Race and Writing

Fio writes characters of different races and ethnicities in her romances because that's life, or, at least, life as it should be. She doesn't like to make too big a deal out of this practice, but she does want non-white characters to be identifiable as such by readers. Sometimes Fiorella's characters out themselves, like Moira, the heroine of her second book, who tells the hero she is one-fourth Japanese. Hispanics can often be identified by their surnames, but Fio wracks her brain with subtle ways to identify black characters as black without sounding awkward. She doesn't use the term "Afro-American" because it's unwieldy and because she herself, despite the fact that her family has been in this country for only a couple of generations,  has never been called "Slavic-American."  She won't use the term "people of color" either because everyone is some color. That leaves her with references to things like hairstyle (a member of the theater guild board in her second book), a certain girl that a bigoted father doesn't want his son to date (second book again), or an AME minister being kind enough to conduct a burial service for a disgraced clergyman (first book). But sometimes, like in the book she is now writing, Fio just up and says it:

"A tall black man came out of the door of the docent’s office and headed toward the stairs, his head bent as he concentrated on the playbill in his hand."

And, in case you're wondering, he's the hero's best friend.

La Familia Corcega

Fiorella is fascinated by the distinctiveness of the members of la familia Corcega, Juan Pablo's extended family on her telenovela, Mi Marido Tiene Familia. Imelda, la abuela (the grandmother), is something of a conniving despot. Her hijo mayor (oldest son) runs the family bakery and is a solid, but old-fashioned guy with a wife and four adult children. Her second hijo, Tulio, is rich, has a beautiful, but nasty wife, and no children. Her third hijo, Audifaz, is a mess of braggadocio who has a sweet wife and a nice son.

Then there's the third generation. Juan Pablo, the hero, is smart, kind, loving, and so sensitive that his weeping is beginning to annoy Fiorella. His older hermana (sister), Marisol, is the very model of una esposa buena y madre (good wife and mother), but su esposo (her husband) has left her. Daniela, next in line, is a spunky nino-nina (boy-girl) and one of Fio's favorites. Linda, la bebe (the baby) is downright mean.

Add in Juan Pablo's lady love, Julieta, who is just as weepy as he is, and su madre (his mother), Blanca, a good woman prone to fits of screaming anger, plus Tulio's esposa, Ana, who is mainly concerned with herself , and you have a cage full of tigres (tigers). Oh, and has Fio mentioned la madre de Julieta, Catalina, a squinty-eyed villain who can't get along with anybody?

But there's one character that justifies the whole show for Fiorella--Gabriel, who's not related to la familia Corcsega, but wants to relate to Daniela. He's rico (rich), guapo (handsome), funny, has an expressive face, and is unbelievably acrobatic. Every time Fio turns around, he's falling out of something or over something, but he always lands on his pies (feet)--as Fio is sure all the Corcega family will by end of el producion (the show).


.

Locked in the Tower Room

Today is Fiorella's last chance with this book, and she's determined to make good.  The story's been stripped down to its core plot, peripheral characters have been dropped, and the ending's been rewritten. Now for the sanding, paint, and polish.  This sucker's going in tonight.

Renaming Bart

Fiorella woke up late, but she woke up running.  As she dressed and fixed her hair, she mulled over a new name for one of her minor characters in WHERE THE HEART LEADS.  She'd already come to the conclusion that "Bart" wouldn't work because it sounded too much like the name of another minor character, Buck, and the two guys were now in close proximity.

Fio ran over names by going through the alphabet and trying to remember which initial letters had already been used--or overused--in the book so far.  Also, she was looking for one-syllable names . . . but why?  Why have Fiorella's masculine names always been one syllable?

To make a long story short, Bart is now Sammy.

Language Madness Strikes Again

Fiorella can now read three Chinese characters: "person," "big," and "little."

Yes, your Fio is endeavoring to pick up yet another writing system.  She's rusty on them, but at one time she could handle Cyrillic, in which Russian is written; devanagari, the Sanskrit script; and the Dravidian script Telugu uses.

But, as with Chinese, she's never been in a situation to do more than dabble.

Sigh. Maybe in her next life . . . .