WRITING DIVERSELY

DEDICATED TO HELPING AUTHORS CREATE DIVERSE & INCLUSIVE STORIES

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Dismantling the White Default

The Rules of Minimizing Marginalized Identities

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 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

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Don't Forget Privilege

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. 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

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Writing Atrocities: Slavery

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 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

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Accents & Dialects: How to Write Characters of Color Without Using Stereotypes Part 2

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 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

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How to Avoid the Well-Meaning Microaggression

Renee Harleston

Dec 30, 2017
2 min

How to Avoid the Well-Meaning Microaggression

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

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Avoiding a Trope: The Magical Negro & Friends

Renee Harleston

Nov 5, 2017
2 min

Avoiding a Trope: The Magical Negro & Friends

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

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