The first time I used impoverished southern mountain people in a (never published) novel, years ago, I quickly realized that a lot of readers see them through a distorted lens and expect writers to present characters that conform to stereotypes.
One member of the critique group I was in at the time urged me to find a way to show that “all poor mountain women talk in high-pitched, whiny voices.” Another critiquer thought my modern-day characters should speak an arcane mountain dialect filled with Old English and Scottish words, and they should spend their evenings sitting by the fire, strumming dulcimers and singing 400-year-old folk songs. I was bemused when someone expressed satisfaction that the antipoverty program in the late 1960s and early 1970s had failed, because if it had succeeded in improving the mountain people’s lives it would have “destroyed their unique culture.” Another critique group member seemed convinced that natives of Appalachia are all dimwitted products of incest and the civilized world would be horrified to learn what really goes on back in the hollows and up on the ridges.
Half my family is in the Smoky Mountains, and as a young adult I worked in West Virginia for several years as a newspaper reporter, so I knew that even the poorest residents of the mountains are more or less the same as everyone else, with the same concerns and aspirations. They watch TV and know all about the “outside” world. Many have been to war in foreign countries. Few are content to be poor. Although they may love the mountains and feel reluctant to leave home and family to work elsewhere, they don’t revel in poverty and scorn all opportunity. They’re more likely to enjoy country music or rock than ballads that were popular when Henry VIII was on the throne. They may be uneducated, but stupidity is no more prevalent than in any other economic class. Sadly, drug use has become a massive problem in the region, and methamphetamine and oxycodone are destroying a lot of lives.
My first published novel, The Heat of the Moon, was set in a privileged suburb of Washington, DC, but I didn’t want to continue writing about such a homogeneous set of characters. I wanted a strong mix of characters from different levels of society. When I moved my protagonist, veterinarian Rachel Goddard, to the mountains of southwestern Virginia, I gained both a diverse batch of new characters and the automatic tension between a newcomer and the locals. Small mountain communities are insular in the same way most small communities are. My challenge is to see my fictional county and its residents through an undistorted lens, to ignore stereotypes and readers’ preconceptions and create believable individuals.
Some of my low-income characters, like Rachel Goddard’s young friend Holly Turner, are smart, honest, and hard-working. Others, like a few of Holly’s relatives, see illegal drugs as their ticket to a cushier life. Some of my poor mountain people have been villains, and others have been heroes. I have one character, Mrs. Barker, who claims to have “the sight” – a mountain version of psychic powers – but I leave it up to readers to decide whether her abilities are genuine or imagined.
I know there will always be readers who prefer a more romantic view of mountain people who talk in dialect, ignore the modern world, and find contentment in the simple life that poverty forces on them. Maybe I’d have a wider readership if I went that way. But my characters are what they are. If they come alive on the page as real people, I feel I’ve done justice to them.
For more information about award-winning author Sandra Parshall, visit her website.
I think there’s a fine line between the romanticized view of a place, and stereotyping. Sounds to me like you try to take a more realistic view, and I also thinks it adds to the overall quality of the story, because if everyone looks and sounds the same, how do you distinguish those characters?
Thank you for addressing this, Sandra. I’m glad you’re doing your best to make your characters full and realistic, no matter where they are from.
I have a related issue. In my WIP, I have several African-American characters in a story set north of Boston. My (all-white) critique group, after the reading of one scene, realized one character was black, and commented that I should have said he was. I feel it’s more important to just describe people physically as needed, use dialog as appropriate, and let the story proceed.
Edith
Edith,
I think we should all write our stories our way, but we have to be prepared for changes an editor may want. And editors are individuals, so there’s no way to predict what we’ll be asked to “fix” or take out. I’ve been lucky so far. I hope you will be too!
Sandy
Sandra, you are one of the very best at making your characters come alive on the page!
Speaking as one who has lived in rural Appalachia for the past thirty-five years, I can attest that there are all sorts of folks here, including some that fit those stereotypes. It’s an incredibly rich society for an author to portray. Hurrah for you, Sandy, for respecting your characters!
Sandra – I just finished one of your books and love the way you portray the Melungeon people. My ancestry is based in the Cumberland Gap region. We were always called ‘Black Dutch’ and, yes, some had the ‘sight’. Bravo on your stand against stereotypes. I am carefully avoiding that in my current work in progress which is set in the Missouri Ozarks.
Talk about “The Thread That Runs So True,” if I may borrow Jesse Stuart’s title for a moment. That’s your characterizations of Appalachian people. You depict your rural/mountain people with dignity. I’m glad you’ve had sensitive editors, not some who consider the land between NY and LA “flyover country.” I only hope I can come close to what you’ve accomplished with yours.
Rhonda, my editor (Barbara Peters at Poisoned Pen Press) lived in eastern Kentucky when she was younger, and I know she appreciates realistic portrayals of the diverse inhabitants of Appalachia. I’m lucky, yes.
It’s wonderful to see all your comments! Many thanks for the kind words about my books.
I hope you have some new critique partners! Thanks for the article and the insights. And many thanks for writing your books the way you do. I love reading them!
Sandy, I really love the community that you have created. Having grown up in the Tennessee hills and having spent five years in Southwest Virginia, I know the territory where your last two books are set. I think you really are creating a believable, realistic place and characters. When I was young, my accent pegged me as stupid to those who didn’t know better. I worked very hard to “tongue-wash” myself. The accent is gone, and I’m sorry.
Sandy, I think I’ve whined many times about the distorted lense my protagonist is view with. Travel agents are not tour escorts ‘flitting’ around the world with free tickets. Lovely article.
Patg
Great article, Sandy! In fact, I’d wondered how you chose your characters and settings. Your books open a window to a part of the country I know very little about and a community, the Melungeons, I’d never heard of before. Because your complex characters defy stereotypes, I trust the details of your settings and feel I’ve learned a few things from your books. That’s my favorite kind of fiction. I love your books. Keep em coming!