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Jan. 18th, 2019 07:56 amAttempting to port over a convo from elsewhere again, but...
Does anyone else ever feel like the discourse about “representation” hinges on thinking of “writers” as white straight men?
Like, so much of it’s “writers, don’t do this” and... I just find myself wanting to ask sometimes what “a writer” looks like in their minds by default.
Also the selfish part of my brain really wonders if they’re thinking about what sells. Like a few years back I went to a conference for lesfic writers and several panels were dedicated to writing more diverse stories with different kinds of protagonists. I think the one in question was on disability representation?
And we’re all having this group hug encouraging each other to go for it and write more diverse protagonists and the like. And then one of the bigger publishers of lesfic raises her hand and goes “how do I sell it, though?” And starts quoting sales figures.
And it pissed everyone off INCLUDING ME but I wondered. There’s so much discussion in progressive fandom circles about what we want, and so little about who we’re actually supporting and how they’re doing in the industry.
Does anyone else ever feel like the discourse about “representation” hinges on thinking of “writers” as white straight men?
Like, so much of it’s “writers, don’t do this” and... I just find myself wanting to ask sometimes what “a writer” looks like in their minds by default.
Also the selfish part of my brain really wonders if they’re thinking about what sells. Like a few years back I went to a conference for lesfic writers and several panels were dedicated to writing more diverse stories with different kinds of protagonists. I think the one in question was on disability representation?
And we’re all having this group hug encouraging each other to go for it and write more diverse protagonists and the like. And then one of the bigger publishers of lesfic raises her hand and goes “how do I sell it, though?” And starts quoting sales figures.
And it pissed everyone off INCLUDING ME but I wondered. There’s so much discussion in progressive fandom circles about what we want, and so little about who we’re actually supporting and how they’re doing in the industry.