This past St. Patrick’s Day got me
thinking about my own ethnic heritage. They say everyone is Irish on St.
Paddy’s Day. When we were young, my husband and I did our share of partying on that
day, although neither of us has a drop of Irish blood.
Last
year, my husband and I had our DNA tested. There were no surprises. Our DNA
results were close, both of us overwhelmingly Mediterranean with some West Asia
(Turkey, etc) thrown in. My husband also has some Eastern European DNA, not
surprising since his father’s family is from the Ukraine.
Some
years ago I wrote an article about using your ethnic heritage in your writing.
I decided to dig it out and update it.
You’ve all heard the old adage,
“Write what you know.” We writers do research to learn about places we’ve never
visited, or we make up our own worlds, which is sometimes easier. Regardless of
what worlds we write about, we put a little bit of ourselves into all of our
stories.
I hadn’t thought of using my ethnic
heritage in my books until my third one. In the first two books I wrote (one
published, one not), my heroes and heroines had Irish/English names, as do most
characters in American books. Face it, we Americans have an easier time
pronouncing English, Irish, Scottish and German names than we do Italian,
Polish, French, etc.
When I decided to write my third
book, I had an epiphany. Why not make at least one of my protagonists of
Italian descent, as I am? Thus, Doriana Callahan, the heroine of my romantic
suspense, Logan’s Redemption (Redemption
Book 1). Doriana, named after a woman I know who is an immigrant from
I used my ethnic heritage again in
my romantic suspense novel, Murder, Mi
Amore, which is set almost entirely in Rome, Italy, with an Italian hero
and an Italian-American heroine. I even included a whole chapter set in the
small town in Abruzzo where my grandparents were raised. Writing Murder, Mi Amore brought back memories
of my trip to Italy Rome
In
Franco’s Fortune (Redemption Book 2),
the hero is Doriana’s brother, and of course Italian/Irish. The heroine is a
redhead with a French last name. In Luke’s
Temptation (Redemption Book 3), the heroine is Doriana’s cousin, and is all
Italian. The hero is Hispanic. Although I’m not Hispanic, I’ve written several
heroes who are of Hispanic or mixed Hispanic/Native American heritage. As you
can see I’ve gotten away from my ethnic roots at times, yet the characters I
write about have ethnic backgrounds that I enjoyed researching.
In
my novella, Capri Nights, included in
the Entice Me: Luscious Love Stories
Boxed Set, my hero, Alex, is from
the Isle of Capri, Italy. I’m currently writing a story that will be included
in a box set of international stories. My hero is, you’ve got it, Italian, from
the town of Ravello on the Amalfi Coast. I’ve visited Capri twice, and I’ve
visited Ravello also.
I’ve sold a dozen short romance
stories to national women’s magazines, and I’ve used Italian and Polish names
for many of my short story characters. However, a few of the magazine editors
have changed my characters’ names to something more “vanilla.”
You
have to be careful when using ethnic last names. The names must be easy to
pronounce - like Russo, DiMarco, Novak, Morelli, Brioni, Cortese. You don’t
want readers tripping over the names.
Writing
my Italian characters is like writing about my family, people I’ve known all my
life. I’ll use an ethnic name whenever it fits, but I know, regardless of
ethnicity, the characters’ names must tell the readers a little bit about them.
Try it when you write your stories. Spice up your characters a little flavor of
yourself and your heritage.
Visit my website at www.caramarsi.com for excerpts and information about all my books.
Logan's Redemption:
Franco's Fortune:
Luke's Temptation:
The Redemption Series Box Set:
Murder, Mi Amore:
Entice Me: Luscious Love Stories
9 comments:
I like ethnic characters, especially those with interesting cultural backgrounds.
Great idea. I've been thinking about doing a DNA test, I think it would be so interesting. Thanks for sharing.
My family has long been established in the US, some to the Revolution. For me to reach back like you can--just not there. My state is large and there are interesting cultural differences right here. Some speak like Southerners, some sound Mid-West, and out West??? They talk rather tight-lipped to keep the bugs out of there teeth. Italians did immigrate to my town. Because of the affordable economy, many people have moved here over the last 30 years.
Lots of interesting stuff in this column....My backgound is like Vicki's so I get my character's names from research into name dictionaries, etc. Currently struggling with my hero's name. It's gotta be changed, but to what?
What fun to have your DNA tested. I get my characters' names from my students. They certainly make a difference in my life.
Thanks, everyone. It was fun having our DNA tested. I'd hoped we'd find some surprises but there weren't many. We were both surprised to have that West Asia DNA though. Not all my characters have ethnic names. Sometimes they just don't fit with the story or the character.
Great blog, Cara! I usually throw in a little bit of my family heritage when I'm writing. Little Italian/Polish ladies are always showing up and sometimes I combine the two, which can make for interesting name choices, lol:)
Thanks, Paris. I know all about those little Italian/Polish ladies.
My family came from The Netherlands starting in the 1600s. Another branch much later. So I decided to set my PI mystery series in West Michigan, a stronghold of Dutch heritage. It's been fun using family surnames as characters.
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