Diversity, again

[jakegrey]

Really, really good article on the subject: Writing People of Color (if you happen to be a person of another color)

"Recently, a friend of mine asked for feedback on her manuscript. Her novel was filled with complex characters, a thought-provoking plot, and enough intrigue to keep the reader riveted. I did what any good editor and friend would do, honestly praising the good parts, and delicately noting which parts could use work. This part is confusing, I wrote. This part seems out of character. She nodded along while reading my notes, completely prepared for all of my comments, except for one: Where are the people of color?

"When we discussed this later, she (a white writer) admitted she feels uncomfortable adding people of color (PoC) to her fiction, as it feels disingenuous. “Write what you know” and all that. How could she add, say, a Japanese person without it seeming like a token gesture?"

Truth be told, this is an issue I struggle with myself. I've never liked the saying, "Write what you know"; I've always agreed with Joe Haldeman's quote about how that adage is a surefire way to get lots of mediocre novels about English professors contemplating adultery. But I do believe that you shouldn't try to write what you don't know, and as a white guy from a relentlessly middle-class background in a very white part of the East Midlands I most definitely don't know the first thing about what it's like to be non-white on 21st century Earth. Luckily, science fiction lets me fudge things a bit...