If your story has a lot of diverse characters, like an LGBTQ+ or Black-majority cast, that gives it automatic points in the eyes of certain readers; it might be tempting. You may want to make your stories more diverse for selfless reasons as well—perhaps you want readers, particularly younger readers, to be able to see themselves in your book. Maybe you’re marginalized in one way yourself, like you have a disability, and want readers of other minority groups to be represented in your work too.
In any case, you might find yourself wondering, Can I write a minority main character if I’m not that minority?
After all, including any character from a different marginalized group than you’re in means you’d have to research, but making that character the protagonist would mean you’d have to do even more.
More importantly, however, you’ve heard it could step on the toes of real members of the marginalized group. They want to write their own stories, #ownvoices, about their experiences and don’t want people not in their group to tell others what their lives are like.
But for whatever reason, you still want to try to have that marginalized main character. Perhaps their marginalization is important to the story. Perhaps you want marginalized readers to feel represented in a big way. Perhaps that’s just how the character turned out, and you don’t want to change it if you don’t have to.
So, can you write a story with a marginalized main character if you’re not marginalized in that way?
It all comes down to your answer to this question:
Is your story about their experiences as a minority?
If the answer is no, then you can have that minority main character. You’re not stepping on anyone’s toes, but just contributing to diversity.
If the answer is yes, however, you would be writing with authority you don’t have. If your story is about navigating the world with a disability when you don’t have one, if your story is about racism when you’re not a person of color, if your story is about coming out but you’re heterosexual/romantic and cisgender, then that’s not a story you can write. You don’t have the knowledge or experience to tell the world what it’s like to be in those shoes, no matter how much research you obtain, even if you have close friends or family members who are part of those groups. You couldn’t give a speech about science with authority if you weren’t a scientist, and just like that, you can’t write a story about what it’s like being in a marginalized group if you aren’t.
If you learn that the story you’re planning isn’t one you can tell, it’s possible to change it to one you can. For example, instead of a story about being marginalized, how about a story about being outcasted in another way? If you write fantasy or sci-fi, you could even switch racism, homophobia, ableism, etc. for discrimination against a fictional marginalized group. However, make sure it’s specific to the fictional world—for example, the character has a misunderstood type of magic—and isn’t just racism with a new skin, or else you’d be stepping on others’ toes again.
However, if you make the necessary changes, you can write a fantastic story.
I offer sensitivity reading services for autism, disability, anxiety, and more, and paid question-answer sessions where you can get guidance on those topics before you begin your project. Learn more here!
What’s your favorite story with a diverse cast? Comment below!
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