First, can we all agree that strictly adhering to "write what you know" is the death of creativity and imagination? Good. Okay. I'm a white kid (some would say, "white old lady," but that's their problem). Most of my characters are white, because that's the milieu I live in. But I also have characters who are black, and Hispanic, and so on, because that also reflects the world I live in. I'd like to give one of these black characters his own story, and I want to get him right. Here's what I have so far: It's 1983 Middle-sized American Midwestern city The character is 31 years old, about 5'-9" tall, square-built and a little chunky, maybe 230 pounds, if I have that right. Medium-dark to dark skin; he wears his hair in a 1-1/2" Afro He's happily married and is the father of 6-month old son He grew up with both parents; his dad is a bus driver and his mom is on the janitorial team for a large office building (that's not set in stone. I can change it if it's too stereotypical) He's a licensed architect with expertise in working out the technical aspects of a project. As another character said in the first book of the series, "if Neil doesn’t know how to put a detail together, nobody does." He makes a decent salary, which in those days would have been around $25,000 a year He's also got his wits about him when it comes to noticing that people and situations are "off" In architecture school he was president of the black architecture students' association (his age would put him in college in 1970-1974, when a lot of radical stuff was going on) He has no issue with working for a white boss and with white colleagues, but he doesn't hesitate to call them out when he thinks they're being racially insensitive, bigoted, or just plain stupid At the same time, he loves his profession, he likes and admires his boss, and he knows his boss has his back He enjoys jazz-funk and Afrobeat What would his life outside the office be like? What kind of neighborhood would he live in? By the mid-'70s the schools were integrated by means of court-ordered bussing, but the neighborhoods, not necessarily. What would he and his wife or he and his buddies do for fun on the weekends? Would there be anything distinctive about it compared to what their white peers would do? Yeah, I know. I'm likely treading a minefield. Say one thing, and I'm stereotyping. Say another, he comes off as a white guy in black face. I don't want him to be either. I want him to be himself. (And I don't want this to be too long. See my next post [#3] for the plot situation he'll find himself in.)
So he's professional class, and his parents both seem to be working class. Interesting mix. How well educated are they? Just to get you thinking about it. And how about the grandparents. And just out of curiosity, what would he and his parents call the grandparents? How involved, if at all, was he with the radical stuff? And how did his parents feel about it? And if somebody did say something racially insensitive, how angry would he get, and would he forgive them (assuming they weren't total jerks about it and apologized).
Here's the situation I've got our friend Neil in: His boss (well, bosses, the MCs of the main series) have gotten married and left him in charge of the office and its projects while they're on their three-week honeymoon in Europe He has another architect, a friend of the main-series MC, to consult with in case he runs into something he hasn't encountered before. This character works for another firm and won't always be available. The only other employee in Neil's office will turn out to be the antagonist. This individual is about 46 years old, white, and thinks he's God's gift to drafting (all by hand in those days). He also takes a dim view of people of color or women being in charge over him, though so far he's only been passive-aggressive about it and has kept it hidden from the firm's owner. As you can imagine, my black MC will find himself challenged by his older colleague, to the point that the work and the whole firm will be threatened. When crap happens to my main-series MCs in Europe and their stay stretches out to five and a half weeks (for much of which time they'll be incommunicado), it's up to Neil to hold the firm together until the owners get home. I need to know what all Neil will face as a black man in that situation. He has the respect of the clients and contractors, so that's not an issue straight off, though it might get wobbly once his colleague starts undermining him. But what about other sources of trouble? Would he get stick from his more radical (or more cynical) friends and relatives for striving so hard to keep "that white man's company" together? He's going to succeed, by the way, but his struggles on the way have to be real.
High school, just off the top of my head. I have Neil as a scholarship student. Maybe he has a mentor who was into building things. Or his dad could be a plumber or a carpenter. That might get him started. EDIT--- Come to think of it, I was in the same boat, myself. My dad was a journeyman electrician and my mom worked in a print shop. High school educated only, both of them. I'm the only one of my siblings who graduated from college.
Hmmm... are you re-writing The Fountainhead with a black Howard Roark? (I'm kidding!) I added some questions to my previous post just to confuse and befuddle you.
I know. And you succeeded. Any possibility you can split them off so I'm not untangling what I'm replying to? EDIT--- And Howard Roark was a jerk.
If his friends are radical, like Black Panthers, then yes. Or if they're racist. Honestly though from that period I remember a lot of black and white people getting along really well with each other, assuming nobody involved is racist or radical.
