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African-American Literature and me

srebak

Troubadour
I'll start off with this point: I'm an African-American (a fact that i myself was unaware of until my early teens).

I know all too well that i'd be just one among many Black authors, that doesn't really bother me, but what does is the legacy that African-American authors have left, and my inability to follow suit.

African-American authors have been known to write stories about their own hardships and/or the hardships of caricatures of themselves. They also delve into serious and soulful ideas and concepts (hope, faith, etc.)

However, the stories i've always written were Adventure, Fantasy and/or Sci-Fi. I'm not even sure if i could even write stories like, say, Maya Angelou.

Is this a problem?
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I don't think that's a problem at all. Read, for example, Octavia Butler if you want to read some very good fantasy or sci-fi written by an African-American author. She was an excellent writer.
 

Jabrosky

Banned
I'm reading Steven Barnes' Great Sky Woman, which is prehistoric fantasy set in Africa. He is African-American. I'd also look into Charles R. Saunders' Imaro and Dossouye books which are more sword-and-sorcery (or "sword and soul").
 

AnneL

Closed Account
N.K. Jemisin. Helen Oyeyemi. Nalo Hopkinson. If you're into YA, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Virginia Hamilton. *Beloved* by Toni Morrison is about slavery but it's also a ghost story. There's a very obscure but quite funny book from the sixties called *The Siege of Harlem* by Warren E. Miller, where the residents of Harlem essentially secede from NYC. (I got my copy used on Amazon for like 3 bucks.) Other minorities: Saladin Ahmed is a Muslim-American writing fantasy (though I wasn't that blown away by his book). Ken Liu is Chinese-American.

I second the Butler recommendation. Wild Seed is a good one to start with, and Parable of the Sower is really scary.

Delany is the SFWA Grandmaster this year so he's enjoying a resurgence and reprintings. I gave up on Dhalgren because it was so long, but he has other books out too.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, I am sure I am forgetting other fairly young/new writers because I spent such a long time not reading anything current.
 

AnneL

Closed Account
I know all too well that i'd be just one among many Black authors, that doesn't really bother me, but what does is the legacy that African-American authors have left, and my inability to follow suit. <SNIP.>

However, the stories i've always written were Adventure, Fantasy and/or Sci-Fi. I'm not even sure if i could even write stories like, say, Maya Angelou.

Is this a problem?

It's only a problem if you think it's a problem. Everyone has to find their own voice. Tell the stories you want to tell.
 

Ghost

Inkling
African-American authors have been known to write stories about their own hardships and/or the hardships of caricatures of themselves. They also delve into serious and soulful ideas and concepts (hope, faith, etc.)

However, the stories i've always written were Adventure, Fantasy and/or Sci-Fi. I'm not even sure if i could even write stories like, say, Maya Angelou.

Is this a problem?

You are you. You're not a representative of all African-Americans, and it isn't on your shoulders that the legacy if African-American literature rests. It's not your responsibility to bear. That's too much to ask of one person.

People can sometimes get caught up in the external aspects of being an author, but when you're putting the words to paper all those critics, literature professors, and great authors aren't there with you. They can't show you your path, so don't worry about them. Don't worry about where you fit in the literary cannon until you can think about it abstractly without using it to knock yourself down. And why should you have to fit this idea of serious, soulful African-American author? If you were European-American, would you labor to write in a way that reflects the European-American experience? You might, but that seems unlikely.

If you want to write about hardship, hope, and faith, it doesn't need to be lofty and all-encompassing. You can do it in a way that's based on your perspective. I'd say it's better to approach it from your own understanding and blend that with adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, etc. But it's not necessary to write about someone else's themes.

Another way to look it at is that writing stories that aren't serious, soulful stories about hardship will add new dimensions to African-American literature. It tells readers they can read what they want without being restricted to one niche because of their ethnic backgrounds.

So, no, it's not a problem.
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
I'm not even sure if i could even write stories like, say, Maya Angelou. Is this a problem?
In my opinion, it's very dangerous to a writer's development to compare themselves to authors they admire.

Do you think Maya Angelou woke up one day, decided to be a writer, & was an automatic success? If you read any of her thoughts on writing, it'll be easy to see this wasn't the case. She, like many others, worked hard to become the artist she is. Granted, she overcame some incredible hardships & those experiences add a certain depth to her work. However, I don't think a hard or interesting life is a prerequisite unless you're writing non-fiction.

Secondly, don't fall for the trap where other say genre fiction is not worthy. Great stories are an art form the transcends genre. Stories, regardless of style have incredible power. Fantasy and Sci-Fi stories can speak to topics in subtle ways, and even change the way people think about aspects of our real world, through entertainment & characters, topics that might not be readily accepted by some readers in a more realistic presentation.

Write what you'd want to read & give yourself the time to become great before judging yourself against those that have a lifetime's head start.
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
IMHO write what speaks to you and let the chips fall. If you write enough, no matter the genre, you'll find something to say that will have depth.

For myself, I'm Chinese Canadian. My current novel, an urban fantasy, all I set out to do was write an entertaining story, but along the way, I found myself using bits of my own history and experience to shine the light on a part of my home town called the Downtown Eastside, one of the most impoverished areas in all of Canada. I grew up around the area.

