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From Saturday's Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/10/as-lio...
I don't know if I'd care to share my views regarding freedom of expression with Ms Abdel-Magied. Something tells me the discussion wouldn't last very long.
Comments
Not being the sharpest pencil in the drawer
I need some help here. I read the linked article and another one referenced. Could someone tell me in a sentence or two what the 'beef' is. What did Lionel say that was so offensive? Was it that if you wrote about being burned, you had no right to unless you had personally experienced being burned. Does doing extensive research about a topic not give the author the right to write about it? The whole series of diatribes confused me.
Portia
In the words of....
In the words of an old Gunny Sarge I served with, and pardon the French: "Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one."
The speaker had their opinion and so did the writer of that article. Now had the writer given more insight in her article as to what the speaker actually said, we could form a better understanding of the context into which it was said and either agree or disagree with one or both of the two in question.
The thing to remember here is that we are the sum of our experiences. While I wasn't born a poor female Haitian refugee that now lives in Miami Florida, if I need or wish to use such a character in a fictional story that I am writing I will. If that character in my story turns to prostitution to survive, it does not in any way insinuate that all female Haitians are prostitutes or that I am any kind expert in the Haitian culture and religion.
Now as an author, most of us will try to do as much research into how such a character with that background would act and feel in and about the circumstances we place the character into our story and use that to make the character appear as real as possible. Will we always get it right? No but we can get it close.
If I followed the logic in that article, all my stories would be about white males, not quite born with a silver spoon in the mouth, member of Mensa, that turned his back on all that while all his close friends became doctors, lawyers, engineers and successful businessmen.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Bankrupt
The argument of the article amounts to writing fiction is the equivalent of theft because there can be no fiction without using someone else's experience as a basis. Otherwise, you're writing autobiography or some other form of non-fiction.
She also ignores the fact that no one in the privileged groups she is railing against would even know about minorities without someone writing about them. And fiction connects emotionally in a way that non-fiction never does.
She rants against what she sees as elite privilege while demanding privilege for her defined groups. It's the defining hypocrisy of people who think they are being liberals and have achieved enlightenment. This is the sort of political correctness that conservatives point to when they want to blame liberals for social failures.
She has a point, of course she has a point. But a point is useful for targeted digging and poking and indicating; she's trying to use it as a club.
It makes me tired.
The rule here is, you can write pretty much anything that does not in my opinion damage the site. I remove five or ten comments a week, a blog or three, and in seventeen years, I've removed less than ten stories, half of those for plagiarism and only one for the intent to do harm to the site. Three others were removed for being short incoherent rants that did not qualify as stories in my opinion.
I will say that this woman is entitled to her position and a forum in which to put it forward; it's useful for discussion so it serves a purpose. She's wrong in the main, my opinion, but she's right to bring her view forward.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
It makes me wonder
If she will be leading protests against the upcoming Marvel movie Black Panther because Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the character or Spike Lee isn't making the movie or she has a hangnail or...
I think
A good rule of thumb, is if you are going to write about a marginalized person's experience actually do your research. When I see people featuring Latinx characters or native characters and making crap up about these communities it is really unsettling. It's lazy and there's no excuse. If you're going to have a non-white, or non-cis, or non-het character just all we're asking is to actually think about the character. Don't just throw them in there as an accessory without even understanding their culture. And don't tokenize us, is kinda all I ask really. Write whatever you like, just make sure if it's something that exists in reality that you at least have a basic understanding of it.
I know who I am, I am me, and I like me ^^
Transgender, Gamer, Little, Princess, Therian and proud :D
You must have a real problem
You must have a real problem with me as I use a Latino character who does ever stereotypical thing you can think of a Latino doing right down the rice and beans, rice and pigeon peas, thick accent, eccentric personality, loving demeanor, and large group of friends. About the only thing I haven't included is his love of watching Telemundo and Univision.
But then again, you don't know the author's background nor what they truly know. What you see as a bad representation or lack of research can be the honest truth about how someone really is. I know my character inside and out as I based him on my own family. Heck all of the Latino characters in my stories are based on people I know and grew up around. To some it would be an insult, but us it's just how some people actually are in real life.
My point is, yes we can be ignorant at times but there are others where it's the truth.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
Rules and Writing
While I try to get a character as right as possible, sometimes I have to wing it. My experience may/probably is different than yours. Sometimes you have to write what you know. Would it be acceptable if I just offered to refund the money you paid for the story? If your cost isn't too high, that is.
As for accuracy, did you miss the big sign that says "fiction"? Because this isn't a paper to be graded. It's a fun project. I quite honestly used to be a PITA regarding accuracy. Then I finally realized that we were reading something enjoyable, not something that's to be marked up. My experience on the horseshoe did not prepare me for writing fiction. Several of my stories now have the disclaimer: This is a piece of fiction. In my universe this is the way things work.
Finally, I'm to the end. Was posting your comments rather than sending an email to the author really that important? I can only guess that part of your comment was intended to embarrass the writer. I'll just let this lie there so if the shoe fits. . . . .
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin