Offensive mistakes writers make

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I find the person who wrote the article offensive. But that's probably because of the "xe" and "xir" as much as all the manufactured offense that xe/xir spouts.

It would be nearly impossible to write anything if you had to walk on eggshells (oops, food reference to nonfood activity) for fear of offending anyone who is so determined to be offended by the entire world.

Actually, I'm almost tempted to try, in the spirit of the book written entirely without the letter "e", and such as that. But if I had to use "xe" and "xir", it would be over before it started.

And yes, it's always good to have a reminder that there are people like that out there, if only for amusement purposes. :D
 
Now that my rage has abated somewhat, I'm determined to describe food-coloured skin in my next work...

"She had chocolate-coloured skin, the pale white of the Milky Bars I'd eaten as a kid..."
 
I think people are getting a bit hung up on the issues of skin color and sexual orientation and ignoring some sort-of-good points in that article.

I say "sort of" because the issue as far as I can see with those particular points -- writing about mental illness when you don't know much about it, and satirizing something you don't understand -- is not of being offensive (although they well may be for some people) but simply of poor writing.

Also, I believe we need to think* before we write something and ask ourselves if a certain stereotype or a certain cliché is truly important to our story, or simply boring, lazy writing. It is so easy to dismiss legitimate criticism of poor writing by declaring that the person doing the criticizing is "just being PC." That may be true, but that doesn't mean that the criticism doesn't have some validity. It doesn't mean that it does, either. Actually, it means nothing. The question is not the reader's prejudice, but whether the writing is good.

_____

*I'm not saying that anybody here doesn't think in these situations, because I don't know what goes on when you are writing. But if you are like me, there are times when it would have been a good idea to think about such things a little more.
 
Hi,

I wonder if there's a writer out there who could possibly write a book that didn't fall afoul of some of these rules. I mean you just can't win.

You can't describe skin in terms of food because dark skin is often described as chocolate - I like chocolate! Has AJ not heard of milky coloured skin?

You can't write accents? Well I tend to agree - but only because people who do generally end up making a huge mess of them. But to leave them out is to leave out some of the character of your characters. I mean in the real world people have accents. (Not me of course since I'm a kiwi!)

And then there's this absolutely awful section entitled the "supercrip". Personally I find this an extremely offensive term. And what AJ seems to have misse is that for some people with disabilities doing ordinary, everyday things is an amazing achievement that should be applauded.

Maybe I'm just too sensitive!

Cheers, Greg.
 
I enjoyed it and thought it was quite interesting, although largely common sense. However;

TheDustyZebra said:
I find the person who wrote the article offensive. But that's probably because of the "xe" and "xir" as much as all the manufactured offense that xe/xir spouts.
Click to expand...

Yes, I found this terribly distracting and pretentious. It's clear the signature of this blogger is xher/shim's PC-ness :D

pH
 
To be honest, for much of it, I really say let the fates be damned. I agree with Chris throughout, but it also does take a mind to think on one's work.

Shock and awe tactics aren't for writing. If something has no justification on its own two feet to be within a particular work, and it is of poor quality, get rid of it. But don't be afraid to punch through walls if something potentially offensive is going to add to the story in a significant way.

I kind of shook my head throughout the whole thing, to be honest...
 
These are the sort of things I try to take on board already with my own writing. It's not that I'm trying to be PC, but I obsess about every little detail to be authentic.

However, if anyone has ever read any militant left blogs, it's clear that the boundaries of offence are personal, not social. Simply being white or heterosexual or male - or Western - can be condemning in itself.

The bottom line is that, no matter what you write, if you become popular, someone will criticise you for something. The challenge as a writer is to ensure those criticisms remain petty.

The irony here is that Ava Jae can be accused of being a "Mighty Whitey" by publishing this piece.
 
Oh dear I am in trouble. A lot of my current WIPs are set between 1900 and 1960, in ,'gulp', Europe. Supernatural/ghost stories. All white characters (in one book nearly all male) that are in part, racists, class-ridden, homophobic, keep women in their place at the kitchen stove, SMOKERS!

And according to one beta reader the last was the most offensive. Go figure.:rolleyes:.






 
When I began my epic fantasy, I was a celibate vegan teetotal non-smoker.

Strangely, I was not offended by any characters in the story having sex, eating meat, or drinking ale.

