Being careful
I want to be a careful writer. Not in a way that suppresses my own creativity, ideas and characters from doing what they must do to create a good story and to resolve their narrative arcs in a satisfying way, but in terms of my own narrative voice. If my characters describe someone from their point of view, then this will come from where they are in their journey, and we would expect their views to change over the course of the novel or for them to stay the same and face some consequence.
If I describe someone from my point of view, then I want to take care. Take care of how I describe physical characteristics and keep this as neutral as I can, as label free as I can, as free from racism, sexism, ageism, sizeism, ablism, transphobia, queer and homophobia and religious belief (or lack of belief) bias as I can.
And believe me, I can. I can describe characters factually, gently, kindly. I can be aware of my own bias and I can ask for guidance. And if I describe someone in a way that shows unconscious bias, I can change it.
I think as authors we have a responsibility to add to the kindness in the world and not subtract from it. It is a harsh world in which people often feel attacked, hated and excluded and I want to be a part of soothing that, not exacerbating it, I want to be fair and balanced, I want to be part of a better world which to me means a slower, kinder, fairer and gentler world in which we can also be fierce when we need to be to protect ourselves and others.
A listening fierceness. A humble fierceness. A fierceness that says, I don’t always know better than you. There are times when it might harm us to listen, there are people I will never listen to, and these are people in positions of power who have shown, again and again, that they hold beliefs which are diametrically opposed to mine.
But most of us are muddling along, trying to do our best for those around us who we love and getting it both right and wrong. If I get it wrong, I hope someone will tell me what that was like for them.
I know I’ll listen.
Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplas
