I'm just recently back from Bouchercon 2016 in New Orleans, and the day before B'con began, Sisters in Crime presented its SinC Into Great Writing workshop, as usual. This year as part of SinC's emphasis on diversity that began with their Report for Change, it was "Doing Diversity Right." Walter Mosley gave a masterful keynote speech, and was followed by four presentations by Frankie Bailey (dialogue), Cindy Brown (characters), Greg Herren (plot), and mine about setting or culture. After all of us finished, we made a panel for Q&A with Terri Bischoff, acquisitions editor for Midnight Ink, representing publishing.
I promised several people to post my entire talk when I made it back home, so here it is, along with the resource list I handed out at the conference.
Writing
About Other Cultures
This
piece of our workshop is called Writing about Setting, but in my
view, setting implies environment, background, and culture. It's much
more than simply a case of painting backdrops of landscape or
buildings for each scene, more than picking out a few
exotic and colorful places and fascinating ceremonies to make strange
and beautiful set-pieces of spectacle. So we'll
be looking at how you learn how to write about the whole
thing—environment, background, and culture, most of which is
covered by the term culture.
On
the resource handout, you'll find the best book possible on writing
the Other, as academics call anyone who's not of your own gender,
class, race, religion, ethnicity, culture, or ability status. This
book is small and inexpensive, and it was written for science
fiction/fantasy writers, but almost everything in it is equally
applicable to crime fiction. It contains hands-on exercises and all
kinds of helpful goodies. It covers character and culture. I can't
recommend it enough.
You'll
also find two blogs written by children's literature librarians that
hold writers' and publishers' feet to the fire on writing about other
cultures—because it's so important to write about the Other in
kid's lit, but even more important to do it right. Read them, holding
your writer's indignation in suspension. They're pretty unrelenting
on those who didn't do that important work, especially if those
writers double down on their mistakes once they're pointed out. After
reading a while, though, you'll see that they also praise those who
do the hard work to get it right and those who got something wrong,
were called on it, and agreed to correct it in the next
printing/edition.
I
included these two blogs, so you'll see what you're facing when you
try to write other cultures. These are the extremes because of the
perceived importance in developing self-esteem and shaping
world-views of children's books, but you will face folks doing a
similar kind of judging on adult books, just usually not as important
or well-publicized (librarians all over the country pay attention to
these kid-lit blogs).
I
believe strongly that it's important for writers to honestly portray
cultures other than the mainstream, and the next blog listed is one I
wrote after the Charleston Mother Emanuel Church massacre, talking
about how dishonest and lazy portrayals of Black people had played a
role in reinforcing the bigotry that caused that shooting, how these
bad portrayals happens to other peoples and cultures, as well, and
how vital it is that they stop. Writers must learn to portray
cultures other than the mainstream. An artist must paint a true
portrait of the world, not whitewash it.
The
internet is awash in blog posts and articles on how to write about
other cultures. Some of them are excellent, some mediocre, and some
downright wrong. (Hint: while empathy and imagination are vital, they
alone will not help you write authentically about a culture you've
not experienced.) I've combed through most of these (new ones pop up
almost daily) and listed the best ones.
As
you can see, I strongly encourage you to write the Other. But at the
same time, I don't want you to be blindsided by criticism you
weren't expecting and decide you'll never make that attempt again. I
want you to go into the arena aware of the dangers and armed against
them.
For
there are dangers in writing about a culture that's not your own, and
those dangers are especially fierce if you're a
middle-class-or-above, white, heterosexual, able-bodied writer.
First
of all, simply by writing about that Other, you may well be keeping a
member of that culture from being able to publish their book set
authentically in their own culture. It's not your fault, but
publishing is a very white, often dumb business. A publisher who
publishes your book about XYZ culture will then say to everyone else
who submits, “We have our XYZ book already.” And other publishers
will often say, “That publisher does XYZ books, so we can't.” The
mindset of mainstream publishing is that the world needs an infinity
of books about the world of middle-class or rich heterosexual
able-bodied white people, but the number of books it can handle about
people of color, of varying genders, of the “lower” classes, of
varying physical and mental abilities is extremely limited. And
because of this limited experience and worldview, a publisher is much
more likely to buy a book by a white, able-bodied, middle-class,
heterosexual writer about XYZ culture instead of a book by someone
from XYZ culture—simply because they will share the same
assumptions and perspectives, and it will feel less foreign and
uncomfortable to the publisher.
Tony
Hillerman is usually set up as an example of a good way to write
about another culture—I've said so myself. Hillerman loved Navajo
culture and people and had many Navajo friends—he really worked
hard to get the culture right. But how many Navajo novels have been
published by Navajo people since Hillerman's books? There are lots of
fine Navajo writers, many of them friends of mine, but usually they
only get published as poets or literary short fiction writers,
because there are so many little literary magazines for those genres,
and not many readers or any money or recognition. The niche for trade
or commercial fiction about Navajo people has been filled by
Hillerman, as far as publishing is concerned. I don't think he'd be
happy about that, if he were still alive, but it's still the case. So
the people who get angry about someone from the mainstream writing
about their culture and keeping their own voices from being heard
have a real point. There's your first danger: People may be angry
with you, even if you get things right, because they see your book as
preventing a person of that culture from writing and publishing—and
they may not be entirely wrong.
Tony
Hillerman is a good example of the second big danger, as well. As I
said, he worked hard to get Navajo culture right. He had many Navajo
friends and ran things past them and went to them for information and
answers to questions he developed. Big hint—this is what you should
do when writing about the Other—check it with someone you've
developed a relationship with who belongs to that culture.
