[ SECRET POST #4520 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4520 ⌋

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

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[Reservoir Dogs]


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[Fight Club]


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[James Dean and Marlon Brando]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 22 secrets from Secret Submission Post #647.
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

Writing question about race

[(Anonymous)]

I'm writing a story and really want to include a character that's based on a real person that I really admire and respect. But he's black, I'm white, and I keep seeing all this "white people shouldn't write about characters who are anything but white because it's racist" and I really don't want to be racist or offend anyone.

Thoughts?

Re: Writing question about race

[(Anonymous)]

what the actual fuck. no, no...white people only doing white things is how you get racism. fuckin tumblr I swear to god...

there is something to be said about coopting a culture that isn't yours under the mistaken belief that you know everything about that culture from the outside (habits, traditions, language, community, religious practices, etc) but that doesn't sound at all like what you're talking about. writing that a character has a different skin color is just normal writing.

Re: Writing question about race

[silverr]

If it's still about, check out the writingwithcolor tumblr. Excellent, excellent advice.

Re: Writing question about race

[(Anonymous)]

TBH I've never seen that opinion from a non-troll.

My rule of thumb is - if you are not part of a marginalized group, yes you can/should include characters from that marginalized group, but don't write about the experience of marginalization you don't experience (unless you are prepared to do a ton of direct research and be very open to criticism)

Re: Writing question about race

[(Anonymous)]

DA

Oh my sweet summer child, some of the people saying that don't think of themselves as trolls.

They are Fighting Against Cultural Appropriation, and They Mean So Very Well, and they need you to know that No Amount of Research that you do will be enough, you have the Wrong Cultural Background so anything you do will be Shitty and Wrong.

Am I still bitter? Yes. It's been years and I'm still bitter.

(OP: do your research, keep links to your notes, if you can get someone with relevant experience to pick it for you that's great. Be respectful and open to feedback, have kindness in your heart, and you should be fine.)

Re: Writing question about race

[(Anonymous)]

Why are you still bitter?

Re: Writing question about race

[(Anonymous)]

Because it was literally the biggest project of my life, that I was trying to pitch to a bunch of people (kind of like a play?), I'd already done months of research and prep before making the pitch, but was rife with insecurity and genuine worry that I could pull it off...

And this exceedingly well-intentioned person was telling me, over several weeks, that any attempt I made would be Insulting, So Insulting Y'All. I mean, there's having concern that a culture will be portrayed accurately, and then there's dismissing all good-faith efforts to do that accurate portrayal, and throwing a few insulting image macros into the mix just to make sure they get the point.

So... I'd say that a lot of my extreme reaction is tied into the stress and anxiety I was feeling at the time (and rereading my above comment, yes I was extreme). And, a lot of people have been burned with sloppy portrayals in media in the past (Chakotay from Voyager, for example), so I absolutely understand why the concern is there.

But shit, does that negativity go a long way. It almost killed the project - a good-faith effort to portray a historical period - before it started from sheer fatigue on my part.

And every time I write a character with an ethnicity not my own, the shadow of That Guy still makes me flinch a little. That Guy shifted my creative process from "How do I honour the people I'm writing about" to "How do I protect myself", and I hate the ingrained defensiveness that I have now. Defensiveness isn't supposed to be the point.

Does that make sense?

Re: Writing question about race

[(Anonymous)]

(Different anon)

That Guy is such an asshole. It's too bad that the writing community (especially the YA community) is full of people like this nowadays.

Re: Writing question about race

[(Anonymous)]

I would say that there's something weirder about white people who only write white characters. Who knows why people get so fucking weird about this 'stay in your lane' shit.

Do research on the character, read books with black protagonists and books by black authors (and maybe ask a sensitivity reader for feedback when you finished writing) and you should be fine.

Re: Writing question about race

[(Anonymous)]

My rule is that I don't write about the experience of being black (or whatever marginalization I don't experience), but I write about characters who happen to be black (or whatever) doing cool shit.