The purpose of this blog is to encourage writers to be inclusive in their writing, to include more marginalized characters in the stories you create. Yes, there needs to be more diversity in writing but it needs to be done thoughtfully, with purpose and intention. A common mistake I've seen from authors is what I like to call the Quota Character. A quota character is usually a static character with a marginalized background who was thrown into a story for the sole purpose of

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

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

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