In a prior post I said that when I published my first fanfic, I'd been reading several articles about the need for more inclusiveness in fanfic. At the time I was both eager to feature diverse characters and fearful of getting it wrong. During the latest round of the AO3 Chocolate Box exchange, I noticed that once again, many of the prompts that jumped out at me as "I can write that" were from fandoms for TV shows or movies featuring straight, white, male main characters.
In addition to convincing me to request and offer in more diverse fandoms next year, the experience also led me to reflect on how the Caffrey Conversation AU has grown, with an increasingly more diverse cast. I'd like to celebrate those characters.
The list has grown long enough that it seems best to split it across two posts. This first one focuses on race, ethnicity, religion, and disabilities. The next post will focus on female and LGBTQ characters.
Warning for spoilers for the Caffrey Conversation AU stories.
One of my first and easiest decisions when the Caffrey Conversation transformed from a single story into a series was to make sure that canon characters of color were highlighted, giving them substantial and interesting parts in the stories. Jones and June were among the first to be included, of course. An advantage of setting the AU a few years before the White Collar pilot was that Byron Ellington was still alive and could play a role as a mentor to Neal. Although Byron dies in Caffrey Flashback, he was such an important character to me that I've written several vignettes set in the time he was still alive.
Silbrith has also given canon character Agent Joseph Ruiz a bigger role than he had in canon. So far Wilkes has only been mentioned in our stories; maybe someday he'll be featured, too. El's assistant Yvonne has also made appearances, and I hope we'll see more of her. I have a vignette idea featuring Yvonne that I hope to complete someday...
A disadvantage of setting the first story of the AU in 2003 is that Diana wasn't part of the team yet. I broke with the timeline to bring her into the series in Caffrey Disclosure, and made sure that her introduction was a big deal for the plot and for the team. I love the direction Silbrith has taken with Diana, making her a fellow writer of fanfic with a key role in taking down a major villain.
When you're writing a series that goes well over a million words, there are probably going to be lots of OCs to fill in the world and the various cases. I definitely tend to have large casts in my stories, and that provided opportunities to build a more diverse cast. I started small, but like to think I improved over time.
In Caffrey Conversation, I envisioned Doctor Santos as Latino, although I don't recall now if I specifically called that out. U.S. Marshal Marcy Weaver was specifically mentioned as being African American. References to U.S. Marshal Mike Chan began early in the series, as the Marshal assigned to Neal's family when he was a child in St. Louis, and he officially joined the cast in Caffrey Disclosure, where we learn that he's in love with Ellen Parker, giving us one of several interracial couples.
In Caffrey Flashback I introduced Randy Weston, the owner of a music shop, while I was teasing the Masterson Music plot. Randy, his shop, and his daughter Samantha were featured in Caffrey Disclosure, where they helped bring a corrupt music executive to justice. Caffrey Disclosure also featured Yvette Garza, as both a former romantic interest for Neal and as a law student who helps in the big sting. The lawyer for bad guys in Caffrey Disclosure is Amos.
Caffrey Flashback featured Jane Fairfax, a Vietnamese-American woman somewhat reluctantly involved in a scheme at Highbury Professional Connections.
In Caffrey Aloha, I mentioned Eric Vasquez and his family. I had the pleasure of teasing their upcoming role in Silbrith's stories, where Eric has become a romantic lead. His uncle Horatio joined the cast in my April Fools vignette.
Billy and Maggie Feng were created and introduced by Silbrith, and she made them so wonderful that I couldn't resist pulling them into my stories. Billy is a retired cat burglar who owns the Aloha Emporium with his daughter Maggie. They've become increasingly important to Neal and his friends, and when I recently set In the Driver's Seat between stories at the beginning of the series, I had to include them. In addition to being from China, they also have the distinction of being the first characters in one of my Christmas stories who specifically mention that they don't celebrate Christmas. Caffrey Aloha includes Billy and his brother-in-law Akoni, who brought a case to Peter and Neal.
