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Creating Black Characters *with intent! on Tumblr
Image ID: a pdf file of a word document that reads as follows: "Things To Ask Yourself When Writing That Black Queer/Trans Character When you’re writing that Black trans character, are you making sure to consider how they would be perceived in the moment, both in story and outside? Do you feel like your Black queer/trans character has to sacrifice their culture to be who they are? Why? Is this an intentional plot point, or did you just think that was The Answer? When you say this Black trans character “passes”- by whose standard? That of whiteness? When you say this Black nonbinary character is “androgynous”- by whose standard? That of whiteness? Do you associate certain things to gender presentation, that their culture may not? E.g. long hair. Long locs are not considered a feminine look on Black men, but the sister locs style might be considered feminine. Are you aware of patterns like this? Do you feel like these Black characters have to pass in order to be “validly” trans? Do you hold your white characters to this standard? When you’re writing this story, if you want to say “oh everyone in my world is unaffected by these things”, very well! It’s nice to have stories like that! But are you having White Queer Main Character go through the real-world scourge of discovering sexuality/gender, and then act like Black Queer Main Character just lives life willy nilly? Why? Is that explained in-story? Are you doing the opposite? Is this on purpose? Are you avoiding giving that Black queer/trans character that depth in their background because you are scared of/don’t want to do the research? If you feel this way, do you think you should continue? Are you willing to take the risk of it being rejected, upon someone potentially seeing the lack of effort? What made you want to write a character with this identity, if you did not want to know them? What purpose does them having this identity serve, other than ‘being cool’, if you weren’t interested in it depicting it well? Have you consumed any media written by Black people that compose of the group you’re trying to write? Why not? When you come up with your “ship pairings”, do you reject Black people as queer? Why? Why does this Black woman not strike you as bi? Why does this Black man not strike you as gay? Is it because you don’t see Blackness as in line with what you see queerness as" END ID
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