I started this family tree last year sometime, after trying out a few family tree programs. This one's the easiest to use. You should be able to see the whole tree here, but you have to click on various people to see all of it (you can't see it all at once.)
Here's the main branch of my heroine's family. No, she's not related to Princess Leia, Caravaggio, Pussy Galore, Sophie Marceau and Terrence Howard.
On the right are the French. They don't show up until Henry V... I'm still on Henry IV. So I haven't developed anything but their names and their villainy.
Afro-Americans are over-represented in my story, for California. But almost everyone descends from the Hawkins brothers (Red, Green and Pinky) so one branch is Afro-Chinese, one is Afro-Hispanic, and the third is Afro-Euro, with an adopted Native woman. It's the "it's a small world" approach to multi-representation--Taishanese (Chinese), African-American, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, New Orleans Francophones, Muwekma (Nat Amer), several gay people, probably all sorts of mental illness, and so far one disabled guy (there are two World Wars in here after all.) And not everyone is this beautiful... I just choose actors to anchor my mental image on.
I really wish Jilly Cooper had written a book on how she writes, because she's one of the few authors who uses this many frikkin' characters every time. I guess I'll read a Cooper book next.
9 comments:
Eh, not wanting to be language police, but just pointing out... No one has said "Afro-American" since the 1970's. Last I remember is Michael Richards in that TV apology. I think "Afro-European" has a different connotation, but "Afro-American" is borderline racial slur, very dated at minimum. Just wanted to make a note.
Or, in other words, calling someone "Afro-American" is kind of like using "negro" down here. It's not *that* n-word, but it's old and kind of offensive. Maybe the equivalent of calling an Asian person "Oriental" or something.
Erm... Also, please tread carefully in representing US ethnicities... Since this is the one you're shopping around, especially. I guess that's why I'm taking the time to point this out.
...and disability too.
Other thing is... People don't so much distinguish "black-Chinese" in the States. At least not in popular culture. Obama is a Black President, not a Caucasian/Asian/African-American. I mean, we *know* he's all those things, but he's read as a Black person. That's why people understood the SC senator's "You lie!" heckling as meaning something like, "You lie, boy!" It's more "mixed," or people get pressured to identify primarily as one side of their heritage. Sometimes it's because of how they're "read" in life (One of my grad school friends is always read as black, while her brother is always read as white.). Basically, I'm saying... If you're writing a book using mixed characters, I hope you'll read some stuff about biracial identities in the US. Because there are a lot of tensions around biracial identities (and light skinned people tend to be socially privileged over darker skinned people), and all I'm saying is... I hope you're doing your reading on this stuff. I think it's very specific to the US (and totally different from the all-mixed culture of, say, Brazil or the multiculturalism of Canada).
Also, it's true, there aren't a ton of African-Americans in California... Any chance you could relocate to N'awlins or something?
Basically, I guess... Remember what Harry Reid (the House majority leader) said? Something about Barack Obama being a viable candidate because he was a "light skinned man without a Negro dialect"? Even though he was ignorant to use "negro," he was kind of making a statement about something that has long been a pattern here. Light-skinned Blacks *are* socially privileged above darker-skinned Blacks in this country. (A lot, a lot of that plays into, for instance, the rebuilding of New Orleans. Mayor Ray Nagin was/is seen by many Black Americans as a corrupt official who upheld a system of light-skinned racial privilege in the city.)
And one more thing... I'm not meaning to lecture, but... Racial politics is very, very different in every single region of this country (I keep meaning to write a post about Southern racism and Northern racism). It gets over-simplified in almost every representation that comes out of media in this country. Certainly, it's...usually problematic when it's written by white people. And often problematic even when it isn't. Note how in "Precious," Lee Daniels cast all light-skinned Blacks--Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz--as the "good characters" who could inspire Precious to rise above her life situation. Or the ridiculous stereotypes perpetuated by the awful Tyler Perry franchise (about which I very much agree with Spike Lee). Basically, I'm thinking... If you're updating a Shakespearean tragedy with a bunch of minorities, you will undoubtedly touch on US racial politics. Which are *really really really* fraught. Which I realize that you know, but... Please give as much thought to historical and sociological research about this stuff as to plot. Especially to contemporary stuff about racial relations and racial solidarity and biracial identity. Because it's almost always rendered in a *really* offensive way in fiction. Is what I'm getting at. And... Oy. Sorry, I'll shut up now.
Oops, sorry, I meant Reid the *Senate* majority leader.
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