"In 2014 I'll only read writers of colour."

Corinne Duyvis · Jan 21, 2014

Putputt said:
Instead of choosing books based on the color of the author's skin, a better goal would be something like, "I will only read books written ABOUT characters or settings that offer a peek into different cultural and/or socioeconomic environments because I'm tired of reading books that revolve around middle class western-Europeans."

Here, though, you run into the problem of white authors generally being given more credit for writing PoC than PoC authors themselves. While I always want to see more PoC represented in fiction, the last thing I want is for it to be at the expense of actual, living PoC! Given how underrepresented PoC are in publishing-land, I think there's a lot to be said for supporting PoC authors regardless of the ethnicity of their characters.

firedrake said:
The only 'resolution' I would make regarding books I intend to read would be to read the books that look interesting/entertaining to me regardless of who wrote them.

That's really all that matters to me.

Practically everyone reads that way. The problem is that all of us have subconscious biases (and yeah, white people probably more so than others). If I'd looked at the percentage of white authors/characters vs. PoC authors/characters in the books I read a couple of years ago, it would've been vastly, hugely disproportionately white. (And straight, and cis, and able-bodied.) Was that a conscious decision? Not at all.

This year, I thought I'd made a more concerted effort to branch out. At the end of the year, out of curiosity, I tallied up the numbers, and I was surprised at how skewed the percentages still were. It's really messed up how we're so programmed to see white/straight/etc. as Normal and everything else as Other that it takes such an effort and conscious thought to try to make sure you're not subconsciously snubbing huge swathes of people who are underrepresented and badly represented as is.

So, yeah, making conscious decisions to read more books by X or about Y results in supporting an underrepresented group of authors, thus helping them gain a much-needed stronger foothold in publishing, and being exposed to really, really good books you might have otherwise missed out on without even realizing it.

J.S.F. · Jan 25, 2014

To me, as a white guy from Canada, reading books about people of color, different religions, sects, belief-isms and whatnot is one thing--and I'm all for it, as I can gain some insight into other cultures--but writing about it is a horse of a different color, no pun intended.

In the past, I've always written from a male and straight POV, because that's how I grew up and what I identified with and still do, so in a sense it's easier as I'm writing about what I know best. Last year and this year, I decided to do something different and came up with a gender switch novel and a novel with a lesbian MC. It was very refreshing in its own way to write both of these works. (How successful they'll be is another story, but I still enjoyed writing them)

In the future, I'm aiming to write something with a person of color as my MC, but I'm afraid that I might be cast as a writer who cannot truly understand what it's like to be (insert color or race or orientation here) and maybe that's the risk all white writers take when writing about PoC. I don't know. Any thoughts on this? Not a derail per se, but a letmeknowwhatyouthink type of thing.

kuwisdelu · Jan 26, 2014

J.S.F. said:
In the future, I'm aiming to write something with a person of color as my MC, but I'm afraid that I might be cast as a writer who cannot truly understand what it's like to be (insert color or race or orientation here) and maybe that's the risk all white writers take when writing about PoC. I don't know. Any thoughts on this? Not a derail per se, but a letmeknowwhatyouthink type of thing.

I think there's a difference between a book about being X and a book with X as a main character.

I think you probably need to be X to write a truly great book about being X.

But I think — as long as you do some research, ask the right questions, open your eyes and ears, really see and listen rather than just watch and hear — anyone can write a great book from the perspective of an X person as a main character.

Not all books with a PoC MC are about being a PoC, nor should they be. (Nor does that mean you can't address PoC issues in such a book; it must means being the PoC experience isn't one of the central themes of the book.)

I'm half Native American. I think I can write about the half Native American experience. But honestly, I don't think I could ever write about being a full-blooded Native American, any more than I could write about being black, etc. But that's not to say I would never write a story with a full-blooded Native American or black person as a MC. It just wouldn't be about that experience.

