Interview with Angelique Clemens

I’ve known Angelique from way back in my college days. She is a vibrant, outgoing lady with a ton of insight to offer via her debut novel “Can I Borrow Your Skin?” While creating her author website for her at angeliqueclemens.com I took the time to interview her about her book.

What inspires your writing?

Life. I am moved by significant events in my life and the life of those around me. Writing about those experiences and working through different outcomes is what inspires my writings. As humans, we naturally think through what-ifs and daydream. For me that daydreaming and trying to visualize a world different than the path I took can open doors to another story.  

What is your process of developing characters?

I write biographical fiction therefore the characters’ relatability is imperative for the success of the book. I spend time developing storyboard for each of the main character of the book and their relationship.

Did you Start with a story outline or did you make it up as you went along?

It is a combination of both. I spend time developing the characters and their relationship, but I do not outline the entire book.

How much research did you need for your story?

Can I Borrow Your Skin is based in a time period and in an area in the world that I am quite familiar so I did not have to research those aspects of the book.

What researching methods did you use?

I did research some of the sporting event scores and schedules using the internet.

Did you draw on personal experience?

Absolutely! I definitely included elements of my own life in the book. We, as authors, do write what we know and I know my own experiences the best.

How did your publish?

I have a friend that owns a publishing company. He mentored me through the publishing process.

Why did you do it that way?

It was cost-effective and never felt like I was going at it alone.

How long did it take to land representation?

It was instantaneous for me once I reached out to him.

What advice would you have for writers looking to publish the way you published?

Contact Shawn at shawntblanchard.com, his is an excellent author, speaker, and mentor.

Who did your cover and marketing?

Shawn’s team did my cover based on my ideas. I marketed the book based on the advice received from Shawn.

Did you use beta readers? How did you secure them?

I did. I reached out to a group of authors and subject-matter experts that I knew.

How many revisions did it take to get a publishable book?

Three!

What do you think readers that have never experienced situations like your protagonist will gain from reading your story?

How to love themselves. The protagonist spends so much of her time adapting and in so doing she feels as if she is losing herself. Persons reading my book will hopefully walk away from the book thinking to themselves that it is OK to not be perfect and that trying to be what everyone expects of you will have you in a situation where you are never who you know yourself to be.

What are you writing now?

The sequel to Can I Borrow Your Skin

What is your advice to other writers?

Embrace the process! Allow yourself to enjoy the experience.

Diversity and Representation in Storytelling

As an African-American storyteller, it is important to me to properly and respectfully address the issue of diversity and rresentation in all of my stories. I personally don’t feel I’m seeing enough of certain grops of people represented in stories (my own group included), so I try to make sure to accurately and respectfully include characers representing those groups in many of my stories.

A white male has no problem with representation because he will always be represented. For those who aren’t white, and for those who aren’t male, that is not always the case. 

So for the rest of us, it does feel good to see a character we can dircetly relate to portrayed in a non-stereotypical manner. Until recently, that was a bit of a rarity. 

I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering since its early “Chronicles” expansion, and I was giddy when they devoted a major set to a tropical, African-inspired environment with dark-skinned characters. As an African-American, it was something I rarely saw and was something I could identify with. We can find things we relate to in really any character regardless of gender, race, religion, etc. But there is a more personal connection when you feel underrepresented or misrepresented and you see a character that is a direct reflection of your identity shown in a positive (non-stereotypical) way.

Here are a few issues I’ve identified when dealing with this in storytelling, and a perspective on how to approach them.

Using Language Tastefully to Identify Ethnicity/Culture

The way a character talks can give away a lot about their culture and background. Everything from tone of voice to their pet phrases, accent, and even the way they speak profanities can help identify their culture. One of my tricks when I write ethnic characters is have them say certain words or phrases in their “other” language. This is mostly to remind my readers of their ethnicity. But just like with all of these tips, be cautious of overkill. Having language doing the heavy lifting can come off as patronizing to your readers.

Being Authentic Without Being Offensive

There is a fine line between adding elements of a particular culture to make them identifiable, and stereotyping. That is something you want to be very cognizant of. A small element here and there, maybe a cultural tic or a particular feature would be enough to give away what that character’s background is would be enough. Sometimes even just a name can be enough. If you give your character a surname like Martinez or Rodriguez, most readers will assume the character is Latin. Likewise, if your surname is something like Valenti or Castagnacci, then the reader will assume they have Italian roots. But doing too much insults the reader’s intelligence.

If you know certain physical features that can be identified with a certain background, you can utilize those, too. But you really should go to this well sparingly. Maybe one or two mentions about bodily features tops. Especially skin color. You should only need to mention once about a character’s complexion for the reader to be able to get the visual.

Going Against Stereotype

In the grand scheme of things, having your characters buck accepted stereotypes is a good thing for a number of reasons. It challenges the reader’s preconceptions and prejudices, and helps make your character unique and memorable. If you, knowing that Asian characters are typically presented as genial and ultra-smart, want to create an Asian character that is a bit clueless, it should be within your right to do so. But I advise developing your un-stereotypical character and fully understanding why they don’t act the way readers would expect them to act, so you can portray them more authentically.

Handling Ethnic Antagonists

probably the toughest aspect of developing ethnic characters is making one that is the bad guy. The temptation is to lean in to their ethnic identifiers, or to place them in roles that are typically identified with their ethnicity (i.e. the Latino druglord, or the sheisty Jewish lawyer). But you can avoid that by taking time to truly develop your characters and fleshing them out the same way you would flesh out any villain. Preferably in a way where their villainy or villainous attitude is not inherently tied to their ethnicity or culture.

Avoiding Tokenism or Diversity Just for its Own Sake.

Many underrepresented groups feel slighted despite seeing “one of their own” in a story, because it is obvious that that character was put there as a “tolken” character.

The key to avoiding this is to make the character’s culture and background an integral part of the narrative. Having your character and your world be well-developed is the key to that. If there are aspects of your world where your unique character can exist as a part of the culture, then you create more authenticity and your character is less likely to stand out like a sore thumb.

This will also solve the problem of including characters of other races and cultures just so you can say you did it. That can come off as very disingenuous and patronizing, so making the characters and their backgrounds an integral part of the story is vital.

There are a few ideas I thought up to help you address the issue as you create your stories. I am sure there are other, better ways out there to handle it. But being cognizant of how sensitive an issue it can be and how important it is for you to get it right is a definite step in the right direction. And it doesn’t hurt to get outside opinions, either. There are plenty of groups on places like Facebook (like this one) that pay close attention to how various ethnicities and cultures are portrayed in stories. It couldn’t hurt to get their input on your story, too.