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 Today, we have another special short story from GW Pickle.  I like his writing in that he captures emotion and writes about characters we come to care about in such a few amount of words. At first, I didn’t want to use this picture because it seems so bland, but once you read his story, you’ll see it is perfect. Enjoy GW Pickle’s My Uncle’s Gift and know that a review of his book SENTI is coming up shortly. It’s next on my review list–finally!

My Uncle’s Gift

By GW Pickle

I was born in the early fifties and My Mom, widowed when I was three, had her hands full raising me. She had help from my Grandmother and sometimes her brother. I always thought my Uncle Chuck was cool. He was a WWII veteran, owned a picture framing business, made lots of money, and was very generous. He lived about an hour away and frequently drove down to either fix something for my Grandmother or do something for my Mom. Uncle Chuck was a big spender and loved to do things with me. “You know kid, with your Dad and your Grandpa gone, someone got to teach you things they don’t in school.” He taught me how to hunt and fish, how to play ball, and how to be a man. He took me places when my Mom couldn’t. Owning a neighborhood Gas and Grocery store kept her busy. I helped out as much as I could, but most of the work and worry fell on her shoulders. My Uncle Chuck also had a big problem. He was an alcoholic. I can’t remember him not having a beer.

            Mom also had another sister and a second brother. He lived on the west coast and only came to visit every three to four years. Every year Uncle, Bill would send a Christmas card to my Mom and Grandma. My Grandma’s card would have a check so she could get what she wanted. My Aunt had four children and we got together twice a year, Christmas and during the summer, when we drove my Grandma to visit. We would go back two weeks later and pick her up. Every other year my aunt and her kids would come to our house to celebrate Christmas. Christmas dinner was always held at Grandma’s. We would eat our Christmas meal around eleven and open presents after dessert. We would gather around the tree and either my Mom or Aunt would pass out the gifts.
            One year, I must have been nine or ten years old, my Uncle Chuck was late. He’d missed the Christmas meal and we had just finished passing out gifts when he arrived, drunk, very drunk. I could tell something was wrong but I was still happy to see him. He explained he had to work very late the last two weeks because one worker was sick and the other had quit. My Mom asked if she could help get the gifts out of his car. He pulled out a big roll of money and told her that he hadn’t had time to get gifts this year, but if we would line up he would give us money to buy our own. My Grandma was first in line and my Aunt and cousins were next. My Mom was next and I was last. When I approached my Uncle for my gift, He looked down at me. He had a weird look on his face. He turned and he left the room upset.

            I thought I heard him crying. I turned to my mother and ask “What’s a matter with Uncle Chuck?”
            A cousin replied. “May be he don’t like you anymore.”
            “No, that’s not it.” My Mom said. “He may have had a little too much to drink. You remember I told you what sometimes happens when someone drinks too much?”            

            I left and found my Uncle sitting in the dining room crying. When I ask him what’s wrong, he told me. “I’m so sorry. I got nothing to give you for Christmas.” He started to cry again.

            I gave him a hug and said, “Uncle Chuck, you being here is the best gift I could have. I don’t need a toy or money. I know you love me and that’s enough, that’s what Christmas is all about, right.”

            “Yes.” He agreed. “You got it right and I hope you don’t ever forget that. It’s love and family that are important, not the gifts or the money.” He gave me a big hug.
            My Grandma came in a few minutes later with a plate of food and asked. “You want to eat here or in the kitchen? Because I know you’re not leaving here until you eat.”

            “Here,” He replied here. “And could you get a piece of pie for your grandson too. I’d like him to eat with me.”
            My grandma returned a few minutes later with a piece of pie and a glass of milk and left. After we finished, I told Uncle Chuck I’d be right back with my gift for him.
            He said I’d already given him the best Christmas gift he had ever had.

All rights reserved by GW Pickle

Here’s the blurb on SENTI -

Major Jack Waco was the best pilot in the SENTI Command. A self-proclaimed loner, he thought he didn’t need anything or anyone until he met Major Maggie Wilson, who challenged those preconceptions. Maggie’s resemblance to an important person from Jack’s past revived memories and feelings within him, sending his head and his heart into turmoil. With a government conspiracy on-hand and large-scale interstellar piracy threatening the very stability of the galaxy, will Jack be able to cope with these newly-awakened feelings in time to succeed in bringing the guilty to justice or would he be betrayed by them - far out in a newly-discovered planetary system on the other side of the galaxy?

