So here's a fun question. I was looking through some comments about a book recently, and someone was posting something about Stephen King should not have written the short story Apt Pupil, because it featured a former nazi officer talking about his experiences in World War II. People were talking about how King should not have been able to write this story, because he is not Jewish, and it is not his story to tell.

This sparked further comment about how an author should not write about culture, ethnicities and religions that they are not a part of, by the logic that it is "not their story". So, the question is, how do you create a realistically diverse world in fiction, especially when looking at historical fiction or something of that nature, without somehow stepping on someone's toes, because it "isn't your story to tell"? But if you don't create diversity, isn't that just as bad?

I'm not sure how I feel about this topic, honestly. Part of how I feel is that without diversity, a world doesn't seem real, and the work is really bland. What do you guys think?

My husband is an author, and I can say this is something we don't really hear too often. I think there are people that will try very very hard to find an excuse to complain about anything XD

There are authors that write stories based on their own experiences, but then there are some who write historical fiction. And while some is meant to be satire, I would say most authors write about history inspired events because they genuinely care about that part of history and have a fascination with the people involved in it.

I wish I had a good gif from the Stand for the 'my point stands'. :P But I think you have a point. If there was no diversity, books would pretty much be about nothing. You can't tell a good story with only one kind of character. On the topic of censoring, I think it's kind of crazy that as a whole people have fought so hard against being censored and now we're kind of coming full circle with what is considered to be politically correct or inoffensive that we're censoring people again. It's kind of crazy how cyclic things are.

You're definitely right. I think that it kind of comes down to the fact that there are people that are out there who are just looking for an excuse to be offended by something. With historical fiction, I know that I would write about periods that I am interested in, and the major thing with history is that obviously you couldn't have personally experienced most of the things that you're going to write about. That's the point of fiction.

this is a complicated subject i have a lot of trouble with. i think it's something of a grey area. something that is determined on a case by case basis, with too many personal intricacies for any overarching 'rules'. theoretically: for one, if you use the story of, say, a gay character, and the struggles they receive through that, to achieve your desired emotional reactions of the reader, when you yourself are not gay and have not had to deal with that or the accompanying difficulties, is that in bad taste? however, many people in those sorts of situations -- people who are not straight, people who are not white, people who are not able-bodied, etc etc -- are often climbed and looked over in their areas of work, even in art and expression. so then, if you have the opportunity, can't you help spread their situation? but then, does that mean you're stealing work from them, from someone who knows and deserves better than you?

It's a complicated issue. My personal feelings are... write those who need to be written. Put in your stories people who exist, but whos existence and struggles are not shown. However, if the entire work is focusing on that aspect of them -- what it's like, how people treat you, the difficulties in it -- when the author is not a part of that group... I don't think that has much place. It's a tender, sensitive issue for those who live it, and someone trying to write about it who is even the slightest bit ill informed may come off as callous, melodramatic, uncaring, romanticizing trauma, or simply writing about the topic because it's a Hot Issue. I believe dark situations that affect huge swaths of people -- all just because they have something in common that they cannot help -- require a more delicate touch than other fares. These memories last long and dig deep for so many people.

TLDR write diversity. write! di! ver! sit! y! just... if it's not irreversibly a part of who you are... don't write from the view of diversity, about diversity.

I've heard some of the commentary on the same short story, and I find it interesting that the most common argument is that King isn't Jewish, so it isn't his story. He's writing it from the PoV of a former nazi officer, so it would be very odd if he WAS Jewish.

I find that it really depends on the culture/background you are working with and how it is presented. If you don't belong to a group, details are none of your business for the most part, and if it's a religious deal....no. Just....NO.

As an example, I both live and write in an area with a large Tewa population as well as a ton of varied-Hispanic groups and a lot of 'white'. I use all of these cultures and people in my writing, but carefully. I have more 'right' to the white and Hispanic aspects because I belong to those groups. I handle the Tewa parts of my stories delicately, respectfully, and in as little detail as possible. Ignoring them would be far worse than including them- it would be a form of erasure.

I like your viewpoints a lot on that. I really hate the fact that because I'm a straight, white female that there are people who think that I should only be writing about straight white females, because how could I understand what it is like to be a man, or a different race or a different sexuality or something like that. I think that you should stick more to what you know for a main character maybe for accuracy, but if everyone in a piece of fiction were exactly the same, it would be really boring.

I agree. It would be really weird if he was Jewish.

I think basically the same thing about ignoring different types of people and different cultures. Ignoring them is worse than using material that relates to them. People want to complain that movies have too litter diversity, but then they want to freak out and scream cultural appropriation as soon as diversity is added in. It's a really delicate balance.

While I can't comment on the King story as I'm not familiar with it, I think it's important for a writer to incorporate diversity respectfully. Avoid stereotypes, sensationalism, and other ploys while making sure to do your research and have multiple reviewers read your work. Accept constructive criticism and if you're told something is questionable or problematic, revise it so it's not.

