Dar Tomlinson: Coloring Outside the Lines
In traditional romance, white heroes and heroines meet and fall in love in largely white, upper-middle class settings. In 1990s, multi-cultural novels and imprints began introducing large readers to African-American heroes and heroines who did the same. But what if you want to cross the lines? What if you want to bring black and white together?
Until recently, you couldn’t. You couldn’t even read about it. The closest romance readers could get to the reality of the American melting pot was the occasional Western with a Native American hero, who usually proved to be half white. Then Dar Tomlinson published a novel about a “Jamaican in braids and a white woman,” reminding romance readers that Romeo and Juliet is more than a play about Montagues and Capulets. Shortly before publication of her second inter-racial romance, Designer Passions, Crescent Blues talked to Tomlinson about clashing cultures, taboos and romance.
Crescent Blues: Let’s get the big one out of the way up front. What prompted you, a white woman, to write about inter-racial and inter-cultural romance?
Dar Tomlinson: Let’s see… A sense of adventure, maybe. A rebellious streak? All of the above, but I think my chosen subject comes down to a quest for equality. Not only gender to gender equality, but race to race, and culture to culture. While our differences are what make us unique and beautiful, distrust, fear, or in many cases aversion to differences, can be harmful. What better way to dissect those differences, put them in a favorable perspective, and embrace them — pun intended — than through the man-woman relationship, a medium as old as time itself?
From a publication standpoint, it appears to have been a risky decision. Although you won prizes for your first two Hispanic/Anglo romances, both were rejected by publishers. How did Forbidden Quest— potentially a much riskier book about a white Savannah woman and a black Jamaican man — find a publisher?
Actually, the Hispanic/Anglo novels are mainstream. They’ve even been labeled by some editors as literary mainstream. See, I’ve always been adventuresome… Stung by the fact the original novel won the Hemingway First Novel Competition but couldn’t find a publisher willing to give the world a chance to read it, I wrote Forbidden Quest as a commercial endeavor. Having studied the markets, analyzing the best odds of getting published, it was my first romance novel.
When my agent received Forbidden Quest, having failed to sell the Hemingway winner, and believing the failure hinged on cross-cultural subject matter, she severed our ties, convinced she’d never be able to sell a book about a, “Jamaican in braids and a white woman.” I began marketing the book myself. I saw an ad in Romantic Times — God bless Kathryn Falk — about Genesis Press and Wil Colom, publisher and president, whom the article referred to as the Renaissance Man of Romance.
Wil was quoted saying, “We’re colorblind here. What we want are great love stories reflecting the polyglot culture of this country. I believe all cultures are fascinating, and all ethnic groups furnish characters that are romantic and heroic.” He went on to outline the kinds of stories he wanted. Cross cultural romances. AND(!) the author’s ethnicity and what she/he wrote about didn’t have to match.
The manuscript lying on my desk seemed made to order. I called Genesis. They said send it. A month later I got the call. Wil Colom liked the book and proposed starting a new Genesis line to accommodate it. Forbidden Quest debuted under the Love Spectrum imprint in October 1998. I keep the Romantic Times article in a file, and take it out and read it now and then, like polishing a favorite jewel, just to strengthen my belief in my writing and my persistent nature.
How have readers reacted to this unusual romance pairing?
I have truly been amazed. I get letters from readers all over the country, every one of them positive. A common phrase runs throughout. “Thank you” — some even say, “bless you” — “for or tackling this subject.” Then the readers are kind enough to tell me their own stories and compliment me on how well I dealt with the issues outlined in Forbidden Quest. Other readers who have never been involved in a cross-culture relationship, just as I haven’t, often remark on the tenderness of the hero, Paul Michael Quest. Based on reader reaction, my experience of seeing the book in print is powerfully rewarding.
What kinds of problems have you faced as a white woman telling the stories of men and women of other races?
I’m searching my mind to give an accurate answer. I would have to say the biggest problem was finding a publisher — and getting the chance to tell the stories my head conjures and my heart endorses. As I said, I’ve had no negative feed back from readers, and out of all the Forbidden Quest reviews, only one was negative. [This was] based on the reviewer’s concept that the book was unrealistic, because the type of prejudice outlined there no longer exists in the South. It does. I’ve lived in Atlanta. But that was a few years back, so before writing the book, I went to Savannah, the setting of Forbidden Quest, to see for myself. Prejudice does exist, but in time, love can erase that.
