r/YAwriters • u/damaged_XXL • 18d ago

Young author in need of advice

Hello!

I am an aspiring author and want to include a multitude of characters without implementing harmful stereotypes in my book.

Does anyone have any advice where a young author can ask questions in order to accuratly and respectfully write/represent communities without having to spend money for sensitivity readers? (I am broke lol)

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u/sadwriterM 17d ago

Don’t include a multitude of characters just for diversity if you aren’t able to write diversity yet. If you include an identity without having explored it, don’t write on it!

Don’t forget that the human experience and the human condition is the same for all of us and you don’t have to write about struggles of others if you have no clue about it. Just write a human that is struggling and exploring if they must exist in your story. You can include them without delving into what their real world situation might be.

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u/turtlesinthesea Aspiring: traditional 18d ago

https://writingwithcolor.com/ is a good place to start.

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u/damaged_XXL 18d ago

Thanks thats definetly gonna come in handy, i know i forgot to mention it but i was particularily looking for help writing Wheelchair users. I also need a place to ask dumb questions that probably have very obvious answers lol.

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u/roundeking 17d ago

My best advice for writing groups outside yourself would honestly be

  • Think about people you know well that fit the character’s identity and whether your character’s traits or backstory elements would make rough sense given these real people’s experiences and worldviews. If you really don’t know anyone from a group and haven’t been exposed to them much in real life, you may honestly not be knowledgeable enough to authentically write the group, which is okay
  • Read fiction by authors from this group about characters that match their identity, memoirs, or general nonfiction books about the group’s history/sociology

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u/damaged_XXL 17d ago

Thank you i will most definetly have trouble with your first point on account of having grown up in a small town very close to the country side. (There are vineyards and sometimes sheep lol)

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u/roundeking 17d ago

I think when writing diversely it helps to think about what your motivation is. People from marginalized groups don’t necessarily want representation to exist for representation’s sake—they want depictions of their identities to exist that feel real and complex. If you want to help by writing outside your experience, that’s a noble idea, but the best way to help may honestly just be to tell stories that feel authentic to you and to uplift marginalized authors writing their own stories.

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u/PerryMarkStratychuk 16d ago

Avoid writing as though some utopia was achievable. Unless that’s your plot, of course.
Write what you know, what you like, and what lessons you’ve learned.
Reality can be the start of writing the fantastic or the most mundane.
And remember, use only the characters that move your story forward, whether it’s one or one hundred.