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A story I am writing follows a team of people, but the POV shifts. It’s first person from the point of view of one of the team members, but which team member it is changes each chapter. One member of the team is Black, and I am considering having him use African American Vernacular English (AAVE), both in his dialogue when narrating from other characters’ perspectives, and in his narration from his own perspective. However, I am white, and am concerned about how it will come across, and about it being cultural appropriation/insensitive.

I know I don’t currently have the experience/knowledge needed to do this accurately, and I will be doing a lot of research to ensure that I use AAVE respectfully and accurately, if I use it. I would much rather leave it out than have it be a stereotype, misrepresentation, or any other offensive misuse.

Other story details that may or may not be relevant:

  • The story is still in early stages, so many details aren’t nailed down and are very flexible, but in theory, it will eventually be published.
  • The story is in a fantasy setting with magic. All team members are mages.
  • The team is fairly isolated, almost exclusively interacting with each other and some of the fantasy beings out in the wilderness. They have very limited access to society/other people, simply due to distance.
  • Only the one team member is Black. The others are of various races and ethnicities, not all decided yet.

I would like to clarify for the concerns mentioned in the comments: I am not singling out this one character. All characters will have their own distinct voice/vernacular. My concern is whether using a voice with AAVE will be an issue, seeing as I am a white author. I only asked about this particular voice, as it is the one most distinctly associated with a race to which I don’t belong, not because he’s the only one using a distinct vernacular.

wetcircuit
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user73891
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2 Answers2

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You're already sensitive to this issue, which is the most important thing.

First, every author is faced with the fact that at some point they will be writing a character that is outside of their personal experience. So writing for those types of characters is a skill that you're going to need regardless of the story.

Second, you already know that, in order to be respectful to other cultures, you'll need to do it well. If it ends up being too much work for you on this book, just change the vernacular of that character to be something you can do well. You really need to ask yourself if it's worth learning what you need to learn in order to treat your character respectfully.

Third, if you do publish, editors will let you know what mistakes you've made and you can always revise per their advice.

Last, no one knows you're white, so unless you put your picture on the cover, it's unlikely that people will know or care about this (unless you're overtly racist, which given the context of this question, you're probably not).

mwo
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Mathaddict
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Successful writers often stand up in front of rooms full of people and read their writing aloud. Also, beginning writers read their work to critic groups.

That is why I make it a point that I am entirely comfortable reading any of my writing in public. This includes the voice of the piece and any dialogue.

If you are comfortable with reading a passage from this piece to a crowd of strangers then you shouldn’t be concerned about how you’ve chosen to write it. And, if you’d be uncomfortable speaking your words aloud because of your choices then you might want to reflect on that.

It would be a shame to finish the piece and to be proud of your work but be unwilling to share it because of how you perceive you will be interpreted.

EDL
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