Be Sensitive
Written by MVWG Member Heidi Blanke
Including someone from another race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. in your writing is a great way to open readers up to the greater world and to help them picture what it’s like to step outside their norm.
If you’re a white writer brought up in predominately white surroundings, you’re likely to picture most of your characters as white.
How do you expand from there and, more importantly, should you expand?
The answer is yes, but it’s also no. You can do it, but not without research and conversation. Subscribe to social media sites by people whom your character might mirror. Know what they do, what they talk about, how they live. Get to know them before committing them to paper.
Here are some tips:
Avoid stereotypes, including speech, appearance, jobs, homelife and more. Every Muslim woman does not wear a hijab, every gay male is not interested in interior design, every black person did not grow up in poverty.
Ask and ask again. While someone from a group outside your own can’t speak to their entire demographic, they can offer their own insight.
If you’re unsure, and anyone writing about a group with which they have minimal experience should be, hire a sensitivity reader, someone familiar with the person or group who can spot racist errors, including minor ones.
It’s our job as writers to broaden our readers’ horizons, but it’s also our job to do it with respectful and honest words.
If you’d like to learn more about sensitivity readers and the landscape of diversity and inclusion in the publishing industry, here are a few great resouces.
What Are Sensitivity Readers? - an article publshed on Reedsy that provides a deeper definition, examples and explanations for why an author would want to use one.
We Need Diverse Books is a non-profit and a grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry. Our aim is to help produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.
Heidi Blanke is the author of several books and the treasurer of the Mississippi Valley Writers Guild. When she is not writing, she is volunteering her time with several local organizations who strive to make this world a better place.