With that said, however, sometimes even if the representation is shoddy, that representation can still have a huge significance on a person. I came out early in high school after reading the manga Gravitation because while the story was a mess, it still focused on a gay couple coming together despite whatever challenges they faced. That was over ten years ago when there wasn't a whole lot of gay stories easily accessible to me. Now I find myself writing young adult fiction focusing on queer characters because it's something I think my younger self would have greatly appreciated and needed.

Honestly, the topic gets my blood boiling. I understand how it would be appropriate to disapprove someone making fun of a culture using by hasty generalizations and cruel stereotyping, but it does not make sense for someone who honestly loves a culture to be barred from writing about it. Saying you can not write about a culture just because it isn't yours (even if you've researched it, devoted time to it, etc) is like saying you can learn a language but can't write or speak in or about the language because it isn't yours. It creates the rhetorical question of "then why should I learn this anyway?" It ruins the efforts people make to bridge cultures and people because critics like to be offended for people who aren't offended in the first place.

If people asked, they'd be surprised just how happy/proud/touched people are that others are genuinely interested in their culture, even whether or not the person makes a few honest mistakes.

But then again, I'm more of the brash, head-first type, writing on what I know (from people), history I've researched, and not making statements that would tie motivations to a whole group of people (sticking to a more observational style).

i believe that there is a strong distinction between telling anther culture's story and including diversity in your work. i feel like it is a fair point to say that white, straight, cis able-bodied ect people would be out of place say, describing life in slavery, first-hand discrimination, life in a mental institution, etc etc. the problem is that it is out of touch and generally "researched" improperly or is based on harmful rhetoric, without even realizing it because they've /never had that experience/ and the dialogue may actually be harmful to said community. i feel like if you're iffy about getting into something that has to do with marginalized groups of people, reach out! find people who actually experience these things or have a history of these things happening to them. share your ideas, listen if someone tells you that it isn't okay! make the writing involved with the community in some way. it's never hard to do something to make your actions more respectful!

this has been a big problem with the trans community, and people writing stories/movies about a trans character and their life. 99% of the time it is written by a non-trans author, and the movies are casted with say, a female actor playing a trans boy or vice versa. very harmful

so this isn't just an idea but something that has already manifested and has done harm to different communities and it needs to stop

I also feel like their is a distinction between telling another culture's story and including diversity in your work. However, I feel like unless you put a lot of research into it and you can make your characters authentic, it seems like they're just a "token [group]" character and that is just as bad. If I was part of a minority group, I feel like seeing a character from that group wouldn't be a positive experience unless they were doing something other than just being part of that group. If that makes sense. Like, if you're including a character from a minority group, you need to make them something other than someone who just exists to have minority representation.

I like the idea of talking to people in groups that you want to write about, instead of just doing research about it. Researching is great, but actually talking to people could be really beneficial.

See there's the people who say, "its not your story" but then there's people who say they want more diversity in tv, books, and movies. So I think that people should be able to include them, but not describe their experiences as their own, like if they wrote about a closeted character, his story shouldn't be about his closeted experiences unless the author has had those themself, it should be about something else, the closeted part of his character should just be that. But then again, if the author spoke to a person who had gone through that and let them check the story to assure they portrayed that part of the character correctly, then I don't see an issue with them writing a closet story.

I mean honestly if the author is not stereotyping or harming the group and they know what they're talking about I really don't see a problem, though another person of that group checking would be a great thing to do just for assurance. With how some people are today they'd be mad if you said that grass was green.

Thing is, we'll never have popular works with diversity unless we put up with some more popular writers or marketable writers doing the stories we would rather came directly from an accurate source for a while longer unfortunately. If people see these stories and like them, that will pave the way for more diverse authors getting known in the future as people realize that they want more than they've been given so far. Right now, it's all so pathetically little, I find myself grabbing for anything. A horribly written transgender character that is only mildly offensive? Heck, I might take it at this point, because otherwise I get nothing. Nothing at all that relates to that part of me.

It's all about research and abandoning your expectations and stereotypes, but I wouldn't encourage people, say, writing stories on a culture that they have no experience with if the cultural accuracy basically is the meat of the story and the plot wouldn't make any sense without the culture as a backdrop, if that makes sense? There are just so many opportunities to be offensive in such a case.

Like, if someone in Europe tried to write a story about an American but overestimated the importance of McDonald's to the average person and had their character worshipping a hamburger shrine, that would be funny to me and there's so much reasonably accurate media about Americans that no one would start actually believing that. But people do continue to carry incorrect beliefs about minority groups from and through fiction, there just isn't enough out there to combat misinformation with other, truer stories.

I think a friend of mine said it best, her example was being trans, so I'll use her example too. Basically she said it was different when someone cis writes a story with a trans character, and when someone cis writes a story about being trans. With the former they are showing diversity, with the latter they are trying to write a story about experiences they don't have. No one cares if someone privileged writes WITH a character that's marginalized (as long as they do it well and put in minimal effort), it's when they try to write ABOUT those experiences that people get turned off.

I'm Native, so I can't accurately write a story about the oppressions of other races. I CAN write characters who are other races, and I can show them experiencing oppressions, but I can NOT accurately write an entire story based on those oppressions. If I tried, it would not be accurate. If I do my research though, and approach the topic with respect, I can write a character that is someone I am not.

Does that make any sense or am I just rambling?