maryam > Status Update

I don't get why books dont represent more communities. don't authors want their book to be loved by people of different communities?

also, I know someone will come accusing me of being racist towards white people, to clarify I am not. I'm just asking for representation that's all.

Preach

YES and we need more rep of neurodivergent characters, chronically ill characters, and other disabled characters in fantasy

most of the romantasy's ive read had straight white fmcs LIKE NO?? THATS NOT WHAT I WANT

i have also NEVER read a romantasy with a brown skin mmc and i would DIE to read one

that is why readers need to start promoting bipoc authors asap. Demand creates supply. We need to leave the same popular white people behind. They will not starve bc people still will buy their books. But people just must advocate for diversity bc if not those white people will sooner or later mischaracterise those people that were not given a chance to tell their own stories. One of the most evident example in media is 'tanned' ,as they are described, sexualized people both men and women.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

PREACCHH. some fantasy books mcs make me think my gay main character is amazing

one of the most outrageous recent examples is one romance author described a black man's skin as 'dirty'

gonna reply to everyone's comment in one comment so I dont get comment restricted

@aanz 🗣️

@ava YES! as someone who's chronically ill, I represented my community in that way! the disabled thing in fantasy is so real like it's a world full of slavery and war obviously someone becomes disable in someway.

@ishraq LITERALLY! the only representation I've seen in fmc's in fantasy are in us dark few & the cruel prince where they're both Latinas. ME NEITHER!! I've never read a fantasy with an Arab main character or an Arab inspired main character. hell even a SIDE character.

@sava EXACTLY!! we need to leave authors such as Sarah j mass and Rebecca yaros who have no representation what so ever! we need to start demanding diversity from authors. that was Elsie silver.

@cygnus 🗣️

@mal no seriously 😭 when I look at how diverse my cast is I feel nothing but happiness.

OH MY FUCKING GOSH I KNOW.

i’ve read 2 books in my entire life (i’ve read 400+ books) TWO FUCKING BOOKS. with fmc’s that look like ME. im a latina. there is NO latin rep in books, and the ones that have latin rep never get popular.

i’m so fucking tired of white people throwing a fit because “how can they read it if they can’t imagine themselves as the fmc ? when white people aren’t front and center?” i don’t fucking know get some empathy and read from the pov of someone else??? it’s what i’ve had to do my whole fucking life. i’ve never felt represented or seen ever.

maryam wrote: "gonna reply to everyone's comment in one comment so I dont get comment restricted

@aanz 🗣️

@ava YES! as someone who's chronically ill, I represented my community in that way! the disabled thing i..."

wait im just curious, I thought there was a lot of diversity in fourth wing. It has a chronically ill/disabled main character (she has hEDS), and I think there were a few queer and POC side characters (like rhiannon is black and had a girlfriend for part of the book). I honestly could be wrong but im just curious

@maryam for real. my main character may be a twink white boy (no offence to all twink white boys) but i have TONS and TONS of darker skinned characters and multiple characters with chronic pain. also i recommend tahereh mafi's shatter me and this woven kingdom in case you want you some middle eastern inspired characters (or arab but idk if the main character of woven kingdom can be counted as arab inspired but i do know that shatter me has two Iraqi/Iranian characters, haider and nazeera)

ava. wrote: "maryam wrote: "gonna reply to everyone's comment in one comment so I dont get comment restricted

@aanz 🗣️

@ava YES! as someone who's chronically ill, I represented my community in that way! the d..."

fourth wing does have some diversity but the main characters are basically literally every normal romantasy couple

sofi🎀🧸 billie eilish’s version~winter vibes🧸 wrote: "i’m so fucking tired of white people throwing a fit because “how can they read it if they can’t imagine themselves as the fmc ? when white people aren’t front and center?” i don’t fucking know get ..."

ugh as a white person, people like that pmo so much. Like so many people of other races can read books with white main characters, so why can’t white people do that with reading about main characters or other races?? Like honestly I do not care about the race of the main character, it doesn’t change the book for me, but I know that so many people need to see representation of themselves, and that’s important

maryam wrote: "gonna reply to everyone's comment in one comment so I dont get comment restricted

@aanz 🗣️

@ava YES! as someone who's chronically ill, I represented my community in that way! the disabled thing i..."