Interracial relationships aren’t the only publishing taboo you chose to break. Traditional wisdom says a romance heroine should be unattached when the book opens. The heroines of both Forbidden Quest and your new book, Designer Passion, are involved with other men. Why did you choose to complicate your characters’ lives in this fashion?
Hmmm… Complication begets conflict. Conflict begets engaging writing. But there are other reasons. My novels are realistic, some people call them “cutting edge.” In that vein, I’d say my heroines’ age is a factor. They are mature women living productive lives within the so-called marketplace, which makes involvement with a man realistic. Also, going from a less than satisfactory to a fulfilling relationship allows my heroines to undergo change, a profitable and enjoyable experience for them and the reader. Setting the heroine up with a less than heroic male in the beginning creates an even stronger, more appealing hero as his own honorable characteristics unfold. Shall I go on? [Smiles.]
How do you get into the head of someone whose race, culture and experience so differs from your own?
Thus far, we could add gender to the list. When I attended Taos School of Writing, I was required to submit a partial manuscript in order to be accepted. I submitted Broken, the Hemingway Award novel whose male protagonist is a Mexican shrimp fisherman. When I met my instructor for the first time, she expressed surprise, confessing she had expected me to be a man — a Mexican man, judging from the way I’d gotten into Zac Abriendo’s head.
I’m not sure how I do it. I like to think of it as a gift, but in my first four books, I dealt only with male characters with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds than mine, and I approached them just that way. As men. I know the environment in which people develop frames many of their characteristics — we have only to look at generations of child abuse to prove that — but beneath the passed-on characteristics, we are all male and female with the same desires, aspirations, hurts and joys. I endeavor to flavor my stories with cultural details and view my characters as God’s basic creations, all alike beneath the skin.
How much do Forbidden Quest and Designer Passion derive from your own experience? (For example, did you call on your own interior design experience when you painted the portrait of Cally Sinclair?)
Of course! I loved my former profession — interior design — and love writing about it. The old cliche, “write what you know,” also comes into play here. And it worked well, with Cally’s being a designer and Paul Michael being an artiste, as he liked to call himself. It gave them the commonality they needed, that original spark that eventually ignited to help make them soul mates.
Do you draw on the places you live for your fictional locales? Is there really an antique store named Scrooge and Marley in Savannah?
Mostly I draw on places I love for my settings. That’s just one more of the pleasures of being a writer. For instance the Hispanic/Anglo novels are set in Galveston, Texas, one of my favorite places on earth. I’ve always loved Savannah, a graceful part of this country’s history. And, yes, Scrooge and Marley does grace one of the squares there.
Designer Passion, the second Genesis book, is set in the Denver area, which happens to be my summer habitat and the perfect place for the novel, since Holly is in the ski wear business. My work in progress is set in Scottsdale, Arizona where I spend winters, and on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. I guess to sum it up, and pull the answer together, I either write about the places I live, those which I happen to love, or places I’d love to live.
How much did your high school romance with a Hispanic student influence your work?
A great deal. Through this relationship I learned so much from what my parents considered taboo — not mixing the races, even for social purposes — and came to grips with how much I disagreed with their philosophy. That set me up with enough material to keep my fingers racing on the keyboard for years to come.
To date, your books have featured white women with “two-color” men. Will future novels tackle the challenges faced by women of other races and nationalities?
Many of my readers, mostly the ones who are African-American, ask me the same thing. And yes I’m happy to announce that my fourth Genesis novel, A Risk of Rain (December 2000), which is set on the PGA golf tour, features a white golf-pro hero and his female caddy, who is also his ex wife — an African-America heroine. Again, we have the issue of getting into the head of a different race and culture, but this time a woman. I had to handle the challenge thoughtfully and sensitively. I gave Perri, the heroine, a background and environment I could relate to, and I’m confident of and happy with the resulting novel. Also, I’m eager to see the reaction of my readers.
Can you tell Crescent Blues readers a little bit about the novels you’re working on now?
