Or a Scot? Perhaps your ancestors are stiff and proper Englishmen.  I have all three of those, plus a little German thrown in the mix.

If you are passionate about your heritage, do you use it in your writing?  Do you demand that some of your heroes reflect traits that might have been predominant in your family at one time?  Hmm…I can feel a Viking romance coming up….

I am a true American mongrel, I think. When I get out of the habit of defining my characters by my own personality, I find that they have traits from all over the globe. Maybe it’s because I read EVERYTHING.  Maybe it’s because, being from a military family, I have been exposed to a wide variety of people.

If the truth is known, few of us in the U.S. can truly stand up and say “I’m …” and declare one particular ancestry, because we are a blend. So is our writing.

While we all develop our own individual style and voice, we are influenced by every book, movie, poem, song, magazine or newspaper we’ve ever read or seen. We have our favorite writers for a reason.  Something in their tales appeals to our sense of what is right, our taste, and our way of life.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out the backgrounds of your favorites, just to see if you have things in common (besides a love of words)?

Those influences contribute and blend into your own writing.  You are a little bit of every writer you have liked or disliked.  You have chosen, albeit subconsciously, bits and pieces of each one and stirred them all into a potpourri that promotes itself as you.  Just like you take from your ancestors, you take from the writers who stick in your mind.

So, if somebody asks you if you are Irish today, think about Irish poets and writers… Sean Dunne, James Joyce, C.S.Lewis, Frank McCourt, Bram Stoker, and Oscar Wilde, along with a host of others.  Think about the rich literature you have consumed, that has become a part of your cultural heritage.

And answer – “Sure!”

You are all that, and more….