not now daddy kitten is about to kill herself
twentytwo
Joined July 2019
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for some reason people lately have only been approaching writing (both writers/readers) as a means to self represent/self identify which is completely 100% fine but it just becomes an issue when that becomes the only way you can interact with writing?
writers constantly write outside their lived experiences, it’s half of what being a writer entails! this is also why black editors/sensitivity readers exist. it doesn’t benefit anyone both in the industry & consumers to advocate for even less inclusion of black characters.
also straight black ppl have a different lived experience than queer black ppl same with black women & men & black ppl across the diaspora that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t include one another in our works? also black writers capture the opposite all the time, only diff is effort!
you’re entirely projecting onto me bc where i’m i insinuating that i want “white characters dipped in chocolate so bad” (whatever that means lol) bc i’m expecting writers to build upon necessary skills/empathy by not only writing characters that 100% align with them?
i mention how black authors need to be supported first & foremost but we don’t do that by expecting nonblack writers to not write black characters as people are suggesting. just as we don’t expect male authors to not include female characters in their stories?
sal ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ retweeted
the workaround actually representing and including black people in fiction or even real life by mistifying us or acting like we’re so deep and misunderstood that you have to do extensive research to even write about us is so tired and played out like find something new
sal ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ retweeted
It genuinely worries me that we’re doing this bullshit identity-box writing that very conveniently allows us to remain safe within our biases and boundaries, pretending we’re being v woke by rejecting to engage with a large swath of humanity
sal ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ retweeted
And no, you wouldn’t be taking away resources from a black romance writer by writing a black protagonist; in fact, you would be creating more demand for black protagonists AND drawing attention to those black writers’ work
sal ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ retweeted
This well-meaning “I wouldn’t do it justice” attitude is actually so insidious, imo. Being a writer means working those empathy muscles; it also means treating black women like normal human beings, not an alien species from Planet Racism
ali hazelwood sobre escrever protagonistas negros 🥹
“(…) Não tenho planos de escrever uma protagonista negra. Além das considerações habituais sobre se isso pode ser feito de maneira adequada por uma autora branca (desculpem, não é que eu esteja deixando essas considerações de lado porque elas não sejam importantes, é só que esse assunto é uma discussão muito extensa e provavelmente este não seja o melhor formato para abordá-la), eu simplesmente acho que o mercado editorial não está investindo nem dando visibilidade suficiente às histórias negras escritas por autores negros, e eu odiaria que a minha visão (vamos ser sinceros, bastante limitada) da experiência negra acabasse recebendo recursos que deveriam ser destinados a esses autores.
(E também tenho alguns dos meus escritores negros de romance favoritos: Shirlene Obuobi, Nikki Payne, Adriana Herrera, Claire Kann, Tia Williams, Kennedy Ryan, Alexa Martin.) (…)”
i don’t think ppl understand what they’re truly advocating for when they say things like we only need black ppl to write black characters like no actually i think all ppl who consider themselves writers who aren’t in super niche genres should know how to write all sorts of ppl
it’s 2026 like nobody is entrusting you to write a biography of every black person that has ever lived lol ur writing romcoms it is not an incredibly difficult endeavor to include black people in ur books 😭 if you feel like you’d offend ppl for whatever reason get a black editor
i get where she’s coming from ig & it’s good she highlighted her black peers but the fact of the matter is her peers won’t receive any of the resources she does simply bc they are black authors not bc they don’t have enough love, writing black characters also isn’t rocket science
ali hazelwood sobre escrever protagonistas negros 🥹
“(…) Não tenho planos de escrever uma protagonista negra. Além das considerações habituais sobre se isso pode ser feito de maneira adequada por uma autora branca (desculpem, não é que eu esteja deixando essas considerações de lado porque elas não sejam importantes, é só que esse assunto é uma discussão muito extensa e provavelmente este não seja o melhor formato para abordá-la), eu simplesmente acho que o mercado editorial não está investindo nem dando visibilidade suficiente às histórias negras escritas por autores negros, e eu odiaria que a minha visão (vamos ser sinceros, bastante limitada) da experiência negra acabasse recebendo recursos que deveriam ser destinados a esses autores.
(E também tenho alguns dos meus escritores negros de romance favoritos: Shirlene Obuobi, Nikki Payne, Adriana Herrera, Claire Kann, Tia Williams, Kennedy Ryan, Alexa Martin.) (…)”
she doesn’t HAVE to ofc but this reasoning falls flat when you actually consider the reality of the system/industry, if more nonblack people cared for black characters (like we do vice versa) then in turn the industry would have no choice but to support works where they frequent
