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Wednesday, 8 February 2017
quote [ America—specifically young America—is currently more diverse than ever. As writers attempt to reflect these realities in their fiction, they often must step outside of their intimate knowledge. And in a cultural climate newly attuned to the complexities of representation, many authors face anxiety at the prospect of backlash, especially when social media leaves both book sales and literary reputations more vulnerable than ever to criticism. Enter the sensitivity reader: one more line of defense against writers’ tone-deaf, unthinking mistakes. ]
If you're writing about someone outside your cultural experience, you can hire readers to point out where you're making an ass of yourself while you can still edit.
Or, use your own personal history to qualify as a sensitivity reader as a side job.
This may be an American thing right now, but I'd think it will soon apply everywhere, thanks to social media ragefests. Literary bonus: Margaret Atwood says the next big dystopian novel ought to be a newspaper serial. #writing #culture
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Comments
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Dienes said @ 3:07pm GMT on 8th Feb
[Score:1 Insightful]
Its an interesting exercise in author vs. character views. In the article's example, a young gay boy thinks to himself that lesbians must have it easier because lesbians are HAWT.
If I read that in a book, I would not take that as the author promoting a stereotype, but as a teen kid not knowing how the world works and also being angsty about his lot in life (everyone else has it easier than me!). I don't think you need to have a character be explicitly lectured and corrected immediately after making a statement like that in the text for it to be conveyed that the character is wrong or naive or inexperienced. |
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HoZay said @ 3:16pm GMT on 8th Feb
I agree with you. Of course, my own ideas may be based partly on people who are only pretending to be lesbians.
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Hugh E. said @ 4:27pm GMT on 8th Feb
And this attitude is why you still have not had your think-piece published on hottakr.com. #alexanderpopeisarapist
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XregnaR said @ 3:22pm GMT on 8th Feb
Hunter S Thompson is spinning in his grave.
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HoZay said[1] @ 3:31pm GMT on 8th Feb
I think Dr Thompson's ashes were fired from a cannon, so probably not spinning.
It would be fun to see him meet with sensitivity editors, tho. |
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Ussmak said @ 11:36am GMT on 9th Feb
Heaven forbid people write what they want, and let their readers internalize anything they find offensive peacefully.
Nope, far better to let people edit your work from the outside in order to avoid a nasty review or blog post. |
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