Hey everyone, I feel this is honestly going to be the best way for me to really touch on topics I want without really doing what I say as far as keeping my Bookstagram a place of positive feelings and a place for all people. I want to be real with my follower base and let them know exactly how I feel about what is going on, but I want my feed to continue to be a place for open discussion and love. When I post stories pertaining to the drama and toxic behaviors of those in the community it ruins that dynamic I am trying to keep. So let me start with this topic.
We as a community about two years ago were so focused on the love of books. We never read too deep into things and just enjoyed the book at face value. We looked at the story as a whole. We weren't digging for social injustice. We weren't looking for issues that we see in our world. We were looking for an escape from reality. This is where my issue begins and I really need to talk about this. I am going to put a disclaimer here first that I don't think any group should be treated unfairly. This goes for every single person. I love everyone and want everyone to love everyone. Now that I have done this I want to talk about the main topic.
The things we see in authors word does not always define the author. This goes for so many people that I cannot even begin to discuss each and every single one. I also want to discuss targeting authors for trying to write about cultures other than their own and talk about how authors literally make their entire world and that they are the GOD of their world(s). I want to discuss their creative liberties and the freedoms some authors have in the countries they live in and how other authors may not have such freedoms. I also want to talk about separating these creative made-up worlds from our reality.
CREATOR VS. CREATION
As readers we see many worlds come into fruition by many, many people. These people who we call authors live in many countries all over the world and all have different views and different opinions on things that may or may not leak into their writing. Yes, we are going to discuss one who is actually problematic here. One being J.K. Rowling.
J.K. Rowling, Voldemort or Bust.
We all know Jo has had a lot of issues over the years. Many coming into development in the last 5 years I believe. This is a situation where we honestly cannot judge the author by the works. She wrote a story about inclusiveness and love. For a while, she may have been that way while she wrote the books. Sadly, people do change. People turn away from what they originally believe and sadly that is something we have to deal with. She has made statements regarding big-hitting topics and where she lives, she is allowed to do that. It stinks, yes! Is it a problem that she feels these ways? Yeah. But she is welcome to her truth and sadly unless she actually wants to change, there's nothing we can do about it. She's too big and has too much reach to do that. Sadly, our small part of social media in the world won't do what we want it to do. You cannot force a heart to change. What you can do is use her own creation against her. We know Harry would never stand for her words.
We all know by now I am a Christian and not the one most people would think I am. I feel there are a lot of Christians out there who give others who actually live a life we should a bad name. The reason I am saying this in regards to JKR is because of how I am supposed to lead my life as opposed to the way she is living hers. It's one thing to have an opinion like hers and it's another to just love people as they are. I don't know what she believes, but I know how easy it is to love people and want respect for them as much as I want respect for myself. Again though, we cannot change people's hearts if they don't want to change. I approach this topic of JKR with grace and forgiveness like I was taught to. We need to remember forgiveness has nothing to do with an apology, it is us realizing there is nothing more we can do in regards to this situation and moving on and doing something better. Like I said before, using the creation against the creator. We use our movement to mobilize a great movement. I think the HP alliance is a great example of this. These use HP and use it for good. I use to be a chapter leader in my hometown. I firmly believe that we can separate the works from the maker on entertainment if we can see the bigger picture.
My World, My Rules, My History, My Religion, My Attraction, My Cultures
This is a huge topic that needs to be discussed especially when it comes to authors who write fantasy worlds that they build on their own. This is also where we need to learn that what kind of world an author builds may not reflect that author's beliefs. When we go into a day of our very real lives we are aware of the realities that are around us. We are aware of social issues, people, places, and history. When authors write books and make their own worlds we need to be aware that our world doesn't exist to the characters and ideals of that made world. Some of them don't even have the same religions, cultures, mindset or experiences as we do. Everything is personified differently.
We can go on and on about problems we see in these worlds, but we really need to question the intent of the author as they wrote these things. Did the author actually mean to include a racial undertone against a culture that doesn't even exist in their world? or did that purposefully put that in there because that might be an underlying issue in the story? We know from some authors, bias may slip in. But who are we to judge these issues without actual context from the author. We cannot judge these simply based off the story and what we see, especially from a fantasy setting. These worlds literally have no tie but the author to this world and reality. While yes we may perceive these things as harmful in our world if they actually targeted these people.
