Writing Advice, Prompts, and More

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Explain it in text? Without emphatic arm gestures or wine? Oh god. Okay. I’ll try.

All right, so narrative distance is all about the proximity between you the reader and the POV character in a story you’re reading. You might sometimes also hear it called “psychic distance.” It puts you right up close to that character or pulls you away, and the narrative distance an author chooses greatly affects how their story turns out, because it can drastically change the focus.

Here’s an illustration of narrative distance from far to close, from John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction (a book I yelled at a lot, because Gardner is a pretentious bastard, but he does say very smart things about craft):

It was winter of the year 1853. A large man stepped out of a doorway.

Henry J. Warburton had never much cared for snowstorms.

Henry hated snowstorms.

God how he hated these damn snowstorms.

Snow. Under your collar, down inside your shoes, freezing and plugging up your miserable soul

It feels a bit like zooming in with a camera, doesn’t it?  

I always hate making decisions about narrative distance, because I usually get it wrong on the first try and have to fix it in revision. When I was writing Lost Causes, the first thing I had to do in revision was go through and zoom in a little on the narrative distance, because it felt like it was sitting right on top of Bruce’s prickly skin and it needed to be underneath where the little biting comments and intrusive thoughts lived. 

Narrative distance is probably the simplest form of distance in POV, and there is where if I had two glasses of wine in me you would hit a vein of pure yelling. There are SO MANY forms of distance in POV. There’s the distance between the intended reader and the POV character, the distance between the POV character and the narrator (even if it’s 1st person!), the distance between the narrator and the author. There’s emotional distance, intellectual distance, psychological distance, experiential distance. If you look closely at a 3rd person POV story, you can tell things about the narrator as a person (and the narrator is an entity independent of the author) - like, for starters, you can tell if they’re sympathetic to the POV character by how they talk about their actions. Word choice and sentence structure can tell you a narrator’s level of education and where they’re from; you can sometimes even tell a narrator’s gender, class, and other less obvious identifying factors if you look closely enough. To find these details, ask: What does the narrator (or POV character, or author) understand?

I can’t put a name on the narrator of the Harry Potter books, but I can tell you he understands British culture intimately, what it’s like to be a teen boy with a crush, to not have money, to be lonely and abused, and to find and connect with people. There’s a lot he doesn’t understand (he doesn’t pick out little flags of queerness like I do, so he’s probably straight, for example), but he sympathizes with Harry and supports him. I like that narrator. I’m supposed to sympathize with him, and I do.

POV is made up of these little distances - countless small questions of proximity that, when stacked together, decide whether we’re going to root for or against a character, or whether we’ll put down a book 20 pages in, or whether a story will punch you in just the right place at just the right amount to make you bawl your eyes out.

Hey, thanks for asking, anon!  It’s a pretty nuanced topic, and different people will have different takes on it.  I’ll share my thoughts on it, but do keep in mind that other people of colour may have different thoughts on the matter, and this is by no means definitive!  These are things I’ve observed through research, trial and error, my own experiences, or just learning from other writers.

The first thing I guess I want to clarify is that I personally am not opposed to a society without racism in fiction.  It’s exhausting and frankly boring when the only stories that characters of colour get are about racism!  So it’s a relief sometimes to just get to see characters of colour exist in a story without dealing with racism.  That being said, I feel like a lot of the time when creators establish their settings as “post-racial,” they avoid racism but they also avoid race altogether.  Not aesthetically -they may have a few or even many characters with dark skin- but the way the characters act and talk and relate to the world are “race-less” (which tends to end up as default white American/British or whatever place the creator comes from).  Which I have complicated thoughts on, but the most obvious thing that springs to mind is how such an approach implies (deliberately or not) that racism is all there is to the way POC navigate the world.  It’s definitely a significant factor, particularly for POC in Western countries, but it’s not the only thing!  There’s so much more to our experiences than just racial discrimination, and it’s a shame that a lot of “post-racial” or “racism-free” settings seem to overlook that in their eagerness to not have racism (or race) in their stories.

