[ SECRET POST #2980 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2980 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Lots of multiple secrets in one comment this week, throwing off the count!

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 083 secrets from Secret Submission Post #426.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

06. http://i.imgur.com/8SYE9ru.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

TMW the text of your secret is inexplicably imposed over a dark portion of the image... /cries for your formatting

Transcript (of hidden part)

[(Anonymous)]

"My own ethnicity is vastly underrepresented. I can't even name..."

Also, the flag in the background is the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[(Anonymous)]

You're Bosnian, I guess? From the flag.

[(Anonymous)]

Strictly, OP could be a Bosnian Serb, Bosnian Croat or Bosnian Muslim.

[kallanda_lee]

Honestly, in my original fiction, I try to avoid things that could resemble my family too much; for my graduating screenplay, my mom was already bitching about the fact my protagonist had shitty parents, and she somehow took that personally.

I can see how that would extend to ethnicity, really. it certainly could extend to nationality in my case, too.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm kind of worried that my parents might take the shitty parents and shitty grandparents of various characters personally. I hope they won't because they should realize its just fiction.

[kallanda_lee]

It was like really silly, too, because it was basically urban sci-fi - and, it wasn't even super realistic.

[(Anonymous)]

Or maybe you guys have controlling, intrusive parents who cannot keep regulate their own emotional baggage and guilt-trip their offspring when said offspring finally get around to expressing how they feel about being policed all the damn time.

No seriously. You can't tell me you actually think it's healthy for your parents to be bitching about this kind of thing right? Newsflash: it's not. It's childish, tittybaby behaviour. Especially from a parent. If you wouldn't accept that kind of whining from your friends, you sure as hell oughtn't accept it from them. Maybe you guys write characters with piss-poor parents for a reason.

Anyway carry on. Just something to think about.............................

[(Anonymous)]

you seem to be making a lot of leaps here

[kallanda_lee]

But...I'm not policed? Like sure, they have emotional baggage - but who doesn't?

I'd describe it more like petty than controlling. It's not like I CAN'T write it, but basically, some people just think stuff is about them even if it isn't. And some people get really weird about the possibility of ending up in a writer's story.

[elialshadowpine]

When I was a kid, I wrote a retelling of Cinderella with snow leopards. Yeah, yeah, weird child. Mom read the story and took me aside to ask me if there was something wrong, if I was mad at my sister for something, and I was confused at first, then realized what she was asking. I'm not sure how I managed to come up with the sheer amount of derision in my voice, but my response was, at age 7 or so, "Mom. It's fiction."

...she's never asked if something has been based on a family member since! Dad, on the other hand, is Not Allowed to read my stuff, between the things he would find objectionable, and the fact that he would read it through the microscopic lens of searching for something that could possibly be taken personally against him.

Grr at people who read too many personal things into fiction that aren't there. Never mind the lit types who pull out ridiculous things like "blue curtains are a metaphor for depression" (yes, that one's a meme, but I've had lit profs that have come out with analyses that are similarly inane... and then gotten pissed when the rest of the class "failed" to come up with "meaningful critical analyses" because we focused on characters and plot vs. hunting for metaphor in descriptions; I eventually started pulling shit completely out my ass, the more bizarre the better, and my grades jumped from B- to A+). As annoying as that is, at least it doesn't follow you home.

[kallanda_lee]

While I loved literature in class, I always sort of hated the analysis for that very reason. I'm sure that in the vast majority of cases, if the author was sitting there, they'd be sitting their with their mouth wide open, shaking their head in disbelief.

[elialshadowpine]

Yesss. Speaking as an author who has had some things published (nothing available at the moment, out of print, though I'm hoping to polish off and republish stuff sometime this year), I'm pretty sure if I heard of someone approaching my work this way, I would probably headdesk and then hit the booze.

And probably write a strongly worded e-mail to the professor in question. However, it's exceedingly unlikely I'll ever be in this boat because I write *gasp* genre fiction (SFF with romantic elements) and thus I am an UNWORTHY HEATHEN. In this case, I'll take being unworthy as a backhanded benefit...

[(Anonymous)]

I don't feel I have to represent my ethnicity either, though obviously there are many good things about it. it's just not in my interest. I don't get why people expect non-white creators to be only into their own culture-- guess what, we're people with varying interest.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel you anon.

I have this problem as well.

What's worse is that I'm half white half Middle-Eastern. And I love my family but...

The white half is just clearly BETTER. In like every way. The culture's better. They're better PEOPLE. The food's better (or, at least, I like it more).

And I get along with my white family members so much better. My Middle-Eastern family members haven't been in touch nearly as much, they've said some pretty cruel things over the years, and some of them are outright psychos.

It sucks.

Here are some actors born in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[(Anonymous)]

Ivana Milicevic (Banshee, Casino Royale, Love Actually, guest star on a ton of shows)
Miraj Grbic (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol)
Edin Gali (Fury, Mad Men)
Adnan Hasković (Snowpiercer)

Transcript

[(Anonymous)]

Image: the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Text: I'm completely devoted to creating diverse characters. Genders, appearances, sexual orientation, race, etc. I've done so much research and worked hard to make them complex characters. I'm happy with my work so ar.

There is just one thing I worry about. My own ethnicity is vastly underrepresented. I can't even name one character. You may be thinking that I would want to change that but...I honestly don't. I dislike everything about my ethnicity. I'm probably bitter because my family is racist, sexist, basically every -ist that you could think of. I know, "not all" and I know they can't all be like that, but literally every single one I've ever known (which is a lot) was and I find it hard to associate anything but negativity with them.

B.S: I'd really like my stories to be published but I'm worried because my family would be angry or ashamed.

[(Anonymous)]

For me:

a) I'm so out of touch with "my" culture, I might as well hand in my card
b) Within my ethnicity there are some ethnic pride expressions going on that rub me the wrong way. Not brushing off genocide level, but odd superiority undertones (odd because we're known for being immigrants and you know how well that goes)
c) I feel you on the family -isms

[(Anonymous)]

That's odd. I was expecting this secret to start wank.

Have we- have we grown up as a community, fs?

[diet_poison]

Why would it anger your family? Would they not just assume you like writing about people who are different from yourself?

[(Anonymous)]

*hugs*

If the flag is any indication and it wasn't randomly picked, know that you are not alone. That flag is also my flag and... well, let's just say there is a reason why I write fiction only in English.

[(Anonymous)]

My family is angry when I write about anything and anyone too close to my actual life experience. They only want me to write characters of a different ethnicity and history to our own.

I have a really rare ethnicity because it's mixed. I'm sure there must be others similar to me in the world. I've just never met them, even after years of looking.

My real name reflects my mixed ethnicity. As far as I know, nobody else in the world has the same name as I do. That adds to my parents' dislike because my name is unique and easily googleable, and makes my heritage obvious.

I really, really want to reflect my own ethnicity in my writing but I'm only brave enough to do it in hints. It's ridiculous, it's not even that big a deal. But years of drip drip parental pressure is difficult to overcome.