A Writer's Responsiblity to His/Her Culture

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escritora

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Let's get this forum started!

I have an issue. One I intellectually understand is silly, but can't get over the emotional hump. I wrote a novel where the main characters are Puerto Rican and are welfare cheats. During the editing process, I changed the characters to white because I didn't want to perpetuate the image of Hispanic welfare queens. The novel is trunked due to other issues (i.e. I have a lot to learn about novel writing).

However, I do find myself being very careful on how I portray people of color. This is detrimental to the stories I want to tell.

Does anyone else feel they have a responsibility to their culture and/or poc? If so, how do you get over that obstacle?

Again, I want to say I understand my hesitation is silly. Nonetheless I still struggle.
 
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Kitty27

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I understand exactly what you are saying. The stereotypes concerning Black people are a mile long and I do my best to avoid them in my writing.

BUT I also have to be honest about aspects of my community that I have witnessed and grew up around. Other Black people become extremely picky about this due to the terrible stereotypes and a sense of letting "others" see our internal business.

If I set a story in the hood,I have to keep it 100. That means shoot-outs,drug dealing and a host of other stuff that happened there. You also have to remember that people who have screwy views about race would find something wrong with Dr.Cliff Huxtable and MLK despite both being examples of the best of the Black community. Same goes for any other community of color.

So you get over it by realizing these things do happen and if you want to keep the story authentic,then include elements that are true to what you have experienced. If I wrote a hood based story with nothing of life in the ghetto,it would ring false and basically suck. Your story has to live and breathe. If you scrub it clean with no realness,it doesn't work.


Being of the community that we write about,we have an advantage in that we will almost always get a "pass" from potential readership. Most won't have any problem with it. Of course,the ones I mentioned who don't like these things aired out will have a fit.
 
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Morwen Edhelwen

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I feel I have a responsibility to my culture eg don't portray Chinese people as exceedingly cunning etc. Same for other POC groups.
 

missesdash

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I actually spent a lot of time agonizing over what my Mother would say when she found out my books aren't overflowing with black characters. I think there's a lot of pressure for black writers to write about "the experience." It's sort of how people often complain Obama doesn't do enough for the "black community" even though he's president of the entire country. Not arguing whether or not he is, but there's this assumption that we should use every possible platform to talk about being black.

But when I cast that aside, I found my characters were still diverse, just not necessarily black. That was a relief too. Because I definitely don't want books full of white people either.

So yeah, I'd say it's a burden, but shouldn't be given as much thought as we often give it.
 
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shaldna

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However, I do find myself being very careful on how I portray people of color. This is detrimental to the stories I want to tell.

Does anyone else feel they have a responsibility to their culture and/or poc? If so, how do you get over that obstacle?

I think this is an issue that a lot of people struggle with.

No one wants to be offensive, or racist. But I do think that a lot of the issues come from readers reactions, and a lot of that comes down to perceptions of the writer.

For instance, Kitty's example of writing about the Hood and keeping it real - including shoot outs drugs etc. But how would the same senarios be recieved if written by a white person? Would readers then see it as stereotyping and offensive?

And I think that's what a lot of people are afraid of when they write other ethnic groups - even when they write them accurately. There's always that fear that someone will take offence.
 

Alpha Echo

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For instance, Kitty's example of writing about the Hood and keeping it real - including shoot outs drugs etc. But how would the same senarios be recieved if written by a white person? Would readers then see it as stereotyping and offensive?

Though I haven't encountered it in my writing yet, I have thought about it, and that's the huge fear. Here I am, some little white, straight-up All-American (well, 1/4 Japanese, but you wouldn't know it) girl. Could I broach a tricky racial issue and not be viewed as racist?

I'm not sure I could.
 

backslashbaby

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I think it's important for all of us to get over any fear of each other, so I think the risks to be honest and sincere are important. I look as lily-white as they come, and totally uncool, but I'll still put my neck out in my work to try to build any bridges I can.

Will I have folks see this shockingly white girl from The South and assume the worst about any tricky parts? Oh, I'm sure I will. All I can say is it's not like that, and I have to trust that my work has to make sense to lots of people. Just people. No certain group other than people who have noticed any truths I've tried to tell. I'm confident that'll work, if not with me, with somebody who tries it. And the next person, and the next :)

It is very important to try to tell the absolute most unbiased truth you can manage, imho. That takes a lot of work. I hate it when folks put no thought into something tricky and feel like that should go well. Good things take hard work sometimes; nothing new there.
 

Alpha Echo

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It is very important to try to tell the absolute most unbiased truth you can manage, imho. That takes a lot of work. I hate it when folks put no thought into something tricky and feel like that should go well. Good things take hard work sometimes; nothing new there.

