How (& Why) to Write Inclusive Fiction
Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash
Most societies around the world contain a power structure, a social hierarchy that affords privileges and opportunities to those in power that those who are marginalized do not receive. One of these privileges is the opportunity to see oneself represented in popular media — and represented well.
Consuming stories that contain characters with whom one shares similar cultural experiences can validate a sense of identity and societal self-worth. A lack of media representation, on the other hand, can prompt one to feel unimportant and othered in society’s eyes. Worse yet, poor representation frequently feeds into harmful stereotypes and misinformation that only adds to the disadvantages and discrimination that marginalized people experience.
As writers, we hold the power to counteract marginalization in literature by writing inclusively. When we actively work to improve the quality and diversity of the representation present in our stories, we can help dismantle harmful social hierarchies, expand our readers’ world-views, and ultimately ensure that every reader sees themselves in the pages of their favorite books.
How can you begin writing inclusively?
The increase in the number of diverse stories being published in recent years has often been called a “trend,” but there’s nothing temporary about the fight for better representation. Literature is becoming more diverse because of societal efforts to dismantle the hierarchy that marginalizes minority people groups in the first place.
If your main interest in writing inclusively lies in how you might capitalize from this so-called “trend,” then you’re choosing to write inclusively for all the wrong reasons. Your decision to include a diverse range of characters and experiences in your stories should stem solely from a desire to ensure that all readers can see themselves in the pages of the books they read.
In this way, all fiction is political. No matter how light-hearted or entertaining, if your story features a cast consisting of largely privileged characters, then you’re taking a political stand on the subject of social privilege and marginalization.
In the western world, greater privilege and opportunity are afforded to those who are demographically:
White
Straight
Male
Well-Educated
Wealthy
Thin / Physically Fit
Cisgender (i.e. not transgender)
Allosexual (i.e. not on the asexual spectrum)
Able-bodied (i.e. not chronically ill or disabled),
Neurotypical (i.e. not experiencing atypical mental function or illness)
Christian or areligious
These elements of social hierarchy are intersectional, meaning the demographics that define your identity will shape the unique discrimination and marginalization you experience. For example, as a white, cisgender, allosexual, able-bodied, neurotypical, and areligious person, I’m afforded many privileges in society. However, I also experience a degree of marginalization because I’m a woman of relatively low financial status and education.
Nevertheless, I’m indeed a person of great privilege. If you are as well, then you might find the idea of writing inclusively to be daunting. The last thing you want is for your work to unwittingly feed into harmful stereotypes and misrepresentation. How can you go about writing inclusively and doing so well?
Tip #1: Expand Your Worldview
If you’re a person of great privilege surrounded by people of great privilege who happens to only read books about privileged people, then you can’t expect to do a good job of writing inclusively. First, make it a personal goal to escape the confines of your bubble of privilege, not only to be a more inclusive writer but to be a more knowledgeable and empathetic human being.
Get out in the world. Meet new people. Travel if you can, or volunteer at a local community center or homeless shelter. Listen when others speak. Hear their opinions, their experiences, their pain. Then, when you come home at the end of the day, make a point of reading diverse books, especially those written by marginalized authors and those that center characters from marginalized communities.
Tip #2: Respect #OwnVoices Stories
The #OwnVoices movement (hashtag credited to Corrine Duyvis) seeks to identify and promote books that deal specifically with the struggles and discrimination an author has faced in their personal life. For example, author Tahereh Mafi explores the hardship she experienced as a Muslim teen living in America following the events of 9/11 in her novel, A Very Large Expanse of Sea.
When writing inclusively, it’s important to respect #OwnVoices stories by choosing not to center your story on the unique hardships experienced by a marginalized character unlike yourself.
For example, if you’re a straight author, you should avoid writing the story of a gay teen’s coming-out experience because there’s no better person to write that story than someone who was once a gay teen.
Given the hardships that marginalized authors face in getting published in the traditional publishing industry, choosing to write and seek publication for such a story yourself might also take that opportunity away from an author better suited to tell that story.
This doesn’t mean that you should avoid addressing the discrimination that marginalized people face in your stories. It simply means that centering those experiences in your book when you do not, in fact, belong to the people group in question can reinforce marginalization rather than dismantle it.
