Be a Better Writer--AVOIDING ETHNIC STEREOTYPES
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 9:30 am
There will be times, perhaps, when you want to include a character of a different ethnicity than your own in a short story or a novel, or even to write about such a person in a bit of creative nonfiction. If you do this, you should be careful to avoid ethnic, racial, or religious stereotypes. At best, stereotypes are lazy writing; at worst, they can be offensive. There are several things that you should be aware of:
1. When you write the dialogue of a non-white person, be careful not to use inaccurate dialect. Some people make such dialect exaggerated, giving people of color a sort of “Stepin Fetchit” sound (if you’re not familiar with him, search for him on YouTube) or making every black person sound like either a thug or a mammy.
It’s not just black people who get this treatment—writers who might not know differently could stereotype an Asian character as serving a restaurant patron “flied lice” (fried rice), or a Native American saying “Me take white man to chief. Smokum much peace pipe.”
This advice goes for characters of European ethnicities, too. If your Italian character, for example, says “That’s-a some-a spicy meat-a ball-a,” you’re stereotyping.
When I was writing regularly for the writing challenge, I found that it was easier on my readers to simply suggest a dialect or an accent that might be attributed to an ethnic character. If several or most of that character’s words in every speech are rendered with their non-standard pronunciation or grammar, the reader had to work hard to ‘translate’ everything that character said. Also, the more exaggerated a character's speech is, the more likely it is to be stereotyped or offensive. So instead, I chose just a few representative non-standard words or phrases—enough to suggest their dialect—and wrote the rest of their speech in standard English.
STEREOTYPED DIALECT: Lawdy, lawdy, Miz Emmaline. Ah nevah knowed you was g’wan grow up t’be so purty an’ proud. Y’all looks lak a chile who done et a whole watermelon…
REVISED DIALECT: Lordy, Miss Emmaline. I never knew you was gonna be so pretty and proud when you was all grown. You look happy as a young’un who ate a whole watermelon…
Finally, I’ve had two different writing clients who had non-native English speakers speak with stereotyped grammar and syntax, and when I asked them if they’d researched how (for example) a Chinese person speaks imperfect English, they both said that they had not. Writing inaccurate dialogue will not go over well with readers.
2. Similarly, do not make your ethnic characters behave in stereotypical ways. Not all young black men wear saggy trousers. Not all Asians are bad drivers. Not all Native Americans are lazy alcoholics. Not all Muslims are terrorists. You get the idea.
When you write about an ethnic character in stereotyped ways, they become a flat character—one who does not change during the course of the story. Not only that, but your readers do not have to read as carefully, because once they see the stereotype, they know everything there is to know about that character.
However, if you have your ethnic character behave in a way that is counter to the stereotype, your readers will notice, and that character instantly becomes more interesting.
Of course, there will be times when you need for your character to be a thug, or a terrorist, or an alcoholic. If it’s absolutely necessary, that’s fine. Just consider writing that character in such a way that he or she is defined by something in addition to their stereotype. And consider that white folks can be thugs or terrorists or alcoholics or lazy, too.
3. Your ethnic characters shouldn’t have stereotyped descriptions of their appearances, either. I recently read a very articulate article by a woman of color in which she objected to character descriptions that included edible metaphors: caramel skin, mocha hair, chocolate eyes. She found them demeaning, and although not every person of color might agree with her, it should be a reminder to us that our words may be offensive, even when meant innocently. I couldn’t find the exact article as I wrote this lesson, but this one says much the same thing, and the fact that there are several articles with this theme on my Google search suggests to me that it’s considered offensive by more than just that one woman.
As I’ve said earlier, those descriptions are clichés—lazy writing.
Here is another article that mentions the use of food metaphors in writing about race, and covers many more racial and cultural issues, specifically for YA writers (but applicable for all writers).
4. An excellent addition to the original lesson from my good friend, Ann:
Choice of words is extremely important, not only for being PC and avoiding offense, but also because of bias. One example is the use of the words "indigenous people" or "people of aboriginal descent" or "First Nations people" or "Indians." Knowing which is acceptable.
In fiction, though, it wouldn't be appropriate to use a term that hadn't been invented yet. (And I have seen that error in several books... a period piece that was attempting to be PC by using late 20th century terms.) And that goes for the 'n' word as well.
5. Even if you don’t feel that you’ve written your characters in stereotyped ways, or you believe that no one should be offended by the way you’ve written them, try to consider what you’ve written though the eyes of a person of that ethnicity. As Philippians 2:3 says, “…rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.” There may be rare instances when your writing is meant to offend, or to challenge the readers, or to use a voice in which stereotyping of your characters serves a literary purpose. But in the absence of that literary motivation, strive to write with your potentially-offended audience in mind, and to eliminate ethnic, racial, or religious stereotypes.
No homework for this lesson, but I’d love a civil discussion:
Have you seen writing with ethnic or racial stereotypes?
How did you feel about it?