A quick go-to question I ask when I look at characters of colour written/played by white creators is: if this was a story or transcript I was reading, with no art or actors or what have you, would I be able to tell that this character is a character of colour?  How does the creator signal to the audience that this is a character of colour?  A lot of the time, this signal stops after the physical description - “X has dark skin” and then that’s all!  (We will not discuss the issue of racial stereotypes in depth, but it should be clear that those are absolutely the wrong way to indicate a character of colour).

This expands to a wider issue of using dark skin as a be-all-end-all indication of diversity, which is what I mean by “aesthetic” characters of colour (I used the term “internally white” originally but upon further reflection, it has some very loaded implications, many of which I’m personally familiar with, so I apologize for the usage).  Yes, the character may not “look” white, but how do they interact with the world?  Where do they come from?  What is their background, their family?  A note: this can be challenging with diaspora stories in the real world and people being disconnected (forcibly or otherwise) from their heritage (in which case, those are definitely stories that outsiders should not tell).  So let’s look at fantasy.  Even the most original writer in the world bases their world building off existing things in the real world.  So what cultures are you basing your races off of?  If you have a dark skinned character in your fantasy story, what are the real world inspirations and equivalents that you drew from, and how do you acknowledge that in a respectful, non-stereotyped way?

(Gonna quickly digress here and say that there are already so many stories about characters of colour disconnected from their heritage because ‘They didn’t grow up around other people from that culture’ or ‘They moved somewhere else and grew up in that dominant culture’ or ‘It just wasn’t important to them growing up’ and so on.  These are valid stories, and important to many people!  But when told by (usually) white creators, they’re also used, intentionally or not, as a sort of cop-out to avoid having to research or think about the character’s ethnicity and how that influences who they are.  So another point of advice: avoid always situating characters outside of their heritage.  Once or twice explored with enough nuance and it can be an interesting narrative, all the time and it starts being a problem)

Another thing I want to clarify at this point is that it’s a contentious issue about whether creators should tell stories that aren’t theirs, and different people will have different opinions.  For me personally, I definitely don’t think it’s inherently bad for creators to have diverse characters in their work, and no creator can live every experience there is.  That being said, there are caveats for how such characters are handled.  For me personally, I follow a few rules of thumb which are:

Is this story one that is appropriate for this creator to tell?  Some experiences are unique and lived with a meaningful or complex history and context behind them and the people to whom those experiences belong do not want outsiders to tell those stories.

To what extent is the creator telling this story?  Is it something mentioned as part of the narrative but not significantly explored or developed upon?  Does it form a core part of the story or character?  There are some stories that translate across cultures and it’s (tentatively) ok to explore more in depth, like immigration or intergenerational differences.  There are some stories that don’t, and shouldn’t be explored in detail (or even at all) by people outside those cultures.

How is the creator approaching this story and the people who live it?  To what extent have they done their research?  What discussions have they had with sensitivity consultants/readers?  What kind of respect are they bringing to their work?  Do they default to stereotypes and folk knowledge when they reach the limits of their research?  How do they respond to feedback or criticism when audiences point things that they will inevitably get wrong?

Going back to the “race-less” point, I think that creators need to be careful that they’re (respectfully) portraying characters of colour as obvious persons of colour.  With a very definite ‘no’ on stereotyping, of course, so that’s where the research comes in (which should comprise of more than a ten minute Google search).  If your setting is in the real world, what is the background your character comes from and how might that influence the way they act or talk or see the world?  If your setting is in a fantasy world, same question!  Obviously, avoid depicting things which are closed/exclusive to that culture (such as religious beliefs, practices, etc) and again, avoid stereotyping (which I cannot stress enough), but think about how characters might live their lives and experience the world differently based on the culture or the background they come from.

