In my corner of publishing Twitter, many people have settled on the rule that a white person should write books with diverse casts—but may NOT write a non-white “POV character” because the author can never truly know what it’s like to experience the world as a person of color.
I think this is silly – most authors don’t know what it’s like to experience the world, period, as we’re on the couch in our pajamas making up stories. Fiction = imagination. But also, it seems regressive to dictate that for white authors, POC can only be secondary characters observed by white people. That’s not going to prevent lazy stereotypes.
The other argument is that it’s wrong for a white person to profit from “stories that aren’t theirs” – profits that should have gone to an author of color. People imagine publishers rejecting books by authors of color because they already gave those spots to white authors writing similar (but less authentic) stories.
I’m sympathetic to the idea that some stories aren’t mine to tell, especially “what it’s like to grow up as a person of color” books. Yeah, I could do the research, but there’s no good reason to try. And if “diverse books” lists were full of books by white authors, I would think that was unfair.
But to the extent that this was a problem in the past, we have already overcorrected for it. Your book about little Maya will never be published, and that's for the best. But I don’t believe books about homicide detectives or space pirates must always map on to the author’s exact identity.
I'm glad we got to hear from someone in publishing -- thanks for chiming in! And your "we're all in our pajamas on the couch making up stories" is as well-taken as any point could possibly be taken.
One point I didn't get around to in the article is that we should probably differentiate between stories that are "about X experience" and stories that just HAVE people of different races in them. It's hard for me to imagine deciding that I'm the right person to write the first type of story (this is basically the Maya Angelou joke). But most writers are inevitably going to encounter situations where it makes sense to write people of other races (you can't write "Friends" in 2021 because an all-white friend group in NY seems weird), and for anyone to say "you couldn't POSSIBLY understand someone with different demographic characteristics" just seems objectively untrue.
<<I think this is silly – most authors don’t know what it’s like to experience the world, period, as we’re on the couch in our pajamas making up stories.>>
Lol, I love this comment so much.
I completely agree. This whole strain of argument is just silly. But it also really disturbs me because it seems pretty clearly focused on the wrong goal. By attempting to police who can tell what stories, you're restricting non-white people's output (in a super condescending, unbelievably obnoxious way, I might add) and discouraging white writers from centering non-white characters, thereby ensuring less representation. How exactly is that supposed to be *less* racist?
(side note: Remains of the Day is one of my favorite books of all time, not so much because of the specifics of the subject matter but because it is a stunningly well-written and engrossing novel that features the absolute best execution of an unreliable narrator I've ever encountered. The idea of it never being published makes my heart ache, so that was a very effective example!)
Yeah, producers and agents (who are often white) telling non-white writers to "write about your experience" is an open joke in the circles I run in. It can be INCREDIBLY condescending, basically "hey, don't you probably have some story about being raised by a single mother or something?" Real bad stuff, and it doesn't respect them as artists.
And yes: Remains of the Day is really good! I'm glad he wrote it!
About a year ago ago I read Underground Airlines by White Guy Ben Winters which was published in 2017 and I thought whoa-ho-ho buddy you just snuck this one in under the wire! It was a decent book, not a stunning favorite, but an interesting idea for sure. But the premise alone would get a white guy cancelled these days.
I’m so pleased you wrote about this topic because it’s ridiculous and deserves to be excoriated as such.
Good luck on your book! Back in 2004 I wrote a series about a young orphaned witch named Helen Porter and I’m still trying to get an agent to bite.
That article in the link is amazing, for the story it tells about Dutton, Simon and their project, but also how so little has changed, and yet this reporting is so, so much better, so much more thoughtful in explaining what the irritations of a Dutton or Dionne Warwick about portrayals of black people to white people are, than what we get from the Times these days
In my corner of publishing Twitter, many people have settled on the rule that a white person should write books with diverse casts—but may NOT write a non-white “POV character” because the author can never truly know what it’s like to experience the world as a person of color.
