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Sigh a lot of people asking me for solutions. The solution is in my tweet. If you are writing poc main characters BECAUSE you want poc readers to get authentic rep, the solution is to leave that to poc writers. If you’re writing poc MCs for fun, none of this applies to you https://twitter.com/moniza_hossain/status/1358522821815640064
Be honest about why you’re choosing to do it. I wrote that tweet for the people who genuinely want to help poc readers. I wanted them to know about how editors often react to authentic rep with “couldn’t relate to the MC”
Or “something about the voice didn’t work for me”. Or “I don’t think this has wide enough appeal”. POC writers get responses like that from the gate keepers who determine who get published.
But publishers know by now that there’s a huge market for our stories. So when you give them a version of our tale that’s been tailored to their palate, they’re more likely to just go with your story. They relate to it. They feel comfortable with the voice.
Sometimes they like your version more because it’s “exotic”. Whereas the stories we write ourselves are just “other”, alien and unwelcoming. Might actually require stepping out of a comfort zone. You guys give them an easy way out when you whitewash our stories for them