Now, is there a deep message in the story about that area? No. It's just part of my setting. At best all I hope to do is give the reader a small glimpse of what it's like around that area. And maybe down the road, I'll find something more to say about it and my history there.

But what I'm saying is we all have baggage that we can draw from. Don't short change yourself and your experiences. And if you really think you don't have anything to write about other than adventure stories, got out and live life a bit more. Meet people have adventures. Gather some scars, on your body and your soul.

Honestly, for myself, I don't think I could have written anything all that good until I was into my thirties. I needed to mature a bit. Not to say I'm this great writer right now, but I find I have a lot more to write about now than I did in my twenties. I've gathered some perspectives and opinions on my cultural heritage that I didn't have when I was younger.

And finally, if all you ever wrote were stories that entertained people and that people really enjoyed, isn't that enough? Is that something to look down on as not good enough?

I'm going to date myself here but do you remember the TV show The Brady Bunch? The actor who played the dad in the show was a Shakespearian train actor who thought a role in a silly sitcom was beneath him. Yes, the show didn't really delve into anything deep or meaningful, but for decades it has entertained and touched people from all around the globe. People have found meaning in the show.
 

imsc

Scribe
i'm African-American and usually write screenplays. The latest one I did was Sci-Fi. Go figure lol.
 
I can relate to OP. I am African-American and I aspire to write and have been world-building and pre-writting arcanepunk space-fantasy. I'm even a member the Black Sci-Fi group on the book of faces. I greatly admire what the creators over there are doing is often not what I personally want. I don't want an afrocentric version of sword&sorcery,space-opera or steampunk. I want regular genre fiction staring people at the very last vaguely analogous to me.


This attitude of mine leads to me question myself I am black enough, is my witting, have I been hopelessly corrupted by eurocentrism? None of the people in my story are human, i threw out all the traditional fantasy race as well. The closest analogue to earth humans are grayish blue with purple and reddish purple being less common skin colors and most of the year there planet is in a state of extreme cold it's orbit perturbed by a near by gass giant. Direct Sub-Saharan African analogues they most assuredly are not.
 

Amanya Binti

New Member
I agree with those who have said just write what you want. I'm writing about a culture that is VEEEERRRRYYY loosely based on African culture (not african american) in my fantasy novel, but more of the details are probably judeo-christian and american in influence. For example, there's no running around topless for the women. I mean, it's not a discussion, it's just not in there. So I can go for whatever I want, but in the end, who I am comes out, and who I am is American Christian (sorta - I mean all American, sorta Christian'ish).

But I'm not writing the brown skinned characters because of some sense of duty, but because I played "what if" and got to fantasy starring brown skinned people, black-skinned elf-like people (not brown, but BLACK), and there's also no sexuality limit so basically the whole society is bi-sexual and marry just whoever they fall in love with no matter which sex, and there's dragons, and there's a wooden train. And lots of good monsters. It all comes together in the novel, it all jibes, but it was fun playing "what if" and coming up with my own thing.

And part of what's cool about fantasy is you can do that! Just write the book you want to write. If you are black (sorry I don't like African American) you will be a black author no matter what you do, so just do it and you will be "hey, did you hear about that one black author such and so who writes about such and the like? He's awesome!"
 

Jabrosky

Banned
I agree with those who have said just write what you want. I'm writing about a culture that is VEEEERRRRYYY loosely based on African culture (not african american) in my fantasy novel, but more of the details are probably judeo-christian and american in influence. For example, there's no running around topless for the women. I mean, it's not a discussion, it's just not in there. So I can go for whatever I want, but in the end, who I am comes out, and who I am is American Christian (sorta - I mean all American, sorta Christian'ish).

But I'm not writing the brown skinned characters because of some sense of duty, but because I played "what if" and got to fantasy starring brown skinned people, black-skinned elf-like people (not brown, but BLACK), and there's also no sexuality limit so basically the whole society is bi-sexual and marry just whoever they fall in love with no matter which sex, and there's dragons, and there's a wooden train. And lots of good monsters. It all comes together in the novel, it all jibes, but it was fun playing "what if" and coming up with my own thing.

And part of what's cool about fantasy is you can do that! Just write the book you want to write. If you are black (sorry I don't like African American) you will be a black author no matter what you do, so just do it and you will be "hey, did you hear about that one black author such and so who writes about such and the like? He's awesome!"
I agree that in an ideal world, we fantasy writers would get to write anything we wanted without stressing out too much about how certain members of society might interpret it. Offending someone is inevitable no matter what we write.

Nonetheless, I'd like to play devil's advocate for a moment and remind everyone that in this world our stories don't exist in a cultural vacuum. Certain tropes in a story might seem harmless in isolation, but when placed into the larger cultural milieu can be perceived as contributing to toxic attitudes that hurt real people. For example, your decision to cover your black female characters' breasts in line with Christian norms could easily be interpreted as disrespecting real African culture*, which has already been bombarded with imperialist vilification. Obviously this is not your intention and I personally don't think what you're doing is wrong by itself, but then I'm not African or Afro-Diasporan myself.

It's easy to say we should just ignore "political correctness" and write anything we want, but practically speaking we can't always ignore the inevitable wave of moral objections. Especially not if we actually do support social justice or don't want to be seen as oppressive.

* Actually the different societies in Africa have many unique fashions with variable coverage of the skin, though it does seem that most don't have the same objection to exposed breasts as Christian Westerners.
 
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