I once read that Ernest Hemingway believed that every time you share your story with someone before it’s written, it loses something. While I’m a great admirer of Papa — who, incidentally, would be one hundred years old this year — I find that each time I share my story it seems to gain momentum.
I work on one novel at a time. As, I mentioned earlier, my work in progress, set in Scottsdale and on the Navajo Reservation, embraces the theme that love is stronger than race, culture and heritage. My heroine is Samoan/Anglo, a love child who’s never met her father. She wants to run away to Samoa in search of heritage she’s never known. My Navajo hero, after being wounded in a Navajo/Anglo relationship, is determined to marry within his tribe and strengthen the bloodline of his people. I’m having wonderful time breaking down the predisposed barriers and getting these two together for life.
Is there any chance your Hispanic/Anglo novels will see print in the near future?
Yes! Broken, the novel that won the Hemingway Award, will be published by Genesis in January 2000. I have written the sequel and a third and final book in the series is in plotting stage.
Do you see the issues faced by interracial couples strictly in terms of race? What other challenges do they face? Cultural? Historical?
A couple, no matter what their racial and cultural makeup, faces similar life issues. Too little money, or too much. Demanding careers, or lack of ambition, opposite goals and desires, different spiritual beliefs, differing social status, jealousy — to mention a few.
I originally sold Forbidden Quest to LionHearted Publishing, but withdrew the book because LionHearted lacked the finances to take it to press. Mary Ann Heathman, the publisher, told me she would not have bought the book had the only issue been racial. But Cally had an ex-husband dogging her, a social climbing fiancé making her life miserable, and a mother doing the same. Paul Michael was in America searching for a mother who abandoned him at birth, dragging those scars into his relationship with Cally — issues any couple might face — issues that gave the book the multifaceted qualities it needed to be publishable.
The same holds true in my other novels. The characters are men and women of different race and culture dealing with problems in the [shared] culture they’ve formed by entering a relationship together.
The heroines of both Forbidden Quest and Designer Passion share a number of similarities: indifferent fathers, delayed independence and wonderful, older women friends. Were these conscious creative decisions — do you feel that certain types of backgrounds predispose women to tackling certain types of challenges?
There’s another cliche in the literary industry that says all writing is autobiographical. I believe this is true to a certain extent, but not always consciously so. My stories come from what I like to call my mental hard drive. Every experience I’ve had or seen has gone in there, and when I sit down to write, it pours out, even surprising me sometimes.
It’s referred to as “voice,” of course — each author’s individual and personal take on the world she/he lives in. I’ve never had an older woman friend of the caliber of Jessica in Forbidden Quest or Sally in Designer Passion. Perhaps my creation of these characters, and the capacity I used them in, is an unconscious wish for friends like these. That’s another thing I love about writing. All things are possible, and once you’ve written it, you’ve live it. Of course that’s a whole other interview — on heroes alone. [Smiles.]
I do feel that certain types of backgrounds enable women to tackle challenges in their own special way. I see women every day admirably handling situations — many of them in situations of prejudice and racism — that I feel sure I would not be able to handle as well. Women express the same belief about me, about my life and particular situations. I do, however, believe in the undauntable power of woman, that given enough time, space, love and support, she can conquer any obstacle. These are the things great romance novels are made of; braiding it all together constitutes the joy of writing them.
Why did you choose to tell the story of Forbidden Quest exclusively from Cally Sinclair’s point of view? What made you decide to take a different tack with Holly Harper and Chess Baker in Designer Passion?
Forbidden Quest was my first romance, and I originally wrote it in first person point of view, which was a great learning experience in the craft of novel writing, a great way to perfect point of view skills. I later changed to third person, but kept the singular format. I shied away from writing in Paul Michael’s head, because I wasn’t sure I could be true to a Jamaican male aspect. Instead, I painted the picture of him that I wanted the reader to come away with through Cally, through her changing attitude and growing love. It was a challenge, but as I said, great creative exercise.
In Designer Passion, I felt I knew Holly and Chess as well as I’d ever known any living, breathing person, and I crossed back and forth between their points with ease. Chess is based on parts of my husband and sons, so writing in his head was a confident and enjoyable experience.
What inspired you to start writing and to choose romance novels as your vehicle to oppose racism?
