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Original Poster
#1 Old 13th Aug 2014 at 3:23 AM
Default Writing People of Color & Minorities
Hello! ~
I posted about my story many months ago but I have a different issue now. I'm about 26,000 words/85 pages in on my very rough draft and I'm encountering the problem of writing minorities. I'm not sure if it's because of Tumblr's waaayyy too easily offended attitude or if their arguments are actually justified, but it's stressing me out to the point where sometimes I don't even want to write at all.

Okay, so the first issue is this: one of my main characters is half African American (or Black, if you prefer?) and I am basically just writing her how I'd write any other character...is that okay? Some people seem to think I have to make race a Big Deal, but I don't know how to do that. I don't want to make her a 'sassy Black lady,' because I find that an oversimplified stereotype for one thing, and for another, this is a fantasy novel, and one of her parents is Elshia (my fantasy made-up race) so she'd be raised partially with that culture, which is vastly different from American culture altogether. So basically she has a healer's personality and is kind and gentle and not totally 'sassy,' or whatever. And prejudice presents itself in the discrimination of her Elshia parent as a lower-tier element, as well as American racism.

My second issue (and I'm embarrassed about this one, and it'll take a lot of explaining...) okay. So in this story there are classifications of elements that everyone gets - fire, water, wind, earth, light spirit, neutral spirit, dark spirit. The most powerful Elshia (that's the made up race) are in the big seven and are born every hundred years (which I'm reconsidering that arbitrary time but it's not important) and there are fourteen of them, one male and one female. When they get the physical manifestation of their element they're kind of transformed and stuff. So, I had the 'brilliant' idea when I was planning to have the pairs be all matchy and stuff (race-wise, including Elshia) and now I'm SERIOUSLY regretting it...and it wouldn't be that hard to change. I should just change it, right? Oh, god, this is so embarrassing. I feel horrible. I'm a terrible person. Just kill me now. (for the record, it wasn't because races 'should be together' or creepy bullshit like that, but it was related to the physical manifestations of their powers being drawn to similarities and stuff. Also I made water, wind, air, and fire have human blood and the spirit-based ones be full-blooded Elshia because the spirit-based ones are more powerful. I doubt that would offend anyone...I think I'll still change it though, at least for the human-based ones)

OKAYYY. So that's problem #2. Problem #3 is that in my made up race I was just going to have people have skin tone anywhere from medium-dark to light because they live in a temperate climate and I couldn't find any logical reason for them to have super dark skin when there is no hot desert or anything? Unless I'm mistaken and there could be a reason for it. I mean, I could just make my own rules I guess? I just don't know...

Problem #4 (really, I have too many problems) is that I was going to make one of the main characters trans*, but I was also making him quiet, and is that a stereotype? I have no idea. I seriously have no idea. Knowing my luck it is. And do I have to make him being trans* a Big Deal, too, because I was just going to write him like a normal character? With normal appearance and wants and fears and stuff like that?

Oh also apparently describing dark-skinned characters in terms of food is wrong? Like chocolate-colored skin? I don't even know if I have done that. But apparently I need to stop. And I need to describe them 'as intensively as you'd describe a white character.' Except I think I need to work on my descriptions because I just don't describe anyone that well, probably. I'm just like, 'hair color, eye color, yup, we're good.' But anyway, I'm probably doing 5 million other things wrong that I don't even know about and it's stressing me out a lot.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
bleed-in-ink.tumblr.com
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Forum Resident
#2 Old 18th Aug 2014 at 5:00 PM
I can't speak for the POC questions, as I am not a person of color and don't feel like I'd be fit to answer that!
However, I am a member of the LGBT community and I know many people who identify as trans and have studied these things in my own time, so I can try to comment on that:

First of all, I don't view being quiet as a stereotype. It's more along the lines of a personality trait. However, the character being trans should be a big deal... but it's important to mold the "big deal" to be something realistic. I'm saying this because trans erasure is a prevalent thing, from what I've seen. If your story's setting is prejudiced towards trans people, you should have that reflect on the trans character. And perhaps the character could experience anxiety of sorts. Considering he's FTM, he'll probably wear binders to give him less of a "female" appearance. And if this isn't set in a fantasy world (so it's a fairly "alternative" modern world), there might be an equivalent to testosterone and surgeries in your world. If there is, you could do something about how he wants to have a surgery and maybe have him get testosterone (or the equivalent) in the book. But your story doesn't seem like it'd have those things, so perhaps you could have him think about it often or make remarks about it.