If you want to read it before I review it, please visit Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com

Sometimes the best way to capture the multiculturalism of your characters is to incorporate the food of the culture in your writing. If your character is Irish, you don’t have to go into the vast history of Ireland, you could just mention some uncommon Irish meal or dish as being a favorite of your character’s.

For example, if I was writing about Kenyan journalist Wangethi Mwangi, to make him appear as a more human figure instead of just a journalist, I could talk about his hobby of Kenyan cooking. This would explain why many people list hobbies on resumes. It is a way to make an employment candidate appear more human. Not everyone is familiar with the food of a given culture. So with Wangethi Mwangi as my example, exploring the food of your character’s ethnic origin is a way to expand your reader’s horizon and round out your characters at the same time. Like Wangethi Mwangi and his love for Kenyan cooking, the love of food is universal, something that we all understand and can build a common ground around.

The next time you want to incorporate the details of your character’s culture, instead of referencing hair color or complexion, you can mention the favorite dish of their ethnic culture. It accomplishes the same thing in a more interesting way.

When writing your stories in a given time period and setting it is important to consider the details of your story. For example, if you are writing a story based in the 1980’s, your characters probably didn’t listen to CDs or watch DVDs. Your readers will pick up on such errors. Again this makes research that much more important. Or something that is less obvious would be the use of cabs. Since the setting for much of my writing takes place in New York and New Jersey it is important that I understand about the mode of transportation. So I might research Amos Tamam, an engineer who contributed 30 years of innovation in the taxi industry. One innovation we take for granted is the recent ability for taxi’s to accept credit cards. Amos Tamam’s involvement in the various improvements within the taxi industry requires me to be more considerate when I have my characters utilize a taxi given the setting and time period of my stories.

Additionally, Amos Tamam was educated at Tel Aviv University in Israel. His story alone brings about an interesting twist to how multiculturalism can bring change and improvements to US society. Not every great idea or improvement is American-bred. The next time your character takes a cab, that detail may not be as simply or mundane as you originally thought

I mentioned it before, but I really like exploring the life of everyday people who may do extraordinary things. I also like to have characters that have names common to their culture—or common period.  I think it helps with relating to the character. Many authors try to come up with these unique names that are not ethnic but just exotic for the sake of being memorable.

I can’t relate to someone named Blade or Jasmine even, although many women have that name. I also like to use names that represent a facet of the character’s personality. I think that tendency is influenced from my days in college as an English major when I read the English morality play Everyman, where Everyman was the character’s name but it is also a metaphor for everyman. Common names like Tim Arel, (Think about how many people you’ve probably came across who were named Tim) can create a sense of instant normalcy and recognition.

In addition to names, I also want to select occupations that everyday people have.  In doing so, I read about people doing different but not glamorous jobs which can lead to character variety. For example, lots of authors create characters that are in real estate sales or construction. I recently read a story where the character was in property management. We don’t often think about the various positions in real estate and the people that hold these jobs like Tim Arel.

It’s easy to look up an occupation, but it is more interesting to find someone who actually holds the position.  You can create an interesting backstory if you take the time to explore the background of someone who holds the position of your character. Taking a different lesser known position like property management and delving into the career using a person in the field like Tim Arel will create additional realism for your character.

In exploring multicultural identities, writers shouldn’t limit the search to destination sites and public figures.  Some of the best information I have discovered about a city’s or a country’s people are to read articles from their newspapers and magazines. I did mention how much I love magazines?

I generally get access to some of the best world newspaper articles from The Week, however, the Internet is an excellent source as well. Take a quick look at the Nation Media Group’s Daily Nation newspaper site, where Joseph Odindo is the group managing editor and your whole perspective about Kenya is changed.

In America, we are so quick to reference every other country that isn’t an innovative superpower as a backwoods village or a third world country, that we can’t imagine that other countries can be as authentic and progressive as we are. Reading about a country’s leading journalist such as Joseph Odindo can give a lot of insight to what other countries think about the US which gives added conflict and/or complexity when we have our fictional multicultural characters interact. Following a nation’s leading journalist like Joseph Odindo help ensure cultural authenticity for multicultural characters that may represent a culture you are not familiar with.

