Black Female Interracial Marriage--Write On: Interracial Fiction

Wiki Writing: Get Ready, Get Set!

Okay, I've been busy, but it's now time to get started on this FUN project.

These stories will be women's interracial fiction stories of higher quality, featuring realistic romance, suspense, adventure, with black females and non-bm as the characters driving the plots/storylines. We will present a more "normal" view of life and reality for black girls and bw as we would like for life to be--not as it is.

Naturally, we will use elements from the current state of life as a starting points, but none of the current elements of chaos, infighting, self-hatred, crime,  etc. will be central elements in these stories. When there is a mention of them, we will use them as "teachable moments" to show readers how these can be best dealt with. There will be very little mention of bm or only as props or minor story elements. We will stress life's possibilities that can become strong probabilities instead of life's dead-ends.

If art can/does imitate life, then I believe that life can imitate art, in a POSITIVE way.  This will be our challenge--to make our art (writing) so appealing, realistic, and doable, until readers will take notes from it and apply them to their lives.

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Delish has given us the characters names.

I'm asking for each of you to send me here or to my email:

1)  The characters are a bw and a wm for this first book.  Why wm? Because wm comprise the vast bulk of the non-bm available to bw THROUGHOUT the U.S.

What are the:

- backgrounds of these characters: family members, friends, and they don't have to be paragons of morality because all people make mistakes in life.

-appearance (no physically perfectly characters allowed because we want the readers to identify more with them),  but they should be attractive

- jobs (or they don't have to work away from home)

-hobbies (the bw must have a hobby like music, sport, artistry,

- passions (what gives them their greatest joy and sorrow--what do they wake up at 2 a.m. thinking about?)

- personalities ( as true to life as possible but exagerrated

- quirks, flaws, etc.  Remember that ALL people have flaws. Flaws or weaknesses and contradictions in character make characters more interesting.  No one wants to read about a placid, blank-sheet-of-paper-type character.  The more pronounced and layered the flaw, the better, however no emotionally damaged characters, PLEASE! Flawed, yes--damaged NO!

2)  A setting where the bulk of the story takes place--in the U. S.  There can be more than one setting--even an international one, but most of the story should be in one place to avoid confusion.

3) How did this bw and wm meet? Or did they meet yet? Details, details!

4)  What are the major factors keeping them apart? (problems with relationships in the past, problems in the present, fear of each other due to what they don't know about each other, people in their environment, etc.

5) What is the subplot to the story? This is an important story element. It can diverge from the main story, but it has to be connected somehow. It's what the main characters are thinking about and getting involved in when they're not thinking about each other.

Okay, let's start with these. This is our PUBLIC wiki but all comments are moderated, even here. You will receive a password to gain entry into a private wiki--our story room, where you will post your work--IN YOUR COLOR. Please choose a color for your submissions and post your color choice here, so that others can see what colors are already chosen.

I WELCOME editors, publishers, agents and/or anyone connected with the publishing industry to connect with us and assist us with this project. I am dedicated to this project, and we have a host of other bw writers onboard who are committed to this (some of whom have written me privately), so we WILL finish this manuscript.

If anyone has questions or concerns, pls e-mail me, or if the group needs to read it, pls make a comment, and I'll put it here if it's applicable.

Writing Wiki--a Romance Story

I once heard about a group of  people who met online and they decided to set up a writing wiki.  I've been fascinated about that concept ever since.  Since we know there is such a pressing need to take control of our image in the minds of many younger black women, especially, let's TRY an experiment.  Let's see whether as many of us as possible can work on this project together.  Let's write a romance or romantic suspense novel featuring a black female heroine and a white male hero, for starters, since that's the most prevalent bw-ir combination in the U.S.

Here's how this wiki works.  If you're interested, let me know and I'll send you an invitation to become an "author" on this project.   Accept the invitation and come into our writing room. No one else can come into the room except the authors. Once we have enough writers on board for this project, this will become a password-entry ONLY site. 

We'll use the concept of the "round robin" loosely. This means that we will take turns working on the project.  It gets moved around among all of the authors in the group (not necessarily in any order) and continues moving until it's finished. If you are a part of this project, you are expected to contribute. No one is allowed to just "hang out" here.  If you don't contribute, the project will get stalled, so if you're unable to contribute at this point, don't ask to participate. 

Operating Procedure:

1. Choose a color for your writing, so that we'll know you by your color.  Be sure to pick a color that is easy to read against this background.

2. Tell me what your color is and I'll list the color next to your name.

3. Come to the project. Read it, copy it, paste it onto your own word processing writing board, work on it so that it meshes and flows with the story's plot.

4. Convert it to your color.

5. Post it.

There'll be kinks in this process at first, but we'll work out the organizational kinks.  At the outset, I want us to focus on creativity, not on organization.  We'll work that out eventually. If you have questions or suggestions, please toss them into the ring.

Rules:

1. No one is allowed to be negatively critical of anyone's grammar or writing. Say what you need to say, but say it nicely. If you can't figure out how to say it nicely, then don't say it. Write your very best, however if someone's writing needs slight improvement,  editors will eventually handle that. Creativity is MUCH more important than perfect grammar! This is why good editors don't make nearly as much money as good writers.

2. Make what you write realistic, but stay away from stereotypic themes of drug usage, violence, prison, babymamas, etc.  Remember that you're helping to create a world as it would have been if things had not gone badly wrong in the lives of some of the readers who will read the stories for guidance and realistic escapist reading. 

3. Be as descriptive as you can be to make the world of the story come to life for the reader, but don't overuse details or excessive slickness of person, place or thing.  For ex. avoid all references to the bling-bling concept.  Use plenty of sensory descriptions. What do the characters see, hear, smell, feel, taste? Please use realistic characters in realistic settings, participating in the normal array of experiences, and engaging in typical ordinary, and hopefully wholesome activities. Characters can have slight flaws, problems, challenges, (as all human beings normally have), but nothing crippling. There must be ongoing sparks and much sensuality between the heroine and hero, a subplot involving either the hero or heroine, and forward movement in the story.

4. Any content that I consider inappropriate  will not be allowed. If in doubt, please ask before you write story elements that may be unsuitable.

Okay, those are starter rules. I'm sure there'll be other rules as we go along.

If you'd like to sketch out either the story's plot, characters, dilemmas, subplot, etc. or all of them, please write it down and contact me ASAP, so that I can send you your invitation and get this project moving .