"Normal appearance"- That's a difficult thing to answer because normal is so subjective. I would say take what's "normal" in your story and go from there.
Wants and fears- He should have both "normal" wants and fears and trans related wants and fears (such as binding, surgeries, testosterone, etc.). Trans people do have extra fears and wishes than cisgender people do, and your story should reflect that.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should make being trans an important part of his life, but you shouldn't let that define his personality or traits. I would love to read a book with a trans person in it, and I would be kind of... angry if that character's identity was basically "ignored" or incorrectly portrayed, because by doing that, people are contributing to the oppression and erasure of trans people.

And I know you didn't mention anything about this, but I just wanted to say/remind you that gender identity doesn't have anything to do with sexual/romantic orientation. A trans man can be gay, straight, asexual, etc. and the same goes for trans females.

Overall, thank you for being inclusive and asking to make sure that you're portraying your characters correctly. I think you're going in the right direction.
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#3 Old 18th Aug 2014 at 8:32 PM
Aw hon, calm down! The best advice I've seen about writing minority characters is really simple: write a character. With depth, believability, motivations, backstory, etc. etc. Then make them minority.

As long as you're writing with respect for your characters - you're not falling back on stereotypes, you're giving equal attention to the good and the bad, you're not writing single-dimensional caricatures, and you're not using "Because they're <minority>" as a reason/excuse for actions that have nothing to do with the minoritiness - you're unlikely to be writing anything intolerant. What's more, you're likely to be writing good characters. You've got to pick aspects of your characters which are going to be more or less significant for them, as motivations and plot points etc., and being part of a minority is often a good pick as a more significant aspect, because it often comes with some character-forming hardship, especially if you ever write realistic settings. But you don't have to pick that: you can make it as big or as little a deal as you like, as long as you integrate it all into the character (e.g. a character who lives in a transphobic society, who has historically been transphobic themself, and realises they're transgender, is unlikely to brush it off. But a character who transitioned long ago, in a totally open society, and lives a life in which their former sex makes little difference, you might barely even know they were trans).

The thing that we all really want in media is representation. And we're gonna have representation when we have all different kinds of minority characters in fiction, just like we have all different kinds of minority characters in reality. Adding to the diversity of minority representations? That's fabulous. I want minority villains and minority heroines. I want minority characters who completely break their minority's stereotypes, and those that fit them. I want minority arseholes as well as minority saints, minority characters who grow and improve themselves and minority characters who throw it all away. And I especially want intersectional minority characters. It's not offensive to design a minority person as a person, rather than designing them as a minority.

And, finally... it's good to listen to criticism, but you also have to be able to filter it. Criticism is always suggestions, even if the criticiser doesn't think it is. People - especially on tumblr - can be good people, passionately arguing for a good cause, and still get it wrong: you are just as qualified to figure out if something is offensive or not as anyone else is, so long as you approach the question with compassion, respect and a level head. So if you can't see why something you've written could be offensive? It probably isn't. And if it is, someone will explain why - not just "That's offensive!" but "That's offensive because...", and you'll have made an honest mistake and you can apologise and fix it, and anyone who's still bitching after you've done that is well worth ignoring.

