Reality Check Incorporating diverse characters is not about an agenda

Myslexia YA novel contest-judged by Tame a Dragon Author

Paying Spec Fiction markets, July

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I'm not very "woke', and I cringe at wokeisms. And I've read a book or three with an agenda. The author drags out a soapbox for the MC to stand on and goes over issues like reading from a manifesto.

But simply including someone different in your story as an "agenda"? Uh...bite me.
 
Heh...I see your reaction, Hannah. 0530 local now, and the meeting is still going. They're in Italy, so they should break for lunch soon.

Back on topic...I'm writing "diversity" into my story, as well. I use quotes coz a diverse cast is nothing more than keeping it real.
 
I wrote a chapter for a friend's book, about cooking different types of vegetables. A black, London-based beta reader said the range of vegetables wasn't diverse enough. Fair point. So I edited to include calaloo, okra, plantains and other things that you typically see on market stalls in Brixton and other very multiracial areas. Reader was happy.

Then another (white) reader complained about "cultural appropriation" purely by mentioning these foods. You are always going to get people with a weird take on it.
 
I wrote a chapter for a friend's book, about cooking different types of vegetables. A black, London-based beta reader said the range of vegetables wasn't diverse enough. Fair point. So I edited to include calaloo, okra, plantains and other things that you typically see on market stalls in Brixton and other very multiracial areas. Reader was happy.

Then another (white) reader complained about "cultural appropriation" purely by mentioning these foods. You are always going to get people with a weird take on it.
True.
 
I'm really hating people right now.

One of my colleagues complained that Telenovelas are brainwashing Brazilians into Socialism.

Another colleague brought up the book that I think started the thread. I don't even know the name of it, but he said that he wouldn't have let his 12-year-old daughter read it if he knew it mixed mythology with "gender issues."

Seriously...I work in Hell.
 
I'm really hating people right now.

One of my colleagues complained that Telenovelas are brainwashing Brazilians into Socialism.

Another colleague brought up the book that I think started the thread. I don't even know the name of it, but he said that he wouldn't have let his 12-year-old daughter read it if he knew it mixed mythology with "gender issues."

Seriously...I work in Hell
It's just real life. Diverse people exist. They should be the heroes of a few stories. No agenda.
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Nor Greek. Thinking of Tiresias. (I thought I wrote this as a reply to the quotes from Rick Riordan about Norse mythology. I wonder if anyone has done a comparative study of how gender fluidity is handled in a range of mythologies and how that correlates to current views and issues.)
 
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Myslexia YA novel contest-judged by Tame a Dragon Author

Paying Spec Fiction markets, July

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