Writing What You Aint

[The Dark One]

Having re-read the diversity advice, I approach this subject cautiously... but it's a subject that interests me greatly and worthy of discussion.

I am a white, male heterosexual who writes books with "adult themes". I also write speculative fiction which means I have all sorts of "what if" ideas which turn up in my stories, including what if ideas about people who do not share my key descriptors.

We read all sorts of articles these days about the importance of including characters of diverse backgrounds and persuasions in our stories, and I have never set out deliberately to do so but I am finding that my stories are wanting to go in particular directions. I have a lesbian fabliau in a half written crime novel - because that's what the characters want. I have a main(ish) character in my new sci-fi release who decides he is bisexual in the sequel - which makes total sense as the story unfolds.

Thing is, to what extent am I setting myself up for the hard scrutiny of the authenticity police when they twig that I am neither lesbian nor bisexual? Yes, that's a bit glib, but it's a serious question. To be honest, I'm not remotely concerned about being called out, but I do want readers to feel my characters are authentic - even though I have no experience of how such different people feel.

To some extent this is a very selective debate because no-one knows exactly what it was like to live in Tudor England or on a planet far, far away... but there are millions of such stories and we all accept that the stories are just figments of the authors' imaginations. But it's completely different writing today about people with disability, or people of different ethnicity or orientation, or any number of other conditions (which I mean in its natural sense - not as a pejorative). People of different types will read some books with great suspicion when a type with which they identify is involved. I can understand why.

I am not criticising that either - I am starting a conversation about how you write what you aint. I should add that my books aren't pornographic but there is sex in them and quite a focus on the internal narrative. How on Earth would I know what is going through a 40 yo woman's mind when about to have sex with another woman for the first time? How do I know what a 28 yo man is feeling when propositioned by another man to whom he finds himself attracted?

I can only imagine what such people might be going through and, the way I write, when dealing with any character I am totally in their head. That means - to the extent this is possible - that I am a 40 yo lesbian... that I am a 28 yo bisexual. Some readers might hate me for that.

The readers want diversity but they also want sensitivity and authenticity.

If you've been in this position, what is your approach?

How do you write what you aint?

 

[JBCrowson]

Thanks for starting what I hope will be an interesting debate.

A few thoughts, not necessarily organised logically...
Men have written characters who are women, and vice versa. While some are better than others at portraying people different to themselves, it is possible to do it well. I read somewhere recently (I forget where) an exchange about an actor preparing for a scene when he was meant to be exhausted after 3 days with no sleep. He turned up to the set having stayed up all night and slept rough. His colleague suggested instead he try acting. I guess I'm trying to say as writers we are like actors in that we attempt to portray a range of people. A good actor and a good writer can do that believably.

I think we are at a moment when some people will prefer that main characters be written by an author who identifies in the same way as their MCs. Personally I am unconcerned by that. I think such people may miss some good books by their choice, but I'm sure we all miss (or at least do not read) a great many very well written books.

As to how do I approach it, I guess like I do other aspects of writing: research, practice, thinking of people I know who belong to that group and how they would react.

 

[Rexenm]

I thought about this. My conclusion, was gender decides. A different genre will also have a different staple reaction. I myself know that one cannot be from a diverse background, where they have done everything, nor can one guess at what another person is thinking, feeling. A person is like a box. They cannot open their own lid.

 

[Queshire]

Hmmm... for me I would say that the most important thing would be to consider how the status would end up changing the context around the character.

That 40 year old lesbian wouldn't just be a 40 year old lesbian. Is she a 40 year old lesbian who spent that entire time in the closest? Only knowing of other LGBT people from the news/paper, never meeting one in person and quietly despairing at the idea of ever finding love? Has she spent her life out and proud only, ya know, maybe a bit nerdy or awkward and this is just the first time things have lined up for her to have a relationship? Is she someone who only recently realized that she's a lesbian? What must it be like to suddenly redefine your conception of yourself? (We're writers you know. Certainly it's not exactly the same but we can imagine a character suddenly learning that they're... I don't know? Descended from royalty? A magic clone? Not actually the chosen one? We can use that as a baseline.) How would she react to it in the moment? Worried that she's going to mess everything up and make a fool of herself? Grief at spending so much of her life not looking at the truth of herself? Excitement at exploring this new aspect of herself? People are complicated. Different people can react to the same thing in different ways so there isn't just one answer.

Of course, rule one is to write them like they're people. None of your characters should just be stereotypes. Make sure they've got depth. Pretty basic writing advice there.

Second, try to talk with people from the group you're writing and see what they're tired of seeing. Like, I can tell you now, don't write your lesbians like they're in a porn flick and don't have your bisexual character become a slut bunny as soon as he realizes that he's bi.

