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Still thinking about @dongwon's excellent thread on the lie of authenticity, & I wanted to talk a little about the pressure to perform authenticity in your work as a writer. Spoiler alert: it's all bullshit.
When people come to your work looking for "authenticity," they're looking for something that will fulfill the expectations they're dragging in behind them.
What are those expectations? Who knows! They're actually not your problem!
What are those expectations? Who knows! They're actually not your problem!
People see my name or face, & they expect an authentic "Asianness" in my writing based on their idea of what "Asianness" means. Authorial nuance & individual taste get painted over (& this is why so many Asian American folks are salty about The Joy Luck Club)
(An aside: I love The Joy Luck Club. I read it as a teen & it was the first time I saw a half-Chinese girl in fiction. But there are only so many times well-meaning folks & writing profs can tell you "Can you make it like TJLC/This reminds me of Amy Tan" before resentment grows)
The thing is, the battle for authenticity is a fight you can't win. There will always be people telling you, "This story isn't X enough to be authentic" or policing your identity ("You're not X enough to be authentic").
Do yaself a favor & put that in the trash where it belongs
Do yaself a favor & put that in the trash where it belongs
I'm also going to drop @KMSzpara's brilliant tweet right here:
Here's the thing. As long as you make stuff, people are going to yell at you. The important thing is parsing out whether the problem is you or them.
Sometimes the problem is you. But sometimes it isn't, & they're throwing a tantrum bc you didn't play your part in the script they wrote for you in their head.
Write your stories. Do your research. Make it the best you can, & remember that demanding authenticity instead of accountability is just another tool people use to try to control you.
WAIT ONE LAST FUCKIN THING. Oftentimes the call is coming from inside the house, in the sense that intra-community cultural policing is a real problem. Again, it's about controlling the narrative & gatekeeping, bc people feel defensive & powerless.
IT'S GARBAGE DON'T DO IT
IT'S GARBAGE DON'T DO IT
