Random Book Of Randomness

Does your book NEED diversity?

This topic came up in authortube a long time ago, but for some reason I didn't write about it.

(sorry I forgot to post on Sunday... Wish Wattpad had a 'schedule' feature so the chapter would be published without me manually going to wattpad)

I love talking about diversity in books for some reason. Personally, I like writing a diverse cast of characters, and I encourage other people to.

However, diversity =/= a good book!

I've read quite a few yOUtUBe cOmmENTs which bring up Tolkein and JK Rowling's lack of diversity. However, I don't think the lack of diversity takes away from the enjoyment of the book and I don't think authors should in any way be called out for not including diversity in their books.

With 'social justice warriors' and cancel culture on the rise I understand why some authors don't want to write diversity, especially if they're a white author. If they mistakenly write something which may or may not be offensive, a bunch of readers will try to cancel them, twist their words and show them in bad light.

go to 3:07 for context, but I'll summarize here too.

6:05 Cindy talks about how in the book, A Deadly Education, the worldbuilding is really rich but there was this controversy. In the fantasy world, to get away from monsters, people have to keep their hair as short as possible. The MC also mentions how dreadlocked hair is the worst hairstyle to have because 'Lock Leeches' can get in your hair and suck your blood out.

So Cindy said the author should not have put in the detail because it wasn't relevant to the story, and was just an extra detail the author wanted to put. Some people got offended by the dreadlock issue. 

Here's where I disagree, and feel free to call me out. Firstly I haven't really read the book, and the context is just what Cindy put here. But I don't think the author said anything wrong at all. Yeah, if it wasn't relevant to the plot she didn't need to add it, but maybe she added it to show how dangerous the world was, where even your hairstyle could kill you. I personally am not sure how this is offending, although feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

And in no way does an author's writing truly tell whether the author themself is racist or not. I personally don't think she was racist at all.

The second criticism (9:50) is that some people thought the main character wasn't 'Indian' enough, eg, they thought she was some white girl and later figured out the character was Indian.  

An Indian person spoke in the comments and said the MC was good representation.

Again, I haven't read the book, but I don't think characters have to keep displaying stereotypically Indian traits to appear 'Indian' or something. Like if I write a Chinese character I don't need them to be absolute nerds or hackers or secretly working for Xi Jinping or ALL of the above. I just don't understand the first commenters' criticism.

Rick Riordan is probably the master of writing diversity, and I love how he doesn't shoehorn it. He has great balance between characters expressing their sexuality/ ethnicity while also that not affecting the plot largely. But that fine balance is really hard to achieve, especially for newer writers. 

In my opinion, if a character is Italian, for example, they can just be italian and it doesn't really have to affect the plot at all. I don't think authors even need to mention that the MC is italian, the name and description should do that just fine.

The thing I've noticed is white authors get attacked when they only write white characters, but when they write people of color and they do a tiny oopsie people attack them too. Even if they write things seemingly inoffensive to me, some people are going to try to cancel them for no reason. 

I just don't find this fair. If an Indian author wrote only Indian characters and no white characters, they wouldn't get any backlash. If a chinese author only wrote chinese characters, they wouldn't get backlash. And if a black author only wrote black characters, they wouldn't get any backlash either. But if a white author doesn't add people of color, they do get backlash.

And if you want proof of this, American/ english movies are often ciritsized for having a 'token black character' or having a 'purely white cast'. But Chinese movies/ shows never face this criticism, at least I haven't seen them too. 

I think people are just too harsh on white authors for making one tiny diversity-writing mistake. 

If a movie showed a white protagonist and the Indian antagonist was the only indian character, I'm sure lots of people would hate on the movie. But if a show had a black protagonist and a white villain, who was the only white character, I doubt anyone would protest. 

And if the producer of the first move was a cis white hetero man, I can only imagine the turmoil that guy would have to face.

TLDR: If you want to write diversity, just do it. Do communicate with sensitivity readers tho.

If you don't want to, you shouldn't feel pressured to. A good book is a good book, nomatter the lack of diversity.

And let's try to be more forgiving of people who make diversity writing oopsies. Just because an author writes a racist main character does not make them racist! And just because an author unintentionally writes something which some people find offensive doesn't prove they are racist, either. 

This is a pretty nuanced topic, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about anything of you disagree. I personally think everyone should have a say in racism/ diversity or books in general, no matter your background. 

EDIT: Thank you so much @velenka09 and @D4rlin9 for educating me and contributing to the conversation. Please check their comments!