As an example of a POC character written/played well by a white person, I personally like Jackson Wei and Cindy Wong from Dimension 20’s The Unsleeping City, an urban fantasy D&D campaign.  Jackson and Cindy are NPCs played by the DM, Brennan Lee Mulligan, who did a good job acknowledging their ethnicity without resorting to stereotypes and while giving them their own unique characters and personalities.  The first time he acted as Cindy, I leapt up from my chair because she was exactly like so many old Chinese aunties and grandmothers I’ve met.  The way Jackson and Cindy speak and act and think is very Chinese (without being stereotyped), but at the same time, there’s more to their characters than being Chinese, they have unique and important roles in the story that have nothing to do with their ethnicity.  So it’s obvious that they’re people of colour, that they’re Chinese, but at the same time, the DM isn’t overstepping and trying to tell stories that aren’t his to tell.  All while not having the characters face any racism, as so many “post-racialized” settings aim for, because there are quite enough stories about that!

There a couple factors that contribute to the positive example I gave above.  The DM is particularly conscientious about representation and doing his research (not to say that he never messes up, but he puts in a lot more effort than the average creator), and the show also works with a lot of sensitivity consultants.  Which takes me to the next point - the best way to portray characters of colour in your story is to interact with people from that community.  Make some new friends, reach out to people!  Consume media by creators of colour!  In my experience so far, the most authentic Chinese characters have almost universally been created/written/played by Chinese creators.  Read books, listen to podcasts, watch shows created by people of colour.  Apart from supporting marginalized creators, you also start to pick up how people from that culture or heritage see themselves and the world, what kind of stories they have to tell, and just as importantly, what kind of stories they want being told or shared.  In other words, the best way to portray an authentic character of colour that is more than just the colour of their skin is to learn from actual people of colour (without, of course, treating them just as a resource and, of course, with proper credit and acknowledgement).

Most importantly, this isn’t easy, and you will absolutely make mistakes.  I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you will mess up.  No matter how well researched you are, how much respect you have for other cultures, how earnestly you want to do this right, you will at some point do something that makes your POC audience uncomfortable or even offends them.  Then, your responsibility comes with your response.  Yes, you’ve done something wrong.  How do you respond to the people who are hurt or disappointed?  Do you ignore them, or double down on your words, or try to defend yourself?  Just as importantly, what are you planning to do about it in the future?  If you have a second chance, what are you going to do differently?  You will make mistakes at some point.  So what are you going to do about them?  That, I think, is an even more important question than “How can I do this right?”  You may or may not portray something accurately, but when you get something wrong, how are you going to respond?

Essentially, it all comes down to your responsibility as a creator.  As a creator, you have a responsibility to do your due diligence in research, to remain respectful to your work and to your audience, and to be careful and conscientious about how you choose to create things.  It’s not about getting things absolutely perfect or being the most socially conscious creator out there, it’s about recognizing your responsibilities as a creator with a platform, no matter how big or small, and taking responsibility for your work. 

In summary:

Research, research, research

Avoid the obvious no-no’s (stereotypes, tokenization, fetishization, straight up stealing from other cultures, etc) and think critically about what creative choices you’re making and why

Do what you’re doing now, and reach out to people (who have put themselves out there as a resource).  There are tons of resources out there by people of colour, reach out when you’re not sure about something or would like some advice!

Responsibility, responsibility, responsibility

Fashion is one of my favourite worldbuilding components and choosing which way I want characters to look, is one part of research that is more fun than work. The use of different styles give each culture a defined feel and could act as a symbol of all kinds of lands in your WIP. Since it is your WIP, you can play with different elements of the gowns and pay fast and loose with the styles.

Well, I decided to expand one of the most popular posts I have done on here. Here I have explored more Gowns of history, some interesting styles to consider for your WIP. You can find part 1 here

Sari

The Sari is the traditional dress of the women of India. The sari is an unstitched drape of cloth wrapped around the waist and over one shoulder. The sari as an entire collection consisted of:

Choli: This the blouse part of the sari. It was usually cut to fit the body close, baring the middrift with a low neck and shortened sleeves.

