Diversity in African American Fiction
Fiction – A literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. Ã?¾ The American Heritage Dictionary
Fiction is my drug of choice because it has unlimited possibilities and the rush each tale provides is unique. A good writer establishes a new world and takes the reader on a journey. A gifted writer creates characters the reader connects with on an emotional plane, and takes the reader on a fascinating journey that he or she clings to through to the end.
Through the explosion of African American fiction the diversity of our race has filtered down to the pages of books. And, like any new relationship, we are clumsy. Things better left hidden are being revealed. Things are being said that just don’t come out right. We laugh in the wrong places and ignore details. The simple creatures bred to serve in silence are now complex and struggling to define themselves in a medium that is relatively new to us . . . writing.
So often the readers of black fiction will say, “Black people don’t do this” or “Black people don’t do that”, as if we were still one people operating under one set of rules. The ranker that is stirred when black writers dabble at distant ends of the social spectrum is often disconcerting to the writer because he or she had no idea how far they had strayed from the herd. Not realizing that in our infancy in fiction, as writers, we are expected to be reporters from the Hood, and the fact that you may or may not come from the Hood but have a strong desire to share some aspect of your lifestyle is irrelevant. Complaints of “too sexy”, “too ghetto”, “too stuck-up”, and the all time favorite, “them ain’t black people” ring out everywhere and the arguments are on. Now that the flavors of our differences are mixing through literature and the dialogues have begun, lets benefit from them. Read the more sophisticated writer and pick up a little. Read the street fiction and pick up a little. Read the romantic fiction and pick up a little. Read the sexy fiction and . . . pick up a little. It takes lots of seasoning to make a meal tasty.
For now, what gives African American writers an original flair is our lack of discipline. We don’t follow the rules because, for the most part, we don’t know what they are. We don’t subscribe to formulaic writing because we don’t want to re-create old literary voices, we want our own. So, for now, read black fiction and keep in mind that we are still in our literary infancy and these are our imaginings, not necessarily based in fact. Lots of the stories are fiction to protect the innocent and at times ourselves. Like the ever-moving ocean our voices will ebb and flow, peak and pivot, hurt and humor, tickle and tantalize, comfort and heal. The most important element is that we are writing, you are reading and we as a people are growing through fiction.
