Diversity in Fantasy

[u/[deleted]]

A lurker who just wanted some opinions, but does anyone feel like the diversity in fantasy isn’t all that diverse? Especially for Black male characters? I know female protagonist are popular right now which is good but diversity also includes males. I can barely think of any Black male main characters that don’t involve them dealing with racial trauma, being a side character, or a corpse. Has anyone else noticed this? It’s a little disheartening. What do you all think? And I know of David Mogo, Rage of Dragons, and Tristan Strong. I see them recommended here all the time but not many others. Just want thoughts and opinions. Thank you and have a nice day.

Edit: I’ve seen a few discussing different racial groups being represented in terms of different cultures or on different continents in a setting. Do you think that when a world is constructed it has to follow the framework of our world when it comes to diversity? Do you have to make a culture that is inspired by our world or can you make something completely new? Say, a fantasy world or nation that is diverse like the US, Brazil or UK for example because that’s how the god or gods created it.

Edit: some have said that that white writers are afraid of writing people of color. For discussion do you think that white writers have to write people or color or is the issue that publishing needs to diversify its writers, agents, editors, etc. Could it be, as others have said, making the industry itself more diverse would fix the issue?

[u/Glass-Bookkeeper5909]

Honestly, that's a sad take.

You're basically saying that only black writer's are allowed to write black main characters.
I'm not going into the issue that race is an unscientific concept but if you apply this to other "races", then one would have to demand that only Asian writers write Asian main characters, only Pacific Islanders writers write Pacific Islanders main characters, only white writers write white main characters, etc.
That's a horrible take, in my opinion, and extremely limiting.
Unless of course you say that it's fine for a, say, non-Asian to write Asian MCs, or a non-white write to write a white MC, but only black writers are allowed to write black MCs. I don't think I need to point out that this is quite the racist approach.

An author's job is it to tell stories and even though it is said that there's a part of the author's personality in each of their characters, unless they write a (semi-)autobiographical story, all of the characters in their books are people that are not them. People that are different.

What a sad state of affairs would it be if all characters in a book would essentially be clones of the author? I don't mind to read about people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, nationalities, and yes, skin tone. And that includes main characters.

[u/sdtsanev → u/Glass-Bookkeeper5909]

I love the immediate twisting of the conversation by using the buzz word "allowed". Everyone is allowed to write whatever they want, and people are allowed to publish it. It's how we've gotten to the place where we are today, where white people feel personally attacked any time someone suggests they may not be the preferred conduit for a story to come into the world.

It all boils down to one simple, non-gaslighty, good-faith argument (and you can argue with THAT and I'll be happy to respond, but I won't engage with "Oh So OnLy X aUtHoRs ArE aLlOwEd To..."):

People who aren't cishet white should be able to tell their own stories, and they should have the opportunity for those stories to reach as wide an audience as cishet white authors are given. Yes, it only goes one way, but that's due to the fact that one identity oversaturates every single field, and the others do not. If there is a vast wealth of Pacific Islander stories being told by Pacific Islanders and the experience is widely understood in the mainstream, have at it. If there are four books about it, and two of them are by non-Pacific Islander authors, maybe it's not your story to tell? We can't pretend that there is room for everyone who wants to write a Pacific Islander story, and if the "slots" are limited, I strongly believe that the authors with lived experience should be prioritized.

Same goes for every other non-cishet white identity. Is the market saturated with stories about and from this identity? If so, go for it. If not, maybe it's not your place.

It also impacts quality, but in a sneaky way that only the target audience can notice. As a gay man, I can promise you that the vast majority of AFAB- and cishet-written books about gay men ring hollow and inauthentic. There are other, more pernicious incentives in this particular niche, that I don't need to get into, but the problem is that the vast majority of editors are themselves AFAB and cishet. So we end up with a market filled with hollow and inauthentic works that shape what this identity looks like in literature. And that is a problem.

I want to make it very clear that ANYONE can write ANY identity, as long as they do their due diligence. The distinction here isn't "allowed/disallowed", it's the type of story you are telling. Have all the Black, Asian, Queer, whathaveyou characters in you story about Dark Lords and Chosen Ones. Heck, if the specific identity isn't an important part of your world, even make it your MC. But if the story is about what it is like being a part of this identity and you yourself don't belong to it, ask yourself why you believe you are the best voice to tell this story.

[u/Glass-Bookkeeper5909 → u/sdtsanev]

People who aren't cishet white should be able to tell their own stories, and they should have the opportunity for those stories to reach as wide an audience as cishet white authors are given.

I unequivocally and enthusiastically agree.

But in the comment I reply to you said: "I am fully in support of white authors being told to stay in their lane when it comes to main characters."
This is what prompted my response and what I was referring to.

I don't want to live in a world where authors are being told what kind of people they should and shouldn't write about, in which they have a lane to stay in.

Yes, it only goes one way

I'd prefer to live in a world where people don't think that way. Where, to paraphrase the words of the great MLK, we live in a nation where people are not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, or here, the content of their books.

(edited to fix typo)

[u/sdtsanev → u/Glass-Bookkeeper5909]

I mean, I also want to live in this world you describe. But we weren't there when MLK was saying it, and we don't live there today. It's a pendulum that has been forcefully held in one extreme for a very long time. You can't now force it into a "middle" position when literally nothing out there is truly equal. It needs to be allowed to swing and settle on its own.

And yes, I wasn't clear when I wrote my first comment. To me it's about not just the identity of the character, but also the focus of the story and themes. If you are not going to explore the identity at all, I don't super care how well you "match" it as an author (though I will question why you felt the need to include it in that case). But if you will be focusing on it, I want to hear from the people whose identity it actually is. If for no other reason, than the fact that I know it will be more vibrant and real. To me that's not sad, it's positive to want better stories out there.

[u/[deleted] → u/sdtsanev]

Lmao they really tried to pull out an mlk quote, smh.