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WWC Ask Rules (ASKS CURRENTLY CLOSED)

Do not ask…

• General writing questions.

As in writing q’s that have nothing to do with BIPOC or only deal tangentially with them.

• Questions that are very broad or vague.

For example “how do I write a Black character?“ or variations of this question. See the FAQ and our WWC General Topics Compilation

• Questions that ask for facts you can easily Google.

Need help using Google? Check out: Writing Research and Google Search Tips

• Questions that seek our permission or approval to write about a topic.

We call these rubber stamp questions. Asks designed to solicit simple approval are time consuming and difficult to answer.

Further explanation on rubber stamp asks, what they are, and how to fix them:

No Longer Accepting Rubber Stamp Questions

• Questions that ask us for resources.

“Do you have resources for–” STOP! We will not do your research for you.

Please don’t use WWC to point you towards references. We are not here to be your Google. Specific questions that arise within your research is one thing, asking us to spoon-feed you where to do your research is another thing entirely.

- WWC Research Tags: Research | Writer Reference
- How to research your racially/ethnically diverse characters - guide
- WWC How to Research Compilation
- WWC Recommendations and Resources

• Questions using “PoC” as a replacement for an applicable race.

Person/Woman/Man of Color is not a fancy way to say Black people; It’s an umbrella term for a coalition including a lot of different races/ethnicities. If your question isn’t specific it’s 1) difficult to answer and 2) generates a general and not as helpful response

• Questions that indicate you have not browsed WWC thoroughly if at all.

If you start off by saying “sorry if this has been asked before” or “this may already be answered but-” You’re telling us you haven’t checked. These Q’s are grounds for automatic deletion.

• Questions that ignore our ask submission guidelines.

- Use “ask” for questions that are 2 parts. If a question is longer than 2 parts, use submit.
- We also request that you don’t send writing questions via fanmail.

• Questions that have nothing to do with writing.

We are a writing advice blog. We consider questions seeking our perspective on current events or controversies to be off topic. We will only answer these sort of questions at our own leisure (or if we find them helpful for others to answer).

Banned questions (due to excessive discussion or other reasons, explained within the links)

• questions about Muslim characters + magic. Here is why.
• questions about the Wendigo. Here is why.
• questions about Asian women (and Asian characters in general) with colored hair / colored streaks in their hair. Here is why
  
• questions that ask for a rubber stamp of approval. Explanation

Additional Guidelines

Submit your question properly

1. Use “ask” for questions that are 1-2 parts. 
2. If a question is longer than 2 parts, use submit. 
3. No fanmail writing Q’s (Fanmail for general commentary is fine)
4. Please read below the cut for instructions on how to be anonymous

Ask questions we haven’t covered at length

We will not answer Q’s that are too similar to ones we’ve already answered (Check the navigation and/or our multiple search functions very thoroughly). We will not often redirect you to the answer. This is not the same as having a follow-up question about an existing guide or discussion. Go ahead and ask. We’d be happy to clarify!

Provide All Relevant Details | We Are Not Mind Readers

• Please provide all racial demographics of all characters involved. Our responses will change depending on the race of the characters involved, and if we are not provided race, we will assume parts of the demographics (just to make the question answerable) which leads to further problems down the line
• Keep asks focused: Avoid providing a laundry list of multiple characters that you want rubber-stamped for correct characterization. Ask about a specific character or situation. You’ll get a more detailed answer on that specific character/situation that way.

Don’t expect an instant response to your question

Have patience with us!

• We receive hundreds of asks. It takes time. 
• Also, it’s impossible for us to answer every question we get.
• We will prioritize questions that are on fresh topics not covered extensively here before.

Please stop asking us to recommend blogs that are…

…like WWC except for disability, lgbtqa+ etc. We have answered this already. Check our recommendations page! 

Slur policy

Finally, we urge you not to send in questions with racial slurs that aren’t blocked out or denoted as “n word” “g word” etc. We may choose to delete uncensored slurs (and any other blatantly offensive Q’s) as to avoid triggering ourselves and/or others.

Frequently Asked Questions

• “What are ways to describe my character’s skin tone?”
• “What about hair?”
• “How do I introduce the race of my characters?”
• “How do I denote the race of my characters in a fantasy setting?”
• “How do I describe my Asian character’s eyes respectfully?”
• “I want my real-world Native American character to do/experience X.”
• “I’m afraid my character has harmful stereotypical traits.”
• “How do I write a ____________ character?”
• “Wouldn’t including PoC make my writing forced?”
• “It wouldn’t be historically accurate for my story to include PoC.”
• “What is Cultural Appropriation?”
• “What is tokenism and why is it harmful?”