Can you think of an instance in which stereotypes would advance the narrative?
Have you written anything that you might re-examine with this lesson in mind?
Any other comments or questions? I don’t mind if you disagree with me, as long as the discussion is kind and considerate.
1. When you write the dialogue of a non-white person, be careful not to use inaccurate dialect. Some people make such dialect exaggerated, giving people of color a sort of “Stepin Fetchit” sound (if you’re not familiar with him, search for him on YouTube) or making every black person sound like either a thug or a mammy.
It’s not just black people who get this treatment—writers who might not know differently could stereotype an Asian character as serving a restaurant patron “flied lice” (fried rice), or a Native American saying “Me take white man to chief. Smokum much peace pipe.”
This advice goes for characters of European ethnicities, too. If your Italian character, for example, says “That’s-a some-a spicy meat-a ball-a,” you’re stereotyping.
When I was writing regularly for the writing challenge, I found that it was easier on my readers to simply suggest a dialect or an accent that might be attributed to an ethnic character. If several or most of that character’s words in every speech are rendered with their non-standard pronunciation or grammar, the reader had to work hard to ‘translate’ everything that character said. Also, the more exaggerated a character's speech is, the more likely it is to be stereotyped or offensive. So instead, I chose just a few representative non-standard words or phrases—enough to suggest their dialect—and wrote the rest of their speech in standard English.
STEREOTYPED DIALECT: Lawdy, lawdy, Miz Emmaline. Ah nevah knowed you was g’wan grow up t’be so purty an’ proud. Y’all looks lak a chile who done et a whole watermelon…
REVISED DIALECT: Lordy, Miss Emmaline. I never knew you was gonna be so pretty and proud when you was all grown. You look happy as a young’un who ate a whole watermelon…
Finally, I’ve had two different writing clients who had non-native English speakers speak with stereotyped grammar and syntax, and when I asked them if they’d researched how (for example) a Chinese person speaks imperfect English, they both said that they had not. Writing inaccurate dialogue will not go over well with readers.
2. Similarly, do not make your ethnic characters behave in stereotypical ways. Not all young black men wear saggy trousers. Not all Asians are bad drivers. Not all Native Americans are lazy alcoholics. Not all Muslims are terrorists. You get the idea.
When you write about an ethnic character in stereotyped ways, they become a flat character—one who does not change during the course of the story. Not only that, but your readers do not have to read as carefully, because once they see the stereotype, they know everything there is to know about that character.
However, if you have your ethnic character behave in a way that is counter to the stereotype, your readers will notice, and that character instantly becomes more interesting.
Of course, there will be times when you need for your character to be a thug, or a terrorist, or an alcoholic. If it’s absolutely necessary, that’s fine. Just consider writing that character in such a way that he or she is defined by something in addition to their stereotype. And consider that white folks can be thugs or terrorists or alcoholics or lazy, too.
3. Your ethnic characters shouldn’t have stereotyped descriptions of their appearances, either. I recently read a very articulate article by a woman of color in which she objected to character descriptions that included edible metaphors: caramel skin, mocha hair, chocolate eyes. She found them demeaning, and although not every person of color might agree with her, it should be a reminder to us that our words may be offensive, even when meant innocently. I couldn’t find the exact article as I wrote this lesson, but this one says much the same thing, and the fact that there are several articles with this theme on my Google search suggests to me that it’s considered offensive by more than just that one woman.
As I’ve said earlier, those descriptions are clichés—lazy writing.
Here is another article that mentions the use of food metaphors in writing about race, and covers many more racial and cultural issues, specifically for YA writers (but applicable for all writers).
4. An excellent addition to the original lesson from my good friend, Ann:
Choice of words is extremely important, not only for being PC and avoiding offense, but also because of bias. One example is the use of the words "indigenous people" or "people of aboriginal descent" or "First Nations people" or "Indians." Knowing which is acceptable.
In fiction, though, it wouldn't be appropriate to use a term that hadn't been invented yet. (And I have seen that error in several books... a period piece that was attempting to be PC by using late 20th century terms.) And that goes for the 'n' word as well.
5. Even if you don’t feel that you’ve written your characters in stereotyped ways, or you believe that no one should be offended by the way you’ve written them, try to consider what you’ve written though the eyes of a person of that ethnicity. As Philippians 2:3 says, “…rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.” There may be rare instances when your writing is meant to offend, or to challenge the readers, or to use a voice in which stereotyping of your characters serves a literary purpose. But in the absence of that literary motivation, strive to write with your potentially-offended audience in mind, and to eliminate ethnic, racial, or religious stereotypes.
No homework for this lesson, but I’d love a civil discussion:
Have you seen writing with ethnic or racial stereotypes?
How did you feel about it?
Can you think of an instance in which stereotypes would advance the narrative?
Have you written anything that you might re-examine with this lesson in mind?
Any other comments or questions? I don’t mind if you disagree with me, as long as the discussion is kind and considerate.