Asian stereotypes and racism in novels

[jbradfor]

they began to think she was possessed with the spirit of Genghis Khan and that he was stuck between both worlds and angry.

If it's not too late, this could be a solution to your name problem. Since Genghis Khan is Mongol, and often not really considered Chinese, she could have Mongol name, not a Chinese name.

I JUST turned in the final line edit.

Too late.....

[陳德聰]

Well at least Sheeku is a good reflection of her heritage... Unlike some people here. 陳德聰

[外国赤佬]

The whole paranormal aspect is that she has blue eyes and is thought to be possessed by the spirit of Genghis Khan because of her eyes and because she has prophetic powers with people's deaths. So when she is a child and the people she prophesies will die, do actually die, they begin to think that she's causing the deaths and that the spirit must be stuck between both worlds and is angry. So, they place a seal over her soul to contain the demon inside her, worried he'll break entirely free and go on a killing spree. Her uncle, who is rich and powerful and lives in America, wants to exploit her prophetic gift and make money off of her with the underground fights. So, he has her father imprisoned and keeps her and her mother sort of captive in America from an early age, planning to use an ancient forbidden ritual to bind her power to his son through marriage. But a master of Wu-Shu secretly trains her in the art so that when she is 18, she will be able to leave and defend herself. The hero, who is literally possessed with a demon of lust protects her thinking she needs it and thinking it's all not true. Only he finds out differently later!

W T F

我简直无语可言了

[陳德聰]

I actually don't think the premise is that bad, awkward Asian references aside. I used to frequent online roleplaying forums with similar character backgrounds when I was in my early teens.

[Guest realmayo]

If I was able to write that kind of book and if there was decent money in it I'd jump at the chance.

[Demonic_Duck]

Well at least Sheeku is a good reflection of her heritage... Unlike some people here. 陳德聰

You're a funny guy, I like you.

W T F

我简直无语可言了

Well, as the great Wittgenstein said, "whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent".

[abcdefg]

Ms. Boone,

It's a shame you did not arrive here asking questions until after it was too late to use the answers. Several of us would have genuinely enjoyed helping you with your interesting task. I wish you all the best and hope you book becomes a runaway best seller.

[Azure Boone]

@jbradfor, I'd considered that as well about the Mongolian name but then I thought I'd run up against the whole "why does she have a such and such name when she's from such and such place" it didn't match up, but it could've been her mother's people or something. I put in a lot of effort finding the darn Chinese name, I searched list after list of popular Chinese women names, beautiful Chinese names, I think I ended up finding the one I did at godchecker.com and it was a combo of 2 short names. If only I'd known Chinese names were usually short, but there were some there that were not short at all. I would imagine since she was born with the blue eyes, they might give her an unusual name anyway.

The company asked for stories for the upcoming holidays and I'm brainstorming. I love cultural clashes in stories and was thinking maybe a rich man hires an American woman to help teach his son all about the western culture for their huge traveling/advertising business he's supposed to take over. Only, the woman who goes is stepping in for her friend and doesn't know what the hell she's doing. I have to use the American holidays in my theme, so I'm imagining I'll have her homesick for Christmas (I'll have to make sure that's not celebrated where she goes) and although the whole situation is comical, the guy will fall in love with her and maybe give her an American Christmas when he learns she's actually a good person (have to come up with a noble reason for her stepping in for her friend)

When I get the premise nailed, I'll let you guys know and perhaps I can make sure I've got my cultural facts straight enough before I go too far.

[Azure Boone]

I appreciate that abcdefg, but as I said, I need to know these things either way. I was seriously not aware that it was even a problem until it hit edits. It bothered me so I sought out sources to educate myself on an aspect I had no clue existed (the racial/stereotype things pointed out)

I love cultural clash types of love stories and as I've mentioned above, I planned on more. There is also a book 2 and 3 for the first one, and edits can still be made in those, so, I consider myself at a stage that I can still incorporate at least justification for anything I've goofed up.

But I do thank you guys for the info you've given me, it all helps for future works as well.