See below for answers to our FAQ!

Keep reading

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Depicting Real World Religions Alongside Constructed Religions

Maya asked:

Hi WWC! Thank you so much for this blog, it’s an infinitely wonderful resource!

Do you have any suggestions for how I can balance representation of real religions with fantasy religions, or should I avoid including these together? Does the fact that certain things bleed over from our world into the fantasy world help legitimize the appearance of real world religions?

I feel like I can come up with respectful ways to integrate representation in ways that make sense for the worldbuilding. For instance, no Muslim characters would practice magic, and both Jewish and Muslim characters would conceive of magic in ways that fit their religion (rather than trying to adapt real religions to fit my worldbuilding).

I also have some ideas for how these religions came about that fit between handwave and analogous history (though I realize the Qur'an is unchangeable, so I’m guessing Islam would have come about in the same way as IRL). BTW—I’m referring to humans, not other species coded as Muslim or Jewish. I may explore the concept of jinns more (particularly as how Muslims perceive fantastical beings), but I definitely need to do a lot more research before I go down that road!

Finally, I saw a post somewhere (*but* it might have been someone else’s commentary) suggesting to integrate certain aspects of Judaism (e.g., skullcaps in sacred places/while praying, counting days from sundown instead of sunset) into fantasy religions (monotheistic ones, of course) to normalize these customs, but as a non-Jewish person I feel this could easily  veer into appropriation-territory. 

*One of the posts that I’m referring to in case you need a better reference of *my* reference: defining coding and islam-coded-fantasy

[This long ask was redacted to pull out the core questions asked]

“Both Jewish and Muslim characters would conceive of magic in ways that fit their religion (rather than trying to adapt real religions to fit my worldbuilding).”

Just a note that while having religion be part of magic is a legitimate way to write fantasy, I want to remind people that religious characters can also perform secular magic. Sometimes I feel like people forget about that particular worldbuilding option. (I feel this one personally because in my own books I chose to make magic secular so that my nonmagical heroine wouldn’t seem less close to God somehow than her wizard adoptive dad, who is an objectively shadier person.) I’m not saying either way is more or less correct or appropriate, just that they’re both options and I think sometimes people forget about the one I chose. But anyway moving on—

Your decision to make the water spirits not actual deities is a respectful decision given the various IRL monotheistic religions in your story, so, thank you for that choice. I can see why it gets messy though, since some people in-universe treat those powers as divine. I guess as long as your fantasy Jews aren’t being depicted as backwards and wrong and ignoring in-universe reality in favor of in-universe incorrect beliefs, then you’re fine…

“I saw a post somewhere (but it might have been someone else’s commentary) suggesting to integrate certain aspects of Judaism (e.g., skullcaps in sacred places/while praying, counting days from sundown instead of sunset) into fantasy religions (monotheistic ones, of course) to normalize these customs, but as a non-Jewish person I feel this could easily veer into appropriation-territory.”

That was probably us, as Meir and I both feel that way. What would make it appropriative is if these very Jewish IRL markers were used to represent something other than Judaism. It’s not appropriative to show Jewish or Jewish-coded characters wearing yarmulkes or marking one day a week for a special evening with two candles or anything else we do if it’s connected to Jewishness! To disconnect the markers of us from us is where appropriation starts to seep in.

–Shira

To bounce off what Shira said above, the source of the magic can be religious or secular–or put another way, it can be explicitly granted be a deity or through engagement with a specific religious practice, or it can be something that can be accessed with or without engaging with a certain set of beliefs or practices. It sounds like you’re proposing the second one: the magic is there for anyone to use, but the people in this specific religion engage with it through a framework of specific ideas and practices.

If you can transform into a “spirit” by engaging with this religion, and I can transform into a “spirit” through an analogous practice through the framework of Kabbalah, for example, and an atheist can transform through a course of secular technical study, then what makes yours a religion is the belief on your part that engaging in the process in your specific way, or choosing to engage in that process over other lifestyle choices, is in some way a spiritual good, not the mechanics of the transformation. If, on the other hand, humans can only access this transformative magic through the grace of the deities that religion worships, while practitioners of other religions lack the relationship with the only gods empowered to make that magic, that’s when I’d say you had crossed into doing more harm than good by seeking to include real-world religions.

Including a link below to a post you might have already seen that included the “religion in fantasy worldbuilding alignment chart.” It sounds like you’re in the center square, which is a fine place to be. The center top and bottom squares are where I typically have warned to leave real-world religions out of it.

