#ethical writing

[elumish]

It is incredibly important to train yourself to have your first instinct be to look something up.

Don't know how to do something? Look it up.

See a piece of news mentioned on social media? Look it up.

Not sure if something is making it to the broader public consciousness, either because you don't see it much or you see people saying nobody is talking about it? Look it up.

Don't know what a word means? Look it up.

It will make you a better reader and a better writer, but it will also just make you more equipped to cope with the world.

So often, I see people talking about something as though it is the first time anyone has ever acknowledged it, when I've been reading reports about it on the news for months or years. Or I see someone totally misinterpreting an argument because they clearly don't know what a word means--or, on the other hand, making an argument that doesn't make sense because they aren't using words the right way.

Look things up! Check the news (the real news, not random people on social media)! Do your research! You (and the world) will be better for it.

[ellierosescribbles]

Ethical Writing

An open question for people with mental illnesses, trauma, and/or who have been discriminated against:

Which piece of fictional media do you think portrayed your experience/trigger with care? What about it, specifically, did the creator do well, and what could they have done better?

I am in the semi-early stage of writing stories with controversial topics. To explore found family and the struggles of becoming an adjusted adult. I am not trying to write as if I have firsthand knowledge, but with characters who experience it. "It" being: various abuse, substance issues, foster kid/homeless, neurodivergence (not just autism/ADHD/anxiety), being non-white, etc. I do not want to make # trauma porn or be # edgy. (No hate for the whump community.)

[msmeow37]

I know this might sound silly, but my nerd brain is jumping for joy. I look up Cantonese sayings for my story and sometimes I stumble onto Mandarin romanization translations instead of Cantonese.

I'm beginning to recognize the difference. In Mandarin they use an X in pinyin, but it's pronounced like an S or sh whereas the Cantonese romanization is an S Jyutping or Yale.

Jyutping has the tonal numbers at the end of each word whereas the Yale doesn't which confused me at first since I can only speak English and some Spanish.

I've been debating about learning Cantonese for the story. I know this fic is gonna take awhile, but it would be better to actually hear how my Chinese characters sound in my head.

This story is always challenging me so my hyperfocus is pointing out more I can learn.

This research goes beyond language. I study the characters material conditions like did they grow up in a country that was ravaged by foreign wars and civil wars.

What kind of conditions did they live in? Were they poor, a part of the gentry or scholar class. Did the upheaval take away their comforts or were they struggling, but struggling more.

This isn't just academic for me. I've even written a materialist essay on labor exploitation and its intersectionality, because that subject means a lot to me as a factory worker.

With all this research it's shown me personally the difference between appropriation and appreciation.

Appropriation is the colonization taking or stealing of a different culture from yours whereas appreciation comes with respect and responsibility to stand beside a culture not your own.

It's not that we shouldn't write about another culture. It's about understanding colonization can take many forms including artistic.

I don't want to be like Indiana Jones taking cultural objects and placing them in a museum.

There are times where I have to sit with anger, guilt, discomfort, sadness and so on then try to channel those feelings into my characters.

I'm mourning for people I've never met.

[writer-rae]

Anyone have any writing ideas?

i am i have today and tomorrow off of work and i am high as fuck so i need some writing ideas while the wheels of creativity are flowing!

[ancientroyalblood]

The Role of Research in Non-Fiction Writing

Research is the cornerstone of any well-written non-fiction work. Whether you’re writing a biography, a historical analysis, a scientific report, or even a personal essay, research grounds your writing in truth and credibility. Unlike fiction, which relies on the imagination, non-fiction demands accuracy, facts, and a deep understanding of the subject matter. In this post, we’ll explore the…

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[dandelionuprising]

The “you can’t write it if you haven’t lived it” belief really tickles me. On the one hand I actually kind of agree. I do prefer stories told by people that “know what it’s like” if they’re writing about a specific type of experience.

On the other hand it’s a ridiculous notion, I mean, how would anyone ever write anything but self-biographies, if that were true?

I do believe that if done respectfully, it is not bad or wrong to write stories about other people’s experiences. But it does mean that you have to open yourself to those people’s criticism, you have to listen to them, take their subjective experience into account.

In my next book project, one of the main characters was supposed to be muslim, but she is also a demi-god whose father is a minor greek God, and I kind of feel like it’s not my place to explore her struggle of faith, as someone with only a cursory understanding of the matters at hand.

In other words, I need to either buckle down, start educating myself, talking to people of this faith, etc, or I need to DROP THIS ASPECT OF THE CHARACTER.

I don’t think it’s okay for me to half-ass something so important.

Another character is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and struggles with his sexuality in part because of this. Again, this is NOT MY LIVED EXPERIENCE, but it is also an important part of the character’s arc. 

On the other hand, both of these characters have psychotic experiences, which I can reliably claim to “have lived”.

HOWEVER, even then, there are a million ways to be psychotic. I am not going to mold my characters’ psychoses after my own.. Their narratives will be totally different to mine, and I still have to do my research.

I guess all I’m trying to say is... shit’s complicated. But it definitely shouldn’t be taken lightly.

[elumish]

The core philosophy that I go back to for basically every part of writing is "know what you're doing, and do it on purpose."

This goes from everything from word choice and sentence structure (understand the meaning and connotation of words you're using, be intentional with your word choice, understand grammmar rules and how you may be bending or breaking them) to plot, worldbuilding, and story meaning (know what genre tropes you are invoking or subverting, think through how one part of your worldbuilding relates to another and shape it accordingly, consider the implicit or explicit messages your story may be sending and make sure those messages are the ones you want to be sending).

I've talked about this before with writing advice as a whole, but I'll say it again here: use writing advice that applies to your story, and be intentional with it. Don't follow advice about building reader connections with a character when you are intentionally trying to building distance; don't follow advice about creating epic secondary worlds when that isn't your goal with the story.

Know what you're doing, and do it on purpose.

[elumish]

One really important thing about fiction is that "fiction does not need to reflect your platonic ideal of moral living" and "it is valid to criticize a work or collection of fiction for the messages it sends, ideas it perpetuates, and ways it tells stories" exist simultaneously.