Whether you know it or not, the last six months have represented my active pursuit in establishing how and to what capacity writing will play a part in my professional life. After years in the finance and online education industries and a severe case of corporate burn-out, I took the time to focus on my love for multicultural writing. While this blog is just one fruit from that labor, it is my favorite. When I walked out of those double doors six months ago, I never imagined a multicultural blog would be one of my creations and one of my passions. It just goes to show that writing can manifest itself into something more than articles, books and short stories. Written communication and expression can be released in a variety of ways and while I am finding that I like one or two forms better than the ones I initially set out to involve myself with, much like entrepreneurship, there truly are no limits.

As a writer one of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the past six months is balance. I am notorious for diving into something with laser beam focus to the point of exhaustion. Often this leads to an inability to see how something can transform itself into something bigger and better. As a writer, I enjoy reading about successful people outside of the arts and communication fields in order to learn important life lessons that in turn not only make my life richer but my writing stronger.

For example, on the surface reading about a young entrepreneur’s professional nomadic spirit that led him to create a successful orthotic and prosthetic business then moved on to creating comedy festivals and most recently assisting other entrepreneurs with securing business loans may not seem applicable. However, reading about Jared Metz, who has accomplished all I just described, is very relevant. In reading about Jared Metz, I learned how to be open to a variety of possibilities in my own career. It is forcing me to look at my writing career in a different way. I now look at it as a living breathing entity that changes and moves as I change and move. Reading about successful entrepreneurs like Jared Metz, also teaches writers about the broad spectrum of success. As writers we spend a lot of time striving to be published. Once you’re published, then what? You can do it again and again as many prolific authors tend to do, or you might find that it leads you to something else.

These last six months have taught me while I hope to get published again and again, it may not look like how I intended it or happen the way it did initially—and that’s fine. Sometimes the story is more important than the vehicle in which it is carried throughout the universe.

Often in the arena of multicultural writing, the topics tend to only exhibit the broadest terms or characters a mixed audience can understand. For example, I was nine years old when I moved to Arizona with my father. My parents were splitting up and my father wanted to venture out West from New Jersey. Arizona sounded new and exciting to me and being a daddy’s girl, of course I wanted to go. It was the early to mid-1980’s and many of our New Jersey relatives were not impressed. My father had to combat such comments as inquiries as:

·        You’re taking a girl away from her mother to a land of horses roaming the streets and bouncing tumbleweeds?

·        What’s out there in Arizona?

·        Where’s Arizona?

·        Are there any black people in Arizona? (Still find it hard to answer this one sometimes! LOL)

Needless to say, my father had his work cut out for him. The same is true for the development of multicultural characters in fiction. We can take the easy way out and rely on stereotypes or caricatures of a culture or ethnic origin—be it the good, the bad or a mixture. But I hope to expand my writing beyond this. How many people didn’t realize there were white Africans? Or that not all Nigerians are scam artists? As a multicultural writer, it is my responsibility to reflect all the positive representations of a culture. Sure, I’ll point out flaws, but there are enough people doing that already.

While I write about many cultures, In terms of African/African American culture, I hope that my writing will blossom to include not only positive African Americans, but positive Africans as well. Exploring representatives of a culture that is familiar yet dissimilar is challenging, however, the Internet can bust clichés and barriers as well. Take for instance, Nigerian businessman Mohammed Babangida. Many images come to mind at just the sound of his name and the simple reference to his ethnic origin; however, Mohammed Babangida was schooled in Switzerland and attended Harvard Business School. His professional accomplishments include board directorships and executive chairs in the real estate, banking, gas and oil industries.

When taking on the task of creating multicultural characters, personas like Mohammed Babangida represent how important it is to embrace the limitless possibilities multiculturalism provides.

Multicultural character development isn’t just about skin color or ethnic origin. Many occupations and jobs carry a culture all their own. As a result, the vast details of multicultural character development are some of the most interesting research work you can do for your novels and stories. Many authors choose to fictionalize a dream job or fantasy life that readers obsess about in real life, such as rock stars, singers and movie stars. Understanding that not everyone can be or wants to be in front of a mic or a movie camera or dribbling up and down a basketball court, I tend enjoy creating characters from the sometimes less well-known extraordinary lives of the blue-collar and white-collar professionals.

