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

I conducted a poll on twitter (follow me!) to try to understand what authors are the most concerned about when they're writing characters outside of their own identities. More than half of the voters said "overall authenticity" concerned them the most so I want to address what authenticity is and what steps you can take to make sure your characters are authentic to your readers. Authenticity is tricky, even if you share the same identity with your character, and even harder

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

Note from Renee: This is a guest blog by my very good friend, social worker, and queer activist Nathaniel Gray. I invited him to write a post because it is important for Writing Diversely to be inclusive of all types of diversity, I am not LGBTQ+, and I believe giving fellow marginalized people voice. He was and still is my level headed, open-hearted, and empathetic teacher and advisor about LGBTQ+ matters. I hope you enjoy! Honest and Diverse Queer Character Writing I’m so e

When I learned about the "White Man's Burden" in history class, I was the only black face in the room. There were no Indigenous American or Latinx students. I wanted to look into another person's eyes and without saying a word agree that "this is bullshit." My teacher didn't express an opinion, she also didn't point out the flaws, missteps, and racism in it. So that's what I'm here for. The "White Man's Burden" referred to now as the White Savior Complex is when a white pers

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

"How do I write a character of color without using stereotypes?" I get this question often and it is legitimate. Creating characters is not easy. Creating characters that belong to a different racial group than you are can be down-right difficult. You don't want to rely on stereotypes to describe them that can be offensive, harmful, or cliche. In response to that apprehension I often see authors avoid it, they take the easy way out and you don't describe them at all, but is t