QFT.
 

aruna

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One of the things that really "gets" me, and many people do this without realising their error, is the degoratory way in which the so-called Third World is referred to -- as is by default peopled by backward, poor, simplistic, uneducated, needy, corrupt, stupid folk. I've often been asked if I went to school in Guyana; and very often my background is summarily dismissed because, yanno, it's a small 3rd world country thay doesn't count for much.

In my writing I've tried to address this. Yes, we do have a lot of poverty. And a lot of corruption. But mostly we are no different form you guys in the big "important" countries. And our schools are pretty good, too. We had a far better education in Guyana in the 50's than most English state school kids today, with a far higher standard.

I write about people and places most of the reading public in the USA and Europe do not know and will never know. I've always felt that THAT was my calling as a writer -- to bridge the gaps, to bring those countries nearer. I myself love travel and discovering new places, and I love reading novels set in countries I've never been to, and am unlikely to visit. That's why it came as a shock to me to learn that the publishing world considers readers to be xenophobic and NOT eager to read novels set in far off, little known places.
 

kuwisdelu

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As a half-breed native American, this is something that I struggle with a lot.

I still haven't come up with an answer yet.
 

backslashbaby

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One of the things that really "gets" me, and many people do this without realising their error, is the degoratory way in which the so-called Third World is referred to -- as is by default peopled by backward, poor, simplistic, uneducated, needy, corrupt, stupid folk. I've often been asked if I went to school in Guyana; and very often my background is summarily dismissed because, yanno, it's a small 3rd world country thay doesn't count for much.

In my writing I've tried to address this. Yes, we do have a lot of poverty. And a lot of corruption. But mostly we are no different form you guys in the big "important" countries. And our schools are pretty good, too. We had a far better education in Guyana in the 50's than most English state school kids today, with a far higher standard.

I write about people and places most of the reading public in the USA and Europe do not know and will never know. I've always felt that THAT was my calling as a writer -- to bridge the gaps, to bring those countries nearer. I myself love travel and discovering new places, and I love reading novels set in countries I've never been to, and am unlikely to visit. That's why it came as a shock to me to learn that the publishing world considers readers to be xenophobic and NOT eager to read novels set in far off, little known places.

The 3rd World impression is a great example of the 'single story', I think. I definitely think it's important to get the other stories out there. People need to be exposed to all sorts of flavors of a place.

OTOH, if the place is truly homogenous, go on and say it. I was surprised to learn that there are US towns where people really don't have Black kids, plural, in their classes, for instance. If that's the culture, it's so different that that is important information. Homogenous cultures are interesting, too, I think.


I read the views of an Indian guy who was very upset about Slumdog Millionaire, because he thought people will always see Indians as very poor, etc. That made me sad for three reasons: he's right about some folks, he's so wrong about so many folks (we know it's not the only story in India), and it's such a great story.

I wouldn't want to miss a story like Slumdog Millionaire. Avoiding writing about poor Indians would scrap that story! No! So sad. All the stories matter, imho.
 

missesdash

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The 3rd World impression is a great example of the 'single story', I think. I definitely think it's important to get the other stories out there. People need to be exposed to all sorts of flavors of a place.

OTOH, if the place is truly homogenous, go on and say it. I was surprised to learn that there are US towns where people really don't have Black kids, plural, in their classes, for instance. If that's the culture, it's so different that that is important information. Homogenous cultures are interesting, too, I think.


I read the views of an Indian guy who was very upset about Slumdog Millionaire, because he thought people will always see Indians as very poor, etc. That made me sad for three reasons: he's right about some folks, he's so wrong about so many folks (we know it's not the only story in India), and it's such a great story.

I wouldn't want to miss a story like Slumdog Millionaire. Avoiding writing about poor Indians would scrap that story! No! So sad. All the stories matter, imho.

Ah, this so much! I don't like it when people get angry over someone of their own race/ethnicity being represented in a negative way. It is possible to represent one negative aspect of a culture/person without condemning that entire culture. And, like it or not, these kinds of things exist and are just as relevant as the nicer, more positive aspects of the culture.
 

Jehhillenberg

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I understand exactly what you are saying. The stereotypes concerning Black people are a mile long and I do my best to avoid them in my writing.

BUT I also have to be honest about aspects of my community that I have witnessed and grew up around. Other Black people become extremely picky about this due to the terrible stereotypes and a sense of letting "others" see our internal business.

