User:WyattBryson

I often get asked (and expect to get asked) why a white man thinks he can write African-American literature. The short answer is: Of course I can't. But ... and you knew the 'but' was coming, African-American literature is what I read, African-American literature is what I love, and African-American literature is what moves me. So even though I'm white, I won't 'white wash' my vision, my stories or my characters.

I write the characters as they come to me. They are who they are. Once I create them, they take on lives of their own and tell me how to proceed. And as we said, it really isn't African-American literature, but more of a multicultural-literature. I know the audience that I think will enjoy what I write the most, so that is where I put my novels.

I was born in a very racist, very white part of the country. Black folks in that state make up 3% of the population. I had to get away from that. It wasn't my thing or my scene. So I write the books that move me and hopefully will compel white folks that pick it up to really begin to look within themselves and face how they really view people based on skin color.

The themes I write about are so topical and current that they end up being timeless, though the time for racism to end has long been at hand.