A Few Tips and Resources for Writing POC Characters

this-is-not-native:

writeworld:

Anonymous asked: do you have any tips for writing poc characters when you, yourself, are white?

The simple, honest answer is that you need to be very careful because you have never been a POC and therefore are in danger of portraying a group of people insensitively, unfairly, disastrously―you get the idea.

This concept is known as “Writing the Other”, and it basically refers to writing about characters whose racial heritage, sexual orientation, religion, etc. differ from your own. It can be intimidating, especially since Writing the Other incorrectly can harm you the writer, your readers, and the people about whom you write.

That being said:

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: I’ve never died, but I’ve written a death scene. I’ve never waved a magic wand or dueled a dragon or gone to Mars, but I can write about it. Why is that? Imagination and research. (x)

Mostly lots and lots of research. We’re going to give you a great resource in the links below to get you started.

“But remember, there are two ways to dehumanize someone: by dismissing them, and by idolizing them.”
― David Wong

Try to write without pity or condescension or idealism in your heart. This is a sure way to mess up writing any character, but most especially a character based on a real group of people who are culturally different from you.

Instead, write characters with dignity and who are grounded in reality. Write honest characters.

Now for those resources we promised:

The Term POC

Gee, I don’t know how to research writing Characters of Color tastefully

Need more?

How to Write a POC Character Part I: The Authentic Race

Writing about PoC’s

Writing the Other

Why Writing People of Color Is Hard

Thank you for your question! If you have any concerns or suggestions about this article or writing in general, hit up our ask box!

-C

This is relevant to a question we received recently and is worded much better than anything I could’ve said.

Feb
06
2013

Avoiding vampire cliches ask (Rebloggable Version)

thewritershelpers:

Oh, this is something I’ve been wondering myself recently, too. I love the idea of vampires and all the things you can do with them as characters/plot devices, but they’ve just been done to death recently and I’m terrified of feeling like I’m jumping on the bandwagon like all the rubbish Twilight spin-offs that are around recently…

The conclusion that I’ve come to is that it’s okay to have vampires. Apart from anything, let’s be honest, if any story that any of us are writing right now is going to be published at any point, it’s not going to be for a while, by which time this whole vampire obsession will be just a distant memory. So I think you’re fine =] Especially if you’re going for the lesser-used side of them.

If you’re still worried about staying away from clichés, take a look at this list of resources I’ve found:

Done to Undeath: Vampire Clichés That Suck the Life From Your Stories

How to Create Unique and Interesting Fictional Vampires

Vampire TV Tropes (I swear by this site, honestly. It’s great for seeing what else has been done and therefore what you can either do or avoid.)

Acceptable Clichés in Vampire Fiction (this is a forum thread that deals with all the clichés about what harms a vampire - eg: garlic)

How to Write a Vampire Novel Without Being Clichéd (this is a yahoo question thingie that’s actually got some answers with interesting perspectives on the whole thing)

I hope this helps!

-M

I think we got some asks along these lines. Enjoy~

6 Ways to End Your Story

With NaNoWriMo now in its final week, I thought it would be a good time to talk about endings. Here are six common ending types:

Resolved: All conflicts and story threads are tied up and concluded neatly. It’s satisfying for readers, and ususally denotes a singular book or the last in a series.
Unresolved: Conflicts are left open, storylines left unfinished. Readers don’t know what happens to all of the characters. It leaves the reader to create or ponder their own endings. It often denotes that there will be more books to follow.
Implied: The ending is not made clear and is left to interpretation by the reader. While some readers will enjoy the puzzle, others may be left confused.
Twist: The ending is completely unexpected and turns the whole story on its head, often revealing that an assumed truth throughout the story was actually false.
Tie-Back: The ending ties right back to the beginning; using the same dialogue, description, setting or idea. It creates a feeling of balance and completeness.
Crystal Ball: The ending explains what happens to the characters in the future; a significant time-frame after the ending of the story itself.

Great Flood of ‘13

We’ll be singing and dancing in the rain like Gene Kelly. Swimming through the streets like we’re in a tropical jungle. Running and leaping as if we’re in an obstacle course.

And then we’ll have a story to tell. The Great Flooding of ‘13 we’ll call it. It’ll be one to remember for years.

Cory Doctorow on Where Characters Come From

“Write about imaginary people long enough, and they will feel real, even to you, who should really know better. And even though their lives and decisions have no consequences, even though their death has less real-world tragedy than the untimely demise of the yogurt culture you digested this morning at breakfast, you feel for them, because the simulator is where our empathy lives.”

Go read the rest over at Locus Online. Good stuff.

To All Writers of Everything Ever