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

[kalliel]

This is a moment where research and sensitivity readers and an individual assessment of the situation come into play. In this case, you're up against a lot that requires much thinking through. As mentioned somewhere in the above threads, you don't want to pull a JK Rowling with Native culture. (Major caveat being I only know of this through Native studies, so I know that people were mad--but I don't keep up with Harry Potter news, so I don't actually know "what JK Rowling did.")

And I do think "research" here should be qualified in that that step would be more than finding and applying information, because people will say stuff like, "I've been to a sweat lodge once, I Know This Thing." I'm not at all saying that's what YOU would do!!! But when writing Native characters, these are the kinds of narrative history you're up against, and that your readership might be especially primed to expect/brace themselves for/be more inclined to assume that's where you're headed.

A question you might ask is, what tribe is your shaman? What are the shamanic practices particular to that tribe? If you're not of a particular tribe, this can get dicey, because greater specificity means greater opportunity to fuck something up. A way of managing this might be creating a fictitious tribe that leans on but does not expect to emulate exactly some of the traditions of actual communities. This is a strategy employed by both Native and non-Native authors like. (Native writer Linda Hogan's People of the Whale is about a fictitious tribe loosely modeled after actual indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest.) Concerning potential shamanic practices, it's typically frowned upon to write about most actual practices--considered private, privileged information--even if you're a Native writer, so that's why I want to qualify what research means in this context.

You mentioned not wanting to write caricatures--and I think a lot of the advice that the Tumblr post intended (but I agree with you, did not particularly explain) to keep people from doing just that. Because they have this character, say, who's Native, and suddenly everything about him has to tie back to his Native-ness. Like, he is this way because he's Native. He thinks this way because he's Native. Even if maybe the story itself manages to avoid being about Being Native, this character's whole existence might still end up being about Being Native. Versus, like, being a dude. Being a Faulker fan. Being Christian. Whatever else!

In fact, Sherman Alexie goes so far as to parody this occurrence--because it's that common--in his film, Smoke Signals. A character's father passes away, and he meets a friend who's also heard the news. And the character asks, wait, how did you know that?

And the second character says, in mock-Native "shamanic" fashion, something like, "I heard it in the wind! I heard it from the earth!" only to punctuate this performance with the very practical, very un-shamanic, "Oh, and your mom was just in here, crying."

XD

[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 ...

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

Re: the JK Rowling thing, I think this article covers most of the points that were made - http://nativesinamerica.com/2016/07/dear-jk-rowling-were-still-here/

Re: Amber's character. Please don't feel you have to rewrite the character just because you think you should. Seriously. Have a sensitivity reader give it a once over, because you might change things that are okay and overlook stuff that you might not think is not okay. There are groups on Facebook (Multicultural GLBTQ Literature is one) where you can have an open discussion about this stuff and get some really good advice.
TBH when I asked the question about using the term "colored", all the POC were actually cool with it because they understood the historical relevance and that genuine representation is important. It was the non-POC people who thought I should put a disclaimer in the front of the book, or change it (I include myself in that group btw). So until you've had someone actually read the character in its context, I would just write it the way your character is asking to be written. The fact that you're not oblivious to these issues, that you've researched and are a general good egg is half the battle, Hun.

Also I was thinking about the difference between writing about and write as... I heard a great explanation of the difference between MM romance and gay romance. Gay romance being about the experience of being gay and MM being a romance where the protagonists happen to be gay. Anyway... ♥

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Oh thanks for the Rowling links, that controversy had completely passed me by. Actually I'm not thinking of rewriting my character just because of this angle, it's more because I want to take a good look at the book as a whole, and this character is currently (I think) a bit too throw away where I think the story needs him to be more fleshed out to reflect his importance. Which means I need to make him something more than a token 'other'. He also happens to be gay! Maybe I'm trying to cram to much into him... Another reason to reread the whole thing and sort it all out. Maybe it has no merit at all and I should start over.

[dancing-adrift.livejournal.com]

a) This entire discussion has been fascinating and enlightening. Thank you, amberdreams and others!

b) Of course my thought this whole time was, "How does this apply to writing slash fanfiction?" (when I am a straight female, not a gay male). I've never heard the distinction between gay romance and MM romance, but I liked hearing the definition. Not something I knew about, but it's a cool thing to now know :)

c) It's interesting to me to think about the difference between 'writing a POC character' and 'writing a character who happens to be a POC'. To maybe throw a wrench in things with an example, in college, I had a roommate who was born in South Korea but adopted and then raised in rural Minnesota. I think about her cultural experiences growing up (very 'white', 'hick', even) and then how she was perceived in college ('Hey, you're Asian! You should join the multicultural club!" even though she has no recollection of her time in Korea)... and it's like... I don't know how to put into words what I'm thinking, I guess. Maybe what I'm trying to say is... Each person is different, so each character is going to be, too. Whatever character you write is unique because YOU are writing them. So you're the one who asks the questions and makes the decisions. 'Okay, this character is Native. What does that look like for them?' - and then do the research to figure out the best way to convey that history, that background, to the best of your ability. If that means a sensitivity reader, great! If it means you create your own sort of fictional, Native-adjacent tribe, great!

The fact that you're already thinking about such issues with such an open mind is a great start, as far as I'm concerned. And thanks again for starting such a wonderful discussion! :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks for joining in! It is a really interesting issue - I'm glad so many folk have commented as it's really helping get things straight in my mind. Not only about my 'novel' character but about fic in general.