Above all, hobbyist writing should be fun, so don't be afraid to turn off the comments and rely on your own instincts for a while, if the criticism is getting too much.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 20th Aug 2014 at 7:58 AM
Base your characters on real people, people you know.
Field Researcher
#5 Old 20th Aug 2014 at 10:14 PM
It sounds like you're dealing with a few things here. 1) Is the fear of being fingered for a racist if you DON'T point out "racist" things aka by making a big deal out of little things I prove that I'm good. Unfortunately, that leads to 2) You end up sounding more moronic by making a big deal out of little things. Which ends up at 3) You actually might be racist as you can't let go of stereotypes and are upset because you apparently imagined a character as white and then felt "deceived" when you learned they were black. Just like people used to get upset over white looking blacks.

That's been my conclusions when people would get upset with my black characters who weren't "black enough" for them. Apparently, I'm a racist. Once they realize I'm black they shut up. Some even apologize saying if they "knew you were an African American..." I hate that. It shouldn't matter what race I, the writer, am. Am I not allowed to write white characters? Because I do and no one ever says one word about it! If I'm writing characters from a place of truth that should be enough. African Americans are AMERICANS! We've been here for hundreds of years. We're not another species. Yes, there are sassy black women, but I know sassy white women, too. (Sassy is something all women are capable of!) Just like in any group, the loudest personalities get the most attention because they enjoy attention. Quiet and in-between people don't need a spotlight so they get overlooked.

Write your entire story without listening to those so-called "experts on everything". When you're finished, give it to someone you trust to read it over. If you know someone who's black or LGBT let them look it over, too. Or a kind observer that you find out there in the cyber world...just getting another pair of eyes who understands you're not pure evil can better help determine if anything is actually offensive or if there are just some things you should address for realism.

The only thing I think you need to really think about based on what you've shared is how much of current earth history has actually happened in your world? Is it alternate history? 100 years into the future? A completely other world? The current state of everything is based on the history of everything. If history is changed, then you change the present. What's different, what's the same and why? Being black or trans shouldn't be made into a big deal if it's not a big deal in the culture you've created. Otherwise, the characters will seem fabricated just to show that you know minorities exist and are sympathetic to our "hardships" (and that is so irritating). So, pay attention to what kind of a world you're building and craft characters that fit that world (not our world).

Finally, I describe my skin as lighter than an almond nut, but darker than a peanut shell. Peoples of the brown skins (races & ethnicities) tend to describe themselves more thoroughly than the lighter complexions will describe us. We don't see ourselves as merely light, medium and dark skinned. That's overly simple. There are too many shades of brown. A brown skinned character like yours will notice that. I have never heard a dark chocolate person get upset over that term because everyone loves chocolate. We describe ourselves with many words including food like almonds and peanuts, Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, brown sugar, coffee, coffee with cream, hazelnut, butterscotch, toffee, gingerbread, caramel, wheat, cocoa, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon... there are more but that's off the top of my head. Plus, we use skin undertones like red, yellow, pink, blue, purple, midnight... We see ourselves as being very diverse so an actual black or brown person will not be offended if you describe a character's skin by comparing it to a food's color. Unless you want the character to have a complex about their skin. People with deep pain over their skin don't use positive, lighthearted terms like yummy food or pretty colors. More like mud, dirt, tar, rust... brown things people don't like. We will also use negative color descriptions for people we don't like. A black bully would never compare skin to yummy sexy dark chocolate. Oh no! Someone who thinks that's offensive is very likely not of the black or brown skinned color nor hangs out with such people and doesn't know what they are talking about so should be ignored!

Memory Games A Sims 3 Thriller Mystery
Banned
#6 Old 21st Aug 2014 at 2:33 AM
"I says writes that Mother Fucker the ways you sees to writes it!!! Naw I Mean, lol!! If'n she be bitch then make she a bitch...know what I'm sayin. It's like this...you gots ta be true to the game to your writing style...AND most of all your Character. Yup Yup!!" Time fer timer...!

*Words taken from my Simmies Mouth, he told me to tell ya!
Test Subject
#7 Old 22nd Aug 2014 at 5:17 AM
Okay, so. I'm black (I'm not sure why but I felt like I was meant to say that), and none of this is really offensive. I've never really like the whole chocolate-skin thing but people do it. I'm going to assume you're white (I'm really sorry if you aren't), and it would be like me saying "milky skin". It's weird right?

