Image by Luiz Gustavo from Unsplash
(Aqui não existe barreiras . Projeto social Amar e vida Surf transforma vidas)
The photo is from Loving the Surfing Life Project (?? – not sure about the direct translation from Spanish), There Are No Barriers Here.
Representation matters. Latino and physically challenged. Immigrant or homeless. Black and people of color. Gender fluid or gray-haired. All types need to exist in stories. Not just for people to see themselves as the hero, but also to see that other people can be the hero as well.
And to be aware that as their identity changes, they can still be a hero.
Will reading Ms. Pollifax as a teen affect me now that I am reaching retirement age? We shall see. The Chosen One is not a trope restricted to people coming-of-age. Everyone ages, even the Chosen One.
I should note, with age comes injury. Between ages 5 to 15, only about 5% of all people are disabled. At 75 and older, nearly half are disabled (46.1%). (https://www.statista.com/statistics/793952/disability-in-the-us-by-age/).
So while a reader might not change skin color, they could change social standing, age, religion, or become challenged physically or mentally. They could be forced to flee their home and become a refugee. Their cognitive abilities might become compromised, like a friend of mind whose ability to make decisions went from “high power” to limited – she can still make decisions, but the energy they take destroy her after a few each day. Reading about characters who are living in different circumstances can help a reader survive these seismic shifts of identity.
WRITING EXERCISE: Today write a Representation Matters scene or flash – between 100 to 500 words. Age, race, gender identity, sexuality, disabled, religion. (Somehow, the person you are writing about should not “look” like you, now or in your past.)
My attempt: Join the Crew (5/5/2024). Writing a science fiction where the planet was settled by Spanish speakers created a set of challenges for me, barely remembering the void that was my high school language, but I have two niblings who look like the characters in this story. They should be able to see themselves when they read fiction.