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Minority characters in fantasy
All I can say is YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES.
From fuckyourwritinghabits.tumblr.com, copied in full:
Sigh
Imagine you’re reading a book, or watching a movie, or flipping though a comic. Imagine that these stories are great and wonderful, but you keep noticing the same thing over and over again. None of the heroes look like you, not even remotely. In fact, the only time someone does look like you, they’re either villainous or from some “savage” culture. Oh, and everybody’s straight. Not even a hint otherwise, not even from the tiniest of characters. Even though you yourself might like boys, girls, both, neither, etc, your stories all end up with the same sexuality each time.
How does that make you feel?
Nobody is taking away anybody’s straight white fantasy characters. Nobody is, in fact, saying they are a bad thing! But in a genre where you can literally have anything happen, dragons and elves and magics of all sorts, why on earth can’t you have not-straight, not-white characters?
But it’s based on a specific time period! Yes, with elves. Or magic. Or dragons. Those are all possible, but a non-villainous POC isn’t?
But my characters aren’t human! Then why do they all have to be straight? Wouldn’t non-humans have different orientations too?
But I don’t know how to write gay people/POC/women! You never will if you don’t try.
But the tone was mean! And I’m gonna write a five page post on how you can’t tell me what to write! Well, this is the internet, a wonderful place where everybody can express their own opinions. And the thing about the internet is that I’m not telling you what to do, nobody is, because we don’t know you. Opinions are being typed out to the ether, expressed in various ways to a general, not specific, you. Sometimes that is easy to forget, because we see something that makes us angry, and when we are angry, we want to speak out.
Nobody is telling you what to write. I, personally, am not telling you what to write. I’m just saying, there’s a good lot of people out there who would love to see people like them in the genres they love.
So why not consider it the next time you sit down to write out your fantasy story? Someone out there will be happy you did.
From fuckyourwritinghabits.tumblr.com, copied in full:
Sigh
Imagine you’re reading a book, or watching a movie, or flipping though a comic. Imagine that these stories are great and wonderful, but you keep noticing the same thing over and over again. None of the heroes look like you, not even remotely. In fact, the only time someone does look like you, they’re either villainous or from some “savage” culture. Oh, and everybody’s straight. Not even a hint otherwise, not even from the tiniest of characters. Even though you yourself might like boys, girls, both, neither, etc, your stories all end up with the same sexuality each time.
How does that make you feel?
Nobody is taking away anybody’s straight white fantasy characters. Nobody is, in fact, saying they are a bad thing! But in a genre where you can literally have anything happen, dragons and elves and magics of all sorts, why on earth can’t you have not-straight, not-white characters?
But it’s based on a specific time period! Yes, with elves. Or magic. Or dragons. Those are all possible, but a non-villainous POC isn’t?
But my characters aren’t human! Then why do they all have to be straight? Wouldn’t non-humans have different orientations too?
But I don’t know how to write gay people/POC/women! You never will if you don’t try.
But the tone was mean! And I’m gonna write a five page post on how you can’t tell me what to write! Well, this is the internet, a wonderful place where everybody can express their own opinions. And the thing about the internet is that I’m not telling you what to do, nobody is, because we don’t know you. Opinions are being typed out to the ether, expressed in various ways to a general, not specific, you. Sometimes that is easy to forget, because we see something that makes us angry, and when we are angry, we want to speak out.
Nobody is telling you what to write. I, personally, am not telling you what to write. I’m just saying, there’s a good lot of people out there who would love to see people like them in the genres they love.
So why not consider it the next time you sit down to write out your fantasy story? Someone out there will be happy you did.
no subject
There were a couple of black minor characters, but I can't really count them in this case, seeing as they were not important and slaves. Then again, it was set during the Revolutionary War, so free blacks were rather rare in Boston.
Still, this is a rather good point, and not just for fantasy. I can only think of a few sci-fi stories as well, with non-white major characters. Most of them are from Heinlein...
no subject
I think (white) people tend to be reticent to write characters not of their race, both because we've grown up in a white-is-default culture and because we don't want to "do it wrong" and be offensive. We just have to accept that we WILL get something wrong and graciously accept any corrections and advice - and that having at least tried, we can improve. The same goes for writing GLBTQ characters. And when they do get written about, it seems like its mostly a "moral of the week" topical real-life story, rather than fantasy or sci-fi, and people need to be able to see themselves reflected in fantasy and sci-fi as well as in realistic fiction.
no subject
I think you hit the nail on the head, there. There are some cultures that do seem to be easier for us to understand and write. Feudal Japan, for instance, I feel pretty confident about my ability to get right. But I know next to nothing about indigenous African cultures, and even trying that falls into the stereotype of "savage" to some degree, even if you're trying to do something with Great Zimbabwe or other more or less urban cultures, like Sheba/ancient Ethiopia.
It still isn't too hard to write someone like you would a straight white male, but they just happen to be a black lesbian or a Thai ladyboy. I don't know if that more just skirts the issue, or not, though.
no subject
I think it's the right place to start - it would never work if you considered someone who was from a different culture to be a complete alien with whom you share no feelings or understanding. Who we are and how society sees us informs our experiences, though, so in the example of a black lesbian, her identity would inform how other people treat her, how she feels about herself, how she sees the world... and those would all be very different from the experiences of a straight white male. I think the way to get a feel for this as a writer is to read the writings of (in the same example) black lesbians and listen to what they have to say about their experiences.
no subject
My previous two nanos also had some interracial (literally in one case with an otter person and human) and same sex interactions, though I'm not sure how far they got, either. I think near misses are fine, too, showing the spectrum instead of trying to say that every relationship which looks like it could work should find fruition. That seems too forced to me.
Aaanyway, one I get these couple of short stories for anthology submission squared away, I fully intend on finishing my latest nano, darn it. :P
no subject
Good luck on your anthology submission!