If I set a story in the hood,I have to keep it 100. That means shoot-outs,drug dealing and a host of other stuff that happened there. You also have to remember that people who have screwy views about race would find something wrong with Dr.Cliff Huxtable and MLK despite both being examples of the best of the Black community. Same goes for any other community of color.

So you get over it by realizing these things do happen and if you want to keep the story authentic,then include elements that are true to what you have experienced. If I wrote a hood based story with nothing of life in the ghetto,it would ring false and basically suck. Your story has to live and breathe. If you scrub it clean with no realness,it doesn't work.


Being of the community that we write about,we have an advantage in that we will almost always get a "pass" from potential readership. Most won't have any problem with it. Of course,the ones I mentioned who don't like these things aired out will have a fit.

Truth.

And honesty is the best policy with me -- still keeping in mind that it's fiction -- I don't think about responsibilities to my "race", but I do try to do culture justice 'cuz that makes me who I am.
 
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Jcomp

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I try not to worry about it and just write interesting, quality, memorable characters. Good, bad, warts, stainless, however they turn out, I just hope they're quality characters. To me, that primarily solves the issue of writing beyond a stereotype.
 

maxmordon

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Something I, and my father as well, is the burden of "your work is not Latino enough", especially since two thirds of the time I write in English. I try yo balance it, but the guilt still remains.

I mean, the publishing industry in Venezuela seems dire, and in Latin America besides competing with other 20 countries you have to do with US and Europe that can afford heavy advertisement and taking far more risks. It's harder for SFF because its seen quite proper of the Anglosphere.
 

Kitty27

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I think this is an issue that a lot of people struggle with.

No one wants to be offensive, or racist. But I do think that a lot of the issues come from readers reactions, and a lot of that comes down to perceptions of the writer.

For instance, Kitty's example of writing about the Hood and keeping it real - including shoot outs drugs etc. But how would the same senarios be recieved if written by a white person? Would readers then see it as stereotyping and offensive?

And I think that's what a lot of people are afraid of when they write other ethnic groups - even when they write them accurately. There's always that fear that someone will take offence.

Shoot,yes,Shaldna! Especially in the US,where whites and blacks are quite crazy when it comes to race and cultural appropriation. Any writer brave enough to try would need a flame retardant suit and possibly large doses of liquor.

But writers cannot be afraid. That's just how it's done in the good old USA.

You nailed it. Writers are scared silly,even though they probably have a great idea.
 

kaitie

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I'm another white girl who worries about coming across as stereotyping. I've written several minority characters (all secondary so far), and while it's never worried me as I was writing them, I have to admit that once I'm done I worry that people will think I'm doing something wrong. I don't want to offend anyone. My characters pop into my head in a variety of ways, and sometimes they aren't white. It's not like I'm writing characters for the purpose of adding diversity. They're just people who happen to be of a particular race.

At the same time, I've always said that I could never write a main character of a different ethnicity than me because I worry that I wouldn't do him justice. However, I've got a girl floating around in my head right now who wants a book and she just happens to be Chinese-American. I'm probably going to write her anyway, but it is something that makes me nervous.
 

Cyia

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I'm another white girl who worries about coming across as stereotyping. I've written several minority characters (all secondary so far), and while it's never worried me as I was writing them, I have to admit that once I'm done I worry that people will think I'm doing something wrong. I don't want to offend anyone. My characters pop into my head in a variety of ways, and sometimes they aren't white. It's not like I'm writing characters for the purpose of adding diversity. They're just people who happen to be of a particular race.

You can add me to this tally, too.

When I started writing the book that sold this past year, I didn't give much thought to who was which race. I wrote the characteristics as the characters were introduced. Then I realized that the set-up I'd created means that 80% of the characters are dark complexioned. (This is sci-fi, and in this case the "bad" thing they're struggling against blocks melanin, meaning those with higher natural levels are the most likely to survive in tact.) Whether it translates that way onto the page will depend on how good a job I did of description; I actually had to go back and amend something to make it clear that the MC, (who has been affected by the "big bad" and has characteristics of albinism as a result) is not white, but Asian. That's the way I've always seen her.

I'm hoping that this being a near-future sci-fi will take some of the "stereotype" pressure off. Class structures have changed and nearly everyone is mixed race. There are prejudices based on different barriers than those which exist now.
 

aruna

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Ah, this so much! I don't like it when people get angry over someone of their own race/ethnicity being represented in a negative way. It is possible to represent one negative aspect of a culture/person without condemning that entire culture. And, like it or not, these kinds of things exist and are just as relevant as the nicer, more positive aspects of the culture.

