tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381533012764037154.post8839701007275037746..comments2024-03-04T11:59:16.710+00:00Comments on Once Upon a Bookcase: Discussion: The Issues People Have With #OwnVoicesJohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02828378728962868575noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381533012764037154.post-21961860349064199722017-07-16T15:16:27.350+01:002017-07-16T15:16:27.350+01:00I think the criticism comes from a general lack of...I think the criticism comes from a general lack of marginalised characters. Let's take race for example; it does seem a little ridiculous for a white author to write about a white character, who knows absolutely no-one of any other race. All friends, family, teachers, and so forth, are white. That's just not realistic. We live in a multicultural society, and our books should reflect that. When I was at school, I was the only white English girl in my group of friends, and each one of us was of a different ethnicity. I had Black teachers and Asian teachers as well as white. And I have a multicultural family, too, with a Latina cousin, a half-French cousin, and half-Turkish cousins. I am white, but books with only white characters doesn't reflect my world or the people I know/knew as a teen.<br /><br />And I have to say, the more diverse books I read now, the more I'm noticing the lack of diversity in others. When every single person is white, cishet, non-disabled, without mental illness, of no religion or Christian... it's just not ok. Other people exist and they should be seen in the pages of our books.Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02828378728962868575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381533012764037154.post-512664138864457192017-07-16T15:02:23.332+01:002017-07-16T15:02:23.332+01:00Oh, definitely. Representation is so important, an...Oh, definitely. Representation is so important, and if an author is writing about a marginalised group, they really need to do their research, and do their utmost to get it as correct as possible. #OwnVoices will always do it better.<br /><br />But at the same time, there is also the argument where readers have been complaining that #OwnVoices authors aren't writing *their* experience of their marginalisation, so the author got the representation wrong. Which is just ridiculous. There is no monolith for any marginalised group, not everyone is going to experience everything the same as each other, and an author can only write their experience of their marginalisation. It gets tricky when people start making demands about what an author should write, and how they should write it.Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02828378728962868575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381533012764037154.post-89040827356866813502017-07-16T14:17:20.539+01:002017-07-16T14:17:20.539+01:00Right? We shouldn't be telling marginalised au...Right? We shouldn't be telling marginalised authors what they should write. It's just not ok. And I agree with Reverie Society above, that's such a great way of putting it!Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02828378728962868575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381533012764037154.post-30478710265005242102017-07-16T14:14:26.984+01:002017-07-16T14:14:26.984+01:00Exactly! *Exactly*! Of course we should read more ...Exactly! *Exactly*! Of course we should read more diverse books, but we should't demand an author writes about their marginalisations.Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02828378728962868575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381533012764037154.post-90183143801270150412017-07-06T16:44:56.913+01:002017-07-06T16:44:56.913+01:00You make some great points here. I have issues wit...You make some great points here. I have issues with #ownvoices as well because it seems that if an author doesn't write something containing a marginalized group they are shunned, especially in the YA community. It is great to feature a book with a certain marginalization, but it is stupid to shun an author for not writing what they don't know.<br />Thanks for sharing! Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11205709973717833264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381533012764037154.post-73795933438512878052017-07-04T12:02:46.638+01:002017-07-04T12:02:46.638+01:00I love what you say about we not being able to det...I love what you say about we not being able to determine what someone's voice should be. I think it's the perfect way to explain it. When it comes to what an author shouldn't write, it's a tricky thing. But they definitely shouldn't have to be confined to writing only one kind of stories.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08687871391903441526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381533012764037154.post-73425324337131525782017-07-04T01:18:20.110+01:002017-07-04T01:18:20.110+01:00Speaking as someone who is from a marginalized gro...Speaking as someone who is from a marginalized group, I still want to read (and promote) #OwnVoices. However, I am also not saying that if you are from a marginalized group, you can't write about anything else. Or if you are NOT part of a marginalized group, yoh can't write about those marginalized. To me that is just false. I want to see other authors move out of their comfort zone and write about whatever topic, race, culture, inspiration they want to write. Thw only thing I will have a problem is when what they write is misrepresentation. I want authors to do research, especially if they aren't part of the group they are writing about.<br /><br />One example that I can give is about 2 books with a main character who has the same culture as me. With one author, she was writing from her voice and I absolutely loved it. The tiny nuancez from my culture was perfectly captured. That being said, I also enjoyed the other author who didn't write #ownvoices but I also enjoyed her book. Granting, I have a few issues with it, but it's just me nitpicking.Zeee @ I Heart Romancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08120545951032621199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381533012764037154.post-81621431513265993252017-07-03T15:41:34.932+01:002017-07-03T15:41:34.932+01:00You make some very good points here. And thank you...You make some very good points here. And thank you so much for sharing S. Jae-Jones's response about her work. Sometimes we need to take a step back and remember that even though we want Own Voices work, we can't demand it. And we certainly can't determine what someone else's voice "should" be.<br /><br />Nicole @ <a href="http://feedyourfictionaddiction.com" rel="nofollow">Feed Your Fiction Addiction</a>Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addictionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08637114079800138680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2381533012764037154.post-89701334564729526582017-07-03T01:32:12.988+01:002017-07-03T01:32:12.988+01:00To expect someone to write about a certain type of...To expect someone to write about a certain type of character is a bit like saying a person's marginalisation is the only thing that is important about them not everything else they have to say about being human. This debate has got quite complicated.Kathryn Gossowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11320037128902607789noreply@blogger.com