I would have been offended by smoking, however, because in my world, tobacco has not been discovered. :)
 
I was just going to say "FFS", but I would like to mention that I think the satire point is just plain wrong.

Say you satirise the workings of a dictatorship and all the stupid, unjust things that happen in it, as Terry Gilliam did in Brazil. Now, many of the functionaries in a dictatorship will be acting out of fear and self-preservation - I sign his death warrant so he doesn't sign mine. They didn't wake up one day and think "Let's be blackly-comic bureaucratic idiots". That doesn't mean that they are not ripe for parody. Mention their fear if you want - the parody would probably be sharper for doing so - but still feel free to mock them. Everything and everyone is ripe for parody - you just have to know when you are sailing through dangerous waters. That's why people like Hogarth and Chris Morris are worth having, even when they make readers wince.

Now, to properly satirise something you do have to understand it: for instance, the popular idea that dictatorships are usually more efficient than democracies is simply incorrect, but you have to know that before you can make the satirical point*. But you are free to direct the satire where you want it to go. "The Emperor looks like a fool because he is naked" doesn't have to be changed to "Terrible iniquities in the clothing industry have led to the situation where charlatans can trick people into buying fake clothes. And by the way, the Emperor is naked".

The problem, I suspect, is that full-on political correctness is a joyless business, because almost most humour involves some sort insult, crudity or other reprehensible conduct, however brief and not-seriously-intended.

Anyway, some of the rest of the article is fair enough, but strip out the PC coating and it boils down to "if you want to write well, do your research, avoid cliche and don't write badly".



(* one of the reasons 1984 works so well is that Orwell understood his targets. Unlike, say, Philip K Dick, whose Nazis drained the Mediterranean and flew to Venus in 1960, Oceania is squalid, the people weedy and nothing much really happens. The satire works because Orwell sees what the people in such places were really like, not what they claimed themselves to be. But I'm on a tangent now).
 
That was a well, written, insightful article. It should become the standard by which we all judge ourselves as writers.
 
I think the whole article is a bit over-the-top. As writers we just need to be sensible and do research if in any doubt.
 
I think I'm about to agree with the general consensus of the thread.

What a load of tripe. I like it when people write accents. Sure some people can get them a little wrong, but then if it's a fantasy or sci-fi whose to say that the accent hasn't shifted over centuries. We know the languages usually have.

All the various bits and bobs about describing people, and having certain characters portrayed in a certain way with certain stereotypes etc... well news flash for you, we can ALL be put into stereotypes if we look at ourselves, the same as we ALL break those same stereotypes. That's a fact of human existence. And that dribble about having things from other cultures in supposedly "western" styles cultures. Well hello!!! There are white people living in Britain and America and Australia you like sushi and bonsai trees, and martial arts. I mean this isn't anything new. We all have our different interests and whose to say that some of them can't come from other cultures?

What the frak was all that xe and xer and xheir crap??????? The English language has these wonderful words like them and they and their, which are gender neutral. Seriously, what the douche was that about??????

Okay some of the "white person saving the day" and "killing the gay character and only the gay character" stuff, I can sort of agree with. But I think as someone said earlier it depends on the way in which they die, and how they are portrayed as a character. If the great heroine of your story who happens to be a lesbian, dies from cancer at the end, after saving the entire galaxy from rampaging alien death bunnies, how exactly does her death imply anything about being a lesbian? Or any other sort of "non-traditional" sexual orientation? Perhaps she contracted cancer from a nuclear reactor, which she had to do something to in order to save said galaxy. If that's the case, then I as a reader am going to be applauding that character no matter who she bonks.

What a load of dribble.
 
BelgarionOz said:
What the frak was all that xe and xer and xheir crap??????? The English language has these wonderful words like them and they and their, which are gender neutral. Seriously, what the douche was that about??????
Click to expand...

"They" is plural, so some people regard it as inappropriate when you use it as a gender-neutral singular (hence all the slightly odd alternatives). 'Xir' was a bit weird and bend-over-backwardsish, though.

Honestly, my problem with the article was less about what it said than the way it said it. The accusations of rudeness and aggression put my back up and made it difficult for me to really listen to the point she was making.

I think it's an important point. I like all the pressure for diversity in YA. However, there are lots of voices and I find it harder to listen to the shouty ones.

[EDIT: I took a leaf out of End of Time's book and removed my rant!]
 
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