La Hermana

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving and for many of us, one of the things for which to be most thankful is family, especially our hermanas.

As writers, family, especially our sisters or women who we think of as sisters, can often form the basis for some very powerful stories. As Latino writers, incorporating such themes gives us an opportunity to share our diverse Latino cultures with others, but the key to doing so successfully involves walking a very fine line. Readers do not want to be beat over the head with a particular message, but do respond well to universal issues with which they can identify.

For example, many many years ago I rented THE JOY LUCK CLUB which was based on a novel by Amy Tan. The characters were Chinese and the movie (as well as the book which I later read) did a wonderful job of portraying Chinese traditions by subtly weaving the cultural aspects of the book with the more universal issues of second generation identity struggles, mother-daughter friction and sister/women friendships. By the end of the movie I was bawling, asking myself what would I leave my daughter of my culture and how I could be her friend as well as her mother.

The story in THE JOY LUCK CLUB succeeded because of the strength of the response roused by the universal issues of mothers, daughters and sisters.

A wonderful Latino story which also triumphs because of such elements is EVENINGS AT THE ARGENTINE CLUB by Julia Amante. When I had the opportunity to discuss the theme of family with Julia, she had this advice to offer aspiring Latino writers:

“Family shapes everything from what a character believes to what they will attempt to become (or fight not to become), and therefore in women’s fiction it’s crucial to see the impact of family on characters.”

Family, and sisters, plays an important role in our lives and in our fiction. Experiment with incorporating them in your writing, even in secondary roles. As Julia noted, the impact families make on our characters shapes them and will help demonstrate to the reader why a character makes certain choices. Including family in your writing will also help to share your culture with readers and hopefully help spread the word that we have a great deal in common in the issues we face in our daily lives.

A big thanks to Julia Amante for sharing her writing wisdom and also for offering a copy of EVENINGS AT THE ARGENTINE CLUB to one lucky individual. Just leave a comment on the blog for a chance to win an autographed copy of EVENINGS AT THE ARGENTINE CLUB.