Why Young Adults Talking Control of Their Own Genre Is Important
A Conversation on #ProjectPOC, Black Hermione, and More With Author and Poet Nia
Nia is someone who I’ve actually described as a ball of light. I was first introduced to her through her ‘rant book’. Rant books are just that, books where the writer can let off steam about something that is on their mind. While previously popular rant books were dominated by straight white female voices, Nia brought something new to the table. Her book focused on the social injustice that surrounded her. She was truly a driving force in Wattpad becoming more inclusive of not only people of colors’ voices but queer voices, disabled voices, essentially any voices that come at an intersection of an oppressed people.
In addition, to this, she is a fantastic storyteller who creates vibrant characters with ease. These characters seem alive and real and do so because they mirror her own diverse audience.
Brianne: First off how would you identify yourself?
Nia: I’m an asexual African-American female who prefers she/her pronouns!
How would you describe what you write on Wattpad?
Genre wise? I write a lot of young adult fiction and sometimes poetry and short stories. Stylistically? I honestly really don’t know. I think I’m still figuring it out as I grow up and mature.
Can you talk about movements you’re apart of like #ProjectPoc for a second?
Yes! Movements like #ProjectPoc were started to help set diversity into motion. In a lot of literature today, there’s a significant lack of characters within stories who are people of color, a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, who are of different religions, et cetera. This is an issue, because, for one, readers are often unable to relate to the characters they’re reading about. Younger audiences should be able to point to a princess or prince in a book and say, “Hey! They’re just like me!”
This is also an issue because the misrepresentation is a form of subliminal oppression — white supremacy. The few stories that are written with diverse characters (more specifically characters of color) have a lot of stereotypes attached to them (i.e. Black boys being depicted only as athletes and Black girls constantly using Ebonics and being portrayed as ‘ghetto’ with ethnic names such as Ebony and Precious and never being written with delicate traits, Asian characters being exceptionally intelligent and speaking in broken English and having ‘small eyes’). Perpetuating stereotypes is NOT progress. If anything, it’s taking a step back because it’s further subordinating people who already experience oppression in reality. #ProjectPoc and other movements are designed to help incorporate more accurate representations of people from all different backgrounds in the literary world. They help turn up the volume for the minorities who are silenced.
Gosh yes to everything you just said! Okay, so you think it’s very important to tell stories featuring diverse casts?
Most definitely. It’s important for readers to be able to find characters who aren’t just heterosexual white girls and boys with blonde hair, blue eyes, and systematic privilege.
Would you say that there is diversity in the majority of the published books marketed to teens?
No! There are a handful of published books marketed to teens that feature only an iota of diversity, which is really saddening because those are the good books which are truly under appreciated. If you’ve noticed, in bookstores, the books directed to certain communities have their own designated shelves off to the side, like African-American literature, Asian-American literature, books about LGBT characters…
How do you feel about authors like John Green and J.K Rowling saying that their characters could’ve been black or could’ve been queer after having written and published them?
I honestly feel like it doesn’t matter. Had people not contacted them or spoken out about the controversy on social media, I personally don’t believe either of the respected authors would’ve said anything. J.K. Rowling’s character Hermione was described as a dark-skinned girl in the Harry Potter series and had two Desi characters in one book, yet Emma Watson was cast as Hermione in the movie and Padma and Parvati had sorry excuses for the beautiful dupattas and lehengas they were supposed to wear to the Yule Ball… John Green’s TFIOS had an ENTIRELY white, heterosexual cast in the book and the film, so where’s the room for our imagination? Are angered readers supposed to pretend the authors wrote diverse characters when they stood by and let their whitewashed film adaptations skyrocket in box office sales?
Why did you choose to create a second account?
I used to have an account where I had a book specifically for speaking out on social injustices in society, and it received immense praise as it continued to culminate readers. But, of course, it also attracted really ignorant people as well who sent me death threats, called me racial slurs, devalued me for my opinions about the institutional enslavement black people still suffer as of today and just caused me a lot of distress that I didn’t need on top of my schoolwork and responsibilities offline. I still wanted to write my stories and get feedback on them, so I just created a second account solely for writing and fun.
What would some problems of Wattpad be for you?
I think I just listed some for you in the previous answer! A lot of people on here are amateur writers trying to grow and improve, and it’s great that we’re given this platform where we can express ourselves for free! But a major problem on here would have to be the harassment and the plagiarism. I’ve had a lot of people copy some of my works word for word onto their accounts without giving me credit and it’s pretty unnerving for me considering I put a lot of time and effort into my stories.
Although plagiarism does occur in the real writing world, I don’t feel as though it’s seen as frequently as it is on Wattpad because authors can sue real money for it.
Finally on a high note, favorite authors or books?
I LOVE George Orwell! I just started reading his works not too long ago and find it so hauntingly masterful how he wrote such accurate speculations of the future. I also love Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’, Maya Angelou’s ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ and Randall Munroe’s book ‘What If?’ (as well as XKCD). I also really like Alice Sebold’s ‘The Lovely Bones’.
-
Special thanks to Nia for lending me her young, strong voice for the afternoon. You never cease to amaze me.
To read any of Nia’s current stories head to her new Wattpad account.
My own Wattpad account.
