Inauthentic Representation in Writing
Inauthentic Representation in Writing
By Ashley Holloway
In a recent conversation with my teenage daughter where we were discussing a book of fiction she had just finished, she commented on how one of the characters, when divulging her recent recovery from an eating disorder to a new flame, bluntly informed them of such and then carried on eating her donut. Now, on one hand, the frankness of the conversation between these two characters highlights the relative normalcy of doing so, which may, in turn, promote others to do the same. However, to my daughter’s point, the bluntness of the conversation (followed by the consumption of a donut) did not accurately portray the mental illness aspect that underpins a diagnosis of such, nor did it highlight the long process of recovery involved. In turn, the story lost a great deal of authenticity in that moment, leaving my daughter feeling somewhat cheated. This begs the question, at what point does this authenticity become inauthentic?
Storytelling is the perfect medium with which writers can change the narrative. Through the work we do, writers can advance the dialogue around equity, inclusion, and diversity, yet to do so, we must be informed. Most writers would agree that, even when writing fiction, authenticity is integral. Because of this, writers often feel more comfortable writing about things they know about or have lived experience with. In the case of the author of the book my daughter was reading, it was clear they didn’t know a whole lot about recovering from an eating disorder. This isn’t to say that you cannot write about an eating disorder if you have never had one. Through research, this can be done effectively. For example, there are websites that convert medical language into layman’s terms, medical consultants you can pose questions to, and plenty of blogs to help here. But what about the diversity, equity, and inclusion checklist? How do we avoid that?!
One of the key aspects of including diversity into your writing is to appreciate the power of perspective; when we write from the position of another, or, rather, walk a mile in another’s shoes, we need to take our own shoes off first. This means understanding that an individual’s background and experiences shape the way they see the world, the same as it does to you and I. Knowing this helps with being mindful of how others might see the world completely differently, and it’s not until we are faced with these differences do we appreciate they even exist in the first place.