3 Ways You Can Show a Character’s Culture

Diversity makes stories better, plain and simple. This year, we’ve partnered with the good folks at Writing With Color to get some advice on how to write stories populated with people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. In this post, contributor Jess Liang gives advice on how to show culture without falling back on cliches:

One thing I’ve noticed when reading
stories with characters of color, or characters meant to be from a foreign
country, is that all too often writers will resort to depictions like 1) having
their dialogue sprinkled heavily with their home language, even when talking to
those who don’t speak it, or 2) making the character little more than
stereotypes. As a Taiwanese-American, I understand the efforts people are
making toward more diverse representation in writing, so I thought I would show
everyone ways to depict someone’s culture in a more well-rounded, believable
way.

1. Food 

In my opinion, food is such a critical
part of a culture. Research the cuisine! Look for foods and beverages that
people might eat for ordinary meals, but also look at holiday foods, too. How
are meals served in that culture? What kind of courses are there? Also, think
about snacks, or street food, even (quite a few cultures have great street
food!).

Another thing to look for: how do they
eat? Do they use their hands, or do they have different utensils, such as
chopsticks? One thing I noticed was how at Western restaurants, customers had
individual meals, while in Chinese restaurants, we eat “family-style,” which is
having all the food on the table for everyone to share.

A note for diaspora characters: we don’t necessarily eat the food of our
ancestral cultures 24/7. We do eat the foods from various cultures as well,
although the ancestral culture food may very well have a special place in our
heart when it comes to comfort food or holidays.

2. Customs

What other cultures do in everyday life
matters, too. Some make a point of taking off their shoes when they’re indoors.
And some have rules about what gift to bring when you’re visiting someone who’s
ill, from ideal colors (red, for example) to forbidden items (in Chinese
culture, pears are discouraged, because they sound like the word “leave”).

Maybe there’s even a way things are done
in certain families, like never using the dishwasher to showering at night
instead of the morning. (Remember, this may differ from person to person.)

And then there are holidays such as Lunar
New Year or the Mid-Autumn Festival. These are very important, and in countries
that celebrate these holidays, there will be time off, but if they’re diaspora
and the country itself doesn’t give time off (like the US), people will have
smaller celebrations, although they’re just as important. Sometimes they’ll
push the celebration to the nearest weekend so that they can give the holiday
the attention it deserves, or mention offhand the sort of things they have to
do for it. For example, the Lunar New Year often has celebrations in local
Asian communities, and some super traditional families may wear red.

3. Language

We don’t usually pepper random words here
and there, unless we’re with those who also speak it too. For example, I’ll
only speak English with someone who knows English but not Mandarin. Or, if one
person’s mother tongue is Mandarin (ex: my mom) and she’s more comfortable
speaking that, then I will speak Mandarin with her with some English sprinkled
in. But the key thing to remember is that for the most part, code-switching
works best when all parties know the languages in question.

If you want to show another language
without the peppering, you can do it by using honorifics with people within the
culture (such as terms for aunts/uncles/family friends), or even certain terms
for food or customs (especially if they would seem clunky translated
word-for-word, or can’t really be translated). This way gives readers a glimpse
into the culture without making the characters come across as stereotypes.

I hope these tips are helpful when it
comes to writing these sorts of characters! Best of luck in your writing!

Jess was born and raised in Michigan, and while she’s been overseas and
coast-to-coast, there’s no place like home. She writes speculative fiction with
a focus on contemporary fantasy. When she’s not writing, she likes to try out
new recipes, knit everything from blankets to socks, and watch She-Ra on
Netflix.