110%.
THANK
I mostly agree with the caveat an the author should understand when something a character does is problematic and deliberately writes it that way. There’s nothing wrong with writing about a raging dumpster fire of a character, there’s nothing wrong even with allowing that character to win and continue on his or her burning way, but you have to be fully self-aware what exactly you are writing about. When an author lacks self-awareness and sees problematic behaviour as cute or romantic we get abominations like 50 Shades of Grey.
- The author should understand when something a character does is problematic and deliberately writes it that way.
- You have to be fully self-aware what exactly you are writing about.
- When an author lacks self-awareness and sees problematic behaviour as cute or romantic we get abominations like 50 Shades of Grey.
I needed to put these in bold because, as a writer with more than a couple of raging dumpster fires in her collection, just saying YES THIS didn’t feel like enough.
The main point to consider is this–there is a different between writing a character who says or does problematic things and romanticizing those things. The former is good–and, usually, necessary–while the latter is bad and can be dangerous.
For an example that might surprise you, let’s look at Edward’s actions and Bella’s reactions in the Twilight series. Virtually everyone would agree that the series is problematic especially when it comes to relationships, but there’s actually a gradient.
In the third book, Edward fights to keep Bella from seeing Jacob, taking actions that include him taking the engine block out of her car to physically keep her from going to see him. She freaks out on him for doing this.
In the first book, he admits to her that he watched her while she slept without her permission, and her reaction is to ask if she talked in her sleep, not to tell him that that’s unbelievably creepy and to back off.
While the reaction in the first case wasn’t perfect, these two cases show the difference between showing a problematic thing–a boyfriend sabotaging his girlfriend’s car and attempting to control who she’s friends with and when she sees her friends–and romanticizing it–acting as thought stalking and peeping on a girl you’re attracted to is normal and the bigger concern is what the girl involuntarily said while sleeping.
You can show problematic things. Just don’t pretend that they’re not problematic.
AUTHOR | HISTORIAN | ARTIST 