Know what I mean?

blacbird · Jan 27, 2014

I'm reminded of the old Red Foxx line from the 70's sitcom Sanford and Son, where he and his son's junk business had been robbed. Two policemen showed up to take his statement, one black and one white. The white policeman asked Foxx the normal questions about the perps, including:

"Were they colored?"

Foss hesitated for a moment, and said, "Yeah. They was white."

caw

aruna · Jan 29, 2014

J.S.F. said:
In the future, I'm aiming to write something with a person of color as my MC, but I'm afraid that I might be cast as a writer who cannot truly understand what it's like to be (insert color or race or orientation here) and maybe that's the risk all white writers take when writing about PoC. I don't know. Any thoughts on this? Not a derail per se, but a letmeknowwhatyouthink type of thing.

My last novel had a white female MC -- the first time I've ever done that! It didn't cause me any agony or doubts -- having read books from the POV of white females ever since childhood, I feel I can get inside the skin of such a person quite easily. I guess it's much more difficult the other way around, PoC not being the default, and simply due to the fact that they often have to face and endure situations a white person cannot imagine.

But I am sure it can be done, and done well, by any good writer capable of empathy and willing to put him/herself into the shoes of that character and think/feel with him/her. There is that universal spark of humanity which is in us all; try to write from that, and when you put your character into situations that are a consequence of his or her race or orientation, you will know how it feels: you need to really FEEL that hurt, or humiliation, or anger yourself. We all know these emotions; if you can write them well, you will be able to write your PoC well.

Snitchcat · Jan 31, 2014

I'm not making a concerted effort to find PoC authors, or PoC MCs. Main reason: lack of interest in doing so.

However, the newspapers and magazines are also filled with PoC journalists, mostly Indian-Chinese, or Hong-Kong-Born Indians. Great writers. These writers really understand the Indian and Chinese cultures, but write well in English, or Chinese, depending on the medium. Spoilt for choice? Definitely.

These days, I'm surrounded by 'PoC' authors (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and one author I do like to follow is Nury Vitachi (Indian). Wonderful books, 3D characters, comical, setting is China / Hong Kong.

And, IMO, Vitachi does Chinese MCs very well. I think he's perhaps the only non-Chinese author I accept as being able to write Chinese MCs with authenticity. Maybe I'm biased? :tongue

So, not a conscious decision per se, but certainly one influenced by my environment.

kuwisdelu · Mar 21, 2014

aruna said:
I get her. I truly do.

So do I.

I've decided I'm joining you.

I'm making an effort to read more genre fiction, too.

So for the rest of 2014, I'm exclusively reading SFF novels by PoC authors.

Hapax Legomenon · Mar 21, 2014

Okay, when I was a little kid, there was this book series called The Royal Diaries. They were books about young royal girls from all over the world and they were mostly about how having power and duties is hard and growing up is hard and I ate that shit up like no tomorrow. Half of it might have been that the covers and binding were beautiful, but I loved the stories too.

And then after a while, I don't know when, that sort of thing kind of... stopped? I don't now if it's because there wasn't just a flat out series I could grab or because books like that aren't as visible, but it did stop. And a lot of the books I ended up having to read for school were about being women or being PoC and that didn't really interest me for some terrible reason -- the force at which they were administered being a big part of it. I guess there's a difference between a minority perspective and a PoC perspective, though, which is not always elaborated on in these sorts of things.

Like, I did want to write a thriller based on a steampunk Ottoman-Empire alternate, but I've been scared off of it for a long time for the same reasons J.S.F. have articulated. Then again in this case a significant number of non-white (for a certain measure of non-white, I guess) characters would not be minorities at all.

shaldna · Mar 26, 2014

Snitchcat said:
I'm not making a concerted effort to find PoC authors, or PoC MCs. Main reason: lack of interest in doing so.

All I'm interested in is finding as many great book to read as possible. I don't give a donkey's bollocks about what colour (or gender, age, nationality, religion or sexual orientation) the writer is.

I just can't help but think of all the other great books she's going to miss out on by limiting herself like this.

