#Diversity in Books

[arson-09]

just saw an art from an artist who worked with sjm during acomaf, basically her work is the closestof the character's actual appearence, like, the anon who said sjm looked at natalie alyn lind for description, that is basically what happened, and in a cartoon style she made, lucien is kinda almost the same color as tamlin, and cassian and azriel are the same as rice.... it is all funny considering that in arts were they (except tamlin) are not "darker" some people complain about white washing...

also, gonna mention helion, bc he actually has a persian/iranian appearence, and there were people complaing with the official artist that she white washed him, in the official acotar coloring book... y'know, """"""""""""""""the official artist instead of drawning the character as my headcanon, no, she did as close as they are supposed be, that must be white washing!"""""""" like, people are so dumb

I hate when people hate on artists when they're just doing the best they can with the information given and what the author has said.

on that note, the issue comes down to what I call implied diversity. SJM almost never straight up says a character is a PoC, especially if they are a main character. She may describe someone's appearance one way, usually with flowery and ambiguous language then lets the fandom do the heavy lifting. She lets the fandom make the diversity.

Its why people attack artists for 'whitewashing' even if they are just doing their job. Because people read and interpret it how they like and canonize their perceptions. Its why there's so much skin color variation in Rhysand art (for example) ((it's also why there's so much discourse in this 'fandom' over characters in general but I digress))

Sjm is a bad author when it comes to writing diversity in her cast of characters, and when she tries its very halfhearted. People get their panties in a twist over everything in acotar. She fumbles writing cohesive characters (rhysand changing skin tones acotar-acomaf, tamlins whole character) but the majority of the 'fandom' can't handle discussion over that lmao.

anyway, kinda went off but yeah!! whitewashing is a serious issue when it comes to character art but it's a moot point in the acotar fandom because of sjm lmao.

[black-is-beautiful18]

I don’t know why we have to keep saying this but if you are a white author it is not a good idea to take someone else’s trauma and write a book about it. My main example of this will always be Handmaid’s Tale. Yes all women experience misogyny and often throughout history do not have autonomy over their bodies and have to fight for it. However, when you use the lived experiences of Black and Brown women, which historically have been treated much worse and still have to fight harder than white women, and then apply them to ALL women then yes you are going to get side eyed and maybe even told off depending on the person. This goes for any genre of book really but especially fantasy. I know we like to come up with interesting stories but when you as a white person think you have a right to include things like residential schools and the erasure of culture in your book about dragon colonizers…Let’s go back to the drawing board babes. Like it’s good you did research but let’s think. Not only are you actively taking part in taking away the voices of Black and Brown ppl by doing this but you are also profiting off of it. If you want to talk about oppressive systems so badly write the book from the POV of those that benefit from said systems. The reason why books with fantasy racism wind up getting bashed is cuz of this very thing. Taking things that you have not experienced and stamping them on elves, dragons, orcs, etc will rightfully get criticized by those who actually do have those experiences.

[chiinferno]

On May 5th, I was invited to participate in a Reading for Literary Bridges at Next Chapter Booksellers in St. Paul, Minnesota. There I read an excerpt from the first chapter of my upcoming novel Trial by Fire Academy. I was also surrounded by several other great writers and poets who provided readings for the event, and this video is a compilation of those who participated!

[awkwardpasta004]

Ok so I need some help:

One of the countries in my book, the culture, has some inspiration from South Korea and Native Americans. I’m struggling with names. I had Korean names picked out for the characters but my bf said that sensitivity readers are definitely gonna say no to that so I spent time changing character names and I’m looking at the names I made up for the locations and such and I’m so hesitant to change it cause I spent so much time looking up words and making things up. I mean I could do it cause they lean more Korean than Native (I’m more leaning towards Cherokee cause I am a small bit Cherokee) but it took me so so long to look up words in different languages and taking bits and pieces and coming up with words that sound and look the way I want.

