When you avoid pointing out whiteness and put effort into to point out non-whiteness what you're doing is increasing the invisibility of

Once I worked with an author who intentionally veiled the race of several of her characters. She thought she was being clever. To her having no race means the reader could just see them as human beings and not be categorized. She had good intentions but I advised against it. But it wasn't the first time I've had to field the question, Does this character's race really matter? If you're wrestling with the question regarding race, sexuality, or any other identity keep these th

Recently I've sensitivity read manuscripts and I've been noticed characters with unacknowledged privilege and it needs to be addressed. Privilege extends far beyond the advantages of being a "straight white male." Class, able-bodiedness, religion, immigration status, sexual orientation, and so many more categories can be areas where people benefit from privilege. It's important for writers to understand and address privilege in their stories because literature is as a mirror

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 filled with complex conflict. Those things get inserted into our stories, however, because they are real atrocities we need to be more scrutinizing and deliberate with how they are handled, in this post I want to talk about the use of enslaved characters. If you're an American the slavery you're likely most familiar with is the race-based c

This test can help determine if the characters with marginalized identities have real utility and meaning in the plot and aren't just Qu

Authentic character voice can really propel your story from good to great but things can get complicated if your character has an accent or would speak in dialect, especially if you're writing something outside of what you're familiar with. You want your character's voice to be realistic but you don't want to offend anyone by getting it wrong either. So how do you write accents and dialect that won't make your readers cringe? Be honest, does your character really have to tal

You have a character of color, a homosexual, and/or a gender fluid character in your story, is that enough? Well, no, and I suspect you know that or you wouldn't be on this blog. Since you've taken the step to be more inclusive in your writing, you've probably tried your best to avoid anything overtly offensive but it's important to think about microaggressions in your writing, as well. This isn't easy so I highly suggest you hire a sensitivity reader (or two or three) to do

You know the story. A white character is in distress. Not immediate, potentially fatal distress but more like a personal crisis. Then, all of a sudden, a black or Indigenous person shows up, knows exactly what clever things to say and do. She fixes everything, then disappears into thin air (literally). The End. "The Magical Negro," a phrase made famous by Spike Lee and "The Noble Savage" are essentially side-kick characters included in a story to create the allusion of diver