I think it's just me but I hate the whole "people of colour" thing. It's so weird. But I think it's just me so you could keep that too. I'm not really sure why people are upset when I bet most of them aren't "people of colour" (ugh.)

This story sounds really interesting though. Are you posting it anywhere?
Field Researcher
#8 Old 22nd Aug 2014 at 6:33 AM Last edited by NaeShelle : 22nd Aug 2014 at 1:08 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by efolger997
Okay, so the first issue is this: one of my main characters is half African American (or Black, if you prefer?) and I am basically just writing her how I'd write any other character...is that okay?


That's fine. Perfect, actually.

Quote: Originally posted by efolger997
My second issue (and I'm embarrassed about this one, and it'll take a lot of explaining...) okay. So in this story there are classifications of elements that everyone gets - fire, water, wind, earth, light spirit, neutral spirit, dark spirit. The most powerful Elshia (that's the made up race) are in the big seven and are born every hundred years (which I'm reconsidering that arbitrary time but it's not important) and there are fourteen of them, one male and one female. When they get the physical manifestation of their element they're kind of transformed and stuff. So, I had the 'brilliant' idea when I was planning to have the pairs be all matchy and stuff (race-wise, including Elshia) and now I'm SERIOUSLY regretting it...and it wouldn't be that hard to change. I should just change it, right?


Now this point is a little more sketch. Your world is a fantasy world so it's fine but you'd just have to be very careful in how you handle same-race couples simply because of representation. Blah, blah, blah I won't get into it, you should be fine.

Quote: Originally posted by efolger997
OKAYYY. So that's problem #2. Problem #3 is that in my made up race I was just going to have people have skin tone anywhere from medium-dark to light because they live in a temperate climate and I couldn't find any logical reason for them to have super dark skin when there is no hot desert or anything? Unless I'm mistaken and there could be a reason for it. I mean, I could just make my own rules I guess? I just don't know...


That's fine too. It may come up to others as an issue bc super dark people get no representation & yo, it'd be nice if we could see ourselves in some novels every once & a while but that's not *your* responsibility. It would make sense, in your novel, for people to be the skin colour they're gonna be. No sweat.

Quote: Originally posted by efolger997
Problem #4 (really, I have too many problems) is that I was going to make one of the main characters trans*, but I was also making him quiet, and is that a stereotype? I have no idea. I seriously have no idea. Knowing my luck it is. And do I have to make him being trans* a Big Deal, too, because I was just going to write him like a normal character? With normal appearance and wants and fears and stuff like that?


I'm just gonna skip this one bc I'm not trans* & I don't wanna speak for trans* folk. But just know, going out of your way to make marginalized people live up to their marginalization is just as big of a problem as not including us. We're people. Write us like you would everyone else.

Quote: Originally posted by efolger997
Oh also apparently describing dark-skinned characters in terms of food is wrong? Like chocolate-colored skin?


Yeah, that's hecka creepy. Not a slight against you or anything, but I cringe when I see author's refer to someone skin color as "chocolate". No. That's weird.

Edit - just read Qnshr5's post. I'm an "actual black person" & I promise you, being referred to as food is very, very strange. I've never called myself by such terms & I've never heard those around me do it either. It's one I've always had bestowed upon myself by others but, please. Don't. There are fifty million different ways you could describe someone's blackness by not resorting to something faintly fetishistic or, on the other extreme, blatantly hurtful (like tar).

Queen of the Land of Typos.

