My silver spoon gets
stuck in my mouth when I try
to articulate.
(spoon: OLWomen.com; apartheid: buzzsouthafrica.com)
Available now!
The audiobook is live!
White Ravens…And More Stories–New edition available now!
Visit Jim’s Author Page
Life O’Wryly Blog
Narble Furt Lives 
I’ve felt this way about Wonder Woman. I enjoyed it, but then I read all these articles from black women who were outraged that they weren’t portrayed as they’d have liked to have been. It’s so challenging to have so many legitimately outraged voices.
As writers, when is it appropriate representation and when is it cultural appropriation?
“Cultural appropriation” is a buzzphrase nowadays. To me, the bottom line is: writers write. It’s what we do. We try to get inside our characters, human or not. We all try to get at the truth. When we do, it’s literature. Cultural appropriation is a slippery slope. I try not to consider it at all when I’m writing. The time to consider it is during the editing process. If a character is a person of color, or first nation, or anybody, if I get the human part right, I’ve done okay. But to say I can’t write a person with stripes different from mine because I’m a white guy raises my hackles. That being said, if I don’t get it right, I’m fair game for judgement and criticism.