Indie Publisher Drops Author Over Twitter Dispute Regarding OwnVoices

[zodgory]

Another day of drama on book twitter though the current argument is about who can write what. It all started when writer Alisha Hillam tweeted about how white authors shouldn't write from the POV of non-white characters and should have sensitivity readers. This also goes for cis/het authors writing LGBT+ characters and abled authors writing

Comments

[surfermedley]

So all the heroes should be white then? As most books are written from the hero's POV. And POC should be reserved for sidekicks and tag a longs and villians? Hmmmm and what about if I write in 3rd omniscient? Does that not void your POV distinction?
Lol, The other person literally laid it out for her in plain English but she still insists on arguing a point that wasn’t even being made in the first place.

[vaels]

mte. the way she was posing these questions was clearly in bad faith imo. why even bother engaging further at that point.

[justrachna]

My problem with white authors writing non white main characters is that it’s obvious they are doing it for points and to tap into that market, pushing non white authors out of the market. It’s never done well and always feels like pandering. I think that’s what the person is trying to say, but I am so tired and drained from a bad period this month and I still have another two hours of work left so this post and the chris pratt posts aren’t making much sense to me currently lol

[muffintiem]

$10 says she didn't even read her contract so she doesn't realize there's probably a provision for this

[vintage_boom]

i think at this point businesses wanting to break contracts can claim racist outbursts as an act of god.

[musicnkisses]

I kind of don’t understand. The argument the initial tweet made was that white people shouldn't write POC POVs. If you don’t give your characters a voice then they end up being props. We should elevate minority writers but I don’t think the solution is saying “white people don’t poc povs” because then all you get are tropes and distant characters, or worse, stories with no minorities in it. I understand this argument in the context of some stories, like that white lady from last year (?) who wrote a story about Mexican immigration and detention. But like a YA or romance novel that’s not heavily focused on the minority experience? I don’t see the problem.

Again, it’s be better if we amplified minority writers. But this line of thinking will lead to more problems down the line.

[ms_mmelissa]

IA with this completely. I have more film and TV examples re this but I know of lots of different media where the characters are poc but the creators are white. This doesn't always work and sometimes there are obvious tells but even when it fails I think it's interesting.

Also a good rule of thumb is to have characters of colour when the story isn't about race but about something else, but at the same time it's important to weigh how race would effect the story. IDK it's a delicate balance and I truly don't mind artists trying, you can usually tell which ones are coming from a good place even if the result is a little clumsy.

[sweet_heloise]

Yeah, it depends on the subject matter but even with YA or romance novels, you have people like Rainbow Rowell who wrote an Asian love interest and it just came across super racist. I've read plenty of romance novels with black characters where the white author describes their skin tone in a very strange and fetishising manner. White authors need to put in more effort like researching the cultural backgrounds of the people they're writing about. And not being racist.

[musicnkisses]

Yeah, in these cases I like the idea of sensitivity readers. It sounds like the best way to make sure minority representation in white written novels isn’t fetishizing and demeaning without jumping to the conclusion that the story shouldn’t have minorities.

[snortingcoke]

saying that if white people don't write poc voices, they'll all be whitewashed heroes and pov just shows that she thinks only 'good' authors are white. no, they're just the most published.

[addictedgal]

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