Check out my simblr.
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#9 Old 22nd Aug 2014 at 11:29 AM
Does your fantasy world even have chocolate? :P

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Field Researcher
#10 Old 23rd Aug 2014 at 7:18 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Nysha
Does your fantasy world even have chocolate? :P


That's a good point. And if you do, does anyone even like it? It could be a put down. You can use other words, too, like ebony or a moonless midnight sky or a raven's feather... I like the more poetic descriptions myself. I don't think I've ever actually described someone as chocolate, but I know people who describe themselves that way. Chocolate became popular, I believe, because dark skin has a lot of stigma against it. There was definitely such a thing as being too dark when I was growing up. You did not want to be the darkest skinned kid in school. Those kids got teased by other black kids and other kids in general. (Back when the standards of beauty were white, everything else was not right.) I'm aging myself, but I remember "dark chocolate" becoming a big deal in the late 90s (ish) when it was used in black sitcoms like The Steve Harvey show where they would have debates on the "mocha man" vs the "dark chocolate" man. It's at that time that I noticed lots dark skinned kids/adults start to proudly call themselves various chocolates. (It was probably already used, but the shows made it popular especially among young people.) It helped people feel good about themselves at a time when the alternative words were often cruel. I think today it's way over used and we can find more diverse words. Medium and light brown skins have a lot of words to describe themselves and there aren't much for dark skin that are used. Find new descriptions to diversify the language. But remember that you can't please all people all the time. You can either worry about them or do you.

Memory Games A Sims 3 Thriller Mystery
Scholar
Original Poster
#11 Old 27th Aug 2014 at 3:02 AM
Wow, thank you so much for the replies!! Haha I kind of knew I was freaking out wayyy too much, but still it's easy to do.

LoonehWannabe - My character is actually MTF - did I say that? Whoops, I said she was male because she starts out as male at the beginning of the book and transitions in the second or third book - if I write that far. Sorry for the confusion. And I plan to make it an important thing for her but not the *only* thing. And I did actually know about sexual orientation. I like to be educated on such things as much as possible. Trans* characters in my book face significantly less discrimination than they would in this world, but it's still there to some degree. Or at least, apprehensiveness and such. I would probably use magic for transitioning (which, I'm sure would be super awesome if trans* people in this world could do that! Like, if only...) So I don't think surgery would be needed.

For those asking about what my fantasy world entails, it is a world separate from ours, actually on another plane of existence, but a totally fantasy world (though it's tied to the modern world, so the book would be classified as urban fantasy and not high fantasy). The social dynamics are such that no one gives a shit about human race, but they do care about human blood--somewhat like Harry Potter--as well as elemental ranking, which has nothing to do with race whatsoever (you could be fully Elshia and still get a super low tier element, and thus be classified as lower class). Of course, there is the suspicion that if you have human blood you'll get a lower-tier element, but it's more prejudice than anything.

Based on your responses I'm not sure about the whole food thing, lol! My characters would know what chocolate, coffee, etc. looks like. And I personally wouldn't mind being described as having "milky" or "white chocolate" skin. I may have seen "milky" somewhere, but not "white chocolate," haha. This actually reminds me, I used to have a friend who was Indian and when she was searching for foundation colors, hers was 'toast.' Toast! That was pretty bad. We were like...'so, burnt toast?' But I'll probably just say 'golden brown' or 'dark brown' or something like that. That should be decent enough; white people are basically just described as 'pale' or 'golden.' (Or occasionally 'olive' which makes no sense to me. I've never seen an actual white person with 'olive' skin.)

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
bleed-in-ink.tumblr.com
Scholar
#12 Old 31st Aug 2014 at 11:03 AM Last edited by TotallyJW : 31st Aug 2014 at 11:38 AM.
I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but DON'T listen to the Social Justice Warriors on Tumblr for critique. There's honestly no pleasing those people. Make a PoC character too stereotypical and you're racist, make them not stereotypical enough and you're whitewashing. Too few PoC is tokenism while too many is fetishization. I would stay far away from those types when looking for critique. I've seen them spin their tale around many aspiring writers, which only served to leave them confused and demotivated. Sounds like that has already happened to you, actually.
Please remember that many of those people are actively trying to look for things to be offended about, and even though I might get hate for saying this - many of them are nothing more than common schoolyard bullies.

