Entry tags:
writing in context when the context is the British Empire
So, I have this North and South fic. This is, of course, Victorian England. In my story, there's a character with a serious case of Orientalism. While this element is not absolutely essential to the narrative, I feel that it connects to important things about industrialization, capitalism, and class that I would like to address. Industrialization, capitalism, and class are probably not essential elements either, as it is in essence a romance, but imo the best romances deal with the ideals and worlds of the participants.
The issue I'm running into is how to deal with this character without being offensive. Due to the setting of the narrative, and the people involved, I do not feel that I can say within the narrative, "Look, while this characters' opinions are interesting and innocent in her context as an individual, it is precisely this attitude of fascination and ignorance that can be a major factor in imperialism, colonization, exploitation, and a whole host of other problems." My goal is instead to make the reader feel as though there is awareness in the text of the historical context of this character's opinions.
I talked to![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stultiloquentia about this back when I was first writing it. She had some great advice (allow another character to comment on her fetishism, without being didactic, which I did), and also, "get a good beta". I also talked to my_daroga, who suggested making separate discussion posts concurrent with the fic, to talk about my intentions and problems, and allow people to air concerns and state opinions. I love this idea and am totally running with it when I start posting the story.
Here's where the request for help comes in. I had a beta for this fic, by name of kleindog from c-19. I don't know if she is on any of the journaling sites. If so--hi! I stopped writing the story, so stopped sending her chapters. She was doing a very nice job, but I realize what I want specifically for this fic is someone who feels in tune with this issue. There isn't always a way to please everyone, or be non-offensive to everyone. But I really feel like it would be nice to bounce some of this stuff off someone.
The ideal person would be familiar with N&S, period language, the historical context, how not to be offensive, Brit-picking, SPAG, being horribly ruthless to get rid of all my redundancies and awkward language, and would be willing. But I will settle for someone who is comfortable with addressing historical context and not being offensive, even if they don't know the canon, as long as they are willing.
If you don't match that description . . . do you know where I can go to ask for such a beta? N&S is a small fandom, which makes this particularly hard, but again, I'm not even concerned with someone knowing canon, although it might be difficult for someone to be interested in the story if they're not familiar with said canon.
The issue I'm running into is how to deal with this character without being offensive. Due to the setting of the narrative, and the people involved, I do not feel that I can say within the narrative, "Look, while this characters' opinions are interesting and innocent in her context as an individual, it is precisely this attitude of fascination and ignorance that can be a major factor in imperialism, colonization, exploitation, and a whole host of other problems." My goal is instead to make the reader feel as though there is awareness in the text of the historical context of this character's opinions.
I talked to
stultiloquentia about this back when I was first writing it. She had some great advice (allow another character to comment on her fetishism, without being didactic, which I did), and also, "get a good beta". I also talked to my_daroga, who suggested making separate discussion posts concurrent with the fic, to talk about my intentions and problems, and allow people to air concerns and state opinions. I love this idea and am totally running with it when I start posting the story.Here's where the request for help comes in. I had a beta for this fic, by name of kleindog from c-19. I don't know if she is on any of the journaling sites. If so--hi! I stopped writing the story, so stopped sending her chapters. She was doing a very nice job, but I realize what I want specifically for this fic is someone who feels in tune with this issue. There isn't always a way to please everyone, or be non-offensive to everyone. But I really feel like it would be nice to bounce some of this stuff off someone.
The ideal person would be familiar with N&S, period language, the historical context, how not to be offensive, Brit-picking, SPAG, being horribly ruthless to get rid of all my redundancies and awkward language, and would be willing. But I will settle for someone who is comfortable with addressing historical context and not being offensive, even if they don't know the canon, as long as they are willing.
If you don't match that description . . . do you know where I can go to ask for such a beta? N&S is a small fandom, which makes this particularly hard, but again, I'm not even concerned with someone knowing canon, although it might be difficult for someone to be interested in the story if they're not familiar with said canon.
no subject
I'll send you chapter by chapter; track changes and comments is fine, and I think I'll be able to detect them because another beta did something for me in OO and it was fine.
I really don't know how to thank you!