Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Jul 5, 2018 9:09:05 GMT
If you need to ask that then you are likely coming from a place of privilege. When peeps talk about privilege in relation to books and movies & TV shows/video games, etc, what they mean is representation. If you're a white, cis, straight male then you grew up seeing representations of yourself and who you would grow up to become all over the place. And you saw all kinds of different representations, too. You could be a superhero, or a fireman, or a rich playboy, or a CEO, a mad scientist, a villain, a plumber, a lawyer, a cop. You could be anyone.
If you were a white, cis, straight, female you grew up seeing lots of representation, but not as much as the boys. You didn't get to be the hero very often, but usually the love interest. You were taught that being pretty and attractive to men was what was most important about you, and that no one would like you if talked a lot or argued with the men.
If you were gay, or trans, or ace, or intersex, or non binary, or a person of color, basically anything not white, cis, and straight, you either didn't see yourself at all, or you were the sassy best friend, the one who dies first, the criminal, but not the cool kind, or you may have one single positive stereotype, such as being the super smart computer geek, the ninja, the poor inner city kid who turned away from the street life and made good thanks to the kind, heroic white teacher who believed in you.
You never got to the hero, or the love interest, or the anything else other than the single stereotype. And when you're a kid that kind of thing matters. When you're a grownup that kind of thing matters, too. It sucks to never see yourself on screen, or on the page, or on the cover of a book. Thankfully, things are changing, and more and more stories are featuring diverse casts in all of the various mediums. But that doesn't mean we should stop now. Say, okay, that's enough realistic representations of people in stories. Let's go back to making everyone white, straight, and cis again.
This board is hereby dedicated to helping writers create more colorful and diverse rainbow worlds which will inevitably lead to better books and better authors.
You might say, "but I grew up in whitebread, Oklahoma. I don't even have a black friend. I would have no idea how to realistically portray a character of color. I also don't know anyone who is Chinese or Indian from India, or blind, or deaf, or in a wheelchair, etc. Well, you see there is this thing called the internet. You can find blogs and journals written by all kinds of people. You can also find books and youtube videos and forum posts. You can also get out and join lots of online communities. Choose groups by things you're interested in and I guarantee that eventually you will naturally meet people who are not white, straight or cis, and once you've bonded over your shared interests, and you've discovered that they are a person just like you. You can ask them very politely any questions you might have about correctly representing their experience in your story.
Of course any person you ask always has the right to refuse to help, and that's okay. No one should ever feel put on the spot or forced to be the one representative of an entire group of people. So do your internet/YT/book research first, before you go asking the one friend you have who belongs to said group.
Before I close here are a few general guidelines to get you started:
If you only have one Taiwanese character in your story and every other character is white, that poor character is going to be scrutinized severely and however you portray them, fairly or not is going to tell readers how you feel about Taiwanese people. So consider creating a Taiwanese family, and give each family member a significant part. This way, if you must kill one of them, it won't turn into a huge internet outrage. Not as long as there other Taiwanese characters who are well liked and still important to the story.
If you're going to borrow religious artifacts, deities, icons, customs from other cultures, don't give them to white characters. Create a new culture that is based on the original culture. Be respectful. White American and European culture is an amalgamation of everywhere, so we tend to think nothing of borrowing cool things from others and using them as our own. But put yourself in these other cultures shoes. How would you feel if every cool thing you had ever done or created was ignored or mocked or spat upon until someone from the dominant culture stole it, stole the credit for it, and made it hugely famous? I know I would hate that, which is why I'm trying to not do that with TUOK.
Don't make all your side characters, cannon fodder minorities. If you aren't willing to give the spotlight to any non white, cis, hetero characters then don't bother and make everyone white, cis, and het. It is okay for some stories to be that way. Not every story must be a rainbow. It's just usually more fun that way.
Also, listen to what the members of the group you're writing about are saying. Don't poo-poo them, talk over them, or start lecturing them why they're wrong. Listen and try to see the world through other people's eyes.
