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11/3/09 08:13For those of you who haven't been following RaceFail09, one summary is here, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rydra_wong brings the linkage. I'm not interested in dealing with any comments of the form "I haven't been following any of this, but (vague generalization about the issues)" or "I haven't been following any of this, but (a specific point that's been argued a couple dozen times)."
I've been following this since the beginning and... I didn't really feel like I had anything that needed to be said; and I didn't want to post just to prove that I was on the right side (although I've heard the other side of the argument, and I see a good case for it.) I may be a pro writer technically, but I'm not a pro sf/f writer (okay, I do have a contract for another book, and I am writing a fantasy book to fulfill that contract) and I don't have anything in print yet, so I don't really have any Pro Writer Authority.
But, after I got into a discussion on another journal, a few quick comments:
1) I get frustrated when people say you can't call out the racism you see unless you have, like, 100% absolute proof. Without even getting into the question of what it is that needs to be proved, and how you would go about proving it, this is like looking at a Seurat painting and saying that you can't say there's some trees and a lake and some people with parasols, because it's just dots. It's not just about particular instances -- it's about the pattern that you get when you put them together.
2) No one should ever be glib about knowing their own motivations. But least of all anyone who wants to be a good writer. Subtext is more interesting. Characters whose actions contradict their stated beliefs are more interesting. Characters who don't realize what's really going on inside their heads are more interesting. And they're also more honest. Really, if you want to be even a mediocre fiction writer you have to believe that people have subconscious thoughts and feelings. So why is it so terrible to admit that you might have subconscious thoughts and feelings about race? (Well, probably because they've learned that only Bad People are racists...)
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Between Round 1 and Round 2 of RaceFail09, a girl at my library gave me the first two chapters of her in-progress vampire book to read. It made the question of whether people of color are welcomed by the sf/f field really hit home in a more visceral way. I want her to feel valued as a writer, I want her to feel that there's a place for her. And there are so many strong and powerful voices speaking up that it's important for me to remember that it's easy to be subtly shut out when you're young or insecure. I'm thinking of the frat-house atmosphere of my high school computer science class, how I knew I didn't belong. I don't want to make anyone else feel that way.
rydra_wong brings the linkage. I'm not interested in dealing with any comments of the form "I haven't been following any of this, but (vague generalization about the issues)" or "I haven't been following any of this, but (a specific point that's been argued a couple dozen times)."I've been following this since the beginning and... I didn't really feel like I had anything that needed to be said; and I didn't want to post just to prove that I was on the right side (although I've heard the other side of the argument, and I see a good case for it.) I may be a pro writer technically, but I'm not a pro sf/f writer (okay, I do have a contract for another book, and I am writing a fantasy book to fulfill that contract) and I don't have anything in print yet, so I don't really have any Pro Writer Authority.
But, after I got into a discussion on another journal, a few quick comments:
1) I get frustrated when people say you can't call out the racism you see unless you have, like, 100% absolute proof. Without even getting into the question of what it is that needs to be proved, and how you would go about proving it, this is like looking at a Seurat painting and saying that you can't say there's some trees and a lake and some people with parasols, because it's just dots. It's not just about particular instances -- it's about the pattern that you get when you put them together.
2) No one should ever be glib about knowing their own motivations. But least of all anyone who wants to be a good writer. Subtext is more interesting. Characters whose actions contradict their stated beliefs are more interesting. Characters who don't realize what's really going on inside their heads are more interesting. And they're also more honest. Really, if you want to be even a mediocre fiction writer you have to believe that people have subconscious thoughts and feelings. So why is it so terrible to admit that you might have subconscious thoughts and feelings about race? (Well, probably because they've learned that only Bad People are racists...)
-
Between Round 1 and Round 2 of RaceFail09, a girl at my library gave me the first two chapters of her in-progress vampire book to read. It made the question of whether people of color are welcomed by the sf/f field really hit home in a more visceral way. I want her to feel valued as a writer, I want her to feel that there's a place for her. And there are so many strong and powerful voices speaking up that it's important for me to remember that it's easy to be subtly shut out when you're young or insecure. I'm thinking of the frat-house atmosphere of my high school computer science class, how I knew I didn't belong. I don't want to make anyone else feel that way.