04-03 - Premaker
(Published 02-Nov-2020 22:10:24)
"Why not," said the writer's friend. "Why not just write what is in your heart?"
"Oh, because of PC culture. Because of the pronoun madness." said the writer. "Because there is an implicit assumption that the audience needs to be protected."
"Protected from what," the writer's friend asked. "You're just writing words on paper."
"Years ago, that was true," said the writer. "But that's no longer the climate. Proper authorship has always required knowledge of the pulse of your audience."
"Sure," said the writer's friend. "But that doesn't mean you have to self-edit. Not everyone is going to like what you create - but that doesn't mean nobody will."
"Well, how do you make sure unkind people won't read what you write?" said the writer.
"Oh, you can't do that." said the writer's friend. "In the same way written words carve out reality - at least in the context of their container - you can't guarantee the character or quality of the people reading your stuff."
"I guess" said the writer, " ... in the same way I don't want to accidentally trigger someone who has had certain kinds of trauma, i don't want to trigger someone who can't handle the modern take on pronouns".
"Ah, the god complex." said the writer's friend. "No matter how well you write, someone is going to hate it - and they might hate it for a reason unrelated to the quality of the writing."
"Yes, but"
"No but," said the writer's friend. "The problem here is that you spend too much time in your head. We're at a coffee shop. You are drinking coffee and it's fucking pissing me off that you talk while you take a sip."
"Oh, sorry!" apologized the writer.
"Right," said the writer's friend. "But I didn't say anything until now because it doesn't bother me if I'm offended and it shouldn't overly bother you. It's good to be considerate of other people. But that shouldn't overwrite being clear, or being kind, or being loving, or a whole host of other things."
"Yes, but"
"Another thing, "said the writer's friend. "Just because you are a writer, and thus a world-creator, on some level you aren't in control of your characters. For characters to be well-written and believable, after they are sufficiently defined, you can't properly change their identity without disengaging the audience."
"So?" said the writer.
"So, in the same way, you can't control your audience," said the writer's friend. "Maybe you happened to catch a recent college freshman, a precocious 10-year-old, or someone's great grandmother - and your monologue on rat shit is offensive. Or you include an LGBTQ character but don't reinforce the idea that they can choose their own pronounces. Or your characters premature intelligence or female thoughts in a way that clearly indicates you're not too bright or you've never actually met a woman. You can't stop any one of them from being offended."
"But," said the writer. "What happens if they can't handle the words on the page."
"Think of it as either a lack of emotional maturity or an actual mental handicap," said the writer's friend. "You can likely write around what I just said above - but what if they made publishing words with the letter 'e' illegal? What if they require every writer who creates fake worlds to register every one of their people/creatures/whatever and ensure each was registered, given an ID, and then had a specific official set of pronouns used whenever they were referenced."
"I think writers would initially try to satisfy the requirements but eventually we'd all get together and break the rules," said the writer.
"Right - because as a creator, especially one who makes worlds, you need the freedom to offend people." said the writer's friend. "Your job MIGHT be to be sensitive to pronouns or it might now. It MIGHT be to ignore it completely or it might not. Your job is to write well, to write clearly, and to draw people in with your skill. Everything else is politics."
"That's easy for you to say," said the writer. "You're not a writer."
"Yes, but I'm a reader," said the writer's friend. "Though I know I don't represent everyone, I'm certain there are lots of readers like me. And we want to be enticed and drawn in - so do that. Draw me in. Entice me. Make me want to care about your characters."
"But shouldn't I be inclusive," asked the writer.
"Not to the exclusion of everything else." said the writer's friend. "Representation DOES matter - but it is horrible if it you consider inclusivity over writing quality - or if you consider inclusivity over the story you're trying to tell."
"Then how does one authentically be inclusive?" asked the writer.
"Have experiences that include other people," said the writer's friend. "Have enough of them with other kinds of people and it will happen authentically. Anything else is contrived."
"I'm glad we had this talk," said the writer.
"Oh, and we will again. You forget these things about once every six months or so," said the writer's friend. "But that's okay. We're friends. Besides, you pay for lunch."
"Hah!" said the writer. "You're welcome."
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