Hapax Legomenon said:
And a lot of the books I ended up having to read for school were about being women or being PoC and that didn't really interest me for some terrible reason -- the force at which they were administered being a big part of it.

I think a lot of this is because of the way books are chosen and taught in the school setting. We aren't taught to appreciate the book for the book's sake, we are forced to see the book in a different way, and to think about them and analyse them in a certain way that we may not have done otherwise.

aruna · Mar 26, 2014

But many readers miss out on great books by the publishing fear of PoC books. This is a very real phenomenon. The only way to conquer it is for readers to make the specific effort to go after books with PoC characters/non-mainstream cultures and countries. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy when publishers say that "readers don't buy such-and-such books". How will they know if they don't publish them?
For me as a writer this has been extremely frustrating. I'm glad I've found a small publisher at last that IS willing to publish such books. I'm determined to prove it's a myth!

(And as others have said above, it's not about the writer; it's about the books themselves; she's just assuming that PoC writers are the best people to write PoC books.)

I actually have this black-on-white i a reader's report of a novel I wrote several years ago, set entirely in Guyana. I had a professional consultancy take a look at it after it failed to find an agent or editor, and they said that the main problem was that it was set in Guyana which is not considered commercial. I might just look for that report and post a snippet of what she said.

My old agent, too, said "publishing is xenophobic" and not to write books set in Guyana. I was so upset by that that I fired her --which might not have been a good idea! Not ONLY for that, of course, and she was actually right.

The only way to change publishers' minds is to deliberately hunt down such books and buy them. There are great books among them too! There are always great books we are going to miss.

kuwisdelu · Mar 26, 2014

shaldna said:
All I'm interested in is finding as many great book to read as possible. I don't give a donkey's bollocks about what colour (or gender, age, nationality, religion or sexual orientation) the writer is.

I just can't help but think of all the other great books she's going to miss out on by limiting herself like this.

No matter how you read, you are going to miss out on a lot of great books. There are more good books than most of us have time to read.

But as aruna says, without making a concerted effort to read PoC authors, they're going to be missed more often, due to underrepresentation.

In deciding to read novels exclusively by PoC for a while, the way I look at it — I'm excited to discover all the great books that I've missed out on before.

aruna · Mar 26, 2014

OK, I found the quote. This was from a very well established and reputable UK consultancy, someone with her hand on the pulse of publishing.

The other commercial query that I have is whether Guyana as a background is sufficiently interesting to a UK readership. As a former colony it should have some resonance. But I doubt very much whether the average reader would be able to place it accurately on the map, let alone have any idea about the history and culture of the place. Some former British colonies have made a strong impact and novels set there remain perennially popular, others struggle. As a result most fiction editors have an in-built awareness of which backgrounds will sell and which won’t. Hence, for example, it is a truth universally acknowledged that novels set in the Indian subcontinent find more favour than those set in Africa or indeed in South America. It’s a fact of life and a perception that is difficult to change.

I note that your previously published titles have featured Guyana or had a Guyanese dimension but have also had a strong Indian connection and have tended – rightly or wrongly- to be classed commercially with novels about India. .... But the main thrust of the book concerns Guyana and the early years of two of the central characters who grew up there, plus the third main character’s introduction to the country. You cleverly focus on the fact that xxx knows little about the country of her mother’s birth, preferring to think of herself as native of Streatham whatever her cultural heritage, thus allowing readers to see Guyana partly through her rather detached eyes. Yes, there has been a growth in fiction titles which feature the diverse ethnic backgrounds of native Londoners in recent years. But I still wonder if this background is going to count against the novel. UK readers are notoriously insular in their likes and dislikes and reluctant to address their lack of knowledge about other countries. Clearly it’s up to an author to choose his/her own battleground and you have to write about what you know. But be aware that agents/editors may not necessarily welcome a Guyanese/English setting.

