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For now, it still seems to be acceptable, barely, but you must proceed with caution, and it helps to establish your intersectional credentials, as this guy does:
But if you're just a straight white guy don't even think about it. It's 2017.
Well thank you for your advice, but I never got anywhere by following the herd.
I'll read the article. I'll consider its premises.
Please also note, I am changing genres, not genders. I am already a published author in non-fiction (if that could be called a genre), and I possess the self-critical analytic skills necessary to judge the quality of my own work.
In any case it is highly likely I will adopt a gender neutral nom de plume. And trust me, I know my chosen new genre very well, have been voraciously reading and studying said genre for 3-4 years now, often at almost a novel per day rate.
I always succeed, not despite the odds, but rather on account of my "never say die" character. I am the captain of the ship of my life, and I'll sail whatever waters I choose!
And shame on the writer of the article for attempting to stifle his fellow writers' creativity.
The most important talents any successful writer must possess are gender neutral. Women write successful novels all the time with male lead characters. Perhaps less often but men write successful novels all the time with female lead characters.
And all writers write characters of both genders, and successful authors achieve this non-miracle on a daily basis! I assert that it is impossible to write a multi-POV novel without writing both male and female characters and getting into their heads and into their innermost thoughts and motivations.
This is what we writers do. We don't need rag writers to tell us how to write fiction. I haven't read the recently cited article yet, but hoping I'm not assuming too much I scoff the idea that a rag writer has any lock on reality if he or she is still writing for rags.
I gave up writing magazine articles years ago, for the simple reason that it bored me. Yeah, seeing my first article in print was a rush! Seeing my first article reach the status of having a blurb on the cover was an even bigger rush! My name—on the cover of a nationally acclaimed and popular magazine! Hah! I think I saved about 5 copies of that one, two still in the original plastic bags, untouched!
Yeah the rag writing days were fun while they lasted. I went on to a successful career which required lots of technical writing, although not the main part of my work, and now retired I'm free to follow my heart instead of chasing dollars.
And my heart tells me: "Lovehound, you have it in yourself to write a successful novel. All you have to do is type that first word." Noting that even the longest journey begins with the first step...
I will succeed because I say nay! to the nay-sayers! The thought of a rag author dissuading makes me laugh out loud. People can take their negative, political correctness and shove it. Maybe they can fit a few rags in there too!
I have just one question for all those who scoff my belief that I will succeed. Remember, I'm already a published author. I'm already experienced in analyzing the mechanics of my genre and the demographics of my target market.
My question: are you a published author yet? Do you have any credits other than wishes and delusions?
One thing is getting utterly lost in this discussion.
No one has outlawed writing of this kind. Some people have expressed their opinions about it, and that is all. The words "can't," "may not," and "aren't allowed to" have no place here, because they simply don't apply. There is no change in the law, no enforceable prohibition against writers writing about whatever they want, from any POV they choose.
What's sometimes described as Stephen King's masterpiece is the Dark Tower series. There are four main characters in that book. One of them is an African American Woman from 1964. The book is extremely character-oriented, heavily revolving around the characters' personalities and their interactions with each other and the odd worlds they find themselves in. Stephen King is about as far away from being an African American woman from 1964 as it is possible to get, and Susannah Dean, and her split personalities, were about as well-written of characters as I've ever seen.
Who knows? I can't really make any sense of this or see any rational justification for it. My impression, after reading a few articles, is that people see three major problems with whites writing about non-whites:
1. Whites don't understand the experience of non-whites.
I think this could be true, but certainly not in all cases. Being white doesn't preclude someone from creating a good non-white fictional character. Why shouldn't works be judged on an individual basis?
2. Whites have exploited others and therefore should not profit from their stories.
This just seems racist on its face, assuming that all white people are tainted by history, and ridiculous, given that these stories do not exist until the author imagines them. Do people actually believe that their race gives them exclusive rights to imagined characters of the same race?