EXACTLY

yess!!

ava. wrote: "maryam wrote: "gonna reply to everyone's comment in one comment so I dont get comment restricted

@aanz 🗣️

@ava YES! as someone who's chronically ill, I represented my community in that way! the d..."

yes, rhiannon is black and had a girlfriend and also, sawyer is disabled since he lost his leg, no?

ishraq.‎ৎ wrote: "ava. wrote: "maryam wrote: "gonna reply to everyone's comment in one comment so I dont get comment restricted

@aanz 🗣️

@ava YES! as someone who's chronically ill, I represented my community in th..."

yeah ig (to me that doesn’t make it bad, like imo a book without representation isn’t worse because of that, but representation makes the book better and is important iykwim)

ava. wrote: "ishraq.‎ৎ wrote: "ava. wrote: "maryam wrote: "gonna reply to everyone's comment in one comment so I dont get comment restricted

@aanz 🗣️

@ava YES! as someone who's chronically ill, I represented ..."

yeah i def agree but i do wish the main character could be diverse too yk

ishraq.‎ৎ wrote: "ava. wrote: "ishraq.‎ৎ wrote: "ava. wrote: "maryam wrote: "gonna reply to everyone's comment in one comment so I dont get comment restricted

@aanz 🗣️

@ava YES! as someone who's chronically ill, I..."

yeah definitely

the thing is a fantasy in general should automatically have a diverse cast. it’s literally made up kingdoms and magic why wouldn’t there be poc and queer rep??

✦꒷₊˚layla 🪐꒦˚₊ (s.ia, slump) wrote: "the thing is a fantasy in general should automatically have a diverse cast. it’s literally made up kingdoms and magic why wouldn’t there be poc and queer rep??"

FRRR

@sofi if u haven't read us dark few & the cruel prince ! they both have a Latina fmc! THAT'S EXACTLY THE PROBLEM. authors act as if white people are the target audience which they're not, and that pushes them to creating more white characters in order for white readers to relate while paying no attention to other readers from several different nationalities, races, genders, and sexualities.

@ava oh really? I've heard tons of people complaining about the diversity in fourth wing? maybe she represented the characters in a wrong light that's why I've seen these videos.

@mal my fmc is a an aisian girl while my mmc is a an arab - greek character. my mmc also represents the chronically ill community. my other main characters are all diverse with different sexualities genders and nationality. each representing a different community. I've read both & I hated both. but twk is a book that represents the Persian community not the Arab community.

@kenzie HELL YEAH!

@ava to me a book with no representation makes the book worse, because most of the time when a book has no representation it's just copy and paste characters with no diverse traits. which leads me to hating it so yes books that aren't diverse make the book worse.

yes!!! promote diverse casts and also eliminate harmful, gross stereotypes

@maryam oop, my bad. anyway, btoh ur characters sound amazing!! ur mmc sounds amaizng ngl

we need to stop having one token black character. like bro pls. we need some disabled characters, race and sexuality diversity not just a stereotypical cookie cutter cast.

@Layla EXACTLY! it's your own world with your own cast you can literally make them ANYTHING. you can make them disabled, queer, black, brown, Arab, aisian. male, female, non-binary, trans. LITERALLY ANYTHING! and they still choose to represent white people who already have more than enough representation.

@kazzle dazzle YES! exactly.

@mal no worries thank you so much!! he's so cool I love him sm 😭🫶🏻

@Josie EXACTLY!! most authors create one black character and throw them in a group with a bunch of white individuals and claim they're diverse.

i literally cannot name one book with a non white love interest. can we have some guys who are arab or indian or literally any type of african or asian or south american at all like pls, every male love interest is a tan white guy which is fine in itself but the fact i cant name one non white love interest in any book i have or havent read is kind of insane

@maryam ohhh maybe they’re complaining because like both the main characters are white and straight and it has the trope where he’s like extremely tall and muscular and strong and morally gray and she’s like small and tiny but surprisingly good at fighting? Idk 😭

josie wrote: "i literally cannot name one book with a non white love interest. can we have some guys who are arab or indian or literally any type of african or asian or south american at all like pls, every male..."

