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one thing i am thinking about as i read through what’s been said so far is that it seems like people are seeing “research other perspectives and experiences” and hearing this as “there is one correct way to write this and if you don’t do it you’re bad” and...i don’t think anyone
is meaning to say that? it’s not about working to capture a singular accurate experience, but about recognizing that yours isn’t universal, and that if yours is very different from that of the people you are writing about, it’s valuable to consider what those differences are and
how you can represent these people, who are not you, to people who will be reading your story, who are also not you. considering how not to be alienating, how to be inclusive, etc.
i think in general there is an understanding of this wrt writing queer characters, esp when their experience and yours are different (ex me writing a gay man as a bi woman) but bc so many people here are white and queer, the queer angle is better understood than the race angle.
to be honest. i am most conscious of how we represent race in fic in terms of how this affects fans, not how it respects bts (or doesn’t). personally. i feel that when they’re whitewashed in fic, the people who feel pain from it are people who read that story and feel erased.
and of course it promotes and propagates a very narrow and self-centered way of thinking that goes hand in hand with so many other behaviors that cause hurt. so. let’s listen and have our eyes and minds and hearts open. is what i wanted to say.
