Several questions about language

[chordatesrock]

I have a few questions I was hoping for some input on. They're all sort of related.

First, how do you handle fics set in canons that do offensive things? Like a canon that uses a character being fat and disabled as a shorthand for the character's moral decay? Or a canon that uses outdated terms like cripple?

Second, what do you usually do about language in canons where you don't know what the characters use? It seems like a lot of fantasy writing likes to use the word cripple to give it an old-timey feel. Do you think that's a harmful pattern? Do you prefer to have characters use the language you prefer people to use in real life? Do you choose solely based on plausibility?

Third, I have two similar but distinct questions about reclaimed language. First, if you're writing a character with a disability you don't share, is it problematic to write about the character reclaiming slurs that don't apply to you? And second, when people in real-life self-identify using reclaimed slurs that don't apply to you, is it better to refer to them that way or to use uncontroversial language?

Fourth and finally, what do you do about non-reclaimed slurs characters apply to themselves or deliberately reject for themselves? For instance, is the line "he wasn't hearing things, he wasn't crazy, he just had [people] talking in his head" problematic in itself or does it depend on what else is in the fic?

Comments

[chordatesrock]

Thanks, both of you. That conversation's helpful.

[jesse_the_k]

But the more I trace back how I got to my position, I think I did take a lot of time to decide that I wanted to get into conversation with those icky bits, like my setting's implicit biases.

And if canon includes bias and language that makes you feel oppressed/angry/uncomfortable, it's possible for OCs to directly challenge that in fic.

[chordatesrock]

That's a really cool idea.