I'm white myself, as you can see on my avatar, so I can't really speak any further about that. But I'm gay and identify as genderqueer, so I can give you my 2cents on that. I've seen a lot of people abstain from writing LGBT characters out of fear of doing something wrong. Don't be Even if a LGBT character is being portrayed in a less than optimal way, I still prefer that to being ereased (unless of we're in hateful propaganda territory, of course) To give you an example, the game Patapon 3 has a MtF character, Miss Covet-Hiss. Her being trans is played as a joke for most of the game, which is problematic, but I still love the character to death, and I'm glad that they included her.
The Tumblr people can be very unforgiving. One mistake and you're a scumbag. Last year they bullied the author of Gunnerkrigg Court to the point of him contemplating suicide, because of a mildly tasteless joke on Twitter. But really, there's nothing wrong with making mistakes. It's how we improve, and if people would put down their pitchforks for a second they would realize that most mistakes are caused by wellmeaning unawareness, and not bigotry.

I've also seen people who think that they can't give their LGBT characters any flaws or risk being seen as homo/transphobic. I actually find that more offensive, because it paints an unrealistic image of what LGBT people are like. We can be shitty people too. I can attest to that
To give you an example from one of my own stories, which is a fantasy/slice-of-life. One of the characters is a homoromantic asexual, and frankly.. he's an asshole. The first impression my future readers will get of him is that he's a loudmouth jerk and a bully, and it's only much later that it's revealed why he is behaving this way. (Short version - he is constantly afraid and in a "fight or flight" mode, because reasons, but hides it behind anger). I've thought a lot about whether or not I should change him to something more positive, but in the end I've decided that's how I want my character to be, and I'm sure as hell gonna duke it out with whoever wants to scream Offensive! at that.

I hope some of this could be of use.
And 85 pages, nice! Keep it up!

“I MAY BE A HOGWARTS STUDENT" Hargirid paused angrily. "BUT I AM ALSO A SATANIST!”
Falco - The original Prombat
Field Researcher
#13 Old 6th Sep 2014 at 3:23 PM
Quote: Originally posted by TotallyJW
I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but DON'T listen to the Social Justice Warriors on Tumblr for critique. There's honestly no pleasing those people. Make a PoC character too stereotypical and you're racist, make them not stereotypical enough and you're whitewashing. Too few PoC is tokenism while too many is fetishization. I would stay far away from those types when looking for critique. I've seen them spin their tale around many aspiring writers, which only served to leave them confused and demotivated. Sounds like that has already happened to you, actually.


Or not.

The problem I have with people bashing tumblr SJ blogs is that not ALL of them are bad. There are several blogs that would & do give writers genuinely useful criticism. Writers just have to be willing to seek them out & listen to them, or otherwise not get upset when they're called out for being problematic.

You might think bad representation is better than no representation but for a lot of us, it gets really old, really quickly. Tokenism, fetishization & whitewashing are all VERY real issues & there are, unfortunately, many more ways to portray a character of color incorrectly than there are correctly. That doesn't mean you stop trying to educate yourself. (Also, people have the right to demand that they're represented correctly, even if you don't agree with the way that they're doing it.)

To OP: Just focus on finding good (PoC-run) blogs that are willing to work with you. If they seem to angry, then fine; let them be & move on. Some people are only going to be there to blow smoke out of their asses & fire up yours, but there are some really good, very educational blogs out there that shouldn't be passed up just because of everyone else's bahvior.

Queen of the Land of Typos.

Check out my simblr.
Scholar
#14 Old 6th Sep 2014 at 3:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by NaeShelle
Or not.

The problem I have with people bashing tumblr SJ blogs is that not ALL of them are bad. There are several blogs that would & do give writers genuinely useful criticism. Writers just have to be willing to seek them out & listen to them, or otherwise not get upset when they're called out for being problematic.

