Writing and race

[bubosquared]

I've been thinking lately about if/how to write about a minority I'm not part of. Specifically, about me, as a white girl, writing about non-white characters. This could apply both to fanfic and non-fanfic, but I'm mostly thinking about the latter, because in fanfic, if the canon glosses over certain aspects of racial differences, for example, it's easy enough to follow its lead and not bring that up in fanfic.

But when I'm creating my own canon, that's a decision I actually have to make, and it's one that keeps making me wibble like there's no tomorrow. On the one hand, I don't want to write "colourblind", but on the other hand, I also don't want to fuck up if I do write about the more touchy subjects.

(And that's not even mentioning the "How the fuck do you show-not-tell race?" issue, which is something else I wrestle with, and augh.)

So, yeah. Thoughts? Opinions? Pointers? Swats upside the head? Anything? Like I said, this is mostly a non-fanfic thing, but opinions pertaining to fanfic arealso welcome, as I do write non-white characters in fanfic as well. *vague handwave at Lee and Mickey* (This is not a crossover bunny!)

Comments

[elfiepike.livejournal.com]

really, it's just writing from a different POV, right? hm.

try reading some stuff by octavia butler; she has at least one series that follows a black woman (at least) as the main protagonist. (plus, she has a short story collection in which there is a truly fantastic sci-fi male pregnancy. she's kind of one of my favorite authors ever.)

of course, she is mostly sci-fi, less fantasy, which i know tends to be your focus. hm. basically, yeah, i would try reading books written from non-white perspectives and see what makes them different.

when you're actually creating, though, well, you get a lot of leeway. depending on how the peoples of your world move about, there could be a lot of intermingling or there could be almost none and people would find foreign faces shocking! etc etc. (like, i'm from a part of the u.s. with a lot of different communities represented, so i'm very used to seeing different colors/fashions/etc etc and it would be weird without it.)

i'm not sure if this is helpful, but i'm totally available to bounce ideas, too. :)

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

*notes* Octavia Butler, gotcha. Thanks!

basically, yeah, i would try reading books written from non-white perspectives and see what makes them different.

I should've thought of that myself, shouldn't I? I'm really good at missing the obvious. <g>

(like, i'm from a part of the u.s. with a lot of different communities represented, so i'm very used to seeing different colors/fashions/etc etc and it would be weird without it.)

I think this is actually part of my problem--I'm used to seing lots of different races/nationalities represented as welll (though not quite the same way as in the US, and there's a big difference even between Belgium and the UK, but I digress), so when I'm creating characters, they're almost automatically going to include some non-white people, because that's what I'm used to seeing. But then I start thinking, especially with contemporary settings, that not acknowleding anything othr than skin colour is different about these character is whitewashing, which I try not to do. :/

[elfiepike.livejournal.com]

actually, ursula le guin does quite a bit of non-white protagonists; the whole wizard of earthsea series stars non-white people, the left hand of darkness features (if i remember correctly) a black man as it's main character who, in addition, is surrounded by a genderless/gender-shifting society, making it possibly interesting for that alone, too. (i quite love the left hand of darkness, btw.)

you could also do it this way: why is color important? because it's obvious. therefore, everyone's color is important, but only in terms of how it relates to you, right? an asian kid raised by white people is gonna have a different experience than an asian kid raised by asian people, as an example.

it's a combination of what's familiar and what's traditional in the character's community, ultimately. i'm not sure if that helped at all. XD

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

I tried reading LHoD a few years ago and couldn't get into it, but I suppose I should give it a try in English, to be fair.

And thank you! You just gave me something to poke at in regards to Jonathan in Elfstone! Because I know that, and why, Jesse's race in Strange Love is important (because it's what makes her different, and "growing up different in a small town" is what the whole book is about), but I need to figure out people's attitudes towards non-white characters would be in Avenant before I can figure out how much Jonathan's race would matter.

(... And it just occured to me that I never actually mentioned Jonathan being Middle-Eastern-looking in the book at all, apart from a mention of "olive skin," which is disappearing in the rewrite, because ew bad writing. *makes a note of this*)