The Skellingcorner

[writingwithcolor]

Anonymous asked:

Hello! First of all, I wanted to thank you for all the hard work you're putting into this blog, which I consider a truly useful resource: not only for writing, but also for learning. I'm writing a story set in today's France, revolving around the PoC main character. I already did some researches, but I wondered if you could provide more accurate informations regarding racism and discrimination towards black people in France. If it could be useful, the character was born in France. Thank you c:

writingwithcolor answered:

Racism in France

Good to hear that you find our posts helpful :) We do try our best! 

Although my one visit to France had been a pleasant one, there is quite some talk on the internet about racism over there. I’ve read about negative reactions when visiting, people doing black-face, dehumanization of black people and lots more. I also cannot get rid of the image in my mind after having watched a video of protesting black people where a woman got dragged across the concrete by a cop with a baby on her back. The reporter called the baby ‘it’ as well.

Like any European country, France has its racism issues. Being born there will have some advantages to your character like knowing the culture intimately and being a native french speaker. But even with these advantages, they will still be faced with racism.

~ Mod Alice

Would any French PoC followers like to chime in?

[terresdebrume]

If anyone who follows me is a French POC?

All I can say is that your character’s skin color won’t be the only factor at play. As in, between two black people with the exact same skin color, if one of them has what we identify as an “african” accent and the other has an accent from the French indies (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, to name a few) the latter will probably have a slightly easier time (I’m really not qualified to go in more details than that though, so take what I say with a grain of salt) but life would be even easier with a parisian accent.

Again, this doesn’t erase any of the shitty experiences their skin color will get them, but it’ll play a role. Also, the general public is really kinda stiff about this topic tbh, but if you try to look up Aimé Césaire, I know he talked about his experiences as a black man from Guadeloupe a lot. In more recent time you also have Christiane Taubira (although I’m not sure how vocal she is on the topic, as it hasn’t really come up in the public sphere as far as I’m aware.)

I also know that Audrey Pulvar, who is a French TV News presentator (is that the correct word? Not sure) spoke about Racism when Jean-Paul Guerlain made a racist comment a couple of years ago. Maybe that might help.

Also, as a more general thing, we have a pastry here called the “[N word]’s head”. My aunt stopped using the word when she started dating her current husband but most of my family still uses that name, and I’ve seen it on signs in bakeries so that’s probably worth knowing, too.

[writingwithcolor]

Some useful info from other followers as well:

tumblingkate answered: Act Three is written by a Black Lawyer in France. [Link]

arosethatgrew answered: France, historically, is pretty racist. Its still very popular to call black people the french word for “monkey” there. Like to their faces.

starry-eyed-artist-7 said: Not sure if you’re counting Jewish as POC here, but my sister lives in Israel and a lot of people she has met, (she works in a bar, so that’s a lot of people,) have left France due to recent ant semitism.

Teamroquette answered: I think a good way to see the evolution of racism in France is to look at our far right political party, the National Front (FN). It is currently led by Marine LePen, daughter of previous leader Jean-Marie LePen. The party, when it changed leadership, shifted from an overtly racist position to a more PC one.

Old school racism is Nazi Germany and colonized Algeria nostalgic people, Holocaust deniers, skinheads, neonazis, etc All of these things are now less visible, but still exists.

New style is very different. It ties hard to refrain themselves from slurs and to hide to more obvious racists. It focus much less on the past (both of the country and of the party itself) and much more on the present. It also concentrates less on Jews and much more on Muslims (see street prayers for example), immigrants, both legal and illegal ones (especially from north Africa and Roms) The party wants to leave the European Union, give up the Euro and basically close borders, invoking economic pretexts. Also anti-white racism is scaryyyyy.

Of course racism isn’t limited to the FN. For example the UMP, one the 2 biggest party, relied heavily on the same kind of talk in hope to steal the  FN’s growing pool of votes. 

