ooops, help?

[valarltd]

Okay, so, I'm plotting on my NaNo novel.
And I just realized it's monochromatic.

The town I'm setting it in was monochrome in that era: Pale Whitey McWhiterson on Wonderbread with a side of rice pudding and Cool-Whip.

But there is no reason for the Carnival to be. Roustabouts, food crew, clowns, ride crews, etc. should be multi ethnic.

Where I'm hanging up is the Ten-in-One.

I'm thinking, the Phantasmagoria would capitalize on the "exotic other" thing in their billing. "Live from the jungles of India, half-woman, half snake: Nagina!" And Nagina is subcontinental Indian, and she is a naga, but her real name is Revati.

Or the Carolina Giant would be black, with an old-fashioned Biblical name: Hezekiah, Keniah or some such. "Nine feet tall, probably related to Goliath of Gath."

The wolf-boy is Austrian. Wolfgang is a classicly trained pianist and escape artist. He makes jokes and escapes and plays Mozart pieces in between.

The fortune teller is probably of actual gypsy extraction.


Is this exploitative? yes. Is it showmanship? yes.

Is it a problem making some of the freaks pocs?

Comments

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

That's always such a hard call. I'm no good to talk to on the race issue, being one who stumbles around it a lot.

BTW, I found that book I mentioned. It's a pagan/new-age book that I used with Mystic a lot when she was small. It really was good with the visualization exercises and guided dreaming. If you want to email me an address where I could send it to you, you can reach me at corryn [at] gmail.com.