Slipstream Tour Stop Showcasing Mike Offutt's Characters

Thursday, May 10, 2012


I'm more than pleased to welcome Micheal Offutt to the Character Depot. Mike is a wonderful blogger. He shoots straight, saying exactly what he means. Follow his blog here.  His subject is one I could talk about all day, so without further delay...

Diversity in the fiction that I read and write is important. In SLIPSTREAM, I have a huge selection of main characters that all have crucial roles to play, and many of them have ethnic backgrounds:


  1) Jordan and Kathy are twins. They are Caucasian with blond hair and blue eyes. However, this isn’t random. There’s a reason they look this way and I explain it in the book.
2)    Kolin is also blond with blue eyes, but he’s British. He’s a trained killer that befriends the twins and to whom Jordan falls in love with.
3)    Chewy is a black woman. She’s is the leader of a sect of people who make it possible for Jordan and Kathy to accomplish something very important. She’s incredibly smart, tech savvy, and compassionate.
4)    Hammer is a black man. He drives a tank through downtown Kilvarough City (a huge metropolis) and has a group of men that follow his every command when he goes to battle the forces of evil. Without this heroic figure, Jordan and Kathy would fail.
5)    Meteora is a being of pure energy. Without him, everything falls to pieces.
6)    Dylan is a boy of mixed ancestry who has a Native American familiar called a Nahual. This puma (big cat) is responsible for answering a big mystery in the book.
7)    Rachael is a prostitute (I don’t go into her ancestry but in my mind I pictured her as having middle-eastern parents). Rachael is also crucial to the story. She’s not just there to be a prostitute.

So in my book I have women talking to other women (and it’s not just about boys but about actual things important to the plot). I have a gay romance. I have black people doing tremendously heroic things, who are smart, sexy, and powerful. I have beings of pure energy, prostitutes, and paranormal beings contributing to the overall story.
I’m proud of the diversity in SLIPSTREAM.

I have a contest for the release of my book.  I will pick one random person who comments on this post to win a $5 Amazon Gift Card and a SLIPSTREAM jeweled spider (the same person wins both prizes). The jeweled spider really sparkles in the sunlight. I hope whoever wins it really likes it. Also, please make sure that your email is linked to your signature in some way. And yes, the crystal spiders play an important role in my book.

Rules:
1)      Mark my book “To Read” on Goodreads.
2)      Comment on this post.
3)      Tweet this post if you have twitter. You don’t have to sign-up for twitter. It’s the “honor” system. 

That’s it. I will choose a winner on Saturday, May 19th.  And thank you, Ms. Campbell, for having me on your fine blog.

Slipstream on:

Goodreads

27 comments:

  1. My new WIP, Escapement, has several different nationalities. I'm working on the right dialects and how to write them. How did you manage this while writing?

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  2. My next book will be extremely diverse as it will feature every race known to the Cassans.

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  3. I think authors have a responsibility to make sure diversity is included. We can change people's views about things by what we write. Great job, Micheal.

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  4. I like the way you tell enough about the characters who are pivotal, while keeping the mystery as to the plot's course and outcome. Certainly makes a reader want to find out!

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  5. Hi JL Campbell at The Character Depot!
    Hello Michael, I made it a point to have diversity in my wip as well. I think a diverse cast of characters makes a story more interesting. Anyway, I'm still waiting on Slipstream to come in through the mail. I'm starting to think our mail carrier is reading it. Who knew he could read English? I hope he doesn't dog tag the pages. I hate that. Happy Friday!

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  6. Sounds like a wonderful collection of characters...

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  7. @Ciara: I only had one character that had a different nationality (British), so I only had to really work on his accent. It took me three years to write Slipstream, so I had plenty of time to tweak Kolin's lines.

    @Alex: Is there a scene in a spaceport?

    @Clarissa: I agree.

    @P.T.: Oh gushing about how great this is will get you nowhere.

    @Elizabeth: Thank you.

    @Elise: Well it's print-on-demand. And has to go overseas, right?

    @Michelle: I think so. But I'm biased. I wrote them :)

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  8. Sounds like a great read! Thanks for hosting Michael, Joy :)
    Happy weekend!
    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

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  9. Your characters sounds like deep and many-faceted people, Mike. Well done! And thanks for hosting him, JL!

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  10. The spider, precious, we needs it...

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  11. SLIPSTREAM is definitely diversified. :)

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  12. That's the way to go, especially, to teach us to embrace each other.

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  13. Great to see diversity. It's something I strive to get into my books, too.

    Waving at Joy.

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  14. Michael is everywhere! I love it.
    J.L., thanks for stopping by my blogs today. I definitely enjoy visiting yours
    Have a great weekend.

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  15. I think it's excellent that you have such diversity in your writing!

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  16. Diversity in literature is very important but I also consider it a joy to have characters of different backgrounds adding beauty to the story. Sounds like diversity is a non-issue with SLIPSTREAM as it appears people of different ethnic background work together for a common goal.

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  17. It's great seeing Michael's book all over the blogosphere, and yay for diversity in books.

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  18. I think lack of diversity is more and more obvious and feels weird. The one black supporting character, or one dimensional girlfriend type of token character doesn't cut it any more. Hopefully more people will follow the road taken in Slipstream.


    mood
    Moody Writing
    @mooderino
    The Funnily Enough

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  19. it's nice when there's no discrimination in books and we always welcome some gay romance :)

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  20. I'm impressed with the diverse cast of characters and enjoying the book thus far!

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  21. You hit the nail on the head with Michael. He says what he means, and means what he says. I'm a frequent visitor to his blog.

    The story sounds fascinating and definatley worth the read! Congrats!

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  22. I loved that Michael used the word 'Diversity' it made this book sound powerful!

    Congrats to Michael!

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  23. Wow, now you're making me look at my own stories... let's see. I've got Spanish and Ottoman characters as my main characters, but Greek and English and French and Maltese secondary characters...

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  24. Thanks so much to everybody who visited with Micheal!

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  25. Thanks for hosting me J.L. :)) And thanks everyone for visiting and commenting.

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Don't be shy, I'd love to hear what you think.