Lehnga or langa, or Ghagra or gagra, Chaniya, Pavadai and Lacha: The Lehnga is a form of full ankle-length skirt worn by women in India. The skirt is usually long and thickly embroidered and decorated. Though it has become outdated today, it remains one of the most recognisable garments in the world. It was worn, secured at the waist to leave the lower back and midriff bare. Lehenga are usually embroidered with certain patterns which dictated locality in some regions of India.

Dupatta: The dupatta is a long scarf-like drape of fabric, worn like a shawl.

Stola

The stola was the traditional garment of Roman women. The stola, usually made of wool but sometimes of linen, was worn as a symbol of matronly behaviour and as a symbol of a good Roman woman. (women had worn togas before but it had become associated with prostitution so they stopped). The stola was usually made of linen or wool or even silk depending on the wearer. The stola was worn over a shorter tunic and was often sleeveless though by the Byzantine era, the women began adopting longer sleeves.

Tunic

The tunic is perhaps the most recoccurring women’s garment in history. The tunic was rather like a long t-shirt, worn either sleeveless, with long sleeves or short sleeved. Tunics could reach the ground or fell to the knee. Tunics were worn in ancient times straight up to modern times.

Kimono

The kimono is the traditional dress of Japan. The kimono is typically a T-shaped, with long squarish sleeves, at the front of the wearer (the left side wrapped over the right side unless the wearer is dead) The kimono is a layered garment worn with a slew of accessories such as the obi (the decorative belt worn to keep the kimono closed). The kimono is a complicated garment with each piece having its own special term: Dōura ( the upper lining of a kimono), Hakkake ( the lower lining of a kimono), Eri (the collar), fuki (the hem), Furi (the hang of the sleeve) Maemigoro ( the front panels), Miyatsukuchi (the opening of the sleeve), Okumi (the overlapping front panel), Sode (sleeve), Sodeguchi (opening of the sleeve), Susomawashi (lower lining) Tamoto (pouch in the sleeve), Tomoeri (over-collar), Uraeri (the inner collar), Ushiromigoro (the back panels).

Dashiki

The dashiki or Java is a popular garment in Africa and some parts of Indonesia. The dashiki is rather like a large t-shirt, loose-fitted and pulled over the head. The dashiki could be as plain or as decorated as the wearer pleases, meaning it was worn casually and formally.

Kaftan

The kaftan was and remains a popular garment worn by many cultures spanning Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Asia. The kaftan was often long-sleeved, made of linen, silk or cotton and worn with sashes. The kaftan were often status symbols sometimes associated with the upper class and royalty.

Deel

The deel is the traditional dress of the nomadic Mongolian and Asian tribes. The deel is like long coat, fastened at the front with clasps or pavings to pull each side over the wearer’s body. The fastenings are commonly placed at the shoulder, armpit and neckline. The deel would be fastened with a sash.

Hanfu

The Hanfu was the traditional style of the Han dynasty of China. The main style of the Hanfu style of dressing consisted of a long robe or shirt as well as a traditionally pleated skirt. The Hanfu consisted of many pieces l again each with their own terminology. Yi (the open collar garment), Ru (Open collar shirt), Shan (open collar shirt or jacket worn over the yi), Qun/chang (the skirt), Ku (loose trousers).

Peplos

I’m writing this because a lot of it is inaccurate, and I want people to have accurate information available to them when learning about other cultures. I know that this is primarily intended for those who are creating their own cultures and are looking for inspiration, but the information you present here is about real people and real cultures. Because of that, accuracy is important, and a lack of it is disrespectful. The lack of research and thought put into this is appalling on every conceivable front, and I cannot sit idly by as it continues to circulate.

A quick note on organization: I am following the organization laid out in the post I am responding to. This is not the organization I would have chosen were I to write this independently, as it often separates related points and garments. Due to this, I will often circle back to garments, regions, or previous points I make earlier in this post.

Sari

(NB: I will be using the spelling saree, as that is the romanization I come across most often in my sources.) 

The sari, also commonly spelled saree, is, as you have said, a traditional garment for the women of India. In addition, you are right that the saree is an unstitched length of cloth that is wrapped around the waist and draped over one shoulder. However, that is where your accuracy ends.

