Writing POC 101

Sri Lankan-British Characters

Sri Lankan-British Characters

Now, before I start writing this, let me just say that if there are any stereotypes on the biracial people mentioned in the title, I am completely unaware of them and as such will not be able to provide much information on avoiding such stereotyping.

However, I will try my best to give you guys information and tips on the subject to the best of my capabilities. So, without further ado, let us begin!

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What type of Sri Lankan-British person is your character?

By this I'm not referring to their age, gender or anything of the sort, but more to their upbringing, because believe me when I say that that is a very important aspect of determining your character's personality.

So, there are a few types of these biracial characters (but, of course, nothing is written in stone so take each of these with a pinch of salt) and I shall give you a (not-so-brief) description of each.

- The Sri Lankan-British characters brought up in Sri Lanka:

These people tend to be more Sri Lankan in their personality and behaviour if they happen to be brought up around other Sri Lankans.

I say this specifically because there are quite a number of Sri Lankan, half-Sri Lankan and foreign kids living there who mostly associate with other foreigners or "westernized" Sri Lankans, who tend to send their kids to prestigious (and very expensive) British and American-style private schools. These kids are usually more like their foreign counterparts than your average Sri Lankan kid but there are, of course, exceptions.

So, if your character happens to be one of these private school kids, you won't have much trouble writing about them because they're really not all that different from you.

But if you're writing about a more middle-class character with parents who prefer to mingle with the average locals, they'll most likely go to either a government (public) school or a less expensive private school that follows either an American or British school curriculum but in most other ways aren't much different from public schools.

These characters can be of two main types: westernized with a touch of Asian-ness or pretty much a complete Sri Lankan.

By the first type I mean that they will be heavily influenced by their British parent and therefore be more like them but also be influenced by their Sri Lankan parent - but only to a certain extent - like being able to speak Sinhala (aka the native tongue) and/or have a Sri Lankan accent (though a lot of them tend to have a more American accent for some reason) and also have a taste for the local cuisine. There is also a high chance that they will be sent to a private school (because almost all private schools are taught in English).

The second type will be far more influenced by their Sri Lankan parent and the local culture and will most likely be fluent in the native language (which isn't always the case with the previous type, since they will be brought up in a mostly English-speaking environment) and could have attended a public school.

Since their families have such a huge impact on what sort of people they become, I will include more information on that subject further down this chapter.

- The Sri Lankan-British characters brought up in Britain:

These characters are literally just British. It's as simple as that. Regardless of what type of school they go to or how Sri Lankan their Sri Lankan parent may be, they will not exhibit many qualities of a Sri Lankan, except for their physical appearance (more on that later) and (perhaps) a taste for Sri Lankan food.