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Good morning, Flamefolk.
Darlinleo's topic post has had me thinking all week about the sounds, sights, and scents of my hometown. And the fact that my hometown is not a town, but a soulless sprawling suburb with ineffective public transportation and no central area where people just chill together and have conversations on which I can eavesdrop.
Where do you go to find the "color" for your characters when it's not happening naturally? What kind of memories do you pull from?
In addition to having trouble finding a jumping off point for this week's topic, I have a concern of sounding inauthentic or appropriating someone else's culture. I also don't want to appear to be making fun of or mocking my neighbors. I love the diversity of the cultural make-up of home. In the office where I'm working, just in the accounting areas, there are people from seven different South American countries, three Carribean Islands, five Central American countries, and a smattering of people from India. The woman who shares my workspace was born in India, but grew up in Nigeria and then South Africa. Her voice alone could keep me writing for a week. I love the way she says. "Here." It's very crisp and has a distinct 'y' in it. I told her this and immediately worried that she would think I was making fun of her - I wasn't.
So I'm trying to find some balance to describe, in a fiction format, what it is like being in the minority nationality while living in the nation of your birth. And to pass on how flavorful that experience can feel, while at the same time always feeling like the outsider who has to have things like food explained to them.
Talk to me
Reminders -
Go vote. This is your last chance. The final week of drabble is waiting for you. #govoteflames #goread #commentlove
Go write. You've got a few days still, but why wait. Go write some "Local Color" today. #gowrite
We are now taking application for guest chatter hosts. Apply within.
Darlinleo's topic post has had me thinking all week about the sounds, sights, and scents of my hometown. And the fact that my hometown is not a town, but a soulless sprawling suburb with ineffective public transportation and no central area where people just chill together and have conversations on which I can eavesdrop.
Where do you go to find the "color" for your characters when it's not happening naturally? What kind of memories do you pull from?
In addition to having trouble finding a jumping off point for this week's topic, I have a concern of sounding inauthentic or appropriating someone else's culture. I also don't want to appear to be making fun of or mocking my neighbors. I love the diversity of the cultural make-up of home. In the office where I'm working, just in the accounting areas, there are people from seven different South American countries, three Carribean Islands, five Central American countries, and a smattering of people from India. The woman who shares my workspace was born in India, but grew up in Nigeria and then South Africa. Her voice alone could keep me writing for a week. I love the way she says. "Here." It's very crisp and has a distinct 'y' in it. I told her this and immediately worried that she would think I was making fun of her - I wasn't.
So I'm trying to find some balance to describe, in a fiction format, what it is like being in the minority nationality while living in the nation of your birth. And to pass on how flavorful that experience can feel, while at the same time always feeling like the outsider who has to have things like food explained to them.
Talk to me
Reminders -
Go vote. This is your last chance. The final week of drabble is waiting for you. #govoteflames #goread #commentlove
Go write. You've got a few days still, but why wait. Go write some "Local Color" today. #gowrite
We are now taking application for guest chatter hosts. Apply within.