Black American here.About 2 months ago I commented on a Facebook post in which somebody so many people were correcting this white writer for attempting to have black character(s) in their story. Not an all black cast-just somebody black in the story. I found it very telling that all of the people who corrected and sometimes attacked the poster, were white (according to their profile photo). So, I just chimed in and said that you really don’t need to do “research if 1) your story is not race related and b) you have worked with black people on the job. I mean if you were going to send a group text about an incident that happened at work that involved somebody black, Indian, Latino, you old not research first to make sure you are wording it right. The other thing is that the idea of research-or that I or the guy who posted this video can be found in research and that we have the same family dynamics, goals, activities is ludicrous. We first and foremost identified with being military. I don’t think you will find me in that “research”, because the research tends to stereotype. Generally doesn’t include black writers, black republicans, blacks who identify by their socio-economic group, etc. You have learned about various people at work, not because of their “category”, but because you have like interest-kid issues, money issues, boss issues, even religion/political issues. I grew up military between Germany and the states along with many other black families and white families. Our activities were surrounded around visiting wildlife, taking road trips, picking fruits to be canned, fishing, going to the library, and while in Germany my parents sometimes entertained several military couples. Fast forward some decades and my son likes to go to the shooting range, studies Hebrew, composes music. Another child is into acting, daughter who is really into animals, boating, camping etc…and this is one family. Two more into other things and they each have their own on political beliefs.

I wish I could give more than 1 thumbs up. Great video. I'm a writer (white by race) who is currently doing a book of 7 short stories. Five of the story lines are interlaced so I want diversity in the characters (after all, that's the world we live in). I do have to recognize my ignorance about particular cultural aspects if I seek to have the characters come across authentically.

I watched this with interest as a white writer writing a story set in the present day, and present day includes people from different ethnicities. As a writer who wants to do right by people, I'm scared because it's damned if I do and damned if I don't. Maybe I misunderstood, but it sounds like he concluded that I shouldn't write black main characters at all, even if race is not the topic. I don't want to consign my black characters to secondary status, but it might be the safest thing to do, and I don't like that.

Thank you so much for sharing your honest thoughts.

“My take on white writers writing black main characters” = “Just Don’t”

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this, really interesting. It’s been difficult to find real discussions about this topic online. I’m a white writer looking to write about a high school friendship group in the UK during the pandemic and how friendships changed, but I’m seeing more and more that i just cannot capture what it was like to be a young Black person when George Floyd was killed - i can only offer a white perspective. So what do you think about a collaborative project e.g. A book that two or more authors from different racial or ethnic backgrounds (let’s say a white writer and a black writer) work on together? Both authors work out the plot, setting etc together, but for example the white writer writes race-related experiences of the white characters and the black writer writes the race-related experiences of black characters. I have a friend in mind who might be interesting in writing the story with me. Would love to know your thoughts :) thanks!

@5Gburn

6 ай бұрын

You do know that not all black people even view the George Floyd incident the same way, right? I'm pretty fed up with the stereotypical perception that blacksare raised poor and continue to be financially needy, don't read, vote liberal, (interesting combo, those last two), think unfettered illegal immigration is fine (?!), need a sliding scale instead of standards to get into college, etc. ad infinitum. Now, you write a black character with *that* level indignation toward being stereotyped, and he or she will jump right off the page.

What do you think about black secondary characters? I have one in my story(I'm prepared to take the heat.) I'm writing a fantasy which mirrors our reality, and it's a fact that race is a thing. The main character learns from the black character to not let others words effect his emotions. It's messed up that people are messed up, but we all are. No matter our race. I think slavery is a part of our evolution as humans. It's messed up, but there's was no avoiding it. It's in humans nature to be violent and power hungry. White and black people have the capacity for evil. Some black people sold other black slaves, and some white people helped free slaves. I think slavery, and the aftermath, would happen in any world. It's part of our story as human. To not talk about it is disservice to the truth. Should we act like a painful history didn't happen? Ignore it, don't talk about it? Or embrace the truth?