Hi everyone,

I’ve been thinking of writing something like this for a long time, and right now feels like a perfect time. I wanted to start a conversation about how we can all collectively be anti-racists even in our writing and wanted to offer my own reflections.

first, a few caveats!

There’s a reason that I’m posting this in my blog and not in the Resources section or somewhere else on the forums; I do not want this to be interpreted as Expert Advice or anything. It’s just literally my thoughts and reflections.

I think it’s easy to see a POC who is speaking out actively about issues that affect POC as the Expert on All Things POC. Please do not see me as that person; there are some experiences (I mean, really anything that’s not a South Asian or Asian experience) that I will never have a full understanding of since I’m not part of those communities. I hope this caveat will help you see the questions I ask myself and the thought processes I use as something that you, as white people, can also do and not as something only POC do.

now, a few observations

HPFT is a majority-white community...and many of you are fantastic allies, and committed to allyship, and I appreciate that so much! But still, most of you have no direct experience with any form of racism.

Writing about an experience that you do not have direct access to is scary. I’ve definitely felt this myself, when writing about non-South-Asian characters. I’m worried about messing up. More on that later.

Writing about race can be particularly difficult, because as white people, you have the privilege of not having to think about it. I think about this in relation to writing about sexuality, where even if you’re straight, you can at least empathize with knowing what it’s like to love someone and want to be with them. With race, white people really cannot empathize in any way; that is exactly the nature of white privilege.

I’ve seen many very well-intended attempts at representation of POC, that focus on how POC overcome many oppressive forces. I understand the good intent behind these stories, and I think they are important. But I’ve noticed that in the archives, there is an overwhelming number of stories that are like this, which feels problematic. When I see this phenomenon, I can’t help but think that POC’s stories are always centered around struggle against oppressive forces: that we are heroic figures, overcoming so much adversity. These stories feel like they romanticize struggle and, in doing so, dehumanize POC.

Another observation about the archives: there aren’t many stories that are tagged fluff and prominently feature POC. Seeing this, it’s difficult not to think that POC don’t get moments of uncomplicated joy in the way that white people do...which is something that I’ve internalized to the point that, for a long time, when I thought about writing fluff, I would automatically tend towards writing white characters, because it was less complicated. I wouldn’t need to deal with the “question of race”--because I implicitly assumed that answering the “question of race” would result in a less fluffy story, because including race always results in struggle, always results in sadness...do you see what I mean? How do you see this happening, and not start to hate the fact that you’re not white?

a few reflections

“Good representation” is a really complicated concept. I’ve seen attempts on the forums focused on just getting more stories in the archives that at least include, or even prominently feature characters of color--which is super well-intended. But I don’t think that this is an issue fixed by achieving a critical mass; in fact, I would be really sad if we had 1000 fics on the archives that included characters of color, but none of those stories actually portrayed those characters thriving.

One way to think about representation is to think about in two ways (and please recognize that this is a simplistic framing): first, stories that spotlight the character’s race, and second, stories that don’t spotlight the character’s race, but use it as a lens to understand the character’s life. I’ll illustrate with a couple examples (using South Asian characters, since that’s what I feel most comfortable speaking to):

imagine a story about a South Asian character, that is centered around a moment where being South Asian defined their life intensely--where they were made fun of because of the way their lunch smells, or a moment where they meet another South Asian person and feel an instant kinship. In these moments, being South Asian is a crucial plot point. This is an example of a story that spotlights a character’s race--and I think these stories tend towards the problematic arc of characters overcoming struggle (not always! but often enough that I’m concerned).

A sub-type: I think there is another version of this (that maybe particularly manifests with Asian/South Asian characters?) where an attempt at representation is made by trying to sprinkle in as much of the character’s language, food, etc. into the story as possible. I think the intention is to create an immersive experience into that character’s life. In the worst case, this comes across as just sprinkling bits of Asian-ness (and, in effect, calling attention to the fact that the character’s not-white-ness). I feel like a better way of doing this is by considering these aspects of culture in relation to the character’s traits. For example, if you have an Indian character, perhaps they’re too egotistical about their spice tolerance and try to brag about how they can handle tons of spice by eating a whole pepper--and perhaps that’s because they’re generally just a bit egotistical and prideful (and maybe, to introduce an additional dimension, they are extra prideful about things that feel related to their identity as an Indian person, since they feel alienated from this identity due to attempts to assimilate). Do you see how the introduction of the common stereotype of “Indian people like spicy food” becomes a much fuller story that tells you a lot more about the character?

now, imagine a story about two South Asian twin sisters. The story is really about their relationship, but the fact that they are South Asian and the fact that they are immigrants is critical to understanding their relationship. In this case (which is a story I’ve written!), race becomes a lens to understand the relationship between the sisters--but there’s so many other lenses too: their values, the fact that they’re both women, the fact that they went through war. I think these stories are less likely to fall into the trap of romanticizing struggle, though they definitely still can.

I use these examples because I think that you probably go through a similar process when you’re writing your characters’ stories, thinking about things that define them and things that can act as lenses to understand them and their relationships. I’ve found it less daunting to think about race as one of those tools; it reminds me to see the characters as still human.

And it’s also super realistic to my lived experience too; there are moments in my life where my race is the most important defining thing in my life, but there are far more moments where it acts as just one force creating a multi-dimensional experience.

My hope for the archives, as we all start to go through a journey of becoming anti-racists, is that we can collectively articulate a vision for the future where POC can thrive. This means, yes, telling stories where race defines POC’s experience entirely--but also telling fuller stories, where race is deeply understood as one force that affects people’s lives--as a force that brings both joy and pain.

I think all this to say: I just wanted to ask everyone to think about why you have or have not included POC in your stories, and in what ways...and hopefully start a dialogue about inclusivity. Thanks for reading. I would really love to hear your genuine reflections.