#ask skittles

[whentheskittlesfightback]

favorite word?

youve already asked but ill give another. martyr

[vanilla-bean-buttercream]

So in Despicable Dee are you actually going to attempt to do better in the racist portrayals of POC or you just going to ignore it? Or are you going to change the Side’s races?

If people would start talking to me about what is racist instead of just going “this is racist do your research” I’m willing to look into it.

But here’s the thing.

I have been doing research, and apparently, there’s something I’m missing, because there are answers I’m not getting. I’m getting vague asks about racism about my work, passive-aggressive anons that are doing nothing more than frustrating me more, and no communication.

I refuse to make the same mistake I made with Der Drachenizirkus and make the sides all white to keep the story. Clean and simple. The reason I did that with Der Drachenzirkus was that I came to the conclusion of "the story I want to tell is not mine to tell, because it heavily focuses on a person of color’s social experiences, which I don’t have, so maybe I just shouldn’t do that.” Because, let’s face it, writing a book with no experience toward what you’re writing about is nearly impossible to pull off when someone else has lived through it.

There was also the tumbling rabbit hole of “well this characteristic leads to this stereotype so maybe I just shouldn’t or else I’ll be labeled racist again” which I mean, is not the best take either. Fear of not writing diversity so you don’t look racist can be just as bad as writing an all-white cast on purpose.

Look, I’m white. I’m from Whiteville, USA. They make stereotypical white people here. My experiences with minorities have always been from those assimilated deeply with white culture or people who come from a majority non-white race, and therefore, have a way different view on race than someone who grew up in a mixed environment. 

Did you know that four years ago was the first time I wrote a character that wasn’t white? I’m not talking like the main character, but a character of color period? I’m not kidding you. I’m very much learning as I’m going, and I’m making a lot of mistakes along the way. Some mistakes are not pretty. Some mistakes are downright ugly, and what matters is figuring out what went wrong and not repeating it. That sometimes means making the same mistake 3 times, maybe 6 times, until I can get the right solution.

Practice does not always make perfect.

And I get the daunting nature of approaching a white person about their racism. It’s scary because the masses can be at your throat in seconds, especially if they’re “unproblematic fav uwu baby” creator. That’s one reason why I advocate for private messages instead of anon messages because it’s a 1 on 1 conversation without the mass’s voice. I do my best to be as open and receptive as I can, but I also know that my white fragility gets in the way, because I’m too busy looking at the bigger picture instead of what people are feeling toward my work.

So if you want to talk to me about my racist portrayals, I’m all for it. I’ll even break down what I plan on doing with characters in the future, because I promise you, what you’re seeing now is not how the characters are going to behave in the future anyway, even without addressing criticism.

Just make sure you’re ready to help me reach a solution instead of telling me “do more research” and being surprised when the issue isn’t fixed.

[whentheskittlesfightback]

favorite word?

unfathomable

[whentheskittlesfightback]

videos for you in your mission of friend and eram

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgfe37AhLPo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBVcfxWoves

(this one is mike related) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6_frNWFKW8&t=64s

(this one is more ramb focused but mentions the vending machine + association with friend/eram) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XGl5532dQs&t=2986s

thanks dawg. ill check those out tommow. yippee

[whentheskittlesfightback]

this was the last thing i looked at b4 i went to sleep and it was in my dreams

[whentheskittlesfightback]

what if instead of the velvet corporation it was the 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 corporation and they made 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 toothpaste and they had 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 employees who had to dye the toothpaste 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 colours 🤔🤔

LMFAOO @ifollowapollo

[whentheskittlesfightback]

trick or treat?

ooh spooky doir i wondr wats begind there...

ringed pop. nice

[whentheskittlesfightback]

boop boop happy halloween

halloweenie!!! do you like candy corn. you better