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About that active protagonist thing...
i see lots of books with "ruthless no-nonsense" mcs who make active choices but read cartoonish bc theres no emotional depth.
Bc if ud get into the head of characters who dont care about their choices? Youd realize theyre villains irl.
i see lots of books with "ruthless no-nonsense" mcs who make active choices but read cartoonish bc theres no emotional depth.
Bc if ud get into the head of characters who dont care about their choices? Youd realize theyre villains irl.
These stories arent aware of that.
A villain-centric story works if its a choice--but if not its a manifestation of privilege, the authors + the characters. Nobody wants to root for the top dog who thinks theyre an underdog. Especially no POC, bc we know who these ppl are irl.
A villain-centric story works if its a choice--but if not its a manifestation of privilege, the authors + the characters. Nobody wants to root for the top dog who thinks theyre an underdog. Especially no POC, bc we know who these ppl are irl.
I reject a ton of books with you got no inciting incident or agency -- that doesnt mean the mc has to blow up a tree in the first sentence bc they want to kill all trees. It means smth needs to disrupt their life&the mc has to go "ill do smth about it" or not. Both are choices.
Action, wrath, and self serving behavior have nothing to do with agency but this is the narrative that gets pushed bc the ppl writing/editing these books keep accidentally writing villains.
Thus creating stories that will never appeal or work for POC.
Thus creating stories that will never appeal or work for POC.
Its really not about craft when ppl try to force your main character to be active in a way that controls or seeks power in any way, its about upholding colonialist values.
The most aggressive wins. Take what you want. No apologies, fuck everyone. You know who did that.
The most aggressive wins. Take what you want. No apologies, fuck everyone. You know who did that.
TLDR: if ure a POC most writing advice by white ppl makes no sense bc this isnt how POC live life.
And it creates books w/ characters who arent bigots in fiction, but would be irl. This is why being aware of ur bias matters bc it bleeds into the story if u dont educate urself.
And it creates books w/ characters who arent bigots in fiction, but would be irl. This is why being aware of ur bias matters bc it bleeds into the story if u dont educate urself.
*whispers*
This thread is the reason why the dystopian genre was shortlived in the early 2010s.
It worked briefly for ppl who love colonial values but they went "wait a minute" when they realized fighting oppression by becoming the next oppressor isnt how revolution works
This thread is the reason why the dystopian genre was shortlived in the early 2010s.
It worked briefly for ppl who love colonial values but they went "wait a minute" when they realized fighting oppression by becoming the next oppressor isnt how revolution works
I believe this happened bc nobody banked on POC. Dystopia would still be alive if they had let ppl who are *living* dystopia (life is one for POC) write fiction that isnt trauma/colonialism porn.
WHICH IS ALSO why we can resurrect it. But only *you* can. You know who you are
WHICH IS ALSO why we can resurrect it. But only *you* can. You know who you are
