Episode 31: Writing diverse characters

Notes:

Fable mentioned that the author of A Curse So Dark and Lonely sought guidance from her friend who has CP to help with the creation of a character in that book. CP is short for Cerebral Palsy.

Both Fable and the Verbivore talk about the idea of not having token characters in your work. The word token can have a negative connotation. We are saying make sure you include diverse characters in a thoughtful way, and that they are well developed within your setting and your story.

Fable mentions not feeling like she has the right to tell certain stories, and The Verbivore talks about not yet feeling comfortable to write a first person narrative from the perspective of a character from another culture. This touches on current debates within the publishing industry and concerns that we have over cultural appropriation. The best guidance we can give is follow your gut and make sure you are introspective about your motivations and how prepared you are to write from that specific viewpoint. If you are uncertain, it never hurts to seek honest feedback and outside oppinions.

The Verbivore mentioned bias both overt and covert. This relates to research studies on implicit bias that have been conducted around the country. If you are interested in exploring this topic further, here are a few websites where you can get additional information:

http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/research/understanding-implicit-bias/

https://perception.org/research/implicit-bias/

Books Mentioned:

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)