I love Neil Gaiman before I even knew who he was. I spent hours reading and rereading Coraline when I was 11 years old. Because I was 11, I didn’t give a crap who the author was and I’ve only recently realized he’s had his hands in so many works I loved as a child. Todays post was supposed to be an author blog spotlight post about his blog, and it isn’t. Yes, something has pissed me off enough to push that back another day. This post is going to be a little angry. If you have G rated eyes and would not like to read any swear words, please stop reading now and enjoy shaking your head at all these foul mouthed youths today.
I was browsing through twitter, and came across a tweet* stating that the reason there are not more minority main characters in books is that they are hard for white people to relate to.
Hard to relate to.
Let’s illuminate this, shall we? Yes, there are other cultures out there, and they are VERY different. As a person who has been to many other countries where the main population is not white, I can personally attest to the fact that people who do not look like me may not have the same motivations and fears in life because of being part of a culture that is not my own. Yet….hard to relate to, and therefore cautioned against?
MOTHER FUCKER.
Here’s the thing.
SOME OF THE BEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN WERE FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF MOTHER FUCKING ANIMALS. We write books where the main character is a goddamned elf from a different fucking dimension. We create entire different fucking universes and stupid ignorant mother fuckers can relate to that just fucking fine. The main character is a talking dog from planet Blargnat? Cool! The main character is Latino? Whoa, wait a minute there, that’s a little too crazy now. Are you fucking kidding me?!
Seriously. This is not cool on so many fucking levels and no one seems to give a crap. Well, here I am, giving a crap. Want to join me? I’ll make us some capes and vigilante masks, and we will fly around calling bullshit on people who say that a minority main character shouldn’t be used because they’re too hard to relate to.
My heart goes out to every POC who has tried to represent their own race and has been discouraged by others for doing so. I’ll never know that sort of frustration and sorrow, but I know it’s got to suck.
Of course, for those of us in the majority, this brings to mind a serious consideration. If you are a person writing about a minority* race or culture that you’re not a part of yourself, do your research. Also, understand that while it may be very easy for you to write about a 3rd generation Chinese man, writing about a Chinese man living in China is a completely different ball game, and unless you yourself have lived in China for many years, I’d advise against it. It will not come off as authentic, and inaccuracies in your writing (there will no doubt be many) will not sit well with people who have actually lived in China. And please, for the love of Stephen Hawking, if a person from the race your are writing about points out something in your writing that is untrue, exaggerated, stereotypical, or written in a way that seems off to them, LISTEN.
This has been your angry post for the month of May. Neil Gaiman tomorrow. I pinkie promise.
*This tweeter shall not be named, because to be honest I can’t find that tweet again and I think it may have been taken down
I Make Things Up 