I think this is silly – most authors don’t know what it’s like to experience the world, period, as we’re on the couch in our pajamas making up stories. Fiction = imagination. But also, it seems regressive to dictate that for white authors, POC can only be secondary characters observed by white people. That’s not going to prevent lazy stereotypes.
The other argument is that it’s wrong for a white person to profit from “stories that aren’t theirs” – profits that should have gone to an author of color. People imagine publishers rejecting books by authors of color because they already gave those spots to white authors writing similar (but less authentic) stories.
I’m sympathetic to the idea that some stories aren’t mine to tell, especially “what it’s like to grow up as a person of color” books. Yeah, I could do the research, but there’s no good reason to try. And if “diverse books” lists were full of books by white authors, I would think that was unfair.
But to the extent that this was a problem in the past, we have already overcorrected for it. Your book about little Maya will never be published, and that's for the best. But I don’t believe books about homicide detectives or space pirates must always map on to the author’s exact identity.
I'm glad we got to hear from someone in publishing -- thanks for chiming in! And your "we're all in our pajamas on the couch making up stories" is as well-taken as any point could possibly be taken.
One point I didn't get around to in the article is that we should probably differentiate between stories that are "about X experience" and stories that just HAVE people of different races in them. It's hard for me to imagine deciding that I'm the right person to write the first type of story (this is basically the Maya Angelou joke). But most writers are inevitably going to encounter situations where it makes sense to write people of other races (you can't write "Friends" in 2021 because an all-white friend group in NY seems weird), and for anyone to say "you couldn't POSSIBLY understand someone with different demographic characteristics" just seems objectively untrue.
<<I think this is silly – most authors don’t know what it’s like to experience the world, period, as we’re on the couch in our pajamas making up stories.>>
Lol, I love this comment so much.
I completely agree. This whole strain of argument is just silly. But it also really disturbs me because it seems pretty clearly focused on the wrong goal. By attempting to police who can tell what stories, you're restricting non-white people's output (in a super condescending, unbelievably obnoxious way, I might add) and discouraging white writers from centering non-white characters, thereby ensuring less representation. How exactly is that supposed to be *less* racist?
(side note: Remains of the Day is one of my favorite books of all time, not so much because of the specifics of the subject matter but because it is a stunningly well-written and engrossing novel that features the absolute best execution of an unreliable narrator I've ever encountered. The idea of it never being published makes my heart ache, so that was a very effective example!)
Yeah, producers and agents (who are often white) telling non-white writers to "write about your experience" is an open joke in the circles I run in. It can be INCREDIBLY condescending, basically "hey, don't you probably have some story about being raised by a single mother or something?" Real bad stuff, and it doesn't respect them as artists.
And yes: Remains of the Day is really good! I'm glad he wrote it!
Yes, if white writers can only have POC side characters isn’t that precisely the definition of tokenism?
I think the best course of action is for all white people to stop writing, just to be safe. On that note, I formally retire.
It’s about time someone cancelled Kazuo Ishiguro!
About a year ago ago I read Underground Airlines by White Guy Ben Winters which was published in 2017 and I thought whoa-ho-ho buddy you just snuck this one in under the wire! It was a decent book, not a stunning favorite, but an interesting idea for sure. But the premise alone would get a white guy cancelled these days.
I’m so pleased you wrote about this topic because it’s ridiculous and deserves to be excoriated as such.
Good luck on your book! Back in 2004 I wrote a series about a young orphaned witch named Helen Porter and I’m still trying to get an agent to bite.
“The current madness is a perversion of a legitimate critique.” Spot on! Bumper sticker this.
So…about David Simon and The Wire: Charles S Dutton was *very* suspicious of him while directing The Corner:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/race/061100scott-corner.html?scp=8&sq=Black%252520Man%252527s%252520Cry&st=cse
That article in the link is amazing, for the story it tells about Dutton, Simon and their project, but also how so little has changed, and yet this reporting is so, so much better, so much more thoughtful in explaining what the irritations of a Dutton or Dionne Warwick about portrayals of black people to white people are, than what we get from the Times these days