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

[the-willow.insanejournal.com (from livejournal.com)]

*sighs*

I wrote about what I was feeling in my journal in more depth, rather than dump it on you here in your journal and now I feel slightly stupid - because it felt wrong to tell you to change anything even though you were asking. And yet some things were making me cringe.

But you're being pretty open and understanding of the cringe factor.

And uhm yeah, the twins and the sex and blackness would just be...yeah I personally would not want to go there. Especially if it's all set in 1910.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I understand there is a cringe factor. I'm just not always sure where it is. (Like I said, my hometown=white like cool-whip. My college town=white, with large Asian minority)

The story is actually set in 1985. The Carolina Giant was born in 1910. The twins were born in 1880. (It's a plot point)

I didn't want to go racist by omission, but cringe by commission is even worse. There is enough casual racism expressed by minor characters as they go about their daily lives in that time and place: "Mama says the carnival hires negros. So you know it's not safe." I don't need to be inadvertantly adding more on the author's part.