Can white writers write non-white characters?

This past week, a group started a campaign on twitter #WeNeedDiverseBooks that trended for days. Blogs, twitter, tumblr, instagram facebook were lit up with people sharing photos, stories, ideas about how diverse books are both wanted and needed.

Diversity just means "reality," i.e. books (and movies, etc.) work best when they reflect the richness and variety of the real world rather than only representing one sliver of it. But diversity most often connotes race. And so lots of race questions rise up in this conversation, such as, is it okay for writers of one race to write from the point-of-view of a character from another race? Lisa Yee wrote her thoughts about this, which I appreciated.

Here's my own experience. When I was drafting The Goose Girl, I originally was going to make Bayern an African-type continent, everyone there having a deep-brown-to-black skin, while Kildenree would be the European-type continent with pale skin. I was inspired by Le Guin's Earthsea books. But I quickly realized the story required Ani to hide in Bayern, so she couldn't look too different from the Bayern people. I could have chosen to make Ani dark skinned as well but I decided not to, out of misguided respect and fear. As a white person, I was hesitant to try to speak from the point-of-view of someone of another race, even in a fantasy setting. I felt like I only had access to the heritage of my own bloodlines. So I based Bayern on Germany, both because the tale was recorded by the brothers Grimm and because it is one of the lands of my ancestors. I'm not saying that was the wrong or the right choice (I don't believe there was necessarily a right or wrong here), but that this was my creative process.

When I began a new series with Princess Academy, again I felt that I only had rights to the lands of my ancestors, so I chose to base the setting on Scandinavia. And the research and writing was a lovely experience for me.

While I was drafting Book of a Thousand Days, I was also studying about Mongolia, because my parents were about to go live there for two years. And the more I learned, the more the research slid naturally into the story I was working on. Perfectly. As if that had been my intention all along. I had a moment of crisis. I wanted to base the setting on medieval Mongolia, but did I have the right to appropriate a land I had no blood or familial ties to for my story?

Eventually I decided, yes. I am a human being. I can take inspiration from the stories of our shared planet. It was a little easier for me to make this jump since I wasn't writing a true historical setting but a fantasy kingdom inspired by a historical setting.

Dangerous is my first young adult book not set long-ago-far-away but in our own world. I don't remember my exact thought process in deciding to make my main character biracial with a Paraguayan-American mother and white American father. There was reason to have a bilingual character and the choice seemed interesting for the story. The supporting cast also has a Russian-American, African-French, Korean-American, German-American, and African-American. These choices make sense in the story, but if this had been my first book, I don't know if I'd dared to make them. Again, out of misguided respect and fear, I might have been hesitant to try to embody the experience of a character who has a different race than me. I think that would have been a mistake. This story makes more sense, is richer, and is truer with the diverse cast. If I'd tried to write this story with an all-white cast, that would have been forced and untrue, because it wouldn't have reflected the actual world the story takes place in. Making creative choices from a place of fear (even fear mixed with loving and honest respect) is never a good idea.

I appreciate writers who are respectful of other cultures and experiences. And I don't think that every book needs to have a diverse racial cast. A book set in a town where everyone is white can exist. Those stories matter too. But I always want to make sure I'm open to what the story needs. And all stories (ironically perhaps, but especially fantasy and science fiction stories) need to have a foundation of truth in order to work. And the truth of our world is colorful, rich, expansive. I think it's wise, as writers, that we're always checking ourselves, making sure we're not just defaulting to all white, straight, able-bodied, non-religious, etc., characters. Not defaulting to Neutral. But keeping our stories open for the possibilities of diversity.

Comments

[Maria Turtschaninoff]

I am very happy to hear your thoughts on this, especially since I am such a fan of Book of a Thousand Days. I have struggled with this question myself. Whose story am I allowed to tell? Both racially speaking but also concerning gender, sexual orientation etc. And the conclusion I have come to is: We are all humans. As long as I write about each character as a fully rounded, complex human being and not a stereotype, I think I should be able to tell any and every story.

[Eliza]

I like that the cast of Dangerous is diverse. It's easier to picture them in my head that way. So when Jacques' name shows up on the page, I think, "That's the black guy" instead of "Um...that's the guy who isn't Wilder or Luther...what does he look like again?" Same with Mi-Sun and Ruth. I do this with movies a lot. If there are two actors with the same coloring and body type I get them confused.
But sometimes, I think people get overzealous with the whole diversity thing. Awhile back, I read this short, mean spirited internet review of Austenland. It said it was "only for white straight cisgendered upper middle class women". Aside from copy and pasting the IMDB summary into the article, it didn't say much else about the movie. I feel like reviewers have a responsibility to describe the plot of a film, not just the diversity of the cast. Books and movies are for whoever happens to like them.
I like your posts. I could've used this the first time I tried writing outside my race.

[elenajube]

Thanks for this. It's a scary thing to attempt, writing about what you only know from the outside without offending the insiders.

I'm dealing with the same issue in my current WIP and keep thinking, "How dare I write about this culture when it's not mine?" And then I think, well, duh! I dare because I love this culture, and it's under-represented, and I wish people knew more about it and respected its richness more. And I want to give people a chance to identify and empathize with a kid they would normally never have a chance to get to know. Isn't it all about creating empathy? Maybe I'll fail at capturing everything someone else closer to the culture would, but still, I'm human, and hopefully the humanity is what people see in the end...

[Evelyn Coleman]

As an African American writer I smiled reading your respectful commentary. I also wondered what would prompt white writers to respond to the call for more diverse books? I am a believer if you know or learn a wealth of information first hand about a culture then surely you should be able to write about it no matter who you are....I always say, "if you have rocked the babies of that culture then you should by all means feel comfortable in doing so." My pet peeve though is that most white writers that I know don't bother to learn first hand. Even though my grandmother once claimed a Native heritage doesn't mean I know anything about Native peoples...so if I were to write about Native people on a reservation, I would move on a reservation or near one first. And my character would be outside the reservation. I have long loved the culture of the Romany, so my solution was to meet some of them and teach them how to write their own stories. I am amused though that each time I hear a call for diversity in children's literature, I also see a slew of white writers feeling that some how this is a call for them to introduce diverse characters....and I say if you are a part of a culture other than your own or even if you immerse yourself in one then go for it. Otherwise, I don't really think you are being invited to add to the cannon from your own limited knowledge. In my mind the authentic way for white writers to bring diverse characters to stories is for them to live life fully in a diverse world. I don't mean you speak to other ethnic people at conferences or say hello at meetings I mean you visit their homes and get to know their families and invite them into yours to know your family. Then when I read your books and come across some information related to my African American people in my same socio-economic background I won't have to grit my teeth because I am not reading a stereotype. And as I had to explain to a writer years ago, "no your maid and her family visiting once a year does not count."

[n]

This is how I usually think: If you're uncomfortable about doing something then don't do it. Simple as that. I get bored when people drone on and one about how they want to write about non-white people, but are too scared to do it. Sit in your place then! Write what you want. Personally, it's difficult for me to sit through today's books because none of them have much to do with my cultural background. I think the notion that writers gain more by writing about stuff they usually don't write about is a bunch of bull.

No one is capable of doing it, because no one in this world knows about everything. You can research all you want, but for as long as you never had that first hand experience growing up in that culture, you will never write it well. You can write about other cultures you want, but it does not necessarily mean that you're more worldly or experienced.