Creative Writing
Featured
How I—a Jewish Writer—Approach Sensitivity Reads for Authors Who Write Jewish Characters
Building trust with readers by providing a clear why.
Resources
General
- D-PLACE: Database of places, language, culture, and environment.
- Equity and Inclusion in Children’s and Young Adult Books: Overview of the conversation around diversity, inclusion, underrepresented voices, and identity.
- Does the Dog Die? Be conscious of content that might upset people.
- Sideways Dictionary: Analogies for explaining technology.
History
- A Different Asian American Timeline
- GLBTQ Archives: Encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture and history.
- People of Color in European Art History
Stereotypes, Clichés + Tropes
- American Indians in Children’s Literature: Critical analysis of indigenous peoples in children’s and young adult books.
- Disability in Kidlit: Blog dedicated to discussing the portrayal of disability in middle grade and young adult literature from the disabled perspective.
- Latinxs in Kid Lit: Blog dedicated to Latinx young adult, middle grade, and children’s literature.
- The Physical Traits That Define Men & Women in Literature | The Pudding
- Stereotypes: African Americans, Americans, animals, Arabs and Muslims (by the U.S.), Argentines, blondes, the British, East Asian Americans, gender, Germans, Hispanic and Latinx Americans, Indigenous peoples (of Canada and the U.S.), Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Jews, the Lebanese, LGBTQ+ people, nurses, physical attractiveness, South Asian Americans, White Americans | Wikipedia
- TV Tropes: Catalog of tropes in storytelling.
- Writing With Color: Resources centered on racial and ethnic diversity.
Articles
Ability + Disability
- “Disability Representation in Children’s Books Has a Long Way to Go” | Bitch Media
- “Hey, TV Writers—Here’s the Disabled Character You Need” | Autostraddle
- “How Not to Talk About a Film (Not) About Disability” | Talkhouse
- “On Deaf Literature” | Bloomsbury Literary Studies
- “Staircases in Space: Why Are Places in Science Fiction Not Wheelchair-Accessible?” | io9
- “Writing Deaf Characters” | T. Frohock
Age
- “Over-Sixties Rarely Have Sex on Screen—How Film and TV Forgets About Their Desire” | i Newspaper
- “Space Ageing: Why Sci-Fi Novels Shun the Badass Older Woman” | Nature
- “These Children’s Books Get Aging Right” | Next Avenue
Animals
- “Since When Did Animals Become Synonymous With Our Grief?” | Literary Hub
Appearance
- “A Guide for Skinny Writers Who Want to Write Fat Characters” | Sarah Hollowell
- “Searching for Body Positivity in Fantasy” | Tor
Ethnicity, Race + Nationality
- “After Decades of Dwarfs and Elves, Writers of Color Redefine Fantasy” | The Christian Science Monitor
- “Bilingual Authors Are Challenging the Practice of Italicizing Non-English Words” | Quartzy
- “Black Language Shouldn’t Have to Be Muted for White Readers” | Electric Literature
- “Combatting Stereotypes About Appalachian Dialects” | The Conversation
- “Dear Hollywood Execs: Stop Saying These Six Things to Latinx Writers—Like, Immediately. Thanks.” | Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
- “Decolonizing Nostalgia: When Historical Fiction Betrays Readers of Color” | The Horn Book
- “Diversity in Period TV Dramas Expected to ‘Grow and Grow'” | CBC
- “Don’t Yuck My Yum: Kids Books That Dismantle Orientalism & Food Shaming” | Books for Littles
- “Editors Rejected Leonard Chang’s Novel Because His Characters Didn’t Act ‘Asian Enough'” | Bustle
- “Finding the Lost Voices with YA Historical Fiction” | The Open Book
- “How Did ‘White’ Become a Metaphor for All Things Good?” | The Conversation
- “Kwame Alexander on Children’s Books and the Color of Characters” | The New York Times
- “Misconceptions About Arranged Marriage Abound. Romance Authors Are Here to Help.” | The Washington Post
- “The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture” | The New Yorker
- “Removing ‘Blackface Episodes’ Is Easy. Actually Confronting Racism in Media Isn’t” | CNN
- “Rooting Out Racism in Children’s Books” | The Conversation
- “Techno-Orientalism in Science Fiction” | Chloe Gong
- “When Writing Fantasy, Black Magic Matters, Says Zetta Elliott” | Toronto Star
- “White Authors Are Still Writing Racist Books Because White Critics Won’t Call Them Out” | Quartz
- “Writing About Native Americans” | From Here to Writernity
- “Yes, There Were People of Color in Pre-Modern Europe” | Pacific Standard
Gender, Sex + Sexuality
- “The ‘Acceptance’ Narrative in Trans YA” | YA Pride
- “Asexuality Is Still Hugely Misunderstood. TV Is Slowly Changing That.” | Vox
- “Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes in YA Fiction” (five-part series) | Malinda Lo
- “Five Signs Your Story Is Transphobic” | Mythcreants
- “Historically Authentic Sexism in Fantasy. Let’s Unpack That.” | Tor
- “How to Describe Women Without Degrading Them” | Mythcreants
- “Not Here to Make Friends” | BuzzFeed
- “TV Producers, Stop Portraying Bisexuals as Villains” | The Washington Post
- “Writing Better Trans Characters” | Strange Horizons
Health
#OwnVoices, Sensitivity Readers, and Writing Outside Your Experience
- “Confessions of a Sensitivity Reader” | Tablet Magazine
- “How to Write Across Difference” | Literary Hub
- “#OwnVoices, Outing, and the Ongoing Quest for Authenticity” | Bitch Media
- “#OwnVoices: Why We Need Diverse Authors in Children’s Literature” | Brightly
- “The Struggle Between Diversity and #OwnVoices” | MG Book Village
- “12 Fundamentals of Writing “the Other” (and the Self)” | BuzzFeed
- “Who Can Tell My Story” | The Horn Book
- “Who Gets to Write What?” | The New York Times
Spirituality, Religion + Atheism
- “Jewish Naming Practices” | Kveller
Violence
- “Don’t Make Violence and Abuse Just Another Plot Device in Your Novel” | CrimeReads
- “Six Rape Tropes and How to Replace Them” | Mythcreants
+ More
- “In a New Series, TCM Takes a Look at ‘Problematic’ Classics” | The Associated Press
- “Should Fiction Be Timeless? Pop Culture References in Contemporary Novels” | Electric Literature
- “Taking Perspective: Personal Pronouns Affect Experiential Aspects of Literary Reading” | PLOS ONE
- “Tips for Writing Character Descriptions” | Playwrights’ Center
