Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43638
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43638
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Let's explore the proposition you're making here. You're saying "a white person cannot know what it's like to be black. Ergo, a white person should not write about black characters." So, white writers should exclude black people from their stories? That's rather racist, isn't it? The opposite of your intent.

The way forwards is **research and empathy**.

There are many things your characters experience that you never have. Shakespeare has never been a Danish prince, nor had his father poisoned by his uncle. Tolkien had never carried a Ring of Power. Clarke never saw the inside of a spaceship, let alone travelled into space. It is the writer's task to try and imagine what it would be like, put themselves as much as they can in the character's shoes. That's the empathy part.

But to put yourself in the character's shoes, you've got to know what shoes those are. That's where research comes in. If you were writing about the experience of a priest in ancient Egypt, you'd do the research: what their day-to-day was like, social status, social mobility etc. Why would you do less for a character who lives in our time, with plenty of information readily available, and when you can actually ask people about their experience?

Original score: 1