If your character is young, you should know that we have a law forbidding any “ostentatious” religious sign in public schools. This means no veil, no kippas, but conveniently Christian cross necklace are ok. We also have a more recent law that make wearing a burqa in public illegal. (not that many Muslims women ever did) These laws were both presented as feminist (let’s free girls and women for their family/religion’s horrible traditions!) and as not targeting Islam specifically. In the second law, religion is not referenced at all, only the danger of having people covering their faces in public. In the first, all religions are mentioned, but intent of the law makers is clearly to target the Muslim veil. In this case, Jews were mostly collateral victims, just like in the vilification of Hallal and Kosher meat. 

There is a lot to tell about the (mostly legal) discrimination against Roms and other “Gens du voyage” (not sure how to translate that, “Traveling People”?), the discrimination  and identity issues of third/fourth generation Algerian immigrants (Aka “Arabs”), the treatment of both legal and illegal immigrant, the “casual” racism, hate crimes, and much more. But I’ll leave it to that, because, well, it’s a lot.  If you have more specific questions, message me and I will to answer them.

[writingwithcolor]

Writing an Arab-inspired fantasy

Anonymous said: I possess an interest in writing a sort of quasi-Arabic fantasy, but worry about putting anything to do with Islam in. i can’t decide whether it would be insulting to leave the religion in, or out. even when i think about adapting the traits of the religion into a made-up one, i feel like that just ruins what I’m trying to represent (or why bother at all if it’s identifiable in reflection?). this said though, there are themes explored that aren’t accepted in traditional Islam. thoughts?

Hi,

Could we have more details about these unacceptable themes? In any case, though, I must tell you that several YA novels have recently gained ire from Muslims I know by using Islam and then twisting it to the story and author’s means. The general response I’ve heard is, “If you wanted to use Islam and had to bend it out of shape, why didn’t you create a world of your own?”

My personal question that I hope might help you: why are you writing about an Islamic period? There was an Arabia before Islam’s advent. If you are writing an Arabic fantasy in general, perhaps looking to its polytheistic past may help you?

If you do feel the need to try and do right by an Islamic fantasy, my advice would be not to play around with the traits the religion already has, or make up a new religion that is transparently Islam, only the way you want it to appear. Believe me - it’ll do less damage to leave Islam out and focus on previous cultural/religious aspects of the region, rather than represent it badly or upset readers from that religious background by doing so.

I hope this helps in some way!

- Kaye

I agree with not twisting Islam around- if you’re going to use it, show it for what it really is. If you have something in mind that isn’t included in Islam, don’t talk about Islam. Don’t make it seem like there is a connection in your novel, because a lot of readers may see it as the truth. As Kaye said, best idea is to use a non-Islamic Arabia as your inspiration.

- Yasmin

[writingwithcolor]

theofficialoctogod asked:

I'm writing a story with a princess WOC and as she comes from a really hot and dry place, she wears a veil to protect herself from the sand, the sun and the wind. The religion she follows has nothing to do with Islam so is it okay if it looks like a niqab? She's personally fine if people see her without it but some of her people are more conservative and believe that a princess like her should not be seen by the common people (especially since she's visinting another country) without it.

Non-Muslim Veils

Hi,

My main question here is, why does it have to look like a niqaab? It is true that desert-dwelling Bedouins and other tribes have their means of covering for protection against the sun, but that is decidedly not for religious purposes and does not look or function in the manner a niqaab is meant to.

If they are from a desert-dwelling tribe, it would make sense to protect from the sun while out in the sun, but coding it so that she appears Muslim or for the sake of that easily added in exotification that the Orientalist gaze has settled around the veil feels very problematic.

I also don’t see the point in explaining it as protection from the sun but attempting to add in the modest angle of a niqaab there when she’s not Muslim. I’d recommend not going that route.

-Mod Kaye

[asgardian--angels]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE :D

I carved Sauron again because I am trash, but I do think it’s an improvement over last year’s design which you guys seemed to like a lot, so thank you!! Using completely the wrong kind of tools, I attempted to do that technique where you don’t cut all the way through, and it came out much better than I expected. The whole thing took about an hour. So, TA-DA, the Great Eye atop Barad-dûr!

[fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment]

Temporarily Getting Rid of Characters

[thecharactercomma]

Do you ever have scenes with 6+ people and you can’t seem to juggle them all? Or do you ever want to get 2-3 characters in a scene together for some quality relationship development, but that means sending the other characters elsewhere?

I’ve compiled a list of “off-screen” things your character can be doing, for any time you need them to be temporarily somewhere else. With this list comes with a few caveats:

1. If you find yourself always sending the same character somewhere else to a point where that character never actually gets much page time, are you sure you actually need that character in your novel? Don’t use this an excuse to keep deadweight characters that are 100% unnecessary to your plot, but your heart can’t bear to cut. Either draw them back into the plot as a necessary element, or get rid of them.
2. This is only for temporarily getting rid of someone—meaning for a short amount of time, and infrequently. It starts to feel weird if your character always happens to be taking their nap when something happens, and if you’re not careful, it’ll come off as lazy writing. Use this kind of thing sparingly.
3. Sometimes, you’ll need to have a result to their temporary absence. For example, if you say they’re off spying on the bad guy, occasionally they need to come back with a tidbit of info. Not all of their missions will be a success, but again, it’ll start to feel fake if there’s no point to the spying.

And now to the list! There are two sections to it, depending on if your character to be doing something actively plot-related and useful while they’re away, or if you want them to stay uninvolved. Both have their uses depending on the situation.

Active:

• Captured by the enemy
  
• Fighting in a different area
  
• Guarding a captured enemy
  
• Protecting someone in potential danger
  
• Researching the problem
  
• Spying/recon
  
• Training to fight
  
• Watching someone suspicious
  
• With another character (off-screen relationship building)
  

Passive:

• At school/work
  
• Doing a hobby
  
• Hunting for food
  
• Injured/sick/in the hospital
  
• On vacation
  
• Out of the loop (no one told them about the meeting, etc)
  
• Sleeping
  

The passive list could be incredibly longer, but I tried to list enough for you to get the idea. Whatever you pick, make sure it makes sense in your plot and setting, and like I warned before, don’t use this as an excuse to hold onto deadweight characters.

Working this kind of downtime into your novel isn’t bad, since it can take up the necessary but boring actions that your story needs. Someone learning how to fight, for example, won’t learn everything in a week. By occasionally putting them “off-screen” to train, you’re further convincing us that he or she has trained enough to pull off a future scene where they hold their own in battle. It’ll also give a sense that other characters are working in the background and getting things done, even if your protagonist or narrator isn’t always there to see it, which is realistic, of course. It’s not like everyone else freezes in place the moment your protag isn’t around.

–E

[nishakadam]

[fujo]

SenshiStock’s gallery consists of millions of pictures that are free to use as reference.

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[senshistock]

This is me!!! Hi everyone!! \ ^ 0 ^ / I don’t have millions quite yet, but at least thousands! Thanks for visiting! HAPPY ART MAKING!

[dustedsunshine]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[the-flying-grayson]

This is the absolute best post ever.

[writingwithcolor]

[piraticalpsyche]

okay i started reading a book today and its like i was MEANT TO FIND IT…

cos heres how it broke down, after reading that holly black book, i went to rate it on good reads, and this book was suggested to me. i only saw the cover, but the cover alone is the reason i was like ‘ill read that’ and added it to my list:

those of you that have been around for a minute will know that whitewashing is my petpeeve, and that whitewashing book covers is an important subset of this. if theres a poc in the book, and they SHOW HER ON THE COVER, that book automatically gets my full focus (this is how i read another book ive been meaning to rec to yall), because while the trend in YA novels right now is to have white girls posing vaguely on the covers, youll know a book has a poc protag because they conveniently do not show a person on the cover

but this shit right here???? unambiguously a black girl with beautiful natural hair and a GORGEOUS cover and i fell in love right away

so, i saw this on good reads right before heading to work. and when i get there? this book has been put on display and i almost lose it lmao, im like YES. i literally dont know what this book is about, so i grab a copy from the display and sneak some peeks at it during slow times on the selling floor

turns out this book is literally about an afro-latina girl, a MIXED GIRL!! who is a painter turned street artist. this book is based in carribean folklore (yall know i love faerie shit but im always thirsty for non-european folklore in modern fantasy novels) and whats more??