I began my stories at age 12. That’s when I moved from a very small Oklahoma town to Oklahoma City, where I encountered cross-culture in school for the first time. There I quickly encountered designated boundaries that went uncrossed. Just as quickly I developed an aversion to this and vented in my stories.
I began my first novel at age 14. My cousin had moved from Oklahoma to Texas, near the Mexican border and married a rancher. The stories she told of the poverty and the plight of the Mexican people who swam the river to sneak work on the ranch, the derision in her voice, hurt my heart. Rather than plead their case, I worked on my novel, and being 14, romance seemed the way to go. I still recall that book. The heroine was Penny, the hero was Chico….
Six years ago, when I began to write with publication in mind, I realized my best chance of being read would come through romance. All novels are love stories, in one form or another, for instance the mainstream novels of Alice Hoffman and Joann Mapson, even Ann Tyler. Romance just happens to have a niche name that appeals to a vast readership. And what better way to heal the world than through love between man and woman, where the color of skin and the restraint of culture become secondary as they seek to meet one another halfway.
Could you share the names of the writers and books you turn to for inspiration? Are they the same books that inspired you when you began writing?
I have no lack of inspiration, only lack of hours to cater to it. I won’t live long enough to convert to paper all the stories swirling in my head and nesting in my heart. I have always devoured novels of all kinds, still do. That’s where I learned the skill of actually putting a story into manuscript form, learned points of view, narration, scene, sequel — all unconsciously, of course. You can see I’m a big believer in the subconscious.
Once I began to write to be published I discovered books on the writing craft and still have my favorites. Dwight Swain of course, Jack Bickham — Chris Vogler is a writing god — but the most helpful book I read was “Make Your Words Count,” by Gary Provost, another writing guru who left us much too soon. In the beginning, I was so eager for the reader to get it, I had a strong tendency to tell everything three times. I write long books, with intricate sub-plots. The Provost book, which I reread periodically, and which is out of print, by the way, helps tremendously. I mentioned Hoffman, Mapson and Tyler above. I’m also greatly inspired by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. But Kathleen Eagle is my hero — heroine? [Smiles.] Her cross-culture, Native-American/Anglo novels penetrate my soul.
Forbidden Quest plays on many of the themes addressed in Romeo and Juliet. Designer Passion teases the reader with images of white knights, evocations of Camelot and a modern take on the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot triangle. How did you settle on those themes? Do you plan to explore other archetypes in future books? Which ones?
My novel, Broken and the sequel, Slightly Imperfect, as well as Forbidden Quest, are definitely Romeo and Juliet themes. This came from my need to point out that we live in a prejudiced world and how much color should not matter but does.
While Designer Passion has a cross-cultural element running through it, Chess is Holly’s white knight, no questions asked — although she poses a few down to last page. This theme could be autobiographical. I’ve been married to a take-charge, I-can-fix-that kind of man for most of my life — the same man, by the way. As I said, the character of Chess is a living, breathing entity in my life, one I loved elaborating on.
My work in progress, Sepia Tones, is totally different. Lukas Wind Dancer and Cameron Vickers are both strong-willed people with opposite goals, and each has to compromise in order for them to be together. I’m not sure which archetype Lukas fits, but most likely a Dar Tomlinson creation. [Smiles.] I don’t actually choose the themes for my books according to the identifiable, formulaic slots they’ll fit. They choose me and won’t let go. I just hang on for the ride.
Anything you’d like to add?
Yes. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about myself and my writing. I know me better now. But what has stayed constant in this self-analysis is the certainty of my love for writing. I’m only whole when I’m doing just that. Some times my private life suffers, but when I finally turn off the computer each day and reenter that world, I feel I bring a better me for having explored the minds, mores, whys and wherefores of my characters. I hope I’m able to share some of this fulfillment with a readership and somehow teach them, make them think, explore and accept things that are, as well as things that can be.
Jean Marie Ward
In addition to editing Crescent Blues, Jean Marie Ward writes for a number of Web-based and print magazines, including Science Fiction Weekly. She is the author of Illumina: the Art of Jean Pierre Targete (Paper Tiger) and several short stories, including “Most Dead Bodies in a Confined Space” in Strange Pleasures 2 (Prime Books). Her first novel, With Nine You Get Vanyr, written with Teri Smith, is scheduled to be released by Samhain Publishing in late 2006..