[Azure Boone]

They just did my COVER. Looks pretty darn good, I think. As soon as I approve it, I'll post you guys a copy and you can tell me what you think. But they didn't give her blue eyes, so, I'm asking if they can like photoshop her some blue eyes. It's a profile shot, so, it's only one eye.

[abcdefg]

Your tough editor might get a chuckle from the attached cartoon.

Edited to add: I realize this is an emotionally charged issue, and walking in these grounds can be as treacherous as strolling in a mine field. It is all too easy to unintentionally give offense.

[Lu]

I put in a lot of effort finding the darn Chinese name, I searched list after list of popular Chinese women names, beautiful Chinese names, I think I ended up finding the one I did at godchecker.com and it was a combo of 2 short names. If only I'd known Chinese names were usually short, but there were some there that were not short at all.

There is no wikipedia article that explains Chinese names? I can hardly believe it.

Culture clash stories can be interesting and fun, in writing them it might help to get to know both of the cultures involved before starting to write (or even starting to make the plot). It would also be a good idea to regularly meet one or more people of the culture you're writing about to discuss what you're doing and run the facts by them. There are a lot of small and big things that you simply cannot learn from just some googling but that are completely obvious for people of that other culture, and getting them right will make your story twice as good.

The plot of the book you're finishing sounds highly weird and quite fun, good luck with the stories!

[Azure Boone]

Yeah but anybody can write in wikipedia. And really, there are long Chinese names that I'd found, so, that makes it maybe unusual, but not unheard of. And she's certainly fitting an unusual name, so, length wasn't really an issue as far as I could see.

Thank you for that compliment on the first book. I plan on doing a skeleton plot and then running that by the culture that I'm not familiar with, then slowly going from there, checking facts as I create. And you're right, it makes it much nicer when it's legitimate sounding.

[imron]

And really, there are long Chinese names that I'd found

I'm not sure what names you saw, but longer 'Chinese' names are typically names transliterated from languages spoken by ethnic minorities (or from foreign languages entirely) as opposed to Chinese names. For example, imagine someone of Indian descent (the country, not native Americans) who was born and grew up in the US, but being of Indian descent, his parents gave him a name like Ravichandran. You wouldn't really say this was an American name, even though it belonged to someone who was for all intents and purposes American.

[Azure Boone]

Admin, you're right there. I do remember that the names were given in various forms. Some were longer than others. That's definitely one I'll have to be more careful on the next time! I think the name I picked was the Westernized translation or something of that nature, maybe something else, but not the same as the original language. And then there were different factions of Chinese languages as well. Sigh. A tedious job, that one, but one I'll be more careful with in the future.

[Lu]

Yeah but anybody can write in wikipedia. And really, there are long Chinese names that I'd found, so, that makes it maybe unusual, but not unheard of.

The same anybody can build a website with 'Chinese' names... Of course you want to double-check what you find in wikipedia, but in my experience it's a good first stop.

[Azure Boone]

LMBO at that cartoon abcdefg. There is surely that double standard. The Chinese male minor character could insult the american guy but the american guy was racist if he insulted the Chinese guy. It was quite funny. In a frustrating way. But I found it seemed more racist to remove the cultural aspects, cliche or not, and make them sound so American. Why is it insulting for anybody to not be fluent in English? It makes me cringe to think people judge that way, but apparently the editor knew people who did, or who looked at it as writer "making" her ignorant, like we assume that's how Chinese people speak English. Funny thing was, my Chinese male character spoke better English than the American hero character. And I did that on purpose to show there was a difference for a REASON. And that the author was not assuming all Chinese Americans spoke broken English. Although I wasn't required to remove them, but they were flagged as racist. But I did my best to remove them anyway.

[Azure Boone]

You're right about wiki, and other sites. I went to like the government websites too, figured the links on the culture would be dependable. I honestly can't say I remember where exactly I got all the information I found. But I know I'm coming here in the future, it really helps just knowing the right people.

[Demonic_Duck]

Yeah but anybody can write in wikipedia.

Wikipedia is actually generally pretty accurate (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4530930.stm). Sure, you occasionally get inaccuracies and vandalism, but who's going to vandalise a page about Chinese naming conventions? They're much more likely to vandalise the page of their least favourite celebrity or politician.

[Azure Boone]

Good point demonic duck