: Re: Need advice about changing character's gender I had this idea for a story/novel that I was very excited about, but also very worried about. The idea had a plot where the character development

@Sue2132873

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I agree with others. Don't change your story to remove diversity because you are worried you can't write those characters. Embrace diversity in your writing and your life. The best way to write a character that is different from you is to meet people and research.

Maybe your character works in a factory. Have you ever worked in a factory? If not, you need to learn more about it. Taking a temp job would be great, though hard. Reading accounts of factory workers is important. And making friends who are factory workers or at least meeting people is second best to you doing it yourself.

The next step is a Sensitivity Reader. Find someone to read your work and flag anything you messed up. For example, I'm Jewish and am writing a book about Jews and Jewish themes. But one of my characters is a Baptist (who married a Jew). I wrote a scene with her talking about faith with a couple Jewish characters. I thought it was fine. My Jewish spouse thought it was fine. I mean I've done interfaith work, I should know this, right? My writer's group went, uhhh, that's a bit off. I also took it to an Christian Evangelical friend of mine who helped me fix it.

You're gonna mess up. You're gonna be tone-deaf about things sometimes. People will correct you (if you're lucky). Keep the diversity and be open to learning more and meeting more people and owning up to mistakes. That's all any of us can do. Each and every one of us is not a member of various (and numerous) diverse communities.

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