Third, I think that you just gotta accept that there's going to be small things that you'll miss. There's the small pains and aspects of being part of whatever group that end up just becoming part of their world without even thinking about it.

 

[The Dark One]

Third, I think that you just gotta accept that there's going to be small things that you'll miss. There's the small pains and aspects of being part of whatever group that end up just becoming part of their world without even thinking about it.

I think that's good advice. You can't be all things to all people. But of course she's not just a 40 yo lesbian. She's been a very complex character in the first book then things change profoundly in the second book. And yes, she's excited... which is where it gets complicated for me, and the person I'm imagining.

 

[Finchbearer]

One example of when it can go wrong is The Help, because a white author wrote about the oppression of black people. In recent years it had a major backlash, with the actress who played one of the main character going as far as to say she regrets taking the role. The backlash occurred years after the book and film were even made. How do we know as authors if one day our book will be deemed offensive because of a new version of right and wrong?

In this day and age, I think that there are some that would place the responsibility on the author when representing oppressed or minority groups, insofar as it would be out of place to not represent what your writing about, but is that really what the job of a writer is? I’m not so sure. Of course take care with the subject matter you are dealing with, be sensitive, and be aware of representation, but I’m just not sure it needs to be as restrictive as it perhaps is becoming.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

We have a very diverse cast in the Books of Binding, so I do this pretty much every day. It's a matter of doing your homework and then doing your best to get into your characters' heads first as people, as unique individuals, and then to learn to see the world and them through the filter of their experiences, and yours. We're writers. We infuse everything we create with slivers of our own souls and that does need to be taken into consideration.

I'm sure everyone has seen this before, but I'm going to post the link again because Writing With Color is too valuable a resource to leave on the cutting room floor. I always advise writers looking to write beyond the common narrative to start here, and then keep going. This blog alone is a treasure trove, and the links are not to be missed. Also, there is a wealth of material to help you and to inform your work with authenticity and compassion.
https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F94223998982
You've so incredibly come to the right place for help on this one. Many of us write with an eye to stretching beyond our comfort zones to include characters whose stories are not often told, and to shine light in those dark corners so that all of our readers can feel seen. Everyone deserves to be the hero in the media they consume, at least sometimes. It can go wrong, and we do make mistakes, and often we are called out for them. We deal with it by owning it and doing better moving forward. It's that simple. Writers need a thick skin in any situation, this is just one more.

Thanks for joining the good fight. Welcome! The shrimp puffs are on the buffet.

 

[JBCrowson]

I thought about this. My conclusion, was gender decides. A different genre will also have a different staple reaction. I myself know that one cannot be from a diverse background, where they have done everything, nor can one guess at what another person is thinking, feeling. A person is like a box. They cannot open their own lid.

I hear what you say, yet if we are to write any character that is not ourselves, we must represent believably the thoughts, words, feelings of another person.

 

[pmmg]

I can only imagine what such people might be going through and, the way I write, when dealing with any character I am totally in their head. That means - to the extent this is possible - that I am a 40 yo lesbian... that I am a 28 yo bisexual. Some readers might hate me for that.

Imagining it and committing it to paper is all your are supposed to do. All of this falls in the category of give the story what it needs.. I will never be a lot of things, but I am going to write about them anyway. Some may not like it, and so what. Nothing I write will be able to escape the criticism of those most tuned into their issues. But they don't get to tell me what I will write. There is no super authentic way to write it, there is no accounting for how an individual might feel or act in any situation, no matter their background.

Write it well, write it true, and write it they way you see it.

 

[Mad Swede]

This is something I have strong views on, partly because I am so severely dyslexic that I'm classed as disabled.

Should we as authors write a character who's life lie outside our own experience? I say yes, and I'd support that with what Tomiwa Owolade has to say on the subject...

The problem with white saviours

Or, as Kit de Waal writes: "If we want to have black characters in our work, we need to ensure that they are fully rounded, viable, flawed, sometimes unlikable but believable and authentic people, not representative of a whole culture but representative of themselves." Well, pardon me, but isn't that the basis of all good writing? That we have rounded characters, representative of themselves. As writers we should be doing the research and character development needed for that.

To put it on a more personal level, as someone who does have a disability I don't like other people deciding for me what is and is not insensitive and/or patronising. I don't have a problem with a non-dyslexic author writing a dyslexic character. A really nasty joke or character comment about my disability can be perfectly OK in the right context in a work of literature. It's the context that matters, and it's the contextual nuances (which can be quite subtle) which all too often get lost in discussions on sensitivity, predjudice and bias.

