Writing - a discussion

[amberdreams]

I was on tumblr the other day and I came across some writing advice in the form of a long list. I didn't make a note of the blog I was on, or copy the list itself but basically, it went along the lines of:
By all means, include African Americans in your story - BUT do not presume to tell their story, it is theirs to tell.
Include Native Americans in your story but do not presume to tell their story, it is theirs to tell.
Include gay men in your story but do not presume to tell their story, it is theirs to tell.
Include transgender characters in your story but do not presume to tell their story, it is theirs to tell...
and so on.

I'm sure you get the gist, and the point they were making.

At first sight, I was nodding in agreement - this is merely an extention of the old adage 'write what you know', isn't it? So yeah, I could see some validity in what they were saying. But then I got to thinking. Surely, by the time I'd eliminated all the categories of people in their list whose stories I was not qualified to tell by dint of being who I am, the only protagonist remaining for my stories would have to be a short, fat, middle aged white woman.

Who the hell wants to read about me? I (and everyone else) would be reduced to self insert fic, which I abhore.

I feel suddenly I'm sounding like a Daily Mail reader, but surely this is political correctness gone mad.

Or am I missing something here?

Feel free to pitch in!

Comments

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I've read some Sherman Alexie having come across him during my research.

Actually that's a good idea, inventing a tribe instead of trying to fit a real one - especially as this is really a fantasy sci fi book and not supposed to be real life. I am thinking of re writing the thing - some other advice I read somewhere that said don't edit, re-write - so this would be a good opportunity to free up the existing words from the constraints I imposed and have to a certain extent grown away from since I started it. Cool beans!

I suppose one of my problems is, in this particular instance, I don't realistically expect to have an audience. I'm thinking of putting the novel out there, but have no real expectation of it getting published or read. So to a large extent, it's written for me. But on the other hand, I want other people to read it so therefore I work on it as if they will ...