The Dark One
Auror
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?
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?