Prompts of Color Feedback Poll

[swissmarg]

Despite having been the most popular idea for a Diversity Awareness Month activity, the Prompts of Color comment fest didn't exactly find a resounding echo amongst the community members. Only a couple of people submitted prompts, and only one person completed a fanwork (this spectacular portrait of Padma by imera, go check it out!). So I'm just curious in finding out what went wrong and if there might be anything we could learn for future events.


[Poll #1987555]


Feel free to leave any comments you might have below. Thank you!

Comments

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

So I think there are many reasons why this wasn't as successful as we may have hoped it would be.
The timing was definitely not the best. This is Holiday fest writing season, and speaking as someone who's behind in 5 of the 8 or so fests I'm participating in, and who only found out about this fest at the last second, there was just no time to do it. So better publicity and a longer lead time will absolutely help.

I think Vaysh raises a good point. There has been wank in the past related to less than stellar handling of race issues in HP fandom, so if this community could become a resource for those who are interested in expanding their writing/creative horizons, that would be a very good thing. And, speaking as a person of color who writes in HP, which is, let's face it, a fandom whose primary characters are white, I don't really worry about not getting it right. So I think it's sad that there is such fear from the other side, you know? Maybe we can help bridge that gap.

As for timing, maybe something in February for Black History Month would be apropos? That month is a bit less crowded with other fests. Just a thought.

[swissmarg]

I had also toyed with the idea of running it during Black History Month, but I thought some people might not be comfortable with the idea of 'co-opting' it for other minorities as well. Well, I wasn't comfortable with it anyway...

I had just wanted some activity on the comm during this month to raise awareness of diversity issues in the fandom, but perhaps a comment fest wasn't the best way of doing that. Maybe the recs would have been enough, or the discussion topics thing which actually someone else suggested on the poll as well.

It's interesting to hear your perspective on writing about non-white characters, as a non-white writer. I think you're right that talking about it might help break down barriers, whether real or imagined.