In the vignette Casual Day, I decided it was time to add more diversity to Win-Win. Radha Prasad joined the cast as a recurring character who becomes a leader at the company's New York branch, and Anna Hsu also makes her debut.
In canon, an old friend of Byron's named Ford was featured in an episode. We haven't introduced Ford into the AU (other than a brief mention), but in the vignette Treasure Hunt we have the Acres brothers. Jebediah had been a friend of Byron's, and his brother Jeremiah owned a local business where Jeb had worked. Also in the story, I created Fayza Al-Razi as a reporter, and Carmen Fuentes as the leader of the FBI's Evidence Response Team.
The vignette Wish on a Star focuses on helping terminally-ill Stella and her children, Evie and Tony. One of Stella's wishes was for her children to experience the Cajun cuisine she loved. Another standout character in the story is Emil. A chef who moved to New York from Haiti, Emil worked for the Ellingtons and then opened a catering company. He's become entwined in so many stories in the AU that it feels like he's always been part of the cast.
There are many more cast additions from Silbrith's stories, some of whom I've borrowed. She particularly worked to diversify the FBI, adding agents Jorge Badillo, Manuel Barrios, Evelyn Martinez, and Scott Weller. Then she added Marcel Jauffret to Interpol. I added FBI Agents Silva and Yoshida.
Silbrith also added to our AU's diversity when she sent Neal to graduate school. One of his fellow graduate students is Keiko Nakahara, and we also meet her father Atsuo. Another standout is Professor Myra Stockman.
Then there was a whole host of characters involved in the Samurai bonds case in An Evening with Genji, including Shogo Awaji, Hiroki Bando, and Vijay Khan.
One of Silbrith's more recent additions is psychologist Doctor Jacob Nussbaum. She also reminds me that canon character Doctor Christie Vintner is Israeli. Silbrith also expanded Jones' family, giving him an adorable nephew named Ethan.
When we venture into Silbrith's Arkham Files subset of the AU, we also have librarian Lavinia Armitage, El's assistant Vijay Zadok, Fei Hong, and Pagna. I couldn't help borrowing Lavinia for A Caffrey Christmas Carol to bring order to my chaotic plot.
Neal has also mentioned former neighbors from his childhood, Mr. Yamamoto and his daughter Asami. We know from canon that Neal is an expert at fencing (not only fencing stolen goods, but also fencing as the sport with swords); Silbrith invented Mr. Yamamoto as Neal's first fencing teacher.
In By the Book I introduced Thomas Gardiner, a blind former-agent-turned-law-professor who helps with a case. I liked him so much that he returned in Caffrey Flashback to give Peter more advice. Then in Caffrey Disclosure, a friend from Jones' service in the Navy pays a visit and becomes embroiled in a case; George Knightley was of Native American descent and was learning to walk with a prosthetic after losing his lower leg.
In addition to characters who are differently abled physically, we've also had Neal experience mental health issues, first with his flashbacks and later with PTSD. The flashbacks were a plot element that particularly spoke a reader who commented on having similar experiences and on how seeing Neal face those issues in a realistic way meant a lot.
Here's the list of the original characters who came to mind as I was writing this post. We'll update it as we think of more. I say "first appears" even if they've only appeared in one story so far, because you never know when they'll pop up again. For some of the characters, their name links to a chapter in which they are introduced or have a significant role, so that you can meet or spend more time with them; we'll add more links over time. (For canon characters, their links are in the post above when they are first mentioned.)
Because the list was growing so long, we broke it into sections. Among other things, this helped give us insight into areas where we want to improve. Deciding on the sections itself was tricky, as we know different people prefer different terms and groupings. We tried to stick with what we've seen in Equity & Social Justice training materials.
