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In multicultural writing, we often get hung up on skin color, race, sexual orientation and religion. Inherent and physical characteristics are not the only elements of multicultural writing. I’ve briefly discussed gender in a cultural context and plan to address it again, but multiculturalism also includes the cultural groups formed within the work place.

Because we now pound the virtual pavement as another option to seeking employment it is not uncommon to come across resumes in cyberspace. In the Multicultural Identities: Naming Characters post, I talked about selecting names readers can identify with and realistic professions. Not everyone wants to be rock stars, basketball players or lawyers. Take Tim Arel, who started off in law school and changed career roads to land in property management.

Aside from a professional profile page, Tim Arel provides a link to his resume. Writers can develop an authentic professional background for their characters from the review of online resumes. A character with an interest in law, like Tim Arel will look at the world differently and take a different path toward their ideal job than someone who worked toward being a songwriter in the entertainment industry. He will also exist within a professional culture that is different than others. It will have its own language and code of conduct.

Thinking about the professional path our characters might take to get to the point in which you are writing about them can increase their depth and authenticity.

The Immigrant Ship

There is no one way to incorporate multicultural characters into your stories. Writers can introduce multicultural characters where they live whether that is in America or their ethnic place of origin.  Some of the most interesting multicultural stories focus on immigrants and their journey to a new land.

For example, in the blog post Details in Writing III, I mentioned Amos Tamam’s innovative contributions to the taxi industry as something important to note when writing about popular modes of transportation in New York.  However, no individual lacks a variety of personal angles. Consider all the personal facets when crafting unique multicultural characters. An intriguing story surely exists in Amos Tamam’s journey from Tel Aviv to New York City in the 1980’s. Heading the team that created the first credit card taxi meter in 1992, many fiction or nonfiction stories can be woven from what Amos Tamam accomplished in those dozen years.

As writers it can be challenging enough to create a cast of characters who are unique and representative of the varied world in which we live. Step beyond the crayon box of hues to enliven the depths of multicultural characters with the inclusion of unique challenges and accomplishments.

photo courtesy Paolo Livorno

Creating believable multicultural characters involves more than just making

appropriate appearance changes to the character in the story to mimic society’s view of a given race or ethnic origin of people. To create a balanced and authentic character, writers should incorporate the richness of the chosen ethnic background.

In the post Multicultural Identities II, I mentioned Joseph Odindo, a leading journalist for Nation Media Group in Kenya. Aside from learning about Kenya through Joseph Odindo’s writing, a fiction writer can learn a great deal about the customary characteristics of Kenya’a people through the review of Joseph Odindo’s blog or other writings. Taking the time to dig past the professional persona of someone who represents a different ethnic origin gives the multicultural characters we create real life—giving readers someone they can learn from and view as a tangible person just by following your character in your writing.

Title: The College Expo
Location: Oakland, California
Description: Also known as the Black College Expo, participate in the vehicle that connects students to college, careers and their future.
For more information check out http://www.thecollegeexpo.org.
Groups welcome. For tickets or information about exhibiting and sponsoring call 877-427-4100.
Date: 2009-01-17