Good morning fam! If you are taking the time to read this blog post, that warms my heart up, just like my family does. So, today I wanted to talk about my writing scenario—as a minority writer. I am an American born South Asian female who writes South Asian fiction.
I wanted to start off by talking about my audience. Though my first novel is still in the works, and certainly anyone could enjoy the contents, depending on interests, chances are my audience would primarily consist of South Asians. Right away that tailors my audience, and the business of books is still just that—a business. A strong premise, near-perfect writing, and a relevant topic to today’s climate would be necessary for me to traditionally publish. Pressure? Just a little. Still, I believe strongly in the topic, and the messages brought about within the novel, so I continue my relentless pursuit. And the wonderful news is that there are many literary agents and publishers seeking diverse books and voices. Hooray!
Secondly, as a minority writer of minority topics, I’d like to talk about, the footnote. How do you ensure your readers understand a non-English word? When South Asian fiction first became ‘a thing’ in the states many years ago, I remember seeing a Bengali word footnoted for it’s translation. Now you rarely see them, with most authors including a semi-translation in the sentence. Other authors write under the assumption their readerships could easily google and/or understand simple enough words—see sari. My (awesome) beta reader, suggested I drop the footnotes, and though my draft currently contains a few, I will likely remove. Do you think footnotes should be included for non-English words not translated within the sentence?
Now, I’d like to share my thoughts on my authority to write South Asian novels, particularly those set in India. I have struggled with this, because though I feel connected to my cultural roots, I grew up in America. How can I write novels set in India when I have never lived there?
I came to this conclusion on that question which lingers in my mind: I can write about my heritage, even if set in a country I have never lived in. I visited India several times, and experienced its colorful presence coupled with the warmth of my Indian family surrounding me. My parents grew up there, so our life in America consisted of the food, the language, the religious background, and the cultural traditions. Most importantly though, I hold the unique ability to enliven and share the message with American readerships, in a way that only a first generation child of Indian immigrant parents could. Score.
I cannot tell you how proud it makes me feel to write a novel including minority characters, and settings. That is the beauty of authoring a book—as the author it is your message, however you choose to relay it. And whatever your message, and however you choose to relay it, may you OWN it, and may you SHINE with it.
I follow @MinoritiesinPub on twitter, and listen to their podcast ‘Minorities in Publishing’ in case you are interested.
Are you a minority in any field? Are you a minority writer? How has your journey been impacted by your status? Please share. I would love to know.
Thanks for stopping by my internet-corner. See you soon. Same bat time. Same bat place.