First, and most egregiously, the pictures you’ve used are pictures of lehenga cholis. A simple google search would reveal that they are not sarees. These are, in fact, entirely separate garments. They are not the same thing. I have no idea how you came across these pictures labeled as “sarees,” and I have no idea how no one thus far has corrected your error.  Your mix-up here speaks to an appalling lack of basic research, the kind that would lead someone to confuse a jacket and a scarf. 

Second, you call the lehenga and the saree “outdated,” which is patently untrue. Both sarees and lehenga cholis, which hundreds of thousands of people wear on a daily basis, are items of clothing as common in India as shirts and pants are in Western Europe. It’s disrespectful and, moreover, it’s dishonest that you’d present this so authoritatively on a public forum.

With that, I do want to provide some (factual, sourced) information on (some of) Indian women’s traditional clothing.

Instead of whispered, consider:

murmured

mumbled

muttered

breathed

sighed

hissed

mouthed

uttered

intoned

susurrated

purred

said in an undertone

gasped

hinted

said low

said into someone’s ear

said softly

said under one’s breath

said in hushed tones

As mentioned in previous posts: These are not synonyms for whispered. You can’t use them interchangeably. Let’s go through them.

“Well,” she whispered, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is speaking in a voice so low it’s become words made of breath, probably because she doesn’t want to be heard.

“Well,” she murmured, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is saying this very quietly, but above a whisper. She may be talking to herself.

“Well,” she mumbled, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is speaking under her breath in low enough tones that her words may sound unclear or slurred. Also very possibly talking to herself.

“Well,” she muttered, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is speaking lowly, but more clearly than a mumble. She sounds angry, irritated, or dully frustrated.

“Well,” she breathed, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

Breathing words may mean relief, exasperation, or exhaustion, and sound half like a sigh. Oh, look—

“Well,” she sighed, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is almost certainly not happy. She’s speaking in a tired, heavy breath.

“Well,” she hissed, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character’s words are coming out in low, very sharp breaths. She sounds angry, irritated, or maybe just in an intense moment.

“Well,” she mouthed, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is using the barest hint of her voice, if any at all. Her lips are silently forming the syllables.

“Well,” she uttered, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

Using uttered in this particular type of descriptive sense actually just sounds awkward. That said, ‘utter’ sounds like a word that implies speech in low yet strong and loud tones, well-enunciated, like someone preaching.

“Well,” she intoned, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The tone of her voice is dull and flat, with little variance in pitch. She is saying this without much emotion (intentionally or not).

Fuck “susurrated”.

“Well,” she purred, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The manner she’s speaking in is silky, smooth, and particularly pleased; quite possibly smug. In this particular example, this implies she probably does have a choice about [whatever it is] and is being facetious.

“Well,” she said in an undertone, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

This is bad, because an undertone is something that needs describing. That’s like saying “her dress was a color”.

“Well,” she gasped, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is speaking in a sharp intake of breath, probably brought on by surprise or shock. She could also be short of breath, being strangled or something.

“Well,” she hinted, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character has particular (duh) hint-hint tones in her voice as she speaks to someone. One can just imagine her leaning over closer to their ear.

“Well,” she said low, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

Her voice has dropped below normal pitch, but is above a whisper. There’s a certain amount of dullness in the tone, probably.

“Well,” she said, into his ear, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

This implies nothing about the actual voice, just that she’s literally speaking right into his ear (perhaps at normal volume, which would be painful). It doesn’t, on its own, carry any connotations of tone or emotion.

“Well,” she said softly, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

I have a personal beef with the word “softly” on account of writers in a certain area of a certain MMO that use that word for fucking everything; speech, movement, touch, footsteps, because it helps to passively describe their character as delicate and pretty or something.

It’s a personal beef. There’s nothing really wrong with the word. Moving on.

Saying something softly implies not only a lowered pitch but a certain gentleness (or at least lack of weight) in tone.

“Well,” she said under her breath, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

This is very like muttered, murmured, etc — it sounds (dur) breathier, and is more likely to imply a person talking to themselves.

