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Post by devilinthedetails on Jul 31, 2020 12:35:57 GMT 10
I've been impressed with the diversity of characters that have been written about in the current Goldenlake Event (the Triathlon) and I thought this would be a timely topic. How important to you is it that your works reflect and celebrate diversity? Do you have any tips and strategies for incorporating diversity and diverse characters in a way that will be authentic rather than tokenistic?
For me, I would say that it is increasingly important that my works represent and acknowledge diversity. For me, my strategies are mainly to do research into the group or culture that I want to represent in my story to try to understand certain crucial values or issues that might matter to that group or culture in a special way, which may also include considering the history of that group or culture. I also try to remember that first and foremost I'm writing characters, not labels, so I want to make sure that I explore the character's complex emotions, thoughts, and experiences, writing them in a way that presents them as a unique individual.
How about you? Do you have any strategies to share? I'd love to hear them.
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Post by mistrali on Jul 31, 2020 14:18:32 GMT 10
Great question, Devil! Diversity in my writing has become more important to me, as well. I’ve noticed that particularly with my Polyam fic, and during my FitF reread this year. I’ve been focusing on her disability and how that interacts with her wider character, her relationship within her family network, her ‘job’.
Keth has also caught my interest this time around, because he’s an adult and because of his experiences recovering pre-Shatterglass. Racial/cultural diversity has always been important to me, and it was the thing that drew me into Emelan as a child without realising it. Tortall, as much as I love it, has been overwhelmingly white until recently (T&S). I’d had enough of that in media already and Emelan was a refreshing change.
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Post by devilinthedetails on Aug 1, 2020 0:59:44 GMT 10
mistrali, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I think for awhile I was afraid to include diversity in my writing because I was worried that I might not write it well or might offend someone, but then I realized that, while I should try to be respectful and sensitive in how I write diversity, I shouldn't let the fear of messing up hold me back from trying to include diversity in my works. I think I used to feel that if I wasn't part of a group I shouldn't try to write characters from that group--that it might somehow be presumptuous--but then I realized that I don't hesitate to write from a white male perspective (often seen as the default for storytelling) even though I'm not a white male, so really I shouldn't be shy about branching out to different perspectives as long as I try to do my research first and approach it thoughtfully. I love the way that you've been fleshing out Polyam and focusing on how her disability impacts her wider characters and her relationship with her family among other things. I do think that it is especially powerful to see characters with disabilities of all kinds represented in fiction. I've been sort of binge-watching episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender lately on Netflix, and it occurred to me that in one scene there was Toph, a blind character, and Teo, who was injured as a child and uses a wheelchair for navigation, and I was like, "How rare is it to see something like that?" I especially like what is done with Toph's blindness, where coping and compensating for her disability has allowed her to become a stronger earth-bender as it encourages her connection to the the earth to "see" what is happening around her. It seemed like an empowering way to explore disability and its impact. You are right that Keth would also be an interesting character to explore because of his recovery experiences pre-Shatterglass. I agree that Emelan does a better job than Tortall in terms of diversity especially with regard to the inclusion of non-white major characters, and I think the more problematic aspects of Tammy's work with regard to diversity tend to appear in the Tortall books as opposed to the Emelan ones (for example, the white savior trope with the Bazhir and the Copper Isles. I think the diversity of the characters and settings is one of the greatest strengths of the Emelan universe.
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Post by Tamari on Aug 1, 2020 3:45:52 GMT 10
mistrali , thanks for sharing your thoughts! I think for awhile I was afraid to include diversity in my writing because I was worried that I might not write it well or might offend someone, but then I realized that, while I should try to be respectful and sensitive in how I write diversity, I shouldn't let the fear of messing up hold me back from trying to include diversity in my works. I think I used to feel that if I wasn't part of a group I shouldn't try to write characters from that group--that it might somehow be presumptuous--but then I realized that I don't hesitate to write from a white male perspective (often seen as the default for storytelling) even though I'm not a white male, so really I shouldn't be shy about branching out to different perspectives as long as I try to do my research first and approach it thoughtfully. Agreed, devil! I don't think that's an irrational worry, because it does happen. Authors try to portray characters and sometimes miss the mark, and end up writing something that offends or hurts people. For example, a few years ago, I might not have tried to write ace!Sandry. But in the past few years, I've read a lot more from people in the asexual community -- both on social media and in published works on queer theory and experiences. Doing this, or talking to people who share the background in question, can help alleviate those fears and make sure your portrayal is respectful and intentional! I also agree with you that writing characters, not labels, goes a long way towards writing diversity. If you can show the character as a complex person, you're less likely to end up with a one-dimensional stereotype. Even if you're writing a character whose background does match you as the author, there is always the chance that you'll offend and that people from your own community will think your portrayal is flawed/inaccurate/biased in some way. I'd never written an indigenous character in fiction (or at least, not from an indigenous perspective) before this Triathlon, partly because there is always that fear. I know some of my writer friends feel the same way -- like, our experiences are not universal, and are we really "qualified" to write this? What if other Native people read my writing and think it perpetuates ideas like the princess/sq*aw dichotomy, or romanticizes the admittedly complex and often abusive history of relationships between Native women and white men, or focuses too much on the bad and doesn't celebrate indigeneity, or or or. But that's just writing, and there will always be those what-ifs. Personally, I think it's better to accept the possibility that you will offend -- because, with so many people and so many perspectives, you will offend somebody at some point -- and do your best to represent anyway. And if you're called out, do your best to see where the criticism is coming from and learn from it.
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Post by devilinthedetails on Aug 1, 2020 5:06:07 GMT 10
Tamari ,thank you for sharing your thoughts as well. I found them very insightful!