I'm pulling out an author that I know some are aren't happy with because I feel this is a good example of what I'm talking about. Jay Kristoff in Nevernight. This book is said to have anti-jew views. But how can one have that in a book where these people don't actually exist. Judaism is not a religion expressed in this book. So for it to have antisemitic undertones would make sense to someone looking for them. But why are we to think this in a book/world where this doesn't even exist? Has the author ever addressed this actual issue or are you just reading too far into a book that was never meant to be analyzed in this depth?
I only say this because the religious followers of this would catch it first. I catch antichristian stuff all the time in stories or things that may be taken that way or even religions loosely based off of the Christian faith. Now, I know what your thinking, "you can't say that because your a Christian and can practice your religion freely." right? That's not why I'm saying this. Yes, I'm fully aware I live in a country where I am allowed to worship whatever God I want, whenever I want. That is not the point of this discussion.
Let me talk about an example of what I am saying, A Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rea Carson. This book, while not offensive to the Christian faith, had a lot of Catholic and Christian undertones. I felt a little uncomfortable for a little bit while starting it because it was so close and some things down to verses from their book were pretty much taken and worked to fit her story. Some books I have to literally go in a remember this world isn't ours and the author has the liberty to do with inspiration as they please. Yes, it may make us uncomfortable, that's life. Life makes us uncomfortable. Just like me writing this post.
We literally cannot go into a made-up story and world and be pissed off if it doesn't align with our ideals and want to remove and forget things. We literally cannot control what authors write about especially ones who live in countries where they have the freedom to write. We literally cannot tell an author what they can and cannot put into their own world. This is censorship. If you think you can remove everything single uncomfortable topic or injustice or social issue from books, I think you need to step back for a moment and rethink why you are reading books in general. If you don't like what author puts into their made-up world, maybe go write a book you will like. Nothing is stopping you.
Forcing ideas and beliefs from our world into a world that doesn't exist just doesn't make sense. We need to stop assuming that when we see things that could come across as all that I said above, that all authors believe everything they write. YES, there are some authors that do. Yes, there are some who do not. We need to learn how to use common sense when looking at these issues. We also need to stop assuming that because readers read these books, that they believe what they are reading. Some people may be extremely aware of the issues being presented in the book, but choose to use their best judgment as to if its a hill they want to die on.
My Culture or Yours?
To Write or Not to Write: What is the History?
So this is something I have seen over and over and over again. "Authors should not write books about cultures they do not belong to because they will never understand." Let me be frank and let me be honest. There is a fine line between blatant disrespect and massive research to make sure you are representing a culture appropriately. As someone who has grown up around many cultures (South Korean, Nigerian, and Japanese) I like to think I understand a good amount about them. Spending most of my childhood in the houses of these families and eating their food and learning their traditions, I will be the first to admit I will never know everything. This is what we need to see. We need to understand we cannot speak for a culture and we will never be able to do another culture justice when we write.
A great example of this is Jay Kristoff for his Lotus Wars Trilogy. In an interview he actually stated that he was reading Japanese history books and throwing and vetting ideas of friends who were from Japan, making sure to do the culture justice to the best of his ability.
This is once again an instance where we cannot limit writers because we do not have the right to do so. Yes, it's extremely important to know when someone gets something wrong. Especially if your someone who knows a culture and you know for sure something is off. Everyone can do this! Though we can also go back to the fantasy world topic. If an author bases a culture off a real culture in the real world, they are allowed to draw inspiration. That's how inspiration works. It's for good or bad. But we also need to listen to those from the cultures you feel are being targeted by hate or misrepresentation and listen to both sides. There will always be two sides.
We always talk about how there's a lack of diversity in books. This is my two cents on the topic. before we were here in America and all these cultures came together to make the melting pot of freedom that we are today we all lived in different parts of the world. Africa being the most diverse country on earth. We all value different things in life. That being said: if we look at each culture and what is represented in books actually makes a lot of sense. I hate the word stereotype, but in each culture when going into a career, those people tend to gravitate toward different occupations and values in life. This is my explanation for the lack of diversity. There are exceptions to this. I am not beings mean I'm just stating what I see in my books and what I see in the world.