As authors we have the freedom and the right to take on any topic we want, and handle it in any way we like. With that comes the responsibility to accept that our work will be subject to criticism, and that some criticism will be harsh. That is when we as authors make our choice. I for one will not avoid sensitive topics or depictions in my books. Ultimately it comes down to my ability as a writer, my ability to put these things in a context appropriate to my work in terms of characterisation and setting. If I do it well then I can defend my work - as indeed I must do. Because that freedom of expression is what separates democracy from dictatorship.

So my approach is simple. I write the characters I want in the setting I want. But, I do my research first, then try to write rounded and well-developed characters which fit into the setting I have created.

 

[pmmg]

Well, pardon me, but isn't that the basis of all good writing? That we have rounded characters, representative of themselves. As writers we should be doing the research and character development needed for that.

Thats about the size of it.

 

[ThinkerX]

I dealt with the whole 'gender diversity' thing in my tales mostly by ignoring it - it is simply not relevant most of the time.

That said, I do have an aggressive lesbian character in 'Empire' - but she was a commander in an all-female legion, so...justifiable. I have an unpublished short story (slated to become a series of shorts) that has a gay character, the result of spending much of his life in a sort of all-male 'monastery,' though that is not really the right term. As humans are scarce in that corner of that world...it seemed justifiable.

 

[Queshire]

Ok, well that sounds like a good example of what not to do. =/

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Ok, well that sounds like a good example of what not to do. =/

What does?

 

[Queshire]

There's nothing wrong on its own with having a lesbian heading an all female mercenary company or a gay guy in a religious institution, but looking at a character, seeing that they don't have access to the opposite sex and going "yep, they're gay," because of that is like trying to balance a pyramid on its head.

 

[ThinkerX]

There's nothing wrong on its own with having a lesbian heading an all female mercenary company or a gay guy in a religious institution, but looking at a character, seeing that they don't have access to the opposite sex and going "yep, they're gay," because of that is like trying to balance a pyramid on its head.

Didn't mean to go this far into it, but...

Francesca DuMars, the former Amazoni commander, is...inspired by my tough aggressive lesbian niece. Many, but by no means all the members of that legion were lesbians. Think of the Amazoni as a sort of social refuge for women of that orientations prior to being disbanded. (I didn't go into it in the books, but the popular perception of the lady's sexual orientation probably contributed to their disbandment.)

Walter Wheat, the.... monk of sorts, is a lonely and twisted person. His homosexuality is integral to that. He is, at best, something of a shady character. (In this world, he'd likely be on a 'list.') Calling the place he was raised a 'monastery' is only semi-accurate. 'Monastery-Prison' might be a better term, because, barring extraordinary circumstances, the monks (mostly nonhuman) were not allowed to leave on pain of death.

 

[Queshire]

I see.

 

[The Dark One]

Well, this has gone to an interesting place...

As I expected.

 

[Prince of Spires]

There are a lot of different sides to this. The first is to realize that there is a group of people you'll never be able to please. They will complain if you don't include (enough) diverse characters. And they'll complain you don't know what you're talking about when you do include them but you're not part of that group. Some people are just serial complainers.

Another side is that while you aren't a 40 year old lesbian, you share the most important characteristic with your character, and that is that you are human. You have loved for the first time, you have been surprised, exited, been nervous and so on. While your experiences might be slightly different, they're not so different that you can't say something about them.

You don't need to have experienced the exact same things to write a believable story. After all, I have never seen readers complain that the writer of a crime novel wasn't a serial killer and thus could never write a believable one.

Yet another side is that no 2 people are the same and experience the exact same things and feel the exact same way. You could fill a room with 40 year old lesbians, and all of them would have experienced different things, and felt different things at different times in their lives. You could even take the same person on 2 different days and they'll have different thoughts and feelings about the exact same event.

In the end, the only thing you can do is to treat (all) your characters with respect. Don't make them the good or bad guy because they belong to one group or another. Don't make it the only defining character trait. Treat everyone like a human being, and you're good to go.

 

[Karlin]

If you are writing in order to sell, then the thing to do is to identify your market niche, then write what they want. So if your market expects diversity, then by all means put that in. If you are writing what you want to write, the story that you have to tell- then don't worry about diversity, and add the characters that the story calls for.

How to write about them? If you possibly can, talk to someone who is of that type, whatever it is. My example: I'm writing about a reformed drunk. I have never been really drunk in my life. But I know a reformed drunk, who helped me out. If I wanted to write about an Sumerian teacher, this would be hard to do. But it's unlikely that I'd be found out for being inaccurate.