Hillerman's problem was that most of his friends were fairly
assimilated and didn't still follow the most traditional teachings,
so they told him about religious things that were supposed to be kept
secret, and Hillerman put them into his books, telling the world. In
traditional Navajo religious beliefs that tampered dangerously with
powerful essences and may have allowed them access to the world.
Also, because his friends were no longer still highly traditional,
their understanding of some of these more religious things was a
little off. None of this was Hillerman's fault, and the Navajo Nation
awarded him Friend of the Navajo Nation status, but a number of
traditional Navajo were very unhappy with him and still are.
As
a part of this second danger, one
thing you must remember about doing research on other cultures in
books, libraries, on the internet, is that much of it is wrong,
accidentally or willfully. Accidentally, because journalists,
anthropologists, other scholars, and explorers may have
misinterpreted what they saw or heard or because—and this was
common—their informants deliberately misinformed them to protect
their people or to protect their own source of whatever the white man
was providing them. Consequently, even primary sources from past
times can be contaminated if they are “as told to” or are
translated. Willfully, because a lot of that research was done by
people, usually white men, who had an agenda that placed wealthy
white male Europeans at the pinnacle of creation and everyone and
everything else downhill from that, which led to eugenics and a lot
of other horrid, stupid things. So there's your second caveat: You
can do your research and still get it wrong in some way.
Still,
as I pointed out, Hillerman was named Friend of the Navajo Nation by
the culture about which he wrote, and even though there are some
naysayers, he's counted successful at his attempts to portray Navajo
characters and culture in some depth. If you can manage that, you'll
have done very well, indeed.
How
do we go about the process then? The beginning is always
research—keeping in mind the caveats above about mistakes and
agendas in the work of scholars. You can learn some basic history,
etc., from these, but remember they're written from another culture's
viewpoint and therefore are tales with unreliable narrators.
Look
in particular for any primary sources you can find, work written by
members of the culture as memoir, other nonfiction, or even fiction
or poetry. There are magazines, often online, that focus on the
writing of women, LGBTQIA people, Latinos, Natives, Asian Americans,
African Americans, Muslims, working-class and poor people, and people
with disabilities. In these, you'll not only find primary literary
work you can read and learn from, but you'll often find references to
books written by people of this Other culture.
Next,
you must find and meet people of this Other culture. Do that basic
research first, though, so you have some foundation. Nothing is more
insulting to anyone than to say, essentially, “I know nothing about
you and your culture, and I couldn't be bothered to do even the most
minimal research on it, so please do it all for me and make me an
expert overnight.”
If
you already know some people from this community, now is the time to
follow up on those relationships and deepen them. If you're someone
who lives in a segregated community—and this is the case for most
people now, congregating in suburbs and neighborhoods that are filled
with people just like themselves—and you don't have any friends or
acquaintances from work or an earlier time in your life who belong to
this Other culture, this is the trickiest part—you will have to
make friends. And people from marginalized communities can be quite
wary of strangers who come in to their areas wanting to exploit them
for some reason and then drop them. They've usually been there
before. If you don't have any acquaintances in that community, ask
among your friends and their friends and see if someone you do know
has any. If they do, they can arrange an introduction for you. This
can be extremely helpful.
Take
your informant to lunch or dinner. Treat this person with respect.
When
researching another culture or anything—say, life as a policeman or
the way City Hall works behind the scenes—please remember that
common courtesy and respect are your best friends. If you've been
recommended by a friend of theirs and you treat them well, they
should relax in your presence. It's like making friends with anyone
else new. You want to spend plenty of time getting to know each other
with a huge emphasis on real listening on your part. (All the while
you're listening, you're learning.) If you can show that you're
really interested in them and what they have to say, that you're
receptive and truly paying attention to them and truly listening,
they will be much more likely to help you. Tell them what you're
trying to write and that you want to give an honest portrayal, and
ask if they'd be willing to answer some questions for you. You can
take a list of specific questions with you, but you may well want to
reserve your first meeting for getting to know and trust each other
and set a second meeting to go over the questions.
It's
a matter of building a relationship. If that's simply not something
you can see yourself doing—many writers are extreme introverts—it's
also possible to find paid “diversity readers” online, who will
read your work to point out flawed areas and problem portrayals. Some
of them are excellent writers from those communities, and their help
is worth the money paid. Some of them are self-styled diversity
experts who may not actually be of the cultures they purport to know.
As with anything on the internet, you must do your own research on
people before hiring them to make sure they're actually what they
present themselves to be. Ask for references.
Once
you've finished your first draft, you will want to have a reading by
someone from the culture you're trying to bring alive on the page.
And if that someone points out a problem with representation that
needs to be fixed, don't argue with them. Go fix it. Even if it's a
lot of extra work.
In
the front or back matter of your book (wherever you put your
acknowledgments page), acknowledge the help you received from the
people you consulted on the cultural environment, and see to it that
they each get a free book.
And
remember, you can do it all right and still have someone upset that
you published the book because there will be less room for a writer
from that community now—and they won't be wrong. Do whatever you
can to help writers from that culture to reach success—signal
boost, give blurbs, mentor, recommend, whatever you can do. And
continue to do this. Your book may be out there in the marketplace
for a long time. Make sure you're helping people from that community
be heard for at least as long. Aside from being the right thing to
do, it's good karma.
Above
all, know that what you're doing in trying to diversify your writing
is absolutely important. Many of the problems we have with racism,
sexism, homophobia, able-ism, classism, and all kinds of xenophobia
stem from the damaging stereotypes that are continually presented
about other cultures and the people living in them. You are changing
the world for the better when you change that.
Resources For Writing About Other
Cultures
Blogs/online articles