What I’m asking is opinions from people (preferably from people who are Korean/ Asian and Native) about what y’all think is insensitive when it comes to names and such. I just want everyone to enjoy my series and the characters. Since the majority of my characters are POC, I’m determined to do them justice and by extension do the readers justice. I just would like some insight…hopefully this post reaches people who have advice. I have googled things but I just also wanted to post about it cause goodness….this topic has given me writers block far too much.

Thanks for any help

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

i will never understand why more people in their 80s don't commit felonies. you reach that age and surely there's something illegal you always wanted to do but didn't bc Consequences

dammit, GO FORTH GRANNIES!!! rob an armored car! hold up that bank! tunnel your way into fort knox! what are they gonna do, sentence you to 20 years? good fuckin luck with that

[emeryleewho]

I keep seeing posts talking about the WGA/Sag-Aftra strike, which yes, good, but in all this "support writers" sentiment I'm seeing no one talk about book writers, which I think is something people should know more about right now.

We are at an all-time high for book bans, namely targeting queer & PoC-authored books. This means that a lot of schools and libraries are no longer stocking diverse YA books, and if you're not in publishing, you may not realize this but school & libraries are by far one of the biggest markets for diverse YA books.

This means that in 2023, YA book sales are down. This is also in part because Barnes & Noble (the largest physical book retailer in the U.S.) is no longer really stocking YA hardcovers. This means that marginalized authors and debut authors are struggling to sell books.

But it's a LOT worse than that. In the past couple of years, marginalized authors are *really* struggling to get new book deals. Most books are acquired by a publisher about 2 years before they release to the public, so this isn't all that noticeable yet, but a LOT of marginalized authors I've spoken to (myself included) have been unable to sell a new YA book since 2020. So while I had a book out last year, even if I sell one right now, you won't see it until 2025-2026. That's three to four years without a new release or the income I get from publishing those books.

On top of that, Big 5 publishers have started closing imprints (namely their diverse imprints) and have started telling their marginalized YA authors to just go. I've had multiple authors tell me their publisher basically said, "eh, we don't care to put in the work for you anymore. You can just go somewhere else". Of the authors who *are* getting offered new contracts, we're being offered pay far below the cost of living and we're being handed contracts that split our payments 4 or 5 ways and require we sign over our work to be used to train AI so they can replace us a few years down the road.

Authors are freelancers who own our IPs, which means we can't unionize the way Hollywood writers can, and despite authors showing up in droves to support HarperCollins employees when they went on strike for fair wages, we're being hung out to dry when it comes to our own rights.

If you enjoy diverse books, especially diverse YA, please understand that many of the authors you loved over the past 3-5 years are being forced out of the industry. We're being exploited, and we have no way to defend ourselves. Our books sales are drying up thanks to anti-queer legislation, our rights are being eaten up by AI, and our publishers are degrading us while profiting of us and refusing to share those profits with us.

Within the publishing industry, we've all been watching this decline happen over the last decade, but outside of it, I know most people have no idea what's going on so please spread the word. And if you care about diverse books especially in YA, please support marginalized authors in any way you can. The industry needs to be reminded that it needs us before we're all eliminated from it.

[mitzysmitzy]

billford being canon toxic ex-boyfriends was not on my 2024 bingo card

[cupofteajones]

Crush Your 2022 Reading Challenge With These Books

Crush Your 2022 Reading Challenge With These Books

We have finally come to the last month of 2022, and oh no! You noticed that you have only a couple of weeks to reach your 2022 Reading Challenge Goal and are way behind in the books you need to read! Whether you are using Goodreads Reading Challenge, my challenge on the StoryGraph website, or a challenge you set for yourself, don’t worry, fellow bookworms! With four weeks left in the year, it is…

[writingwithcolor]

Wouldn’t my writing be worse off if I forced in elements like diversity?

If you are asking this question, you have yet to challenge the “default” of your culture’s media. Consider that the majority of modern Western media fill their casts with white men, and when there are women or POC, they stick out conspicuously. Many people view adding diversity as tweaking some white man characters by toggling race or gender. But this assumes that “white man” is some default, standard character template.