You look at the career and school choices of Asians, Indians, Native Americans, Africans, and European people their vastly different. You take a look at their paths and you see Africans, their cultures are heavily influenced by music and dance, and leadership. Yes, they go into all careers. But when you see influential people from here you see musicians, dancers, pastors, management, and doctors. Asians tend to go into fields that pertain more to medicine, technology, education, and management. We see in Asian countries Education and being the best you can be is very prevalent. Out of the Indian cultures we see most go into managerial and professional specialties, technical, sales, and administrative support occupations, and doctors. This is just to list a few examples. All my sources come from reliable sources like the labor bureau and such. I can provide sources if you'd like.
Now, obviously, all cultures write and keep records and have stories to tell. But if you look at how a lot of cultures tell stories especially back a long time ago. Most cultures were word of mouth. I know what your probably thinking, "Tia are you trying to say other cultures are unable to write?" No, that's not what I am saying at all. Look at the people these cultures, including European cultures, choose to lift up in society. This leads to my point. Europe tends to lend itself to the raising up of writers. Looking at a list of classics, you don't see many coming from anywhere other than Europe. I am not saying they don't come from other places. They do! Just the value of a written story wasn't it. Native Americans tell stories word of mouth, though many who know these stories have been able to write them down and share them with the world! The uniqueness of this is that you go to different tribes and you may have different versions of the same story. I love this about word of mouth stories each place has something that makes it unique to each people. Kind of like how today we use retellings of faerie tales.
Now for my point, there are great writers from every culture! We want to see more writers from different cultures, though we need to keep in mind that the amount of those who want to be writers may not be as vastly large as those from other cultures. Being a writer is not an easy feat for anyone and it honestly has nothing to do with education. I'm also not basing my research on the success of different races in the United States considering in 2018 Asians were the most money successful on average.
Now away from this, we need to realize it's not that there aren't great fictional writers of cultural diversity. There is just a lack of them. Now, I can't say that I know publishing statistics because I don't. But I honestly put this to the statistics about what kind of careers the cultures choose. There is a literal scarcity of authors in the fictional world. You throw a rock at a bookstore bookshelf and you're going to hit more authors of European descent than you will any other culture. I am not basing this on preference. I strictly pick my books on plot and cover and genre and it has nothing to do with the author. I don't even really look at the author until I finish the book and need to know if they wrote more. I am also strictly a fantasy/SciFi ready. So my interpretations could be wrong. But I do enjoy the history of cultures and learning about them and what they value.
This is where I make my final conclusion on this going back to restricting authors to only write about their cultures. So if we do this wouldn't this restrict diverse characters in books? If an author of African descent decides I want to write about someone in Ireland. They love Ireland and have a strong understanding of Irish heritage, are they not allowed to do that? Can they not write a book about that? Or does this only apply if an author of European decent wants to write a story about a character who may be African, Indian, or Asian? Double standards shouldn't apply in writing. This goes for religions too. If you are not just drawing inspiration from something, as long as you have a good understanding and ask for counsel it shouldn't matter who is writing the story. We shouldn't limit our world to ridiculous standards.
Final Thoughts
We cannot keep living in the mindset that all authors agree with what they are writing. We need to stop going in looking for stuff in a book written about a fictional world. They do not connect and those worlds can have issues just like we do, but that does not mean the author has to address it the same way. We need to remember to use common sense when we do see a book that does have very obvious issues and look at the author. Has this author said something in the past? or is the author using this to move a plot or build a character? We also need to be aware that we do not get to dictate what author puts in their books. Free Country = Free to write what you want. Our freedom goes until it imposes on another person's rights. Last I check a book didn't impose on your rights to life.
Remember this especially when reading fantasy. This isn't your reality. Your truths may not apply. If you want your truths to apply, write your own book. Write your perfect work. Even then I'm sure someone will find something wrong with your writing. That is the world we live in. That is how life works. A world where people all think the same and there is no conflict makes for a very boring story.
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