Tip #3: Do Your Research
Though the process might seem strangely clinical, don’t hesitate to research the experiences of characters who are marginalized in ways that you are not. This is essential to avoiding harmful representation and writing those characters to the best of your ability. Here are a few resources to help you get started:
Writing Gay Characters (Hobby Lark)
Writing Autistic Characters (Disability in Kid Lit)
Tip #4: Avoid Tokenism
In storytelling, tokenism is the practice of including minority characters only insofar as to give the appearance that your story is inclusive. Tokenism often manifests as the stereotypical gay best friend in a straight romance, the magical negro in a story centering white heroes, or the sole female character who serves as a love interest in an otherwise all-male cast.
To avoid tokenism, make an effort to move beyond stereotypes and outdated archetypes by actively centering minority characters. Leigh Bardugo does this extremely well in her Six of Crows duology.
The book’s core cast includes several characters of color, characters of diverse sexualities, a character with a learning disability, a character who lives with the trauma of sexual assault, an overweight character, and a character who relies on a cane for mobility.
Despite the unique challenges and discrimination they face, none of these characters is defined by their marginalization. All are incredibly complex, fully-realized characters with unique goals and motivations that have little to nothing to do with how they’re marginalized.
Tip #5: Avoid Objectification
When writing inclusively, take care to avoid treating marginalized characters as plot devices, in which the character exists solely to further the story of a privileged character.
You’ve seen this in stories where female characters are sexually assaulted or killed to provide an emotional backstory for the brooding hero’s quest for vengeance. You’ve also seen this in stories where characters of color exist solely to provide cryptic wisdom that motivates the white character to action.
Objectification can also occur in the way characters are described. This includes sexualizing female characters in a way that male characters are not, using food-related adjectives to describe characters’ skin colors (e.g. caramel skin, warm chocolate skin), and framing the experiences of a person who is disabled or neurodivergent as an “inspiring” story of hope.
Tip #6: Utilize Sensitivity Readers
When writing outside of your experience, seeking specialized feedback is key to ensuring you’ve written that experience well. Sensitivity readers are members of marginalized groups who critique the portrayal of characters who identify with that marginalization. For example, a Native sensitivity reader could provide feedback on Native characters written by non-Native authors, or a Jewish sensitivity reader might provide feedback on Jewish characters written by non-Jewish authors.
Sensitivity readers are most often writers, editors, or book bloggers who offer their services through their websites. You can find a directory of sensitivity readers at writingdiversely.com/directory or seek sensitivity readers directly through online writing communities found on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.
Tip #7: Learn From Your Mistakes
If you’re a writer of great privilege who wishes to write inclusively, you might harbor some concern about cancel culture — that is, being publicly shamed (often online) for writing something that others perceive as offensive or damaging.
If you’ve done your research, taken care to craft fully-realized characters, and sought feedback from key sources, you’re unlikely to be “canceled” in any way. Nevertheless, you’re only human. Despite your best efforts, you might run into problematic territory from time to time, and that’s okay.
If this happens, firstly know that marginalized communities are not monoliths. Just because one person takes exception to how you’ve written a character doesn’t mean that other marginalized readers will agree. That said, if you receive the same feedback from a large number of readers, take note.
If your mission in writing inclusively is to help improve the quality and diversity of representation in literature, then minding reader feedback is essential. Apologize when you need to apologize, take any appropriate action you can, and then strive to do better next time.
In 2017, Native American readers reached out to Rick Riordan, the white author behind the mega-popular Percy Jackson and Magnus Chase series, to ask him to address his use of the term “spirit animal” in The Sword of Summer, given that the term is considered sacred to many Native Americans.
Riordan responded by immediately apologizing for his unwitting insensitivity and working with his editor to remove the phrase from all future printings. Let this instance be an example to you should you ever find yourself in a similar position.
•••
Writing inclusively isn’t always easy, but neither does it need to complicated. While it’s important to put time and effort into researching and respectfully writing experiences that are not your own, also remember that people are people. No character you write should be defined by their marginalization but rather by their humanity.
No matter the identity of the characters you’re writing, take care to give them goals and motivations, personalities, backstories, world-views, voices, fears, and false beliefs. To represent marginalized communities well is to develop marginalized characters as fully as any other. To bring them out of the margins and onto the page as the heroes of their own stories.
