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Cultural Appropriation in Fantasy World Building



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Tue Apr 13, 2021 5:56 pm
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YellowSweater says...



I am curious about what counts as cultural appropriation in world-building. And whether you think it's ok for people of western European descent to take inspiration from marginalized cultures for their fantasy worlds.
  





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Tue Apr 13, 2021 8:28 pm
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YellowSweater says...



Also, I find that I often write from the perspective of a character who is a different gender than me. And because I write in the first person, I was wondering whether you think this is appropriate.
  





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Wed Aug 11, 2021 8:21 pm
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WinnyWriter says...



Hey there! I'm here to try to address your questions, from my perspective anyway.

So first of all, I'll respond to the second question, as the answer will be shorter and simpler. You asked if it's a good idea to write in first person and from the perspective of a character who is another gender than yourself. There are published authors who have done this, and I think that is a fine idea, if you can pull it off without blurring the MC's perspective with that of your own gender. Not all ideas about the specific ways that the different genders think/view the world are necessarily hard and fast; however, if you are writing from the perspective of a different gender, you might want to look over some reliable articles or studies on how that particular gender tends to think. This may help to make your writing sound more authentic. In short, aim to write their thoughts and actions in such a way that their gender is believable.

And now to your question about cultural appropriation. First of all, these are basically just my thoughts, so feel free to get other opinions. That being said, I think if you're writing fantasy, it can be okay for some of your worldbuilding characteristics to be loosely inspired by aspects of various cultures, but the best worldbuilding takes everything to new and original levels. Also, if you're creating a fantasy world, none of the actual countries, continents, etc. that we have in reality are going to exist in your fantasy setting. That's why it's called world building - because you are constructing a totally new realm of existence for your story. So it's not like you necessarily have to be shy about getting ideas from the ways of other cultures, but try to change it up in a way that makes it new and original to your world. You don't want it to be too recognizable as heavily based on something specific to a particular culture.

Something I do think is a great idea, however, is to include diversity in representation of skin colors and in-universe people groups. Whatever it is that divides your characters, it's still a good idea to incorporate the existence of other cultures - even though those varied cultures will be fictional. For example, let me reference the Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger. Although some people have complaints about certain aspects of her cultural representation, one area where she definitely has done well is in drawing defining lines between the characters of different species. Elves are the main characters and have their cities, their traditions, and their ways of living. Goblins, trolls, ogres, etc. all originate from different areas of the world and bring their own cultural flavor on the scene with their unique ways of life. So this sort of division into people groups can be a good thing. Good worldbuilding should definitely acknowledge and incorporate the existence of other in-universe cultures. Just make sure they have some distinctly original characteristics.

I hope these comments help. I am not personally an expert on fantasy writing or world building, so these things are mostly tips from different writing advice that I've read. Feel free to do more research and ask more questions!
  








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