We cried and sobbed and wept and bled tears. But when we were finished, all we could do was continue living.
Nnedi OkoraforRead
I think speculative fiction has fewer unspoken prerequisites than literary fiction for writers of color.
Interpretation
Speculative fiction allows for more diverse voices and perspectives compared to traditional literary fiction.
Nnedi Okorafor suggests that speculative fiction, which often includes elements of fantasy and science fiction, is more accessible for writers of color. This genre provides a platform that doesn't rely heavily on conventional standards and norms that can sometimes limit diverse representation in literary fiction.
In practice
This quote would be perfect for a panel discussion on the representation of marginalized voices in literature.
We cried and sobbed and wept and bled tears. But when we were finished, all we could do was continue living.
Back in my 20s, when I wrote 'A Place of Greater Safety,' the French Revolution novel, I thought, 'I'll always have to write historical novels because I can't do plots.'' But in the six years of writing that novel, I actually learned to write, to invent things.
The cry that 'fantasy is escapist' compared to the novel is only an echo of the older cry that novels are 'escapist' compared with biography, and to both cries one should make the same answer: that freedom to invent outweighs loyalty to mere happenstance, the accidents of history; and good readers should know how to filter a general applicability from a particular story.
When we're done with it, we may find—if it's a good novel—that we're a bit different from what we were before we read it, that we have been changed a little, as if by having meet a new face, crossed a street we've never crossed before.
I'm not sure that it's possible to write a novel about people who don't transgress or stumble, people who don't surprise themselves with the things they do, people who can explain all their actions with perfect logical consistency. At least it's not possible for me to write that sort of novel.
That's why we read fiction, isn't it? To remind us that whatever we suffer, we're not the only ones?
I think the reason these readers come back to me is because I represent their points of view. It may not be my point of view, but that's OK. Everyone still deserves to have their say.
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