what are some best practices you'd recommend for writers seeking to authentically and respectfully write BIPOC characters they don't share an identity with? where do writers ask questions in a respectful matter without demanding BIPOC people do their education for them?
-- as a follow up to some of the stuff you were talking about earlier
These are some tips from my own experiences writing people of other ethnicities, as well as how I generally engage in surveying opinions for the queer and bipoc societies and organisations I’m involved in.
Assuming this is outside of a collaborative project, most people don’t typically have access to irl persons of the ethnocultural identity they intend to write, but this shouldn’t be an unassailable barrier.
Established creators: You have the option of going to creators and influencers who are already engaged in this work of creative diversity and are willing to take questions. Some offer assistance on their time in exchange of a gift or token of appreciation. This should be respected, if one respects that BIPOC educating others is not free labour/service.
Communities & Platforms: If you have the chance, join an online community or search out “Ask <insert demographic>” platforms, where there’s people of that culture, esp. if they’re a writing-dedicated space. I don’t recommend Quora because people on there seem to consistently be panderers. I’d be careful of Reddit, even though this is typically the option I go to. You can find others in Tumblr communities and Discord. For an online platform, typically those who answer are those who are already interested in engaging and those who don’t—will just scroll.
Inviting a conversation: Alternatively, if you have an ongoing platform with fans already, you can always put out a question to the general public on your own platforms and invite a conversation. I’d say for this option, be careful as your fans could be people already in agreement with you and you might miss out on opposing views.
Interviews, Surveys, Anonymous: Interviews are more personal and relational approaches whereas surveys could be more impersonal. Anonymous submissions help in inviting others to share especially difficult anecdotes and insights into their livelihoods. Pick something that you feel capable of handling.
Show Initiative: Showing up with some information that shows you’ve taken the initiative to do your due diligence prior to seeking out direct assistance. You can phrase your gathered information as a question, and admit doubts about your own research, to show that you are holding space for the possibility of being wrong. Rather than coming off presumptuous that your pre-gathered information is already whole and correct. Ie “I heard <thing> from <insert source>, is this accurate to you? Are there views that differ from this?”
Address your enquiry to the collective: This prevents overloading/pressuring any one person. It sets up a dynamic of you going to the group so they would likely answer with the collective in mind, and your education being at the collective’s liberties. You can also platform their answer if they’re OK with that.
Consensual and non-coercive: Especially when it comes to potentially personal questions, you always want to make sure that the other person does not feel pressured to respond, may omit any details they wish, and has a way out to pause or end the conversation. You could reassure them. “No pressure to answer if this is too <intrusive/weird/offputting>…”
Center their voices: Leave behind what you’ve heard from authorities (no matter how ‘scholarly’) who are NOT from the culture. Do not argue on behalf of an alternative source, even if they are a part of the ethnocultural group—this sows division which isn’t an outsider’s place. Avoid presumptions.
Transparency: Make sure that there is somewhere where you can share your process for creation. It instils confidence in your audience/readers and your collaborators. And it will come in handy later when you have to show for it, and field questions for it. Marginalised persons want to know that you’re a safe place for them to explore.
Self-Awareness: Be aware of your own biases, limitations and prejudices that might play a role in your storytelling. Stories are never fully compartmentalised from their creators. Own up to mistakes. Own up to ignorance. Own up to prejudices and decolonial obstacles. And always recognise that there is room to grow. Learning isn’t linear.
Be Reasonable: Expect that your reach, audience sentiments and political awareness may evolve over the course of your writing/publishing. Be gracious in fielding criticism and feedback for how you portray someone else’s culture. As was brought up by @essiebitssie , perpetual learning is key. Expect to get things wrong and to not be aware/know of everything. Expect that what was acceptable previously may change overtime.
Be grateful: I tend to add a disclaimer that I’d be grateful/appreciative for any insight. I also thank those who participate and invite them back if they have any further thoughts they think would be helpful. Additionally, the peoples who help should be credited where they are comfortable with it.
Solidarity: It is necessary to be engaged with your audience, and to stand with irl marginalised individuals and their causes. It’s also necessary to give back where possible; by raising awareness (even through your writing), participating in activism, and/or through proceeds (financial or otherwise).
Diversity: Make sure to find a diversity of opinions and not just pick the one that affirms what you want. There are always going to be panderers amongst your sources, so try to pick someone intimately acquainted with their background. Hold space for regional and individual diversifications.
Integrity: Remember that you are representing vulnerable groups and influencing consciousness about them. For some readers, these may be the only indirect contact they have with these groups. For others? You might be re-affirming biases. Learn from the wrongs of others who have written about these cultures before you. It is necessary to depict cultures accurately and credit them accordingly, rather than creating an ambiguous appropriated soup. Instead of relying on your own values to retell historical events which are complex things, rely on the insights of those within the culture. Otherwise you could commit insensitivity towards these cultures.
