I don't really understand why so many fantasy writers choose to focus on worlds that just seem strangely denuded. But to them, I guess it doesn't seem strange. And I guess that's their privilege. It isn't mine.
Interpretation
The quote questions the lack of diversity in fantasy worlds and reflects on the privilege of creators in expressing their realities.
N. K. Jemisin expresses a critical viewpoint on the tendency of many fantasy writers to create worlds that lack richness and diversity. She indicates that while this may not seem strange to those writers, it is a perspective that is not shared by everyone, particularly those who come from marginalized backgrounds, highlighting the privilege of choice in representation within storytelling.
In practice
In a panel on diversity in literature, this quote can be used to provoke discussion about representation in fantasy.
Magic is the mysteries into which not everyone is so lucky, or unlucky, as to be initiated. It can be affected by belief, the whims of the unseen, harsh language. And it is not. Supposed. To make. Sense. In fact, I think it's coolest when it doesn't.
I write what feels real. I write things that are informed both by my own experience and by actual history.
Reactionary movements can't sustain themselves unless they find something new to catch and burn on.
There's a thriving field of self-published stuff in, particularly, black fiction. I don't know that other groups of people of color have that same recourse.
Fantasy is fantasy. It's fiction. It's not meant to be a textbook. I don't believe in letting research overwhelm the fiction. That's a danger of science fiction in particular, as opposed to fantasy. A lot of writers forget that what they're doing is supposed to be art.
I've always believed that as an artist, as a writer, you need a lot of contact with other people to make your art good.
My #1 job as a thriller author is to give readers the best white-knuckle thrill ride I am capable of. I am first and foremost in the entertainment business. If that suspenseful ride is also terrifying because it hits really close to home, then I am once again doing what I am supposed to do as a thriller author.
The non-artists among us are always terribly busy, but finally disappear without a trace.
My mother encouraged me to be artistic. It was written in a contract at an early age that I would be an artist.
I like poems that are daggers that sing. I like poems that for all the power of the sentiments expressed, and all the power to upset and offend, are so well made that they’re achieved things. However much they upset you, they also affect you.
The artist is the hand that, by touching this or that key, sets the soul vibrating automatically.
Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic.
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