“Well,” she said in hushed tones, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

Now you’re getting closer to an equal term for “whispered”; hushed tones could mean that, or half-whispered. It does imply a certain amount of whisperiness or breathiness. It also implies a deliberate attempt to be quiet.

“Well,” she insinuated, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

Like with ‘uttered’, this feels grammatically weird in that it’s usually a thing a person describes another person as doing (“Greg didn’t say it, but he insinuated it!”), but whatever. It’s similar to hinting; it means you’re trying to imply or subtly convey something, but has nothing to do with actual whispers.

“use the precise word, not the word that kinda sorta fits or ‘sounds more impressive’ ”

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Have YOU ever wanted to create a social media platform that will GROW YOUR FOLLOWING? All you need is this ONE SECRET. MARKETING EXPERTS HATE HER.

Except it’s not really a secret it’s just something that people instinctually know, they just don’t quite understand what it is, so it can’t be utilized effectively. I could break it down into quippy million dollar advice but frankly that’s boring and I hate the old white men who do that. So bear with me.

The gist comes down to developing a parasocial relationship with your following that allows your audience to engage with you in a way that is meaningful to them, but doesn’t tax you emotionally. This hacks the inherent impoliteness of social media platforms and... It feels a little scummy when you do it. All marketing does, really. You are, in essence, tricking people into thinking you care about them—but at the same time, you’re not, because somewhere deep inside most people realize that a parasocial only goes one way. So eschew morality for a moment. We’re going full capitalist baby. Rather than giving you rinse and repeat examples, I’ll try to provide core principles that you can build your following off of.

1) Questions should allow your following to talk about your pitch...while talking about themselves. Rather than saying “Who is your favorite character from X book I’ve written”, try “X character from book I’ve written is like this—who are characters from your favorite books who would love or hate X?” This not only includes an audience who may not have read your book, but allows that audience to engage in a way that is meaningful to them.

2) Response is seen as self-actualization no matter how minimal the response. I see it all the time on TikTok—creators I follow will usually just reply with a string of emojis but it still feels good! They noticed I exist! To take it to the next level—for comments you really enjoy, you can type out a full response and spark another conversation!

3) this could be 2.5 but stands on its own as a principle. Response is important, but replying to everyone could undermine you. It’s the ‘if everyone is special no one is’ idea. Choose the best or the most recent comments depending on how large your following is. Members of your following will notice this—and they will try to work harder to gain your favor and attention. This may take the form of higher user engagement or it may take the form of sales, the latter being optimal in this case.

4) Social Media marketing is not about you. Yes it’s promoting your product, but in the sense of what I’m suggesting vis a vis parasocial relationships, your focus should be on the audience you’re cultivating. Make sure that the type of content you’re engaging with will tie in a new potential audience as well as foster a sense of community between you and your following. If you write romance and reblog stuff about the large hadron collider, you might be narrowing your audience instead of expanding it.

A common criticism I’ve received in this methodology is that this promotes quantity of audience over quality. However, if you assume that if 5% of your potential audience will become fans or 1% consumers, then you have to play the numbers game. The more people you reach, the more people you’re likely to find who really connect with your work.

I’ve had a rough morning and I’m riled up so here’s my two cents. Repeat: my two cents. I do not claim to speak for or represent the beliefs of everyone with a disability.

INCLUDE CHARACTERS WITH DISABILITIES 

[Can’t believe I’m still saying this but here we are] 

No, not “disabled characters”, put your character before their disability but include it nonetheless. People with disabilities exist in real life, out in the world, living and breathing and going about their days in the same spaces as able-bodied people. No their disability does not have to further the plot because that’s not how life works. If you want realism, include characters with disabilities. We’re all around you. I guarantee you know several people with disabilities even if you don’t think of them that way.

“But a disabled person can’t be a soldier/mercenary/other badass fighty character which is apparently all I include in my story!”

