No matter where we’re from, our cultural and religious biases can bleed into our writing. Here are some of the ways heritage/immersion shows up in our work.
Writing Tip for Today: How does a writer’s heritage, background or the culture they’re immersed in affect the writing they produce?
Characters and Rituals
Let’s say you’re an American who’s writing a romance novel. Make it a “clean” or Christian-slanted book. Your characters will likely follow the same culture or religious ideals and rituals as your target audience.
In this scenario, the characters will probably reflect that audience in beliefs, taboos or courtship rules. Maybe they don’t smoke or drink or cuss or engage in prenuptial sex. Maybe they lean toward acceptable or religious dating/courtship or marriage guidelines.
In keeping with the romance novel idea, readers want to see themselves in the characters and plot. Their expectations should guide the writer to stay within the boundaries of that genre. In contrast, a secular novel about trans vampires would feel prudish if those same rules applied to a much more open audience.
Culture and Ethos
They say, “Write what you know,” and I think most writers do. Research can fill in gaps but, on the whole, it’s difficult to get the ambience and subtlety perfect through research alone. Trying to imitate another culture without experiencing it is generally a recipe for failure or a mediocre result.
Where you’re from or where you’ve been immersed in a culture affects your writing too. For instance, I have a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) background and my heritage is mostly from the United Kingdom. I feel comfortable writing about my heritage—but not a place I’ve never been.
By contrast, a friend of mine has the same cultural background as I do, yet she lived and worked in Africa for many years. Her immersion in African culture gives her authority to write from that perspective. She’s bathed in the cultural subtleties of the African continent. My experience is more limited.
Where you’re from or where you’ve been immersed in a culture affects your writing.
Common Humanity
No matter your background or your experience, one place we can all shine is in accenting our shared humanity. I’ve written many times about infusing writing (nonfiction, memoir or fiction) with common qualities that can define characters and keep readers caring.
Traits such as honesty, loyalty, generosity or vulnerability give characters a way to connect with readers and make them care. Empathy or other emotions can transform a shallow character into one that readers want to root for. Conversely, indecisive, greedy or callous characters might make for a good antagonist, but those traits aren’t usually good for creating likability.
If you know your heritage and have experienced that culture, you might be able to write dialect using specific terms or idioms that reflect that culture. But be careful—overwrought dialect (say, with lots of odd spellings or dropped ‘g’s) can be difficult to read. A better idea might be to sprinkle lightly that culture’s dialogue while still giving your readers’ culture an easy way to appreciate it.
