Tips on Writing Poverty (from a Former Homeless Girl)!
Transcript:
Before we start, I just want to thank my friend Claribel for this awesome shirt. This shirt is awesome. She's awesome. I'm going to link to her YouTube in the corner. Alright, let's get started.
I felt this shirt was the perfect choice for this video because this is my first real video on helping others write more diversely.
I have another video that's a whole 40-minute panel on writing diversity (that I am on with a whole bunch of much cooler authors), but this is my first real personal video with tips on how to help people write an experience that they may not have personally lived.
I just had an idea for a good video and I figured it could help more people than just me.
So here are some tips on how to write poverty from a verified former homeless girl!
What a perfect source, right?! I can't count how many books I've read—especially ones in war-torn, always grown up in harsh conditions adventure stories, where the characters reminisce on really inconsequential things.
I can't remember the exact book, but I remember reading once about this girl who had literally lost people to starvation or something and three days into her epic adventure she's missing toothpaste. Toothpaste! Really? If you've grown up an apocalyptic wasteland toothpaste is the least of your worries.
When you're really poor you face a lot of ultimatums.
You have to make choices between things like food or medicine, gas or electricity, toilet paper or diapers. Toothpaste would never win any match up. None. Not a single one.
I'm not saying dental health isn't important, but if you're struggling to make your monthly payments, or you're living on the street, or you're in an apocalyptic wasteland, you might not even have access to dental care at all. And if you can't see a dentist, toothpaste (while nice) isn't going to really solve the problems of your teeth falling out of your mouth. It's just not. It's just not.
And no one would ever miss toothpaste over something like toilet paper or tampons. It doesn't rank that high. I understand why mistakes like these happen. Most people are very lucky not to have experienced that kind of desperation, but it is very frustrating when you're reading about a character, even in a magic or future land, whose story is meant to mirror your own and you find things like this that take you out of the story.
So here are my best tips on writing characters living in or with a backstory of poverty, even if you haven't experienced it yourself.
First off, prioritize.
Toothpaste would never be at the top of a poor person's must-have list. Showers? Yes. You don't have to abandon hygiene to write poverty. When we were homeless, we had deodorant, shampoo, and even toothpaste, but I would have prioritized a regular water source over anything of that.
We were very lucky to have a generous friend who helped us stay in a motel for the majority of the time we were homeless, but before that we had to shower once a week at the YMCA and it was awkward and nowhere near private. Very, very uncomfortable.
It's also very hard to cook or wash dishes without regular water. You end up eating a lot of fast food or things that don't have to be cooked because you don't have a way to clean dishes afterwards.
Second, clothes are nice. I really like fashion. I even have an entire tag just for pretty dresses on my tumblr, but none of my clothes have ever been bought brand-new.
90%—no, more like 99% of my wardrobe is from hand-me-downs or yard sale.
But not every person in poverty feels like I do.
One of my brothers really prioritizes nice clothes. That's what he spends his money on when he saves up. This is much more common in younger people like teens and is a good way to show that a character may be embarrassed about their class or trying to dress to impress.
I've found it's not hard to dress nice with used clothes, but I understand that mindset. One of my favorite possessions is an Armani peacoat I bought for $34 at Goodwill. We didn't have the money for it when I first saw it, so we had to wait like an entire week before we scrounged up enough to pay for it. And I went to bed every night praying it would still be there when we got back.
It's honestly the most amount of money I've ever spent on an item of clothing. But it fits me so well and it looks so nice. Every time I look at it I get really happy. Not just because it's a nice coat, but because it was there for me when I needed it. Like it had been waiting for me.
Poor people often placed a lot of value on sentimentality.
An item that was scavenged for, planned, or carefully made means a lot to them. There's a Dolly Parton song called The Coat Of Many Colors that explains this really, really well.
But there's a lot of sacrifice in poverty, too.
I've given up and lost a lot of things for the security of my family. Early last year, there were several months when I didn't post any videos at all because I had to put my camera in a pawnshop to help my family pay winter bills.
Family comes first.
Sacrifice is very good tactic to use in a story, but it's important that a sacrifice has meaning.
Pawning a camera until times are easier is very nice gesture, but it's nowhere near as deep or meaningful as a student who puts his scholarship on the line to help his family stay afloat or parent who gives up their child so they can have a better life.
There are multitudes of ways people can help one another, even at the risk of their own happiness.
I am incredibly lucky to not have had to sacrifice on a scale like that, even though my current situation isn't entirely ideal. One of my favorite things about writing is how the same backstory can shape two different characters. I have struggled a lot, but I use relentless optimism to channel that into ambition.
Okay, things suck right now, but that just means I need to work harder. A different person—and I work very hard to avoid becoming this person—might be burned out by constant letdowns and give up.
Each is a valid response to this type of upbringing and both could lead to a very interesting story, but in real life I aim for the former.
I hope these tips help you write poverty more accurately if you have been blessed enough to never have experienced it. I really appreciate you watching my videos and I'd love it if you'd share my story or my videos with other people.
If you have more questions about writing and/or writing poverty, let me know in the comments and if we get enough feedback I'd totally be willing to expand this into a series.
Thank you so much for watching. I will see you really soon. Bye.