"Grandparents"? Or are you throwing that out for those who know to answer? It's a good question, come to think of it.
Ok: And how about the grandparents? (meaning how educated were they?) And just out of curiosity, what would he and his parents call the grandparents? How involved, if at all, was he with the radical stuff? And how did his parents feel about it? And if somebody did say something racially insensitive, how angry would he get, and would he forgive them (assuming they weren't total jerks about it and apologized).
I was envisioning a cynical older relative, telling him he's knocking himself out for nothing. He might cross paths with someone who's BP or the like, but he wouldn't be close with them.
Mammy and pappy, grammy and gramps or grampa. There are some more that I can't remember. There's mamaw and papaw, but I'm not sure if these are more southern or black? Often people who are well educated and modern still call their parents and grandparents by the old-fashioned names. White or black, or probably any ethnicity.
To answer that, I'll have to dredge my memory for what the BlackTect members focussed on. He would not have been a member of that group that was awarded Student Activity Fee money to feed free breakfasts to the poor kids in our college town, only to have it discovered that they were buying and hiding weapons against the day of the Revolution. As an architecture student he wouldn't have had time. We were lucky to get any sleep. [Though, rot you, now I'll have to dig up my old Student Senate Finance Committee notes and refresh my memory on what that organization was called.] As for what he'd say if someone said something racially-insensitive, here's a sample: (Ruth, another member of the firm in the first book, is telling about a weird radio broadcast she heard on the Christian station in the middle of the night) “So he was going on about the curse on Ham, [said Ruth] about how all Ham’s sons were supposed to be servants and slaves to the sons of Noah’s other sons.” “And he said the sons of Ham are the Negro race,” Neil said drily. “Yes, he did,” said Ruth, apparently not picking up on the sarcasm. “But I’ve heard that before; that wasn’t the weird part. The weird part was that he said the reason America’s in such bad shape is that the white people aren’t keeping the sons of Ham in their place. He said Negroes running companies and being professionals and government officials and all was against Nature and white folks letting them do it put them— the white folks, I mean— out of the will of God. Seemed weird to me, but I don’t know the Bible that well.” “Typical white thinking—” “That guy doesn’t know the Bible, either,” Sandy broke in over him. “ . . . And it didn’t have anything to do with skin color, it had to do with sin.” It shocked her how vehement she felt about it. “Dr. Wallace at my church made sure we all knew that. Back when I was a kid, we almost got our first Afro-American members. But then some people started up with that sons-of-Ham nonsense and drove them away. I remember how he let us have it. My dad said it was like John Knox with a dose of John Brown thrown in. I was impressed, I remember that.” “Well, your preacher was radical, that’s all I can say,” said Neil. “Did the deacons fire him for it?” “The elders. We’re Presbyterian. No, they wouldn’t do that. . . . " (A few minutes later, Ruth tells how the radio preacher is recruiting followers who believe the way he does. Sandy asks,) “Did he announce a meeting place, a time, anything?” “No, just gave a post office box where people should write for instructions. Don’t remember the number or the town, but it wasn’t Wapatomekie, I can say that.” “So it’s nobody local,” Sandy said, trying to reassure herself. “Why does that matter?” Neil objected. “Racism is racism.” There's more, but you get the jist. Later on, when it's discovered that a black client of the firm has been murdered, he really goes off, including on his boss. He's also not afraid to say the N word when his white boss and colleagues are tiptoeing around it. Which is to say he's aware of how things are racially, he's not happy about it, but he's not going to let it stop him in his profession or make him into a victim.
Again, that'd be a good question, because I can see the grandparents (on either side) taking care of little Jamal while Neil and Marsha are off on a date. In my family, it was always Grandma Dad's Last Name, Grandpa Mom's Maiden Name. And just Grandma and Grandpa to their faces. I could ask at work, meaning the DIY store.
He was, but the dynamics strike me as very similar. I can't remember the other guy's name, but there was a guy who worked in his office that I think idolized him at first and then came to resent him for his superior talent. He didn't become the main antagonist, but a minor one for sure. It was Peter Keating (had to look it up).
In Ralph's case, he's never looked up to Neil. He's "tolerated" him because they have different areas of expertise. Ralph, the dear soul, has reserved most of his open assholery for Sandy, my FMC, who's his direct report. When Neil becomes the one he's accountable to, the manure will hit the windmill.
@Catrin Lewis, All I can offer is that I would not term you as "old" - my momma raised me better than that.
