Inclusive Storytelling Resource List

Part of writing fiction is creating characters and groups that don’t completely share our own identities and lived experiences.

In the process of creation we can often lean on our existing knowledge, which might not include what we need to know to represent people and groups in ways that don’t do harm to them.

Some steps you can take to make your story more inclusive:

• Listen to people from the groups you’re representing (either directly or through creating composite cultures), read their stories and first-hand accounts of their experiences
• Acknowledge that we all always have more to learn
• Do more research to fill in knowledge gaps — check out some resources under General Resources to Help You Do Better
• Consider whether the story you’re telling is yours to tell — check out the resources under Avoiding Appropriation
• Consider whether your marginalized characters, groups, and their story arcs are communicating what you intend to communicate, and not inadvertently doing harm — check out the resources under Navigating Damaging Tropes
• Consider whether the language you’re using is inadvertently doing harm — check out the resources under General Resources to Help You Do Better
• Get expert advice — check out the resources under Working with Authenticity/Sensitivity Readers

These resource lists are by no means exhaustive. Consider them each a place to start your research.

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General Resources to Help You Do Better

• The Conscious Style Guide by Karen Yin — articles, resources, and a great book about inclusive language and representation
• Salt & Sage Books’ Incomplete Writing Guides — including books on how to write asexual, autistic, and Black characters, and fat positivity
• Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses — an insightful discussion on decentralizing Western expectations in story and writing workshops to reach readers and writers with diverse backgrounds
• Writing an Identity Not Your Own by Alex Temblador — a wonderfully thorough guide on writing marginalized characters in a conscientious and inclusive way
• Writing the Other’s courses and other resources on writing outside your identity
• Writing Diversely’s resources on writing outside your identity
• Writing with Color posts about writing racial, ethnic, and religious diversity
• The Radical Copyeditor‘s articles on inclusive language
• Rabbit with a Red Pen’s Conscious Language Toolkit

Avoiding Appropriation

• Cultural Appropriation In Fiction by Ixty Quintanilla
• Understanding Appropriative Worldbuilding by Chris Winkle

Navigating Damaging Tropes

At their most basic, tropes are story elements — like character traits or plot devices — that get used over and over. Tropes aren’t inherently bad, but because we live in a world with lots of problematic history and oppression, we’ve got loads of tropes that are rooted in all that. And those tropes tend to reflect that oppression. It’s important to be aware of potentially damaging tropes you might have in your story and the impact they can have on your readers.

If you’ve got characters in your novel who have lived experiences outside your own, especially characters from marginalized groups and backgrounds, a sensitivity reader can help you identify tropes (and more) in your writing. (I’ve got more on sensitivity readers below.)

If you’re from one of the groups or backgrounds impacted by some of these tropes, how you navigate them is up to you. Some writers push back against that past, their oppression. Some writers dive right back into it. Some choose to move on. And all these approaches are valid. There are many valid ways to cope with oppression.

I’ve got some examples of tropes for you. This is really just a starting point. There are so many more out there.

(Please be sure you’re in a place where you can handle upsetting content when reading these. Some of them can be emotionally difficult reads.)

Ableist Tropes

• Five Signs Your Story Is Ableist by Chris Winkle

Racist Tropes

• Antisemitism in Fantasy and Fairy Tales by Molly Rockwood
• Fantasy Races and Avoiding Racist Portrayals on Writing with Color
• Romani Power in Sci-Fi and Fantasy by Kate Lechler — this article uses a word that is considered a slur when used by people not belonging to the Romani community

Sexual Assault & Fridging Tropes

• Fictional While Female: the [sexual-assault] culture in fiction by @anghara on LiveJournal
• Six [Sexual-Assault] Tropes and How to Replace Them by Chris Winkle
• The Lukewarm Appeal of the “Women In Refrigerators” Trope by Larissa Irankunda

Queer Tropes

• Are You Writing Harmful Tropes, Archetypes, and Stereotypes in your LGBTQIA fiction? by Tasha L. Harrison
• “I’m Pretty Sick Of The Blink-And-You’ll-Miss-It Queer Content” by Mary Colussi
• Five Signs Your Story Is Transphobic by Chris Winkle

Working with Authenticity/Sensitivity Readers

If you’ve written characters who have lived experiences outside your own, especially marginalized characters, it’s worth getting input from someone who has those lived experiences to ensure you’re representing people from that group or background conscientiously, and not inadvertently perpetuating damaging tropes. You don’t know what you don’t know. And authenticity/sensitivity readers can help with that.

Some places you can find authenticity/sensitivity readers:

• Putting a call out on social media, like Bluesky, or checking the Sensitivity Consultants starter pack there
• Binders Full of Sensitivity Readers on Facebook
• Editors of Color
• Indigenous Editors Association
• LGBTQ+ Editors Association — the member database is currently in development
• Salt & Sage Books
• Spoonie Authors Network
• Sensitivity Consultants Bluesky starter pack
• Writing Diversely