#desi coding

Anonymous asked:

I think I've read myself in circles on handling coding and potential stereotypes. I'm writing a fantasy novel that has a bunch of magical humanish-oids that all go to school together.

World building Context: 

A thousand years ago, all magic users were humans. Humans as we know them today separated from magic itself and wizards, elves, faeries, and dragons came to exist. The faeries practiced magic in a specific way for so long it became ingrained in their being and dragons spent so much time in dragon form (they used to be, for all intents and purposes, animagi) that became their natural state, and the human form is their second/animagi state, elves are an own-story creation not relevant at the moment. (I hope that makes sense). The MC is a wizard, her friend group has folks from each of these backgrounds. 

Since this happened all over the world there are dragons (DB) and faeries of all ethnic backgrounds. The main two dragon characters I have are black twins, there are other DBs at the school who aren't black but the main two are. The dragons aren't scary - they're traditionally the treasure keepers, bankers, and museum curators of wizard society because they have utmost respect for property and gold (as you would if you knew how damn hard it was to track down ancient relics and find gold after the humans started digging it up!). They aren't seen as scary, but powerful, and the twins are going to be well rounded distinct characters (high level: feminine, soft, but powerful in pink and her brother is queer, super smart/thinks reading enough can solve any problem).... but still Dragonborn. I have seen posts in the past where this type of casting (?) might be problematic - traditional to OUR world dragons are scary and the villains, these two are human but clearly non-human "animal" born - and others where the emphasis was on the importance of character and context.

The school itself is diverse because... that's life and also my reality in Canada. All of the magic/ancestral humans including the wizards aren't any one specific race and that will be clear/shown in the book  (wizards are as human/not human as the rest, non-magic humans are just referred to as Humans, everyone else is Fae, Elf, Wizard, or Dragonborn("DB")). 

My first question is: when world building these types of characters/elements and one comes up against a potential stereotype is context and character development actually able to be enough? Are there guidelines on how to ensure it is enough before beta readers/sensitivity readers? Are there things to avoid (non-specific to each type of magic human) that might be a confounding problematic Thing? (Naturally, I know there are limits, like there will never be okay Jewish coded lizards human for example).

More Context: The main faeries are going to be South Asian/probably desi - I haven't found anything in my research to red flag that yet re:stereotypes but I'm still looking. 

My second question is: With the separation of magic/human culture being a literal millennia ago, is there a way to know how "much" coding to include? The physical characteristics will be coded,  I was thinking that their names (Dragonborn too, also an ethnically indigenous wizard [I haven't done enough research to know their specific ethnic background yet]) should definitely relate to their homelands even separated from humans since they're still in the region, but things like cultural celebrations/values/formal wear that have changes so much in that time + these characters are at this school because they are in Canada aka at some point in the last XYZ years their families moved here + each magic human type having their own culture specific to their community... circles, I have read myself in circles on your wonderfully helpful Tumblr

Worldbuilding

There isn’t a cut-and-dry answer to your first question. Some stereotypes have a variety of means of representation, though they fundamentally tend to come from a sort of xenophobia. This can be expressed through jokes, through exoticization and sexualization, as well as through derogatory descriptions and associations. Understanding your confirmation bias and use of stereotypes is going to be based on your deconstruction and metacognition about your writing. Have you found yourself reflecting stereotypes in your writing? Have you found examples as of yet that you’ve gotten stuck on?

Contextual development can help with stereotypes to an extent. If you don’t make direct associations to stereotypes and actively work to limit them in your worldbuilding, you can limit some of what may pop up. Same goes for character development. 

Beta/sensitivity readers are there to help review your writing for parameters that you request. That is what you pay them to do. If you’re looking for stereotypes in your writing, you can ask your sensitivity reader to look over it with fresh eyes and evaluate whether you are or not. Keep in mind that whoever is working with you will have their own set of biases and experiences; the best way to evaluate your work for stereotypes would be to ask a variety of people to read through your draft and see what they think. Take a look at this post for more information.

There aren’t really specific guidelines for when you can or cannot give your work to a beta/sensitivity reader. I would suggest doing so after you’ve gotten through enough drafts that you have the narrative structure, the characters and their arcs, and the general tone of the story down to the nitpicky things, because it will give you more room to work on things you might not be able to see.

In terms of other stereotypes, avoiding sexualization, isolation, and demonization are always a good rule of thumb. I would caution you about potential demonization of the faeries and the dragons even if they are equally respected because of the common tropes that surround these groups. You can look here for our guides on specific tropes or search the archives for the stereotypes tag for more detail.

Coding and South Asian faeries 

As for your South Asian faeries, look here for Mod Jaya’s reasoning on why you’ll have to tread carefully in your coding: Characterization for South Asian-coded characters

Try to consider your bases; will they simply have the physical features? The Fae didn’t come from Hindu mythology, nor do we have a very transferable alternate mythology that would work for the circumstance. How do you plan on reconciling the different aspects of their background? Think about it as you design your characters.

The amount of coding you have is going to be dependent on the story you are trying to tell. Physical coding is great; make sure that you’re not doing so with stereotypes and derogatory descriptions. Check out this link for some background on coding with nonhuman characters. Think about what you’re writing and decide on the elements that will fit in with the flow of your narrative. 

You can probably include ‘national’ holidays that everyone celebrates, and then more specific holidays that relate back to your characters’ backgrounds. In terms of food/clothing, consider what they will have access to in a melting pot environment, and what they will have held onto, as well as their preferences for cultural expression. 

For example, I wear salwar kameez to dress up in my daily life, but I probably wouldn’t want to wear a lehenga to something like prom, just because I would want to make sure that the dress would be kept well for when I’m actually obligated to wear it.