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

[zara-zee.livejournal.com]

This is a very interesting discussion. I agree with many here that if we only wrote about our own experiences there would be a lot of very boring books. Fiction isn't the same as a diary. It is a creative endeavour. It uses imagination. It is an opportunity to explore being someone we're not.

However...the concerns about appropriation are also valid. I think, from what I've read, the concerns stem from the tendency of writers who are within the dominant group to assume knowledge they don't have, fail to research, fail to consult with the minority group/s in question and essentially produce awful, crude, misinformed stereotypes who the readers in the dominant group then use as their basis for what that minority is 'really like'. I think (hope) there is less of that these days because writers are more culturally aware/sensitive and...we're having these kinds of conversations!

Another aspect that I've seen brought up is that mainstream publishers are far more likely to publish white men than anyone else, so it tends to be their views on things that influence the perspective of the dominant group and maybe those white men should stand back and give the WOC the chance to tell their own stories in their own voices?

As writers though, many of us want to include a diverse range of characters in our fiction and I think we should. But it has to be done with a lot of sensitivity and awareness. I mean, you can't effectively channel someone who is 'other' than you if you're using an outsider perspective. Like, I'm white, so if I have a character of colour looking at herself in the mirror she's not going to notice her 'ebony skin' and her 'almond eyes' or whatever, because that's just her and has been since she was born.

Anyway, interesting topic and very well worth discussing. :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Absolutely - and that point about characters 'noticing' aspects of themselves that they would never do in real life merely for the purpose of the narrative is a good one. Basically we need to master the best possible omniscient POV so we don't have to put our writing inside anyone character's head and we'd be sorted. As long as our omniscient narrator isn't a sexist, racist, homophobic whatever, of course!