Research? Yes, Research

I'm in a few writing groups on Facebook. Some are purely for marketing, others are for writers to help and support each other. Writing has been on the back burner for me lately, so I'm not often involved in many discussions. 

But a recent one got my attention. A man said he wanted to write a story set in a particular ethnic part of a city and asked if people really thought it was necessary for him to research more before writing it. After all, he grew up with friends of this ethnicity, so he already knew quite a bit. 

I was pretty sure he already had his mind made up, but I answered anyway. In fact, a lot of people tried to advise him. He ignored most of us, and I was left wondering why he had bothered. 

I'm not saying you should only write what you know - people with your background, in your city, with your sort of experiences. But I will say to tread carefully when venturing too far away from yourself, particularly when marginalized communities are involved. 

The example I gave in my answer was that I wrote a trans woman as a key character a couple of books back. I have plenty of trans friends and acquaintances, but I still did research into some specific areas that I wasn't knowledgeable about. I also found a sensitivity reader to go over the chapters my character was in and offer advice. She was extremely helpful.

I wanted to get this right. I had written another trans character earlier in the series and regretted how I had treated her. I had to make up for that, and I feel I did as much as I could. But, interesting as this new character was, I would never write an entire book from her perspective. That's not my story to tell, and I wouldn't want to center myself or my cis-ness.

In my last book, my main character was Irish American and comes from a typically large family. My only child self realized quickly how much help I needed in telling his story. The difference here is that Irish Americans can no longer be classified as marginalized. No one is targeting them en masse. Further, there was enough commonality with my own ethnic background, that parts of the story felt very familiar indeed.

Sometimes, crowdsourcing is enough. My friends group is diverse and knowledgeable about a wide variety of topics. I've gotten invaluable input from them. Other times, I've had to turn to the internet. Regardless, I always want to get it right, and I never assume I know everything. I've gotten compliments on this approach. Compliments I value because, to me, it says I'm doing something right. 

I know where I've drawn the lines for myself - mainly, that I will not try to tell a marginalized community's story. They will be included because they exist, and I want them to be represented, but I wouldn't want to speak for them. Other writers will draw their own lines in different ways. But I'd rather read those stories from the perspectives of people who have lived them. 

Not another old white guy.