For example, an incredible story can be derived from research about many of our community leaders, public servants and professional experts. All that is required is a little research about a profession or platform you are passionate about and you can be led to some great background from which you can create a very well-rounded fictional character. Don’t mirror real-life muse too closely, but you can get some great ideas from public figures or historical figures. 

For instance, if you are creating a character who is a pediatrician who is also an advocate in the field, you have a noteworthy character with built in conflict. To further develop such a character, you might want to review the career highlights of someone like Dr. Paul Offit. Known for his work as a chief in the infectious disease division of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor in the pediatric field at the University of Pennsylvania medical school as well as the books he’s written, Paul Offit would be an interesting basis for any pediatric advocate you could create for your story. The idea isn’t to copy Dr. Paul Offit’s life or accomplishments, but rather to use the information as a starting point to create your own multi-dimensional character for your work.

Your character’s career can do more for him/her than establish a sense of realism. It can create the basis of conflict or further detail the personal multicultural dimensions of your character.  So when choosing your character’s occupation—choose wisely.

If you’ve reviewed the content of this site for very long you know that I write about multiculturalism in current events and history but I also provide multicultural book and movie reviews.  Of course, I also cover multicultural writing and book marketing. There is no shortage of content when you take such a broad view of multiculturalism as I do.

In doing so, I can view multiculturalism in every facet in which it exists. In building this blog I am finding that multiculturalism is the only limit I allow, but somehow it seems limitless. This is perfect for me as I thrive on variety—not change necessarily but variety.

I’ve mentioned before how different resources a writer uses can allow him or her to explore the limitless possibilities for creating multicultural works. In terms of setting, I love the Internet, because it can be static or very fluid. In terms of static details, I can view maps or websites about my location. In a more fluid nature I can get live feeds or book a trip to see my story’s location firsthand. Many authors travel to the setting in their novels (provided it actually exists of course) and turn a work trip into a family vacation. Of course I don’t claim to understand all the tax ramifications involved in this, but for a travel writer or writer willing to get immersed in the setting being created for their stories and characters, a trip may be in order.

Writers who write about a variety of destinations might find vacation resort ownership useful.  Companies like Consolidated Resorts can take the guesswork out of deciding where to lodge so writers can focus on the environment and the people. It use to be that time shares were limited to the same few locations, but as with everything else people like choices. While others may view timeshares as strictly a vacation investment, for writers it can be a business investment too. Ownership in timeshares like what Consolidated Resorts can provide, writers can get a foot into a variety of destinations they may not have even considered writing about.

Even if you have no intention of traveling to the location where the stories are set, vacation timeshare sites like Consolidated Resorts can provide a wealth of information about vacation resorts story characters might visit. Writers can incorporate the details and give their characters a vacation of a lifetime without ever leaving home.

Often in developing the details that make stories real, we take from what is around us. While I live in Arizona most of my stories and novels take place elsewhere. As a result, I often research for general everyday objects or watch television shows set in locations I write about in order to get a sense of what those objects look like in a natural recurring environment.

For example, in describing a home in Phoenix or some other city with an abundance of warm temperatures, it would make sense to describe the features of the home—one feature could be a pool. Open up any home décor magazine set in Arizona or the Southwest and Shasta Pools is likely to have an ad. How this is helpful for the writer with a story set in this location? Well, some simple research can be conducted through the Shasta Pools website to get an idea of what kind of pool your characters would have in their home.

A tiny detail such as this can tell the reader a lot about the character’s income level and their taste. Also, reviewing applicable company sites could lead to ideas about occupation or action sequence in a story. Maybe I am writing a story about a pool builder, then visiting a site like Shasta Pools would be helpful in learning what my character pool builder does. Maybe my characters are having a pool put in their backyard, then a visit to a pool builder site like Shasta Pools, would provide me with a great bit of details to use in my character’s quest to build the perfect pool in the story.

As a writer, everything you come across may feed your detail arsenal for a future thread in your story or novel.