In this episode of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—bring our season on Race and Ethnicity to an end by delving into some lingering some questions.

What we talked about

• If and how to use racial slurs in our writing
• When and how to acknowledge our characters’ racial history
• Whether authors are allowed to write POV characters belonging to a different community
• Co-writing with BIPOC authors as a white author
• The representation of Asian masculinity in Western media
• Being accused of being too political when including a diverse cast in our books
• How to make your cast more diverse when your characters aren’t human

(Re)sources mentioned on the show

• The Marvel Cinematic Universe: https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline
• The Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park in Macon: https://www.nps.gov/ocmu/index.htm
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9376612
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3748528
• Crazy Rich Asians: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3104988
• Nora Phoenix’s White House Men series: https://noraphoenix.com/my-books/
• Finding Nemo: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266543
• Mariëlle’s 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner: https://mswordsmith.nl/journal

This week’s episode page can be found here: https://representationmatters.art/2022/04/07/s2e12

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