{119} Writing the controversy
There is no fixing a problem when no one is willing to write about it because it’s easier not to.
Writers, we’re a sensitive lot. We fear criticism, and we want to write good stories. That is universal, and also sometimes crippling to our motivation. It also sometimes locks us inside walled gardens of bigotry.
Maybe it’s due to the demographics or just the transgressive nature of fanfiction to begin with, but writers of fanfic tend to explore controversial topics long before mainstream media ever does, much less writers of popular literature. They can break down the walls of the garden with less risk, over all…but still, the threat of negative criticism is always there. It’s real. But fanfic writers generally don’t shy away from it the way professional writers do. In fact, it is possible to spot the next “big important social justice issue” headed down the interwebz just by looking at the tags on AO3.
A good example, of course, is race. Fandom has done race wrong many, many time and will continue to do so, because racism is a systemic, insidious thing and even those of us trying our hardest will get it wrong. Without writers and critics willing to actually try and do things right, though, there will be no progress.
The epic and legendary Race!fail of 2009, which “officially” was a wank that happened in the sf/fantasy community, really got traction on LiveJournal through the fanfic community. It seems to be it presaged a lot of the discussion (and fights) that have happened in both communities over the years.
It was a climactic showdown, though. I admit to being one of those scared white writers who decided not to write PoC or about racial issues when the dust seemed to settle. Attacks were vicious on all sides, and the better part of valor (appeared) to rest with those who chose not to engage — in the arguments, or in the process at all. Write what you know? FINE. I’ll only write about white folk! SO THERE!!!
It took a few years and some blows to my (lily white) ego to realize not only how cowardly that reaction was, but how damaging. Because there is no abstaining, there is no way to excuse oneself from racism or sexism or classism, no matter how uncomfortable it makes those of us with certain privileges.
Of course it’s tempting then to just only ever write fantasy stories set in speculative worlds where racism isn’t a thing, or is a thing defined on the writer’s terms. But while that is fun, it is also limiting. Not to mention, simply erasing the history of racism in the contemporary world is also damaging. Fantasy is great, but the real world is where we live.
And here, I have to admit, my heritage as a Southerner plays into all of this. It is way, way way too easy for me to shove PoC out of my line of sight, even when they are standing right in front of me. That is something I work on, but will probably be fighting my whole life.
Which means I have embraced the fact that my books must involve race, racism, and the history of racism. How well I do that remains to be seen. Like the fanfiction rule-breakers and prognosticators, I might have to take a few lumps along the way.
Wolves of Harmony Heights is a thinly veiled polemic on the topic of “why can’t we all just get along?” which, admittedly, a lot of paranormal stories are. Again, going back to fanfiction — writers there were early and hard on drawing the parallel of how most fiction tends to portray supernatural adversaries (werewolves vs. witches, supernatural creatures vs. hunters, etc.) in racial terms. (Yes, I know, that idea has been around in literary circles for decades. Mainstreamed into pop culture, not so much.)
Anyway, I worked hard to include a diverse cast of supporting characters, but I backed out of making any of the romantic leads PoC. I almost backed out of making the secondary lead, the 15 year old boy Augie Hart, mixed race. Despite the fact that his father is black specifically because it ties into backstory and a prequel all set in New Orleans and focusing on a black business woman there, it still felt like it might be gratuitous, or at least, read as gratuitous. None of the book is specifically from his POV, which I suppose was my cop-out, but I decided to keep Augie mixed race, raised by a clueless white woman. I’m sure I’ll get criticized for how I portrayed them, and that honestly terrifies me, but I had to start somewhere.
Moving on to the next book, Link in the Chain: I was describing it to a friend and I got the feeling she was concerned about why I was writing black characters in the story, especially one of the leads. [ETA for clarity and ownership:] She was being pretty gentle with me about it, but asked some very pointed questions about the backstory and the PoC character’s roles. Questions that need to be asked, especially of white writers (me) planning to write any part of a book from the point of view of a black woman. [/eta]
It got me to thinking: Am I just using the experience of PoC as a plot crutch? I’m white. Who am I to write the POV of a black female character? Am I invoking the “I am because I can!!!!” clause of racism?
Possibly. I mean, I have to allow that to exist in my self-awareness. It’s set in Savannah, Georgia, and major points of the plot are historical and feature the descendants of a British aristocrat, so sure, I could white-wash it fairly easily. But again: this is the South. The very second I make a major character a PoC, race and racism is going to become part of the plot. It has to.
But on the other hand, I want that complexity to the story.
To be sure, earlier drafts of this story were hella racist. I did not mean to write it that way and I know I was not cognizant of the racism, but it had some amazingly negative stereotypes in play and my primary lead at the time got a “white savior” storyline of truly cringe-worthy proportions. The best of intentions, still going way way awry.
So, yeah, I know it’s possible I’ll write this story in my most “woke” state of awareness but ten years from now will look back on it and cringe; that it’s also very likely I will have readers who feel my portrayal of PoC characters is shallow and wrong and insulting.
That experience has been true for a lot of groundbreaking fanfic authors, who wrote headlong not just into issues of racism but gender identity, consent, sexuality, and feminism. They got some things wrong in their attempts to incorporate these topics, but it’s better that they tried and sometimes failed, and encouraged discussion, and helped push back the barriers of oppression and exclusion.
In the end, not writing about race and not including PoC is not an option for me anymore; learning to be inclusive and write fully realized PoC characters is, quite literally, the least I can do as an author. That means doing my best to get the characters right while acknowledging that I might (probably) not. It means taking the heat when someone says, “hey, that was trope-y and racist as hell.”
None of us deserve accolades for taking that risk, and I’m not writing this post to proclaim how awesome I am (I’m pretty awesome, but for other reasons, okay?). I just believe that white writers need to talk about these choices, and not hide our decisions behind silence.
Originally published at www.kimboosan.net on October 14, 2016.
