Tips for Writing Poverty without being Insulting
✧ Being poor is expensive. You can't buy in bulk to save money. You pay fees for not having enough in your account. You buy cheap shoes that wear out fast instead of good ones that last.
✧ The math is constant. Every purchase is a calculation. Can I afford this? What can I skip? Is this worth it? Your character's always doing mental accounting.
✧ You get creative. Meals from whatever's left in the pantry. Fixing things with duct tape and hope. Making do because you have to.
✧ Shame is real. Your character might lie about why they can't go out. Make excuses. Hide their situation because poverty is treated like a moral failure.
✧ Small luxuries feel huge. A coffee from an actual coffee shop instead of gas station. Buying name-brand something. These aren't nothing, they're big deals.
✧ You're always tired. Working multiple jobs, irregular hours, the stress of never having enough, it's exhausting. Your character's running on empty.
✧ Future planning is hard. When you're worried about making rent, thinking about retirement or savings feels impossible. You're in survival mode.
✧ Other people don't get it. Friends who casually suggest expensive activities. People who think you're bad with money when really there's just not enough of it.
✧ The system works against you. Need an ID to get a job but need money to get an ID. Need an address to get assistance but you're homeless. Catch-22s everywhere.
✧ IT'S NOT A CHARACTER FLAW. Your character isn't poor because they're lazy or stupid. Circumstances, bad luck, systemic issues, poverty is complex and it's not about moral worth.
emphasis on the "other people don't get it" point; when you're poor enough, you'll receive no small amount of criticism or advice from well-meaning or not-well-meaning people who literally just Do Not Know what it's like, don't understand the nuance or the details, or just don't know the whole story.
sometimes you (or your character) will be downright insulted right to your face. a lot of the time people will tell you what they think you're living and they will be so wrong you have to save your laughter for later.
some characters may end up with grudges that feel impossible to get over. they may even develop ideas about people that are also deeply wrong or confused ways of seeing things that they must break out of to mature and move on.