Asian characters
Anna - (IT expert) first appears in Casual Day
Asami - (child) first appears in An Evening with Genji
Atsuo - (Keiko's father) first appears in An Evening with Genji
Billy - (retired cat burglar, business owner) first appears in In the Driver's Seat, with a flashback to an earlier time in Harlequin's Shadow
Fei Hong - (Gideon's assistant) first appears in Lion's Lair
Jane - (reluctant villain) first appears in Caffrey Flashback
Keiko - (art student) first appears in The Woman in Blue
(Dr.) Liu - first appears in The Golden Hen
Maggie - (florist, Billy's daughter) first appears in In the Driver's Seat, with a flashback to an earlier time in Harlequin's Shadow
Mike - (U.S. Marshal) first appears in Caffrey Disclosure
Shogo - (villain) first appears in An Evening with Genji
Takayoshi - (one of Mozzie's friends) first appears in The Mirror
(Mr.) Yamamoto - (fencing instructor) first appears in An Evening with Genji
(Agent) Yoshida - first appears in Caffrey Flashback
Black characters
Amos - (lawyer) first appears in Caffrey Disclosure
Emil - (chef, caterer) first appears in In the Driver's Seat
Ethan - (Jones's nephew) first appears in Queen's Jewel's
Evie - (Stella's child) first appears in Wish on a Star
Helen - (district attorney, Jones's girlfriend) first appears in The Queen's Jewels
Jebediah - (Byron's friend) first appears in Treasure Hunt
Jeremiah - (business owner) first appears in Treasure Hunt
Lamar - (thug) first appears in The Dreamer
Lavinia - (librarian) first appears in Visions from Beyond
Marcel - (French detective) first appears in Echoes of a Violin
Marcy - (U.S. Marshal) first appears in Caffrey Conversation
Myra - (professor) first appears in A Woman in Blue
Randy - (business owner) first appears in Caffrey Flashback
Samantha - (singer, student, Randy's daughter) first appears in Caffrey Disclosure
Scott - (FBI agent) first appears in Nocturne in Black and Gold
Stella - (terminally ill woman) first appears in Wish on a Star
Tony - (Stella's child) first appears in Wish on a Star
Jewish characters
Daniel - (astronomy professor) first appears in The Mirror
Jacob - (doctor) first appears in Nocturne in Black and Gold
Latinx/Hispanic characters
Carmen - (FBI agent) first appears in Treasure Hunt
Chico - (kidnapper) first appears in Nocturne in Black and Gold
Eric - (architect, romantic interest) first mentioned in Caffrey Aloha
Evelyn - (FBI agent) first appears in Nocturne in Black and Gold
Horatio - (construction manager) first appears in April Fools
Jorge - (FBI agent) first appears in In the Driver's Seat
Manuel - (FBI agent) first appears in The Queen's Jewels
(Dr.) Santos - first appears in Caffrey Conversation
(Agent) Silva - first appears in Caffrey Disclosure
Yvette - (law student) first appears in Caffrey Disclosure
Middle Eastern characters
Fayza - (reporter) first appears in Treasure Hunt
Native American characters
George - (Navy officer, doctor) first appears in Caffrey Disclosure
Pacific Islander characters
Akoni - (business owner) first appears in Caffrey Aloha
Southeast Asian characters
Amita - (young girl) first appears in Fireflies at Midnight
Pagna - (scientist) first appears in Lion's Lair
Radha - (investigator) first appears in Casual Day
Sam - (FBI agent) first appears in Dark Rabbit
Vijay K - (investment banker) first appears in An Evening with Genji
Vijay Z - (doctor) first appears in Cinereous Skies
Differently-abled characters
George - (Navy officer, doctor) first appears in Caffrey Disclosure
Thomas - (retired FBI agent, law professor) first appears in By the Book
On the one hand, I'm glad it's a long list. On the other hand, I know it can be better. We're both committed to writing more roles for diverse characters. That's on our list of topics for our upcoming writer's retreat.
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