If you feel pressured to include diversity in your writing, distance yourself from this pressure and ask yourself why you feel it. If you feel attacked when seeing campaigns for more diversity or criticism of all-white, uninclusive media, sit with the discomfort and ask yourself why those who are different from you say they need diverse media.

These are people whose voices and faces are rarely visible in entertainment. Despite this, they enjoy an adventure as much as anyone, and have become accustomed to projecting onto white characters. Yet, when the reverse is asked of white audiences to acknowledge protagonists of color, it becomes a difficult ask. These character choices are immediately questioned, discredited, fought against, and accused of being “woke” or “unrelatable.”

This resistance reflects a larger issue: the imbalance between audiences’ empathy towards the majority/“default” and empathy towards those perceived as Other.

By mostly reading about white people, they become easier to relate to. By the same token, if we are not reading media and histories from the perspective of POC, we end up with more people who literally fail to relate to POC. When we talk about hope-deficits, increased alienation and lower self-worth among marginalized populations, underrepresentation in media is a big factor. Imagine for a moment: never the beautiful princess in the tower, never the badass hero riding dragons; always the two-second sidekick.

People of color are people and want to be seen and treated as such. Not as a burden to devote your time to, but people who have a place in the world, fictional or no. Really, writing a world in your story that is all or mostly white is more unrealistic, more forced—after all, there are far more non-white people on Earth. Becoming comfortable with diversity requires unlearning White as the Default and POC as the Other. It takes setting aside feelings of pressure to emphasize, open your heart and listen.

Further Reading:

“Diversity has gone too far!”

Diversity is for everyone.

Children and the Myth of Colorblind Youth

Those who read about aliens learn to emphasize with aliens. Those who read about wizards empathize with wizards.

---

This Q&A is an excerpt from our General FAQ for Newcomers, which can be found in our new Masterpost of rules and FAQs. If you liked this post, we have more recommended reading there!

-Writing With Color

[marrfixated]

Okay so maybe I am less sick than yesterday at least

[black-is-beautiful18]

Best sellers list? White and full of books that apparently aren’t that good

White authors continuously overstepping as writers

Banned book lists full of white authors

Where’s Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston??? Like come on y’all

[biandlesbianliterature]

If you're concerned about BIPOC, queer, and other diverse books being banned, here are some of the most effective things you can do to fight censorship and book bans.

[morggard]

Vitiligo Bill

While other artist are trying to catch Bill's essence, I'm just playing around triangle shape and how I can incorporate it in my character design 💀

[thatchickmaya]

My very first coloring book is finally ready! I'm so excited!! ✨😁✨

Available on ETSY

If this does well I'm considering taking model submissions for volume 2 in the summer.

[sapphicbookclub]

23 sapphic books in 2023

Here’s a list of 2023 book releases with f/f pairings that you can add to your TBR and you can preorder now to support the authors!  

Science Fiction / Fantasy books:

The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

Ravensong by Cayla Fay

The Valkyrie by Kate Heartfield

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Lucha of the Night Forest Tehlor by Kay Mejia

The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero-Lacruz

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz

Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom by Nina Varela

Contemporary romance books: 

Life is Strange: Steph’s Story by Rosiee Thor

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

Out of Character by Jenna Miller

What a Desi Girl Wants by Sabina Khan

The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

The Girl Next Door by Cecilia Vinesse

Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

Mimosa by Archie Bongiovanni

The Rules of Us by Jennifer Nissley

Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni

If Tomorrow Doesn't Come by Jen St. Jude

The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur

May 2023 bring you even more sapphicness and books! 🎆🎇

[bloodsuckingviolet]

Stay for the summer...if you dare.

My new book "Summer in Horseheads" is available now! 🐴🦴

A creeptastic summery story that follows Negasi Zane as he moves to America with his mother and her new husband to a small town named Horseheads, New York. There, Negasi discovers that all residents flee the town when the neighborhood 'freaks' return from their peculiar boarding schools abroad. With an entire summer in a strange, foreign place ahead of him, Negasi has little choice but to befriend the same murder of teens whose mere presence is enough to scare away an entire town...

📖Link in bio📖