Three Black Characters You Want to Avoid
Here are three warning signs you can use to determine if you should “avoid that Black character.” As in, rethink, reimagine, and rewrite.
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Nathaniel Glanzman
- May 20
- 4 min
Belonging and Growing Up Biracial
What does identity mean for biracial characters? Especially when how they look doesn't align with society's expectations.
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Sossity Chiricuzio
- Jan 23
- 5 min
Disabled Characters: Avoiding the Tragedy or Inspiration Binary
Is your disabled character a fully realized person or simply a prop?
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Ennis Rook Bashe
- Nov 16, 2021
- 3 min
Writing Well-Rounded Nonbinary Characters
There's more to your nonbinary characters than pronouns and coming out stories. Read tips on how to write well-rounded nonbinary characters
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Gabriel CP
- Oct 18, 2021
- 6 min
Horror Clichés: Is it Scary or is it Bigotry?
Common horror cliches, how they are rooted in bigotry, and some tips on how to not perpetuate them.
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Hana Ali
- Sep 12, 2021
- 6 min
Writing the Hijab
A hijab is more than just a piece of cloth. Components of religion, culture, and agency must be considered when writing this character.
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Nathaniel Glanzman
- Aug 16, 2021
- 3 min
How to Ethically Kill Marginalized Characters
Here you are, writing the death scene for one of your marginalized characters. Have you considered the impact of this choice?
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Renee Harleston
- Dec 23, 2020
- 3 min
The Weight of "Dark"
Do me a favor. Open up your manuscript and search for the word "dark." What do you notice? Are you using it literally
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Renee Harleston
- Jul 12, 2020
- 2 min
Diverse Books Our Sensitivity Readers Love
Sensitivity Readers from the Writing Diversely Directory shared their favorite #ownvoices books and why they love them.
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Renee Harleston
- Sep 1, 2019
- 3 min
Avoiding Stereotypes - Revisited
When I started this blog (and still to this day) the top concern of authors I work with is is stereotypes and tropes. It's an important
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Renee Harleston
- Mar 10, 2019
- 2 min
Diversity and Inclusion Style Guides
Here is a list of style guides from journalistic societies and cultural groups to help you avoid offensive terminology. These guides not onl
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Renee Harleston
- Nov 25, 2018
- 2 min
Dismantling the White Default
When you avoid pointing out whiteness and put effort into to point out non-whiteness what you're doing is increasing the invisibility of
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Renee Harleston
- Oct 13, 2018
- 3 min
Finding an agent for your diverse book
Your agent should love your story and believe in it enough to pound the proverbial pavement to get it sold. With all the problems with...
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Renee Harleston
- Jul 21, 2018
- 4 min
Using Memoir to Inform Fiction Writing
One of the best tips I give writers who want to create a character outside of their own identity is, read. Read about the people you want to
158
Renee Harleston
- Jun 13, 2018
- 3 min
The Rules of Minimizing Marginalized Identities
Once I worked with an author who intentionally veiled the race of several of her characters. She thought she was being clever. To her...
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Renee Harleston
- May 27, 2018
- 3 min
Don't Forget Privilege
Recently I've sensitivity read manuscripts and I've been noticed characters with unacknowledged privilege and it needs to be addressed....
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Renee Harleston
- Apr 16, 2018
- 3 min
Writing Atrocities: Slavery
People have done (and are doing) horrific things to one another. As writers, we put these things in our stories because they are real and...
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Renee Harleston
- Mar 12, 2018
- 2 min
Does your manuscript pass this diversity test?
This test can help determine if the characters with marginalized identities have real utility and meaning in the plot and aren't just Qu
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Renee Harleston
- Feb 24, 2018
- 2 min
Avoiding the Quota Character: Choosing Quality Over Quantity
The purpose of this blog is to encourage writers to be inclusive in their writing, to include more marginalized characters in the stories...
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Renee Harleston
- Feb 10, 2018
- 3 min
Accents & Dialects: How to Write Characters of Color Without Using Stereotypes Part 2
Authentic character voice can really propel your story from good to great but things can get complicated if your character has an accent...
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