So I know it's been forever, a new job has started and it's eating up a lot of my hours (but it's a good friend's startup so the long hours aren't nearly as soul killing!), but I'm finally nearing the end of the next story. Day or two tops!
However, aside from that I want to say one thing that's been on my mind some as I write this next story which goes back to Andrea, Megan and Zainab in Surda.
What I'm writing is fiction, but fiction that borrows from elements around us. I'm personally white and American, but now a bunch of my characters are not in America so I'm starting to get into less and less familiar and intuitive territory. They're in a fake country I made up in part so that I don't misrepresent or insult a real one. I grew up in a very Persian heavy neighborhood, so I have some familiarity with at least the kinds of Persians who fled the revolution. But even still, even with it being a fake country with fake people, I don't want to insult any real ones. Just kind of the way I am personally. I'm the kind of person that throws a party and spends the whole time making sure other people are enjoying it and never being able to enjoy it much myself so long as I think other people aren't also.
So, this I guess is my one big disclaimer. I'll say it here so I hopefully don't feel the need to pester and repeat it with every chapter that's taking place in Surda:
I try to do justice to representing people from other places as real human people not only relying on stereotypes and culturally assumed tropes too heavily. In some areas I have personal knowledge and experience I can draw from, in some areas my understanding is only Wikipedia deep. If at any point, you find something hard to believe, just try suspending your disbelief a little harder if you can. If at any point I offend you with my ignorance, know it's the last thing I intended and please let me know where and how I did it because it's the only way to learn and improve. The last thing I want to do is paint whole groups of people unfairly. I don't expect problems, I feel like I do a decent job to keep people human (though not always very likable), I just needed to say my piece this once.
Oh, yeah! I totally understand your concerns and sympathize with them. Thoughtlessly applying stereotypes can be very distracting to a story. On the other hand, as you are writing this for little reward, slips in research will be hopefully permitted by all, particularly with this statement of good faith. So, fret not!
ReplyDeleteThanks! And I look forward to reading the next part!
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That's basically my hope. That if I ever do venture into bad territory, being aware that it might happen and apologizing up front should hopefully assure people that any big mistake is not malicious, just a limit of my own competence. I don't expect to be offending people, but better safe than sorry!
DeleteClass act!!!
ReplyDeleteSince the story takes place in the future and the island has been independent for a few centuries, I'm sure any deviation for current Persian culture could be attributed to a natural evolution of the society.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on the issue is that most western countries share a common culture that makes each individual country stand out a bit less, which in turn makes it harder to properly understand and convey more independent cultures from, for instance, middle eastern or asian countries.
I am personally more at ease reading/watching movies/talking about cultures that I'm more familiar with, so I feel your worries. But you have shown before a lot of care and attention to detail in past chapters, so I'm sure you'll be fine.
I sometimes wish you'd put as much detail into the background stuff of the story as there is in your notes and mind, but descriptions that minute would most likely do more harm than good to the story.
On a different note, out of curiosity, is there any fetish/theme/subject that will not appear in your stories, ever, either in a sexual context or not, and on the contrary, if there are any that you are quite fond of?
That's a good question.. I don't know if there are many things I'd consider "off limits" for the story that I'm personally a fan of. My tastes are very broad, and I've found ways of getting most of my thoughts in there. Those kinks that haven't made an appearance yet, many of them have possible places where they would come up in future stories.
DeleteSo it really comes down to, what do I end up writing and what ends up cut. Like, I had one idea that got cut from part 8 because it was already getting way too long as it was, and it hasn't had a spot to come up since. It might still be something I could do later, so I'll keep that to myself for now, but if I ever skip a fetish or theme it's likely just because it didn't fit in time. Same with the details honestly. I try not to have paragraphs of exposition without good reason, but that means certain details are only hinted at rather than specifically stated in the story.
My main concern with all this, the reason I wrote the note, is because a part of me fears treating this like "Orientalism." It's been a rather common theme in western art and literature for centuries, and it produces some beautiful (to me) art and themes but it can also be a bit patronizing or even dehumanizing. I think my own self-awareness will hopefully shield against that, but it's still something I'm aware of and so I wanted to put out this warning because that's just how I am.
Thanks for the answer. I guess that means there plenty of kinky things to come. But I was actually asking about things that you don't want to put in your story because you're not confortable writing about or because it simply doesn't appeal to you. Since the sexual fetishes, relationship themes and cultures/places you write about are so wide-ranging, I was just wondering about were you "draw the line" regarding what you put in your stories.
DeleteAnd I didn't know that the appropiation of art and culture from the East was so common troughout the centuries to warrant its own name and artistic movement. You do learn something every day!
Ohh. That makes sense too. Well I mostly "draw a line" at things that simply.. don't interest me. It's not a very purposeful line, but if something doesn't excite me at least a little (and/or doesn't seem in character) I don't want to write it. Not that it disgusts me, I just don't feel a passion and don't know those worlds so I just don't venture into them.
DeleteThere's nothing wrong with for example tickling, messy food play, or diaper fetishes, but I just don't happen to share those. It means I tend to think of other things for them to do when thinking up sexy things to do. And because I don't know them, I also don't know if I could do them well since I have no intuitive gauge of if what I'm writing is hot or not like I would with bondage, slave play, those kinds of things.