Comments | moondancerdrake: One more thing…

moondancerdrake

One more thing…

Jan 23, 2009 12:19

Because of having a great deal of craziness in my life, and just being damn tired of drama as a whole (I mean like physically tired, could be messed up thyroid meds not helping as well) I’ve not made the post that’d been spinning around in my head regarding this whole cultural appropriation discussion and the topic of writing the "Other".

I chose ( Read more... )

social change, culture, race, writing tips, writing

Comments 27

browngirl January 23 2009, 19:08:56 UTC

This is well and wonderfully said. *beams at you*

moondancerdrake January 23 2009, 19:11:49 UTC

Thank, hun. We'll see if I painted a bullseye on my forehead or not (grin), wouldn't be the first time, likely will not be the last.

deakat January 23 2009, 20:02:23 UTC

I haven't had a chance to read everything, but I did read Elizabeth Bear's original post, and thought that it was full of wisdom, in trying to share her techniques of how she tries to write characters who are not her without Othering them.

Sure, it hasn't worked for everyone, but she is open to hearing where it didn't work, and trying to do better. I don't understand how anyone can be asked to do more, and especially don't understand why she has been/is being slammed for it.

I'm going to try to read more of the comment threads this weekend, in an effort to wrap my head around how this all exploded.

Thank you for bravely sharing your thoughts and experiences.

moondancerdrake January 23 2009, 20:46:59 UTC

Thanks for visiting. I think in the beginning Elizabeth Bear meant well, but after she was called on issues in her own work, some of her supporters said horrible things, few of which I saw her call them on. If my friend says something out of order, I figure as a friend I should call them on it. It seems Elizabeth Bear doesn't agree. That fact lost her and those supporters who were yelling their venom the loudest a great deal of respect in the fannish community, especially among fens of color...a fact Ms. Bear seems apparently unconcerned by. Here’s a good summary of the events that might help you follow the explosion. :)

http://navia.livejournal.com/220395.html

I hope this is helpful to you.

gunhilda January 23 2009, 21:17:17 UTC

Oh, this is such dangerous territory that I feel like I'm voluntarily jumping into a mind field with eyes wide open to even reply to this post ( ... )

Here from Rydra-Wong's links post sholio January 23 2009, 23:42:00 UTC

moondancerdrake, I hope that you don't mind me responding to this (and please, tell me if so, and feel free to kick me out if I'm making an ass of myself). Addressing myself now to the gunhilda's question(s):

I thought that moondancerdrake's post that you're responding to is actually a pretty good answer to what you're asking. Elsewhere, nojojojo has a very good, recent post: We worry about it too. My own recent musing on the matter is here - I'm not pointing this out to set myself up as an expert (because I'm not, and everything I'm saying here, and there, is a distillation of other posts I've read over the last couple of years, mostly written by PoC, and all of them far more eloquent than me), but my other post explains more thoroughly what I'm going to try to say - which is basically that we're all drowning in a sea of racist stereotypes that come out in our work unless we're consciously on guard against them (and often even then). Consciously choosing not to write PoC characters out of a fear of getting them wrong is just another form of this. As a writer, you can't not deal ( ... )

Re: Here from Rydra-Wong's links post moondancerdrake January 24 2009, 00:06:59 UTC

Sholio, I admit I am grateful that you responded in such a thoughtful and informative way. I’d been wracking my brain to come up with a more thorough response, since it seemed my post was unclear on this matter. Thank so much. I still can’t figure out how to do the lj user link in my comments posts like you did. Needless to say I am not very technically knowledgeable ( ... )

Re: Here from Rydra-Wong's links post sholio January 24 2009, 01:48:50 UTC

(Why do I only notice typos in my comment once it's too late to edit them out? Durrrr ...)

Anyway - thank you - though I'm really just collecting links to smart things that other people have said! And thank you, too, for the excellent post.

I still can’t figure out how to do the lj user link in my comments posts like you did.

Here is where I found out! It's a little tiny bit of code that you put around the user name. :)

Thread 7

anonymous January 23 2009, 23:40:28 UTC

I read a bit of the thread in navia's LJ, just to get some context for this post, since I admire what you've said here. Not being a PoC, I have never presumed to try and write the experiences of PoC. If I ever were to try it, though, I agree wholeheartedly with what you say- research is ESSENTIAL. Trying to step into a culture you have no knowledge of, a mindset, an upbringing, an awareness you have not experienced, requires research in order to understand even a little bit who you are trying to portray.