A) Yes they can. If you’re only aware of physical disabilities that completely limit a person’s mobility, you’re not aware of the diversity of disabilities or the mobility aid options and it’s time to do some research. Peg leg, bionic eyes, arm made of gears and pneumatics-based imitation tendons for each individual finger, magic potions or holistic treatments for chronic pain management, mental disabilities, someone who has a disability but is in remission. Get. Creative. These people exist and function in the same spaces as your perfectly able-bodied soldiers/mercenaries/various badasses.

B) Let’s say they can’t. Let’s say, for whatever reason, your badasses must only be completely physically and mentally abled. Do you not have medics? Blacksmiths? Ammunition and weapons experts/providers? Pilots? Family members back home that your badasses fight for and return to once a month? What about the bar/tavern/club/restaurant/dining tent your badasses regularly visit - are there no servers or cooks or bartenders that they talk to? Hell, a prostitute with a missing arm or severe ADHD. Are you really telling me you don’t think it’d be fun, and beyond handy, to have a magic healer who happens to be paralyzed from the waist down in your crew who’s constantly cracking jokes and shutting down shitty behaviour? Sure they may not fight because your fighters are only perfectly abled, but damn are they good at the fix-up after.

“But I don’t want to write a sob story”

Yikes. Well, good news, you don’t have to. People with disabilities can be  ridiculous and funny and fun in general and it doesn’t always revolve around their condition. However, they will make jokes about their condition and, given the right people, can be joked with about it. “The right people” varies person to person, but I find for the most part it’s close friends and family members who act as strong supports and will also joke about things outside of the person’s disability. For this, you may want to talk to real life people with disabilities. Seriously, we’re everywhere. If you built rapport, many of us would be happy to tell you if a joke/situation is offensive even within the context of goofing around with a friend. Hell, some of us (ex. me) would be willing to answer questions from a total stranger if it’s in the name of providing education and support on writing a character with a disability. 

[in which my best friend is a gift and figured out reassuring me I wasn’t a burden wasn’t working so she settled on calling me her favourite burden]

“But I don’t always want to be talking about their disability”

You. Don’t Have. To. It’s almost like, with all character traits/quirks/identifiers, it happens occasionally and within context.

____

She bowed her head low and bent her elbows at funny angles, tying her hair up quickly so she didn’t have to hold her arms up for long.

“Bad shoulder day?”

“Yeah, kept me up all night.” She dropped her hands, straightened up, and stretched her neck, rolling her head side to side. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

____

Washing bitter pills down with even more bitter coffee, he went over his tasks for the day. Dry cleaning, groceries, bank, assassination. Easy enough.

____

“They can’t take the stairs. We’re leaving them behind.”

“Or, you inconsiderate rat bastard, we could find an alternate route. You’re not getting through security without them. They’re coming.”

TL;DR, it’s not hard to throw in the realities of living with a disability every few chapters, or whenever relevant.

Lastly, the topic of using the word(s) “disabled/disability” and naming a diagnosis.

This, for me, isn’t really a big thing. I can understand how it is for some people, and I’m a fan of it but I don’t consider it a necessity. Some people want to see the word ‘disability’ used in order to take away its stigma. Some people want to see diagnoses named for the sake of completely being able to purely relate to a character. I understand that. I’m not bashing that. This is just my opinion. Personally, I don’t see the need, especially in fantasy settings or scifi or general other-world where conditions may not have the same names or treatments as they do in real life. If you make it clear that your character has a disability, show the symptoms and the ways in which they cope/manage/adjust to carry on with their lives, show their ups and downs and condition management, that’s enough for me.

This might be the area that you upset and offend some people. Someone might get mad that you used the word ‘disabled’, some might get mad that you didn’t. Some might get upset that you ‘made up’ your own condition, some might get upset that you named a diagnosis and didn’t portray it in a way they felt was accurate. Unfortunately, that’s the reality and your choice to make which group you want to potentially upset. Do your research, do your best to be sensitive, make an informed decision. Ultimately, I don’t think I’m alone in saying I’d rather see characters with unnamed disabilities portrayed in a positive way than not portrayed at all.