You might think bad representation is better than no representation but for a lot of us, it gets really old, really quickly. Tokenism, fetishization & whitewashing are all VERY real issues & there are, unfortunately, many more ways to portray a character of color incorrectly than there are correctly. That doesn't mean you stop trying to educate yourself. (Also, people have the right to demand that they're represented correctly, even if you don't agree with the way that they're doing it.)

Yeah alright, don't appreciate the confrontational tone at all. I didn't do anything to deserve that.
First off, you're taking my words out of context. Here's something from my post, in case you missed it.

I'm white myself, as you can see on my avatar, so I can't really speak any further about [writing PoC characters]

I really don't like how you basically twisted my words to make it sound like I said "Yeah sure, just go ahead and write stereotypical PoC characters. They probably won't mind". If that honestly was the message you got from my post, then either my english is worse than I thought, or you need to stop looking for nefarious undertones where there aren't any.

Half of the question asked was how to write LGBT characters. I am one of those myself, so I responded to that. Okay? And of course I don't think it's cool to be badly represented either. I can see how that part was badly worded, and I apologize for that. What I meant to say was that I'd rather see an author make an honest try and fuck up, than give up beforehand. That was all I meant.

So could we.. please not turn this into a fight? I didn't mean any offense, and I'm sorry if I said something wrong.

“I MAY BE A HOGWARTS STUDENT" Hargirid paused angrily. "BUT I AM ALSO A SATANIST!”
Falco - The original Prombat
Field Researcher
#15 Old 6th Sep 2014 at 4:02 PM
Quote: Originally posted by TotallyJW
Yeah alright, don't appreciate the confrontational tone at all. I didn't do anything to deserve that.
First off, you're taking my words out of context. Here's something from my post, in case you missed it.

I'm white myself, as you can see on my avatar, so I can't really speak any further about [writing PoC characters]

I really don't like how you basically twisted my words to make it sound like I said "Yeah sure, just go ahead and write stereotypical PoC characters. They probably won't mind". If that honestly was the message you got from my post, then either my english is worse than I thought, or you need to stop looking for nefarious undertones where there aren't any.
Half of the question asked was how to write LGBT characters. I am one of those myself, so I responded to that. Okay? And of course I don't think it's cool to be badly represented either. I can see how that part was badly worded, and I apologize for that. What I meant to say was that I'd rather see an author make an honest try and fuck up, than give up beforehand. That was all I meant.

I would really prefer if we didn't turn this into a fight so.. could we not do that, please? I apologize if I offended you. That was not my intention.


Confrontational? Sometimes I forget this is the internet. Despite my lack of positive emoticons, there was no confrontation intended. Forgive me, my character is made of equal parts snark & sass & I have a hard to reigning them in.

However, you told the OP to not listen to SJ advice give on tumblr because there's no middle ground. Assuming your English isn't truly that bad, I took it for what I read & what I read I didn't take to be very good advice. Sorry? But my point was that there ARE good blogs out there & your whole blasé attitude concerning the aforementioned issues seemed just a tad bit unwarranted.

Lol, I'm not looking to start a fight, just sharing my opinion. If anything I say seems rude, I apologize - I have no reason to be rude to you, so I certainly don't mean to be.

Queen of the Land of Typos.

Check out my simblr.
Scholar
#16 Old 6th Sep 2014 at 4:12 PM
Quote: Originally posted by NaeShelle
However, you told the OP to not listen to SJ advice give on tumblr because there's no middle ground. Assuming your English isn't truly that bad, I took it for what I read & what I read I didn't take to be very good advice. Sorry? But my point was that there ARE good blogs out there & your whole blasé attitude concerning the aforementioned issues seemed just a tad bit unwarranted.
Aight, point taken. I have my reasoning for why I said what I said, but of course my perspective is not everyone's perspective. I apologize for that.
The rest of my original post, the non SJ parts, I still stand by all that.

Sorry I got a bit on the defense there. This being the internet, I always assume the worst.

“I MAY BE A HOGWARTS STUDENT" Hargirid paused angrily. "BUT I AM ALSO A SATANIST!”
Falco - The original Prombat
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