Secrets of Writing: Stereotypes and Political Correctness

Stereotypes

Needless to say, you should avoid stereotypes when creating characters. But the truth is, there are people who look and act like living clichés. All stereotypes got started somewhere, and certainly there are people who fit the bill. But we need avoid clichéd characters for one simple reason.

It’s been done.

Forget right or wrong. That’s almost irrelevant. Your first goal as a writer is to be interesting. You can write objectionable fiction and still be entertaining as hell. Robert Crumb made a career out of it. You decide what is right when you set out to tell a story. Fiction is your statement. Your argument. Your goal is not to placate sectors of the public, because no matter what you do, someone will be offended anyway.

But you don’t want to write characters with contempt. Every person is an individual with unique thoughts and feelings. Your goal as a writer is to create characters that are distinct personalities. A stereotype is nothing more than a cartoon. It doesn’t do justice to its subject. It may be used for humorous effect, but it will never be taken seriously in drama. People are bored with clichés.

If you go to write a character from a different race or culture than your own, question the character choices you make. Try to create a real person before you settle on their ethnicity or culture. That way you can avoid creating a stereotype.

“Political Correctness”

In George Orwell’s 1984, the totalitarian government replaced old words with new ones in an attempt to brainwash the public. Political Correctness is an attempt to impose a way of thinking on people by changing terminology. Regardless of the moral intent, Political Correctness is wrong. People aren’t categories. They should not be cataloged into artificial classes of the mind. That’s just a new form of segregation and it doesn’t breed respect.

But more than that, it’s a form of censorship. And writers need to ignore censorship and tell the truth as they see it. Political correctness isn’t about the truth. It’s about avoiding it. It’s about not hurting anyone’s feelings, but also changing the subject. That is antithetical to what a writer needs to do in a story,

By and large, the public hates PC terms. The reason is simple. It’s absurd. When you classify people into some generic mold, you are dehumanizing them. You are robbing them of their individual dignity. Furthermore, the terms keep changing. Calling a black person a Negro is dated, just as the term “African-American” will be in several decades time. These artificial terms are merely buzzwords of the moment, nothing more. And they can date your work as surely as slanguage like “Groovy” and “Hepcat” will. 

Stick to terms that have stood the test of time. Better still, don’t even use terms unless it’s necessary for clarification. Your goal is to create people, not classifications.

REMEMBER: “Political Correctness” is wrong. Stereotypes are clichés. 

<< Back to main