Do you guys feel like the pessimistic 50’s era private eye with the duster and fedora type character is too saturated for a novel nowadays?

Diversity is great. And I'd love to see more diversity.

But the character is not FLIPPED because they're black/a girl/gay. Treating everyone from a different demographic as a magical talisman is some of the most racist bullshit I can think of. I have two series with black MCs, more stories than not with female MCs, several Hispanic man characters. They are what they are. Diversity should exist because it reflects reality, because we live in a world of diverse people and diverse views.

But treating it as a solution, in ANY way, to "flipping" the genre is the kind of stuff that a smart audience recognizes as pandering and is insulted by. Hollywood has learned this lesson more than once. There's a difference between making a great, diverse piece of fiction and lip service. "Change the gender/race/orientation to make it unique!" is lip service.

/r/writing Thread Parent