Most of you have figured out by now that I’m black, if for no other reason than my picture off to the side of this blog. I also happen to write genre fiction. You probably have figured this out too.
There are a lot of issues people of color (PoC) face when writing genre fiction. Should you write about black characters? Will it hinder you if you do so? Do you have to sneak PoC characters on white readers? Believe it or not, all of these things are issues within the community. I think too often the default color for writers and readers is white.
I also think that it’s too simple for writers to revert back to what they’ve been taught or they’ve seen and read all their lives. Dark skin and hair is bad and ugly. Pale white skin is beautiful and good.
It’s a shame how many writers, even today, simply fall back on this formula, instead of trying to create more complex, multi dimensional characters of all shapes and colors and worlds. Sure it’s harder but in the end it will be more engaging, thought provoking.
I attended a Fantasy Roundtable about people of color working in the field. There were a lot of interesting people from many different backgrounds. We talked about many of the problems facing PoC in the genre. It was very enlightening. Check out the first part here.
After that, go over to read Catherine Valente’s interview with Tempest. She discusses race and diversity in fiction. Then go out and buy her book. Buy two.
10 comments:
You're black?!!! Dayum, I have GOT to start paying attention =))))
ok, seriously. i wonder if pale people don't have the same problem but flipped. should they include PoC or look exclusive? I think with the pale it's about writing what you know and not looking like an ass for using stereotypes or otherwise portraying PoC incorrectly--so they fall back on using pale characters. With tan folk, i say go for it! Write what you know. Write what you're comfortable with. As a reader, i don't avoid a character based on color and such [well, maybe midget porn... but otherwise], i read it for the story, and some stories require more flavorful characters =)
Well, Ms. Dunlap, how are ya?
I think ALL stories require more flavorful characters.
I don't have a problem with "pale people" writing about "pale people." The problem is when they use the darker charters as bad, immoral, and unintelligent.
If you simply have all of your characters behaving as real people, or if you approach them as if they are real people, then you're less likely to use stereotypes.
Chesya,
I love this post! Thanks for the links as well! :*) This is a topic that has been avoided for far too long.
There is nothing wrong with reading and writing about other cultures, BUT, it is also okay AND encouraged to write about people who look like you (writers).
I'm sure no one told Stephen King he had to write about other races. I am so sick of this default, White male, crap. Everyone is on this planet and we're all important!
Love this post too. I'm not a writer, but I've noticed this in many of the books I read. The bad guys, or the sexually perverse are usually poc.
P.S. I like your blog. Keep up the good work.
The default color for most readers and writers has been white for years, just like the default sexuality has been hetero and the default religion standard Christianity. If otherwise, it has to be mentioned, such as "Jimmy, a black gay Jew, worked in finance," which always reads silly.
Then there are the folks who demand a reason why your character isn't white or straight. "So and so is gay/Asian, but what does that bring to the story?" they ask, as if being the default brings enough so much to the story that it automatically justifies itself. Makes me roll my eyes every time. And I'm a straight white guy!
Actually, British TV soaps lead the way in having Black, Asian and other ethnic characters appearing as major protagonists, as well as exploring the lives of people with alternative sexualities and religious leanings.
Doctor Who recently had a major character, Martha Jones, played by the actress Freema Agyeman. She turned what would have been otherwise a minor role into an essential and crucial part in the most recent series. I grew quite fond of the character and the actress in the end.
I write fantasy fiction, and I've ensured that one of the major characters I've created for this fiction is a black guy. I have other characters of colour and different ethnic origins in my story, and they all have origins relevant to the plot. It's set in a "secondary world", but even if I were to set my story in Victorian England or ancient Rome, there'd be room for pivotal black characters, as compared to set dressing characters or Morgan Freeman stereotypes.
Lastly, I find myself thinking of characters in that old sf series Star Trek, where black actors from Nichelle Nichols to LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Tim Russ and Avery Brooks not only played the roles of central characters, they were given pivotal roles in many episodes.
I wouldn't have watched Star Trek without them.
Love this post, Chesya! And I loved the interview you took part in over at Fantasy Magazine. We are totally talking more about this at dinner on Saturday!
As a pale feminist writing science fiction, I've spent a great deal of time thinking not so much about whether my worlds would be poly-racial, but about how race would actually function, what it would mean. The question, for me, is how do I make the politics and problems of today translate into a tomorrow that is a believable outcome of today's world? Privilege and oppression don't go away, but they're really good at hiding. What new lines might be drawn around "difference" in that future? The plot of the book I'm writing now actually came from trying to answer that question.
I do think it's scary for anybody, pale or brown, straight or queer, to write characters of color or queer characters, in part because of the market, but also because there are so few "representations" in print, and the weight on the individual author or book is still inordinately heavy. That's no reason not to do it, though, just a reason to write fully-developed characters who can't be taken out of their contexts.
Not just genre writers who deal with issues of race when it comes to writing and publishing. If a book has black characters is it only for black readers? Where should books by black authors be shelved? The list goes on. Can't wait to read the interview!
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