Hello, lovelies! I'm not planning any new books as of right now as I am in the middle of Chi Sono, but I really want some advice on my characters.
No matter how many books of mine you've read, it is quite obvious I love me some ethnicity and diversity. So far most of my characters have been of Latin origin, European white, including Spaniard and Italian. I've stuck primarily to these cultures as I am a Latina and American.
But now that I am growing as an author and have more experience both age-wise and with character growth and development, I would like to start branching out to other cultures and races.
Right now in Chi Sono I have a character from Japan who I would like to get into detail with. In Meet Me At Midnight, my female lead was Arabic, but didn't identify with her culture as she had never grown up surrounded by it (I wish I could have written her with the aspects of her ethnicity/culture but it would have fit my tragic backstory for her). I also have a black male lead in Beautiful Stranger that I didn't get into as much depth as I had wanted.
That being said, I would like to go back and do some editing to allow my characters to shine and embrace who they are. But I would like to do it correctly, so I need some opinions for past characters and future characters (I have an idea for a book and I would really like to have a powerful black woman as my lead. I'm thinking CEO or FBI agent).
I don't want to conform to stereotypes or make it seem like I'm only adding diversity because I have to. I want to get my characters right. I want you all to love them just as much as I do and connect with them.
So my question is for any race/ethnicity/culture (I love all comments and advice) is there anything specifically I would need to research to get to know my characters better? Are there any certain things y'all would like to see in future books?
Also, I'm sorry if this came off as ignorant or naive or something. My age isn't an excuse, but I am young, hell, I'm barely a teenager so I'm still learning and I want to learn about other races/ethnicities/cultures that are not my own.
One more thing, please, please tell me if my characters ever seem stereotypical or bland or mundane. I understand if they may be in this book as it was my first one ever, but in my others, I'm hoping I did better with character depth.
P.S-If you're waiting for an update for Chi Sono, they will start coming in two weeks. In the meantime please go read my series Fatal Attraction and/or check out my reading list for some great recs.
Thank you, beauties!