(no subject)

[maevele]

It never even crossed my mind til now, even reading all of racefail, that it all should be really directly relevant to the story I'm working on. My protag is not white. She's mixed. I now can't decide if I should agonize over "writing the Other" or just keep writing her as I know her.

Seriously, as a whitegirl first time writer, the scared part of me says play it safe, make her white but that's succh an asshole move. I think she'd be pissed, and I feel like if I was lucky enough to get a character to come to me, I shouldn't fuck with her. Not to mention that there are interesting points bouncing around the story regarding her time issues and racial makeup. Although it certainly isn't about race.


But if I fuck it up, I promise not to explode when someone tells me so?

Mind you, the other main characters are 2 gay men, a drag queen, and an old white lady, so they're all "other" ain't they? I've been having a lot more concern about fucking up the gay men and drag queen than Maud's race.

Comments

[moondancerdrake.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the last thing you need while telling their story is to have you main character mad at you. Keep in mind her (her right?) experiences will be very dependant on more than just her heritage. Her background growing up, he family situation, etc… will all shape who she is. As long as you’ve done your research and really gotten to know her that the best you can hope for.

If a mistake happens, all you can do them is take a breath, learn from it, and use the new knowledge next time. Have faith in yourself. You’ll do fine. I can certainly say you are more clueful than many white gals, and that’ll help too. :)

If you are really worried, then perhaps finding betas who experiences are similar to the MC (if possible)

[lady-alyria.livejournal.com]

I find some of the anti-racist stuff to be more racist than the racist stuff.

Do you honestly believe my perceptions are so different from yours they are unimaginable?

Anyone who says [blank] people aren't this way, have a limited perspective of [blank] people because you can't know what every person is like by the categories in which they fit.

I'm a black bi woman, and most my stories involve white gay men. If people only had the "right" to write about characters that were like them, then literature would be bland indeed.