Preparing to Write Multi-Cultural Characters
- Feb 17
- 4 min read
By CC Robinson
Some of the most powerful, futuristic world building comes from observing our present reality. Before I ever wrote a dystopian novel, I spent years working in places reshaped by war, disaster, or political instability. In Sierra Leone, a nation still recovering from a three decades-long civil war, I saw how quickly civil war obliterates normal life and how people rebuild their lives once peace arrives again.
Those experiences taught me that writing cross cultural characters is not only about clever description or exotic scenery. Rather, writing cross-cultural characters requires identifying and challenging our own mindset and biases as the writer.
Here is how I prepared myself for the challenge of writing four cross cultural characters for my young adult Divided dystopian series.
Letting Go of the “Helper” Mindset
In my history classes Colonialism was described in tidy textbook paragraphs that felt very distant from the present-day. Static images portrayed the domination and control of wealthier cultures over what we kids of the 1980’s called “the third world.” But is colonialism a thing of the past or does it still drive us today?
When I first started working overseas, I realized my first mistake could happen before I ever arrived if I believe I have all the answers – the so-called “western expert.” Every community I served had survived things I had never lived through. They had knowledge, resilience, resources (both physical and talent) and insight I did not have.
But yet, I watched well-entrenched organizations often bring in their own templates for work and then pressed “go.” I don’t want to say they didn’t do any good, but by missing the critical first steps of asking questions and searching for ways of local collaboration, I think they didn’t do as much good as was possible. And perhaps part of this gap in practice lies in how different generations think about “Colonialism” as not only a concept but a system. For instance, my Gen Z adult children see colonialism as a modern-day issue and a warning sign of future dictatorship and oppression, while many in my own generation (Gen X) would probably consider colonialism a thing of our past.
By recognizing my own deeply-held belief about colonialism and seeing its continued operation in the modern-day relief and development work being done, I could then conceive of a different way to work – a way of collaboration and equal stakes between “helper” and “helped.” Indeed, the line between those two often blurred as we westerners grew and learned through the gifts and talents of those we were serving. And instead of thinking of our work as “serving”, we reframed everything we did through the lens of “collaboration” and “partnership.”
What does this have to do with writing cross-cultural characters? If we aren’t careful, we’ll bring these subtle influences of colonialism and the “helper” mindset into our fiction. This could create a flat, stereotype of a character rather than the dynamic, nuanced character who better reflects real life. This could also lead to the “white savior” syndrome, where the majority culture character saves the cross-cultural character. I personally think we’ve had enough of that narrative and work hard to keep this thinking out of my own writing.
When I shed the “helper mindset” and brought a posture of humility and curiosity to my writing, the characters grew in depth and the plot twisted and turned in unique ways (because multi-cultural characters drove the plot), delighting readers.
Let’s Talk Bias
Bias is not a moral failing. It is the water we swim in and, unfortunately, everyone alive has biases, even if we’ve shed colonialistic thinking. Therefore, we must notice and deal with these before biases impact our story.
When we encounter a community in another nation, we often have an instinct to label our viewpoint or culture as the default. The truth is that every culture has blind spots, including my own. When I was in Sierra Leone or Fusagasuga, Colombia, I saw cultural strengths and weaknesses very different from my own -- how life revolved around food and community in Colombia, while in Sierra Leone nothing would get accomplished without rigorous debate and discussion. These are strengths, for sure, but every culture also has its weaknesses. Learning another culture’s strengths and weaknesses is only possible when we take our own culture’s blinders off.
When we fail to acknowledge our own biases, we miss the rich tapestry of other cultures strengths and weakness. We’ll also miss the opportunity for deep cultural interactions and opportunities to build together. The same rule applies to fiction. If we fail to deal with our biases before writing, our characters will end up being cardboard stereotypes of reality. It’s not easy and sometimes facing our biases requires someone else to point them out. The entire process demands humility, which, if we’re willing to give it, will lead to a greater depth of characterization in our writing we’d never have reached otherwise.
Follow my Substack for more thoughts on research and drafting diverse characters, as well as links to podcasts where I discuss this and many other world-building and character development insights. Welcome to the journey of writing authentic, multi-ethnic characters.
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