anika noni rose (who, if you dont know, is the va for PRINCESS TIANA my hero ) literally is the first quote on the back of the book, with this raving review:

“I love this book for the richness of its culture, the strength of the characters, the humor and the truth of its language. Sierra is the heroine we’ve been waiting for – a pretty, brown-skinned Latina artist who is smart, strong, inventive, and unsure, all the while being heroic. Daniel José Older is one of my favorite new voices, and I can’t wait to see what he (and Sierra) come up with next.”

so im like, beside myself. i brought it home today and im already liking it a lot. im only 20 pages in and heres some facts:

• introduced to several named characters, all of which are unambiguously poc with diverse presentation
  
• the protagonist is a mixed black/latin@ girl, who wears her hair naturally in an afro and has a strong sense of community
  
• her crew is all girls at this point
  
• two of which are a poc lesbian couple!!!!!!!!!! (one half of which is a talented freestyle rapper)
  
• the male lead is an artsy boy from haiti who seems sweet (and not creepy and forceful like ya male leads tend to be)
  
• they talk to each other in casual aave that doesnt seem awkward and forced
  
• painting and street art are an integral part of this story, as well as a sense of community (no convenient parental neglect so these teen protags can run around and do whatever while being strangely isolated)
  
• im pretty sure the antagonist is gonna be a white guy that is a professor on their culture trying to claim their ancestor-art-magic and appropriate it for his own gain
  

im literally beside myself, i cant believe this book is a front of the line, mainstream novel. its (somewhat unfortunately) touted as cassandra clare meets carribean culture, but im hoping that this author takes off and claims a corner all his own without having to be defined by a mainstream white authors style

my hopes are so high i literally dont think theres a way for this book to disappoint me. 

[poorlydescribedpterrybooks]

Ogham, Innisfallen, and Pratchett

[bodleianlibs]

Ogham is the Old Irish alphabet, usually seen carved into stones. The above example of Ogham, however, comes from MS. Rawl. B. 503, The Annals of Innisfallen.

This manuscript dates back to the 11th to 14th Centuries. The page excerpted here features an account of the building of the castle of Brí Uis and then gives a Latin inscription in Ogham letters:

Numus honoratur / sine numo nullus amatur.

This translates to Money is honoured/ without money nobody is loved, which is unfortunately not the most heartwarming of sentiments.

Speaking of which: Ogham formed the basis of Oggham, an ancient language in Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies where it appears above an elven portal and spells out - and there’s no way to break this to you gently - “I’ve got a great big tonker.”

Ogham is one of the ancient scripts featured in the Taylor Institution Library’s current lecture series.

[writerswritecompany]

[writingwithcolor]

Braving Diversity: Intro Post

Writing with Color presents…

Braving Diversity: Getting Started. 

It’s ridiculously easy to fall into the trap. You are writing along, going about your merry way, actually finishing things, when BAM!! You notice that you do not have a single person of color in your story and it wasn’t your intention to exclude people of color from your story. You weren’t even aware of the lack of diversity in your story until someone points it out to you or you just come to that realization after the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign. However you came to notice it, the fact of the matter is that your story is seriously lacking in diversity and you would like help to change that.

First off: Don’t panic and don’t start changing characters skin colors all willy-nilly because people aren’t the sum of their skin color. Depending on your story, you might just need to add in a description, but you want to make sure that this isn’t all you’re doing.

Many white people feel like they need permission to write a story about a person of color. Many people think they need permission to write about someone that they don’t identify with. Straight writing gay characters, White writing people of color, people of color writing another culture. You don’t need permission to write about an experience or different point of view. You simply just do it. You write it with caution, concern, and most of all respect and dignity to the characters’ culture.

How do you do that?