But I do understand that resentment; it's the very issue I was referring to above, and I can very well understand that person's reaction: isn't it true that for so many Westerners, "urban India" means just that, slums, dirt, poverty, inhumanity?
Movies like Slumdog Millionaire do, actually, confirm that stereotype.
Not that we should not write about these things; but they need to be balanced with stories that go beyond the stereotype. I think that reaction is because of this: the first Indian-set movie to make it big is about the "slum" issue. What about Lagaan, IMO a MUCH better Indian movie (it won the foreign language Oscar in its year) than SM in so many ways -- and yet unheard of to most Westerners. What about Jodhaa Akbar, a historical Indian movie about the emperor Akbar? Why do great Indian movies made by Indians almost never make it big in the West; why did it have to be an Indian movie made by a Westerner (SM) that achieved the breakthrough? (I guess Monsoon Wedding might be the exception to that rule...)

I'm not by any means saying that we should try to prettify the cliches of India (India being just one example of "foreign" cultures misrepresented in the West). One of my novels, the second one, is set predominantly in a Bombay slum, and depicts one of its worst horrors, child prostitution. But this is not the ONLY India, and I did try to make that clear by placing a lot of the action somewhere else in India.

(I actually didn''t like Slumdog Millionaire very much; not for the above reasons, but because, well, I just didn't see what was so special about it. To me, it was just OK. And why, oh why, did the Taj Mahal have to be shoehorned into it? Such a cliche! 99.9% of Indians never see the Taj Mahal, or even think about it.)

A couple years ago I read a novel written by an Australian writer set in Guyana: (When the something something sings, can't remember the title.*)
I could only roll my eyes. Every one of the Guyanese characters were characterised as shady, stupid, corrupt, oversexed, or something or the other, and needed to be saved from their corruption by the heroic expat white characters who were all noble and working hard to rescue the Guyanese from themselves. It's that sort of thing I can't stand, and it happens really, really often. And I'm sure the author meant well but just didn't realise how very racist the book is.

*When the Singing Stops, by Di Morrissey
 
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backslashbaby

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LOL about the Taj Majal! I didn't even think about that. I lived outside of Memphis for years before seeing Graceland, though, so I get ya.

I agree with you. I'm jotting down the other works you mention as we speak.

Still, I really liked Slumdog Millionaire. I loved that my dad got totally, completely into it. He's not big on the idea of films from India, but he was completely engrossed. That's powerful in its own way, imho. At least we didn't watch another spy movie that night :) It's broadening, believe it or not.
 

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I wasn't raised in a Japanese-American community and I know very few other Japanese-Americans. Oddly enough, that's a common experience for my group, outside of Hawaii and some places in the West Coast... we're a pretty scattered bunch. I do feel a really strong responsibility when it comes to specific Japanese-American issues (like internment) but mostly that sense of responsibility gets diffused to larger PoC groups. If someone says something bad about Chinese-Americans, for example, it hits me as well.

The latest novella I'm working on is set in Hawaii, so I have lots of JA background characters, and a few who have Japanese last names but aren't really JA at all (which I think represents the reality of Hawaii). Before that, I had written no JA characters at all.

I think a lot of people like me are scared of representing our own group, consciously or subconsciously. Write about a white person, your story is "universal". Tell the same story but with a minority the same as you, and many others will peg it as "ethnic literature" and "memoir-like".
 

escritora

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Write about a white person, your story is "universal". Tell the same story but with a minority the same as you, and many others will peg it as "ethnic literature" and "memoir-like".

This reminds me of an interview with Toni Morrison. I think it was Charlie Rose who asked her if she was ever going to write a book about white people. Morrison told him his question was racist because he would never ask a white author when they are going to write a book about black people. I'm paraphrasing. If I can find the interview online, I will post a link.
 

escritora

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This reminds me of an interview with Toni Morrison. I think it was Charlie Rose who asked her if she was ever going to write a book about white people. Morrison told him his question was racist because he would never ask a white author when they are going to write a book about black people. I'm paraphrasing. If I can find the interview online, I will post a link.

Oh, my did I paraphrase badly. Here's the link. It starts at 6:10.

Charlie Rosie didn't ask the question. He was repeating a question Bill Moyers asked Morrison.
 

Kitty27

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Ah, this so much! I don't like it when people get angry over someone of their own race/ethnicity being represented in a negative way. It is possible to represent one negative aspect of a culture/person without condemning that entire culture. And, like it or not, these kinds of things exist and are just as relevant as the nicer, more positive aspects of the culture.



With African Americans,that reaction of being pissed is because we are nearly always judged by the actions of a few. This view of us has been going on for a LONG time.

It's something that we've unfortunately gotten used to. But when it's in print or all outdoors,it still stings for some.
 
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