Diversity, More Of It!

Diversity. You would think, writing in the genre I do, that there would be quite a bit of it. Problem is, there just isn’t. In fact, when you step out of the expected mold, you tend to get thwacked in the head for changing it up. The books I see are a parade of white men, no religious affiliation, with decent jobs, good apartments/homes, and great one-dimensional friends who don’t do anything of interest. It’s really quite depressing. Sometimes, I see something that might pique my interest, but just reading the blurbs or glancing at the reviews puts me off.

It’s saved me a ton of money, but at the same time, it depresses me. We see a lot of readers calling for diversity, but I wonder if the sales hold true that it’s diversity that’s really wanted. I don’t know. So far, all my published works have been with white main characters. Some are Christian or they don’t declare their religion in the course of the book. I admit, I haven’t done much myself to further the cause of diversity. >.> I’ve promised myself to change that as soon as possible. I do have one interracial story brewing in my head, the full story of Malachi and Phinn from Breaking Point, but other than that…

We need more diversity. More people of color. More people of various religious backgrounds. More characters with disabilities–both physical and mental. More women. More trans* characters. More scope of employment. More financial backgrounds. More characters over the age of 25. More character who aren’t 6′ and 200 pounds ripped. We simply need more diversity in the fiction presented.

I love that Kasper was almost 40 in Catalyst. I love that Zach is on welfare and scraping by in Mae. I love that Hadi and Judas in The Keeper aren’t white. However, I know I need to up my game, bring more to the table than the occasional older man or impoverished main character. Hopefully, while I’m dragging my ass to get my current WIPs done, other authors will provide me with awesome reading material offering the diversity of color, class, religion, physicality, and gender I’m seeking!