Here are three warning signs you can use to determine if you should “avoid that Black character.”

What does identity mean for biracial characters? Especially when how they look doesn't align with society's expectations.

Is your disabled character a fully realized person or simply a prop?

There's more to your nonbinary characters than pronouns and coming out stories. Read tips on how to write well-rounded nonbinary characters.

Let’s talk about some common horror cliches, how they are rooted in bigotry, and some tips on how to not perpetuate them.

A hijab is more than just a piece of cloth. Components of religion, culture, and agency must be considered when writing this character.

Here you are, writing the death scene for one of your marginalized characters. Have you considered the impact of this choice?

Do me a favor. Open up your manuscript and search for the word "dark." What do you notice? Are you using it literally as a physical descriptor? Figuratively, as a way to describe a mood or tone? Perhaps both? Are you noticing any trends, patterns, or maybe some problems with how you're using the word?

Sensitivity Readers from the Writing Diversely Directory shared their favorite #ownvoices books and why they love them.

One of the best ways to effectively avoid stereotypes is being able to recognize them. Here are four documentaries that will help educate you on racial stereotypes that have been prevalent and pervasive in American media.

Here is a list of style guides from organizations representing marginalized groups, as well as, journalistic societies. These guides not only define terms but also directly state if they are slang, offensive, or simply outdated. Keep in mind these guides are intended for journalists which is good because they are current and thorough but don't take the context of fiction writing into account.

"White as default" is when whiteness is the litmus test for what is considered normal behavior, culture, and appearance. Through media, books, visual media, politics...etc. we are socialized to think it's normal to be white and everyone else is defined by their proximity to whiteness.

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 the lack of diversity in published it's important you don't waste your time querying just any person.

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 write about. Read authors who fall into that demographic of your character. Read, read, read.

If you're wrestling with the question regarding race, sexuality, or any other identity keep these things in mind.

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.

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.

This test can help you self-check and determine if the characters with marginalized identities have utility and meaning in the plot and aren't just Quota Characters. Administering this test and fixing the oversights to your own work can help you give your characters real meaning outside of their race, gender, disability..etc.

Just having characters with marginalized identities isn't enough. It doesn't matter how many diverse characters are in your story if they are written as afterthoughts you have a greater chance of offending your readers by carelessness.

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?