3. Whites shouldn't take opportunities away from non-white writers.
Apparently some believe that when a white person imagines a story with a non-white character, that deprives a non-white person of the opportunity to be successful with a similar story...
Here a black, female Canadian writer expounds on this issue and her problem with cultural appropriation. There is some of all three points above in her argument, but the emphasis is on ownership. She believes that non-whites own the rights to fictional stories about non-whites. White people must ask for and be granted permission by non-whites to write such stories.
Quote:
The sense of entitlement coupled with cultural appropriation eclipses the sacredness of being humble and asking. Abandoning consent is a symptom of capitalistic, patriarchal mindsets, and begs the question: Whatʼs the worst that can happen when asking for permission? Oh right, someone may tell you no. For people in power who have privilege, this a difficult reality. Hearing no. Within this framework, infringing on the liberty of racialized community becomes integral in maintaining the stability of a white personʼs liberty. The freedom to take as one pleases, without regard.
I'm picking a gender ambiguous nom de plume and y'all can wonder just WTF I am.
And I'll write multi-POV novels and let you decide if my characters are believable. Oh, excuse me. Not you. I'll let my readers decide. Only people with money to spend on novels count.
Except my nom de plume will never show up on this forum.
Oh the irony here is that many minorities demand to be written into stories and series where there were no non-Whites previously. Minorities demand roles in film that have been traditionally White or to be shoehorned into Eurocentric films like The Hobbit. And of course, this raises the question, "If it's cultural appropriation for White writers to write for non-White characters, then how will minorities be able to even be cast in most films, since the writers are overwhelmingly White?"
This is an interesting thread. I'm not a writer, but I am a voracious romance reader. My favorite authors have written about all kinds of different characters - men, women, mixed races, all shades of the LGBTQ rainbow, and honestly? It all comes down to good writing, and how the authors breathe life into their characters and plots. I couldn't care less if an older white woman is writing a young adult book about two mixed race characters, or vice versa. Do I feel the emotions of each person, and do I care about them? Do their actions, no matter how bone-headed at times, make sense? Are their motivations explained?
If I were going to write about a black person as the main character, I'd get some sensitivity readers to assist. I'd hate to slave over a book with all of my heart and soul, only to hear, "You didn't get it right." No two people experience everything the same way, of course, but you take what works and throw away the rest of it.
Supachi, it is particularly ironic when activists decide that sports teams are appropriating Native American culture by using NA names without permission.
If I succeed in my novelistic adventure you can be certain that there will be multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, GLBT characters. My gawd, authors want interesting characters, what better way to get them than to pick from all the available flavors?
And in my chosen genre urban fantasy (or perhaps urban romantic fantasy) I even get to pick multi-species from witches, vampires, werewolves, and all the plethora of other supernatural species!
I'm just sick, sick, sick of political correctness. I love all of humanity no matter what they are, I judge individuals on who they are and on whether they are good people, not on superficial things like what they were born to or born as.
I'll appropriate any minority I want because that is my authorial license, my right to create any work I want. It will be up to my readers to determine my success, not some stupid rag magazine author, and certainly not what some forum thinks.
My job as author is solely to please my readers. Nobody else counts. The measure of my success is number of copies sold, just that, only that. If rag authors were any good they wouldn't be writing for the rags. I should know. I used to write rag articles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SandyCo
This is an interesting thread. I'm not a writer, but I am a voracious romance reader. My favorite authors have written about all kinds of different characters - men, women, mixed races, all shades of the LGBTQ rainbow, and honestly? It all comes down to good writing, and how the authors breathe life into their characters and plots.
I just loved your post! You just described my genre: urban fantasy or urban romantic fantasy!
I know the audience for my genre. I've read all the greats and even the not-so-greats. This is exactly what their (mostly female) audience wants! The only real decision is how much romance you want in your novels, fine tune for the audience you desire. There is already multi-culturalism built in to my genre.
And I'm pretty sure I'll have no vampires or werewolves criticizing me for appropriating their culture. Jeez, I hope not!!!
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