Writing POC 101

Venezuelan Characters - @pepsicola_lurves_me

Hey guys!

So I have been thinking and I've come to realize that, even though many books have Latino characters, they are mostly, if not always, Mexican or Puerto Rican. Now I don't have anything against them, in fact, I have many Mexican friends, but there are many equally beautiful Latino countries your characters could come from, for example Honduras, Ecuador, Peru or Venezuela!

STEREOTYPES

So apparently, all Latinos are these very loud, lazy, party lovers who drink as much tequila as they drink water. Teenagers are either in a gang selling coke or knocked up with three kids from three different fathers and the mother might or might not know who they are.

NOO!!! None of that! I can't say these stereotypes aren't true for some of us, but I can assure you that most of us don't apply to these situations. I'll admit, we are in fact very loud (like very loud) and we love a good party, but our lives don't revolve around regggaeton music and alcohol nor do we have 4 kids named Maria, Juan, Jose, and Pedro at 16.

SKIN

Okay, so this might seem a bit of a weird subject, but when I read a book with a Latino character in it, they always have olive skin. While a 50% of Venezuela's population is mixed or olive-skinned, 42% is white, 4% is black, and around 2% is brown (Indigenous). So maybe your character could have brown skin or a dark black skin. It's up to you, but remember the more diverse, the better.

FOOD

Venezuelans have a big variety of delicious foods! First (and probably most important), there's the arepa. You are not a true Venezuelan if you've never tasted an arepa. It is basically a fat tortilla made with corn flour that you open in the middle and can put anything you wish in it, from cheese to avocado and even watermelon (yes I'm not joking I have seen people do this). You also have empanadas, tequeños, bollos, casabe, cachapas, hervidos, asado negro, and the national dish the pavellon criollo (please search these up if you don't know any of the previous, it will take a long time to explain all of them). There's also specific food for holidays. For example, for Christmas we eat hallacas and pan de jamon (ham bread). We also don't go around drinking tequila all the time. We also love ponche crema and dairiquis (alcoholic beverages) or chicha, cocada, and my all-time favorite malta (non-alcoholic beveragges).

NAMES

PLEASE DO NOT go around naming everyone Maria, Jose, Carmen, and Juan. I beg you not to do that. There are other names like Antonio, Carlos, Santiago, Beatriz, Adriana, etc. We also love middle names. I think an 80% of the population has a middle name. Some of us like my cousin have three names! We also use our mom's last name e.g: Luis Miguel Cadenas Torres (Torres being the mother's last name).

LANGUAGE

I know, I know we speak Spanish. But, most countries have different ways of speaking and Venezuela is no exception. First of all, we swear A LOT! I once counted how many cuss words my mom would say during a conversation. 21 swear words in 3 minutes!!! Oh and parents are the only ones who can swear (at least till you're 16) or else you will get la chancleta, which is very hypocritical now that I think about it. If you wish to add swear words into the conversation to keep it more realistic, make sure to know its real definition and not use them out of context. Many Venezuelan cuss words have offensive meanings but they are not said to offend anyone during a conversation. For example, "marico", meaning queer, is a word thrown into the usual conversation by friends or certain family members (by certain I mean not your parents lol). It is the equivalent of buddy or bro. There are many others like "vaina" (this word can basically mean anything) or "coño" (f*ck) and many, many, many more. There are other words specially used in a conversation like "pana" and "chamo/a" both meaning buddy or "chevere" (means good, nice, sympathetic...)

Anyways I hope this helps you if you ever decide to write a Venezuelan character. I know I missed a lot of info so if you have any questions, feel free to PM me anything you want! :)