Risk Assessment: Creators are not exempt from being complicit in institutional violence. Those I see who unconditionally support “It’s just fiction”, even when it applies to marginalised groups—are typically NOT of that marginalised group. As with every field of knowledge that fuels certain representations about different marginalised groups—any publicised work places certain people at risk. Understand that the risk involved and how you can work to prevent, or resolve any harms. This could even include getting someone of the marginalised demographic to proofread, adding disclaimers and engaging with your audience to defend against potential bigotries and more. It is your responsibility to engage with and manage your audience, rather than fuelling prejudiced behaviours.
Don’t shy away from politics: When an author tells a story that centers marginalised demographics of/paralleling the real world, and yet completely ignores the impacts of these marginalisations and what they mean to the real audience reviewing them—they are simply using that demographic as an aesthetic. Most of the time, these authors do so out of privilege, because they CAN ignore these political impacts irl. Creativity should not come at the cost of political irresponsibility. When an author doesn’t do the due diligence of addressing the real world politics in their fantasy world—it is real marginalised peoples who have to take on the labour to deal with it and add dimensions to it. It will never fall on the privileged persons to defend themselves from material harm incurred from media representation.
Average vs Exceptionalism: Where your story centers a POC, you’re going to have to decide what mixture of opportunity, pure luck, and character, are going into the characters’ successes or failures. You need to know whether you’re writing a “Chosen One” story, or if it’s on the basis of personality and how this leads to moralising and exceptionalism. And you’re going to have to be aware how this might either be un/relatable or what this tells your audience about persons of that demographic and their struggles.
Values and Morals: Whenever you portray a story and want to write someone “good” vs “bad”, be aware of how you’re defining these in the first place and from which social mores. These differ internationally, regionally, culturally and personally. Who are the “bad people” and what defines them, also differs. I find that a lot of American authors frequently have a very one-dimensional idea of their villains and antagonists, and fail to capture the struggles of other cultures. Avoid single-model oppressions, and learn of the models of power and oppression amongst the communities you write. Systemic privileges allow for some people to be central to these categories, express themselves or exhibit certain behaviours safely and with reward compared to others—who might be accosted or sabotaged for the same.
Distinguish Flaws from Mechanisms: Be careful in distinguishing character flaws from trauma and survival mechanisms—especially those that come from systemic violence. Psychopathologising marginalised persons without necessary nuance has irl consequences. Even in psychology, we are taught that it can often and has been used to uphold systems of corruption and oppression, while deflecting the accountability for marginalised persons’ reactions and suffering. Distinguish between those that are deserving of empathy versus those that aren’t. Not everything needs to be weighted or treated the same.
Privilege VS Conditional Acceptance: As much as privilege does make a difference in which persons are most involved in upholding the systems, and which persons benefit most from it with lesser consequence—all persons are capable of upholding the system in different ways insofar as they play to the role they’ve been given in society. Make sure to distinguish between privileged persons and those who are actors for the system, who benefit from actions that award conditional acceptance. At the same time, do not downplay the violence of the latter group either.
Depicting Violence & Oppression: Be careful of what violence & oppression you’re treating carelessly in your world and what is normalised irl. If the violence you portray is already casually normalised irl, what is treated carelessly in your story will be hand-waved by those privileged, while it harms those who aren’t. Furthermore, that it can often lead to feeding into prejudices and bigoted behaviours which affects demographics irl.
You might also want to distinguish between lateral versus hierarchical violence, which is linked also to the difference between conditional acceptance versus privilege.
Significance and Labour: Make sure that characters of colour aren’t portrayed as NPCs, emotional soundboards for white characters or disposable sources of intimacy, or as expendable and expected sources of emotional, physical and educational/intellectual labour. Ensure that they have visibility, substance and presence in the story. And if they are to do any kind of labour, make sure it’s not portrayed as “expected”. If they are to be killed in a story, be aware that our deaths are quite common, carelessly treated or else sadistically portrayed in racially insensitive stories. You want to be sensitive when a character of colour dies in a story, and how you frame it will matter to peoples of colour amongst your audience.
Challenges of Autonomy: The autonomies of characters of colour is important, but do not come without their challenges and do not occur in the same way as their white counterparts. Their autonomies and these challenges should be centered in how their character progresses, their character arcs, their recovery, and changes in their behaviours and mechanisms.
Emphasise the autonomy of cultures in their own positive movements: Many western-backed stories often rely on white persons to be the saviours and bringers of positive change, which ends up repeating the same notions baked into history. That the white population are the only ones who have autonomy in shaping growth and positive changes, while everyone else is backwards and infants who don’t know any better despite being intimately within the culture.
“Progressiveness” VS culture: When it comes to depicting culture, most non-POC authors default to either writing that they are rigidly traditional, or that they are completely anti-tradition/“progressive”/“liberal”—as if it’s a binary. Whiteness and Eurocolonialism has frequently defined progressiveness by their own histories, values and methodologies while diminishing others’. Culture itself is constantly evolving and “progress” is not linear, so it would be ignorant to portray it otherwise and “in need of progressiveness” that comes from white elements.
These are all the stuff at the top of my head. I’ll be happy to discuss some more and field any further questions!
