finger all Governor-Jan-Brewer like in your face. But a writer has to eat! Plus my other job is to hip you to something that your Mama may have failed to tell you: there are no free lunches!

Number one- I write stories for publication for a small but prominent press in the romance industry. I, we, who submit works get no advance. Only giant publishers give out advances, and unless you are a heavy-hitter, they are quite small. So no one at my press receives money upfront. The publisher takes on our work because they feel it's good and believe it has potential to SELL. Key word here, SELL. I love writing. I love eating too and paying bills. I even hope to earn a living from writing one day.

Number two- As much as I love writing, it takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to create books. Now I know it looks easy 'cuz everybody and their pet rat is pooping out a book nowadays (and some do stink up the place) but I assure you I do not produce a book that easily. Which circles around to the blood, sweat and tears thing. I invest a hell of a lot of time, effort and thought into my books. Soooooooooooo, I DO NOT, DO NOT, offer free reads. If you have a book of mine and you didn't pay for it, you got it as a prize in a contest, or from a "sharing" site, or from a torrent site or from a friend. And the worse of the worst: downloaded it from an e-bookstore, read the book and then returned it and asked for your money back. Which is plain triflin'.

You may ask, "Who does she think she is? No free reads? Even Stephen King offers free reads. Eff her." Well, Huckleberry, Mister King may offer them but Mister King is also a millionaire. He can afford to offer free reads. See it this way. If you want something to eat in a restaurant, do you ask the owner to let you have a free meal first and then maybe you'll buy one later? Thought not. Do you ask your dentist to fill a cavity for free first and then if it's good you'll pay he/she for the second one? Thought not. If you live in a nation with socialized medicine, ignore that one. Those professionals do not roll that way. Neither do I. Why do I take that stance? Because I've observed that "free" for some reason is not respected or deemed worthy and leads to just more of a "give me" mentality. Sometimes a free thing is not always good though. This trend started with "cheap" or "discounted" ebooks to spark a reader's interest. Then it changed to $.99 cents. And now stuff is free.  Nope, not my ish. Professionals do not give away their services. I am a professional. See the progression? Where do you go from "free" anyway? Maybe pay the reader to read a free ebook? That may not be that far off. I've seen the quality of some of those free reads. Yeah, I said it. Bad writing. Bad grammar. Bad editing. No editing. No plot. You get what you pay for. Or in this case what you didn't pay for. If you load up your Kindle with free, badly-written ebooks, you'll begin to think that the crap you downloaded represents the quality of ALL ebooks, which is not true. So, it's up to you. So keep trolling for free, badly-written shit and then piss and moan about how terrible it is. Keep visiting unethical torrent sites for that book you heard about but don't want to shell out a few bucks for. But much better, help an author out and BUY a well-written read. I believe in the giving and receiving rules of the Universe. I give by writing. It's your turn to give and you'll get so much in return.

 A famous quote says, "All property is theft." I wouldn't go that far but I do believe piracy, in all its forms, sure as hell is.

ps   I apologize if you live in a country where getting stuff to read is next to impossible. This post is directed toward those who don't have that problem, those who don't value others' work and can purchase anything but perpetually look for the freebie.