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One thing I struggled with so much while working on THE CITY BEAUTIFUL was how to portray Alter, Frankie, and Raizel. All three main characters are Jewish, but one is a criminal, one is an anarchist, and by the end of the story, they manage to rack up a bit of a body count. 1/?
I felt weighed down by all the stereotypes I thought I had to confront: Shylock, Fagin, etc.
All throughout the initial first draft, I was terrified by the thought of either unwittingly channeling internalized antisemitism or disappointing Jewish readers by 2/?
All throughout the initial first draft, I was terrified by the thought of either unwittingly channeling internalized antisemitism or disappointing Jewish readers by 2/?
having the characters be heavily flawed. On top of that, there was a huge fear that the book was too Jewish to appeal to a queer audience and too queer to appeal to a Jewish one (which I think ultimately waters down to feelings I have about my own identity). 3/?
Then I realized that no matter how I write my characters, it's not going to change how antisemites view Jewish people or how homophobes view queer people. And by glossing over the characters' faults unlike how I would with any other characters, I was doing wrong by them. 4/?
Once I began writing them how I wanted to, in all their sloppiness and imperfections, I really feel like that's when the story began to blossom. I love these characters so much, and they're all flawed teens who make mistakes and learn from them. 5/6
I think that's far more important than having them be "good" Jews.