yesss!! One book I’ve read which a MMC who wasn’t white was agggtm (ravi’s Indian I think)

please i love you so much for this. I HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS. like why is it always the same white (but also "tan-skinned" with extremely dark eyes) MMC's that are in romance books. like GIRL im getting so sick of reading the same copy and paste 'dark & brooding' men. the worst part is, the author of fourth wing has actively written and explained that he is "tan" and "non-white" but she never publicly explained his ethnicity SMHHHHH- this just shows that they dont gaf about representation

THIS REMINDED ME TO ADD REP IN MY BOOK (there was some but i made new characters and forgot to decide on their traits/races etc.)

lola king needs to stop this diversity i would rather read about a straight white man than a rapist arab gangster tbh

on top of just sexuality and race, what about the people LIKE ME. who have autism, ADHD, and OCD. its genuinely so hard to find a book (fantasy or romance) that incorporates my disabilities (without it being an afterthought)

lena ⊹˚.⋆ wrote: "on top of just sexuality and race, what about the people LIKE ME. who have autism, ADHD, and OCD. its genuinely so hard to find a book (fantasy or romance) that incorporates my disabilities (withou..."

YESSSS

khadeja wrote: "lola king needs to stop this diversity i would rather read about a straight white man than a rapist arab gangster tbh"

OMFG XID IM CRYING

ava. wrote: "lena ⊹˚.⋆ wrote: "on top of just sexuality and race, what about the people LIKE ME. who have autism, ADHD, and OCD. its genuinely so hard to find a book (fantasy or romance) that incorporates my di..."

<333

100 percent agree.I would love toe see more diversity.🧕🏾👰🏾‍♂️👯‍♂️👨🏽‍❤️‍👨🏾👩🏾‍🦯

FOR REAL.

@Josie I can name three I fear 💔 us dark few, and lovley war (lovely war has two couples) & agggtm the fact that I can name three while I have read hundreds of books is insane.

@ava oh maybe that? 😭

@lena I LOVE YOU MORE!! the huge emphasis on him being tanned skinned while still being white pmo sm. they're tryna be 'diverse' by making a white guy be tan 💔 "non-white and tan but I wont specify his race' = tan SORRY NOT SORRY. she's trying to be diverse so bad 😭 she really dont give a fuck she just wants the praise.

@autumn don't be diverse because you feel the need to. do it because you want to.

@khadeja WHAT 😭 ACTUALLY WHAT 😭 Lola king needs to retire fr.

@lena SO REAL. I ain't never read about a character who has kidney disease 💔 I've never read about characters with ocd, autism & adhd either. 💔

@ross @pierce 🗣️

YESSS PLEASEEE

@maryam purr we love the diversity in ur book!!
oo i will have to check those out ty ty <3 it pmo when white authors will say “oh well how will white people relate if i write a poc main character? and how will i even know how to write a non white main character since im white???” babe. THERE. ARE. SO. MANY. MORE. RACES. THAN. WHITE. there are so many beautiful races why are we limiting our knowledge to white??? it makes me so mad omfg. we NEED diversity. because if you genuinely can’t handle reading about someone who doesn’t look like you, you have missed the point of reading and don’t deserve to be a reader: empathy. EMPATHY. if antonia hodgson could write a black fmc in the raven scholar, so can every other white person.

maryam wrote: "@Josie I can name three I fear 💔 us dark few, and lovley war (lovely war has two couples) & agggtm the fact that I can name three while I have read hundreds of books is insane.

@ava oh maybe that..."

ive honestly only read like one, or maybe two. but honestly, the only rep with ADHD is within men and its always the same thing.

lena ⊹˚.⋆ wrote: "maryam wrote: "@Josie I can name three I fear 💔 us dark few, and lovley war (lovely war has two couples) & agggtm the fact that I can name three while I have read hundreds of books is insane.

@av..."

yeah exactly, and it always feels very unrealistic. Like they always make it so it’s just a character who has a ton of energy and gets distracted easily 😭 but like in reality it’s so much more than that (im not diagnosed with adhd officially but I’ve had doctors say I almost definitely have it lol)

@josie aggtm (indian), mile high & the right move (black), ann liang books (chinese), red white and royal blue (mexican), twisted hate (chinese), the oaths we give (black)

yall, i need to ask, if a fantasy world does not have real-world places, how can writers actually have representation? yes, they can have Black characters since its a race but what about Asians, and Arabs and south-asians?