#imliterallybeggingyou

I should definitely preface this by saying that when I say I ‘write stuff’ ... what I actually mean is I procrastinate like it’s my job and hope that while I’m gone my characters develop sentience and write themselves

Something really rubs me the wrong way about writers and artists who create stories set in fantasy worlds employing a system of societal oppression that so closely follows real life oppression against people of color... but they make all the characters white. Not that minorities “own” oppression, but they do own their stories of oppression, and seeing them being blatantly ripped off for the purpose of made up conflict between two light skinned wizards or whatever - that doesn’t sit right. Characters facing struggles that queer people face every day are queer coded. The principle is the same. Sure, these are made up, fictional worlds and systems of society and politics. But here’s the thing: the people who wrote these worlds are from real life. And in real life, your ideas and beliefs influence your choices, right down to the people you choose to represent or misrepresent or not represent at all in your stories. Fantasy writers so often seem to think that diversity is majority white people with some coloreds sprinkled in. We’re living our own lives, writing our own stories; you just get to prescribe your way of thinking onto more people because of the very privilege that keeps you in your bubble. Put some damn diversity in your writing.