You have a good point that it's not an irrational fear that an author may try to portray a type of character, miss the mark, and end up really hurting or offending some readers. Sometimes good intentions (wanting to write diverse characters) doesn't always get good results and it can be hard to find any sort of "guarantee" of good results as it were which may make acting on our good intentions very nerve-racking as writers.
You're Ace!Sandry example is a great and relevant one. I agree that in recent years there has been so much more material published in various formats from books to social media that explain asexuality and those resources can be invaluable to an author seeking to write an asexual character in an authentic manner. When I was growing up, asexuality was discussed far less often and resources weren't as available, so an author wanting to write an asexual character would've found doing research and gaining that valuable perspective all the more difficult.
Talking to people who share the background can definitely be a wonderful way of gaining insight as you say, and for me, it also functions as a good reminder to remember the individual. In conversation, I'm talking to a real individual with unique thoughts and emotions, and when I'm writing, I should try to write someone who comes across as a unique individual as well rather than as just a representative of their group.
You make such an important and true observation that even when an author writes about a character whose background matches their own, that the author will offend or hurt other members of the community in some way with the portrayal of the character. Any group of people will have varying perspectives, ideas, and interpretations, so it might be especially intimidating to bear the perceived burden of trying to represent everyone of a particular background in one's writing. For writers who aren't part of the majority, it could be especially difficult to feel like their work has to be a universal reflection of the experiences of those who share their background, which is an unfortunate expectation and burden because that's really a downright impossible task to fulfill.
Ultimately for myself, I can only speak as a reader in this regard. I do sincerely appreciate reading anything that broadens my perspective in any way and sheds light on the different experiences of different people. In a way, what I appreciate most in writing is perspective more so than universality that might just end up placing people into limiting boxes. And hopefully this diversity of perspective can be provided with diverse authors who can write diverse characters.
Speaking as a particular reader of your Kalasin stories this Triathlon, I am so happy and grateful that you wrote them and shared them with us here on Goldenlake. I really felt that you wrote Kalasin's perspective and experiences in a way that was rich, moving, sensitive, poignant, and deep. Seeing you focus on Kalasin and mistrali focus on Poyam was part of what inspired this thread, in fact. So I do hope that you'll feel comfortable writing and sharing such stories in the future because they were excellent reads that packed a powerful punch.
I like what you say about that just being writing and that there will always be those what-ifs. I also feel that a part of writing is that risk that nothing I write will ever entirely please everyone whether that's in writing style, plotting, character development, or worldbuilding. Sometimes it is a matter of taste and sometimes I may have made a legitimate mistake. In the case of a legitimate mistake, I can only try to learn and grow from it, but if I don't ever even make the attempt, I can't ever grow and learn from anything.
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Post by mistrali on Aug 1, 2020 9:17:42 GMT 10
Exactly, devil. Personally, I would definitely also feel less comfortable writing an Indigenous (or, well, Tammy ‘verse equivalent) or trans character than a non-Indigenous character of colour and a character with a disability, for example, because those are closer to my personal experience. I can more easily imagine what it might be like to capture that particular flavour. It’s part of why Trade Winds is one of my favourite fics, because it allowed me to highlight disability in the Trader culture/context, and also explore how Polyam might interact with her society as a character with her own unique personality. Seeing how well Tamari wrote ace Sandry and you wrote Zahir, in particular, has definitely made me want to try writing diverse fics with characters who are further from my personal experience, such as Okha or Nestor. I’ve written one Nestor/Okha fic but would be very keen to try another. This is where it helps to already have diverse characters like Daja written for you in canon. Because Tammy wrote her coming out so well, I feel like, even though I’m always a bit apprehensive about writing romantic relationships/attraction, I can riff off canon and maybe write Daja her happy ending. With a coffee heiress, no less With that said, it also makes me really happy when people use their culture/life experience to inform their fanfic/headcanon. Tamari, in particular, when you talked about using your Native American Indigenous background to sort of colour your understanding of Kalasin. I feel like it gives an extra little touch of verisimilitude, even though no two people’s experiences will ever be the same. Idk, it’s wonderful to see people being in touch with their culture enough to showcase it in fic, even through a fanfic lens (I say this as someone who is *not* very in touch with my heritage!) And yes, Tamari, can I just reiterate that your Kalasin I fics were phenomenal.
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Post by devilinthedetails on Aug 3, 2020 1:43:50 GMT 10
mistrali, that's a good point too that it can feel more comfortable to write a character with a disability who seems to come from a culture that is closer to our own as that would give more of a sense of shared experience to us as writers. It does take courage to step outside that common culture of shared experiences to explore disability in the context of a different culture such as the Traders. I think you did a wonderful job exploring how Polyam's disability interacted with her Trader culture and with her own unique personality so I can understand why those are some of your favorite fics! I'm so glad that you think I did a great job writing Zahir since I wanted to try to do him and his complexity justice. I'd love to see you write Nestor and/or Okha. I haven't written Nestor/Okha in awhile, but every time I have written about them, I've enjoyed the experience. Those two characters don't get that much attention, so I'd really love to see more written about them. I agree that is one of the ways it helps to have diverse characters like Daja written in canon because the way the character coming out could be used as a model or inspiration for further stories about that character's sexual identity or sexuality. It's one of the reasons I much prefer it when a character's sexuality or asexuality is clearly written into story in some way rather than just told to us in an author interview or something. When it is just told to us in an interview, it feels as if the author couldn't be bothered to write it into the story, whereas when it appears in the story, it feels to me more as if the author sincerely cared. Diversity added in an interview can sometimes feel more tacked onto me, whereas diversity integrated into the story itself can feel more authentic. I definitely think you're right that people sing their own culture and life experience to color and shape their understanding of a particular character or culture can add an extra touch of verisimilitude. I agree it is wonderful to see people in touch with their culture and showcasing it in stories.
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