My dear wonderful hubby and I have an interracial, interfaith marriage. We were born on different continents. We came from different cultures. When I first met his family, I couldn’t figure out what they were saying because I wasn’t accustomed to the accent. (grins) We now live in a city where every possible country of origin is represented.
This is MY reality and I reflect that reality in my erotic romances. I don’t announce racial differences. I never say that Miss Yen from the Blaine Technologies series (He Claims Me, Flashes Of Me, Breaking All The Rules) is Chinese, that Nikhil Baagh from Tiger Byte was born in India, that many of my tall, dark and handsome heroes (such as Prince Reiter from Night Rides) are truly tall, DARK and handsome. Why? Because race is a tiny part of what makes these characters special.
I also don’t promote these stories as being interracial. An editor whom I respect and trust explained to me once that an interracial romance has race as its main conflict. The plot revolves around this issue. Race is what keeps the couple apart or brings them together. My stories don’t qualify under this definition. That Nikhil is a tiger shifter is a bigger issue than where he was born (though India’s caste system does play a factor in the story).
My characters are diverse in other ways also. I have curvaceous heroines (Gale in Warlord Unarmed is one of my favorites), gay heroes (Sarge in Speed Demon), bisexual characters (Furu and Xan in Menage Lost are two of my favorites), ugly heroes (Henley in Flashes Of Me), and characters with all sorts of occupations (on both sides of the law). Again, this single trait doesn’t define any of these characters.
Do I suggest that all writers have this wide range of diversity in their characters?
No, of course not. The only ‘has-to’ in erotic romance is a happy ever after or happy for now. Many M/M readers only read M/M stories. When they find out that Speed Demon is my solitary M/M story, they become frustrated. My ménage reading buddies continue to campaign to make Sinful Rewards a ménage (with Bee, Nicolas and Hawke getting together) and not a love triangle.
But I DO feel it is important that there are writers writing diverse characters, that not all of us are writing the same characters in our erotic romances. I love that when a reader tells me “I’m looking for an erotic romance with a XYZ character”, I can point her toward a book with an XYZ character.
Have you spotted any diverse characters in the erotic romances you’ve recently read?
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Bee Carter has been offered everything she has ever dreamed of—a caring, lasting relationship with a handsome, often charming billionaire; the permanent home she’s never had but has always craved; and wealth to buy the designer fashions she loves, support her hard-working mother, and ensure her acceptance by Chicago’s elite.
To obtain what she’s desired for so long, she has to do only two things: Walk away from her best friend, a woman who is destined to betray her … and end her passionate nightly encounters with a certain tattooed biker, a former Marine who can never give her what she needs.
Her answer should be clear, but the heart has a way of complicating even the most straightforward decisions.
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sinful-Rewards-Billionaires-Bikers-Novella-ebook/dp/B00JZOVYQG
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Avon: http://www.avonromance.com/book/cynthia-sax-sinful-rewards-7
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