ETA: This is something I simply DO NOT understand.
I mean, fantasy is supposed to be HUGE right now. Why is that readers are willing to go to fictional countries and worlds, but not to real countries, ones that actually exist, and increase their knowledge of the world we live in?

Thing is I don't believe it is true. I believe that if great books are published set in such countries or in different cultures readers WILL go there. But it's a vicious circle.

aruna · Apr 27, 2015

Follow up article, after a year.

kevinwaynewilliams · Apr 29, 2015

aruna said:
Why is that readers are willing to go to fictional countries and worlds, but not to real countries, ones that actually exist, and increase their knowledge of the world we live in?

I have the same issue with people that claim that they couldn't possibly enjoy my book because they "can't relate to black children". They can read about elves, orcs, and even bunny rabbits without a problem, but they can't relate to black children?

Ravioli · Apr 29, 2015

I see it as a way of opening myself up to new stories, rather than re-iterations of the same formulaic fables we've heard time and time again.

Because among white authors, such variety is unthinkable? I like people who manage to praise one, without trashing another. So that "same formulaic fables" part was really, seriously, unnecessary.

I have no problem with the endeavor, and I don't find it racist. Personally I'd find it a bit too limiting in case a white book sounds more promising than a book-of-color, but may she knock herself out.

I try to read a bit more non-white literature myself, not because I got tired of "the same formulaic fables", mind you, but because I, being tall, blonde, and greenish-eyed, want to hear the other story, and why exactly white privilege is privilege. Especially since there were brown, and mistreated-for-being-brown, people in my family.

kevinwaynewilliams said:
I have the same issue with people that claim that they couldn't possibly enjoy my book because they "can't relate to black children". They can read about elves, orcs, and even bunny rabbits without a problem, but they can't relate to black children?

Dude. You win the internet. There's a black kid right around the corner who needs his predominantly white society to relate to him, which would be rather easy what with both being human and all, and that society is busy being emotionally involved with fictional characters that are just barely human enough to be able to kiss the human protagonist without worrying over-protective parents. Seriously, your post is way deeper than fiction. It needs to become a viral quote. It needs to become a goddamn billboard.

jtrylch13 · Jun 1, 2015

So many thoughts. I just read this whole thread and since it dates back a bit I'm regurgitating things that have already been said, but . . .

So I won't be limiting myself to only reading POC authors, but I am consciously trying to read more books about POC characters. I would never limit myself, but with the WNDB campaign, it kind of opened my eyes to the fact that I never read books that aren't about white people. And as some other people have already said, there's this subconscious thought that, "Oh, that books is by or about black, Asian, disabled, gay, etc. people and therefore is not meant for straight, white, female me." I never decided to think this way, I just did. And it takes effort to unthink it. Which is really what is needed. I'm not going to swear off white writers (I am a white writer!) but I will make an effort to seek out stories that are not about my experiences for 2 reasons: 1) If I and others don't, publishers will never change their views of whether POC books are marketable, and 2) Reading stories from the viewpoint of someone different than me helps me to grow. Suddenly, learning about something that makes me a little uncomfortable isn't so scary. I read Angela Nissel's MIXED, and as a white person, there were times I felt, guilty, annoyed, upset, all the emotions, because I hadn't seen the world through that perspective before. But I am so glad I did read it. I am better for it.

I loved reading everyone's thoughts in this thread and I'm only touching on a few things, but there were a lot more that spoke to me, so I'm so thankful this thread exists.

"In 2014 I'll only read writers of colour."

Corinne Duyvis

My New Cat Is Too Big for Shoulders

J.S.F.

Red fish, blue fish...

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

blacbird

aruna

On a wing and a prayer

Snitchcat

Dragon-kitty.

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

Hapax Legomenon

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

aruna

On a wing and a prayer

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

aruna

On a wing and a prayer

aruna

On a wing and a prayer

kevinwaynewilliams

Be blunt: I appreciate it

Ravioli

Crazy Cat Lady

jtrylch13

Has semi-colon; will use it!