Writing Diverse Characters for Fiction, TV or Film

An Essential Guide for Authors and Script Writers

Lucy V. Hay

• Publisher: Creative Essentials
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780857301178
• eBook ISBN: 9780857301185
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Film & Video
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

We're living in a time of unprecedented diversity in produced media content, with more LGBT characters, more characters of color, more disabled characters, and more characters from various religions or classes. These characters also appear in genre pieces, accessible to the mainstream, instead of being hidden away in so-called "worthier" pieces, as in the past. This book discusses issues of race, disability, sexuality, and transgender people with specific reference to characterization in movies, TV, and novel writing. Using such examples as the film Mad Max: Fury Road and the novel Gone Girl, the book explores how character role function really works. It discusses such questions as the difference between stereotype and archetype, why "trope" does not mean what Twitter and Tumblr think it means, how the burden of casting affects both box office and audience perception, and why diversity is not about agendas, buzzwords or being "politically correct." It also goes into what authenticity truly means, and why research is so important; why variety is key in ensuring true diversity in characterization; and what agents, publishers, producers, filmmakers, and commissioners are looking for—and why.

WHAT IS DIVERSITY?

‘In diversity, there is beauty and there is strength.’

– Maya Angelou

DIVERSITY, A DEFINITION

‘Diversity works best when you can’t see forced good intention.’

– Tony Jordan, TV screenwriter and showrunner

‘Diversity’ is very much the watchword of the moment. It turns up again and again, especially online via headlines or social media, when it comes to discussing stories in fiction, film and TV. With various organisations, initiatives, hashtags, sites and schemes dedicated to the subject, it would seem everyone – both in audiences and in the creative industries – is talking about diversity and what can be done to include more people in more stories, both on the page and on-screen.

If you look in the dictionary, ‘diversity’ simply means ‘a range of different things’. It has synonyms such as array, assortment, medley, mixture, mix, miscellany, multiplicity, range and variety. In applying this word to fiction, film and TV, however, it has a slightly different connotation. The ‘variety’ the word diversity refers to, then, will often apply to:

• Race (especially Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic – ‘BAME’)
• Gender
• LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender)
• Disability

When I mention what I call the ‘top four’ in this book, it’s these elements I mean. I’m aware these labels aren’t perfect; I’ve attempted to use the ones that the most people a) understand and b) like to use, as demonstrated in my research (which is, in itself, ironic in a book about diversity! Please bear with me, for the sake of clarity). There are also many other diverse characters we could explore as writers – we’re making the rules of our own storyworlds, after all! – and I will mention these as we go along, too. Ready? Then let’s go…

ALL ABOUT INCLUSION

‘I’d like to see the UK catch up [with US TV]. For purely selfish reasons, because I think we’ll make better stuff. I mean, there’s diversity in drama, but there are times when you sense an air of “hope everyone’s noticed what we’re doing, here” hanging over it. Get past that and exploit the talent. It’s what showbusiness does best.’

– Stephen Gallagher, TV showrunner and novelist (@brooligan)

If you Google ‘how to write female characters’ you’ll see there’s a plethora of books on this subject: from woman-centric stories, to breakdowns of female leads, to putting the female characters of Shakespeare and Harold Pinter under the microscope, there’s plenty to choose from. Yet if you Google ‘how to write diverse characters’, even though you get a whopping 13+ MILLION results via blog posts and social media, at the time I was writing this book there wasn’t a single published book on the subject listed on Amazon. In real terms, this could very well be the first one!

My site, www.bang2write.com, is known for its inclusive commentary on characterisation. Starting first with female characterisation, B2W snowballed relatively quickly into talking about the representation of various groups of people, including (but not limited to) race, gender (including male) and disabled people, plus my own personal interest, teenagers (especially teen parents). My Bang2writers have embraced the notion that ‘real’ characters are not just white, straight men, with every other demographic representative of ‘issues’! Why should they be?

What’s more, things are changing with audiences. There is much more demand for diverse stories, featuring diverse characters. But perception of diversity has changed to such a degree in recent years that a character’s ‘difference’ does not have to drive the story; it can be incidental. So stories featuring gay characters do not necessarily have to be about homophobia; or black characters about racism; or disabled characters about rehabilitation. Importantly, in the best representations these differences are not there for the sake of it either – they may form part of the character’s worldview, or feed into the storyworld. In short, true diversity means being inclusive, but also authentic.

WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT DIVERSITY?

‘I found it frustrating to be offered what I thought of as stereotypical roles, so I started to write myself.’

– @ZaweAshton, actor and writer

Why we’re talking about diversity is, in itself, up for discussion. Like most things related to people en masse, we can only make educated guesses at what’s going on and why. In the course of my research for this book, I discovered three main threads to the debate:

1. We NEED diverse stories. There is a strong campaign, especially online and across a number of platforms, organisations and individuals, that suggests diverse stories actively change society and break down barriers. Campaigners will say that fiction, film and TV should reflect the world around us and even have the capacity to save lives or boost self-esteem. And how better to achieve this, these campaigners argue, than for creators to present role models who can connect marginalised people, effectively humanising and empowering them, in a world that otherwise ‘others’ and belittles them? Other commentators, meanwhile, say it is not the responsibility of the creator to create positive reinforcement for marginalised people, especially when drama is conflict and antagonistic forces are necessary in creating stories. After all, we don’t read or watch stories to see characters all having a jolly good time! Storytelling is not education, they counter-argue; plus stories can only go so far anyway, up against decades or even centuries of subjugation. Blame society, they say; not the writers.

Personally, and paradoxically, I think both ideas are correct. Sure, storytelling is important. I have to believe that, else I would feel like I’m wasting my life as a creator right now! So I totally get it when people respond to reflections of their own lives and worldviews in characters, because I do as well. But are we OVERestimating media images and UNDERestimating people’s lived experiences? It’s a chicken/egg situation so it’s hard to tell, though I think it’s possible the notion of positive role models and words like ‘empowerment’ can be red herrings. That said, I also think there’s a happy medium to be had where creators can help with what I call ‘intentional inclusion’ – why not use one of the top four, if you can? What can writers gain? Probably a lot, especially since audiences get behind unusual characters who feel authentic and fresh. Audiences seem bored of ‘the same-old, same-old’.

2. Social media equals social change. Some people think it’s social media that has galvanised discussion of this issue and pushed it to the forefront at last. For the first time, audiences have a direct mouthpiece back to creators – especially via the likes of Facebook and Twitter – to describe the types of stories and characters they ...

Table of contents

• FOREWORD
• WHAT IS DIVERSITY?
• HEROES, SHEROES AND VILE VILLAINS: The Protagonist and Antagonist
• SECONDARIES, SIDEKICKS AND SUBORDINATES
• PERIPHERAL POINTERS
• RESOURCES
• Copyright