More reading:

Jewish characters in a universe with author-created fictional pantheons

–Meir

@ceo-of-angst asked:

Okay so I’m writing a fantasy series. There’s two main kingdoms though there is a third but that one doesn’t have to do anything with this ask. Both of them are likely as big as a continent each so there are different climates everywhere, therefore there’s a lot of diversity even within one country. The issues mostly is between the two kingdoms nationality wise, as there’s a war.

The prince of one of the kingdoms kills his older brother to gain the throne. This is where the issue starts. They have a younger (half)sister who ends up leading a revolution bc of her brother’s bad rule (famine, war, dictatorship and incantation or sentence to fight to the death in war to anyone who doesn’t obbey the government etc), she’s white, she’s helped by my main cast who are all poc (one of them also from nobility) from the other kingdom and I don’t want to accidently make it a white savior

She’s not my main character though if anything we only see into her pov bc of a difference between kingdoms in book 2. Most of the pov is on my main cast so I don’t know how this could pay out.

Add diversity to the kingdom

There is a simple solution: don’t make one kingdom all-white or all-BIPOC. Add in diversity and mixed race. You seem to already be doing that, and it’s not an issue of race but rather tyranny. White saviorism is when only a white character can solve a problem for BIPOC and they’re seen as the hero. If it’s a team effort, where your protagonist is fallible but well-intentioned, you should be fine.
-Jaya

Questions to ask yourself

This critique got levied at Tamora Pierce’s Trickster series, and it’s a pretty valid critique of the books—every time you have a white person as a figurehead of an otherwise-diverse movement, you’re going to start getting into why this white person, and why then?

It’s especially salient if you have the person come into an already-established rebellion movement. Is her involvement the thing that gets the privilege necessary to make the movement valid? What about her makes her the ideal top person in the organization?

Why is she white?

My first question is: why is she white? Is it related to colorism and classism? If yes, then why are you automatically making the leading group white if there’s so much diversity and so many other groups can trend extremely pale?

Why are the kingdoms so big?

My second question is: why are the kingdoms so big? It’s actually frighteningly hard to run a continent-sized country. If you’re attempting to make these single groups so big simply for ease of worldbuilding, and for diversity’s sake, know that a country does not have to be large to contain a multitude of groups. You are allowed to have political rivalry in a small area and still maintain diversity within it.

How much privilege is she willing to give up?

My third question is: how much privilege is she willing to give up? Is she trying to take the throne for herself, or is she trying to destroy all of the structures that gave her status in the first place? Because that question will determine how willing the PoC around her are going to be. Why would they support a ruler if they’ve been subjugated by that family, with no real promise she’s going to be any different once she gets in power?

On the flipside, why would she be willing to give up any of her privilege in the name of removing her brother from the throne, and what stops her from going off the deep end once she has the ability to control others?

It’s likely doable to make this situation read as less of a white saviour, but in order to do that you’ll likely need to wask yourself a lot of hard questions about your motives and the character arc you want to have with her.

People may see a white savior, regardless

And you’ll also have to ask yourself if you’ll be comfortable with never really being able to avoid some people calling this a white saviour plot. Even if you do “everything right” and follow every bit of advice you can, there’s always going to be some people who aren’t too thrilled that the person saving everyone is white.

So examine your motives, really nail down what you’re trying to show with this, and come to terms with not making everyone happy no matter what you do.

~Mod Lesya

Anonymous asked:

Hello! Mixed Latin American nonbinary Jew here. I’m working on a, relatively light-hearted, isekai-style fantasy comic concept of an afro-latine Jewish lady who gets sent through a portal to a colorful scifi/fantasy land, inhabitated by various imaginary creatures sorta like in Alice in Wonderland. She gains magic powers and goes on adventures, working as a scientist researching the land’s magical energy. (some of the local creatures she befriends are entirely original species, and some are inspired by my local folklore, but otherwise I try to avoid culturally coding the creatures since they’re mostly nonhuman looking).

The story isn’t supposed to touch any heavy topics like antisemitism or racism, but I’ve read about the cultural problems in “"normie protagonist finds a new home in a funky fantasy world”“ stories, f.ex. how Harry Potter’s narrative basically implies that Muggleborns have to abandon their original cultures in order to successfully integrate into the very prejudiced but ”“cooler”“ Wizarding World.

My original goal was to break the mold that escapism fantasy usually revolves around white protagonists adventuring in heavily Western-inspired fantasy worlds, and poc-coded characters are usually nonhuman creatures or racial stereotypes. However the protagonist girl in my story comes from a loving, latine-jewish human family, and while she regularly visits them on Earth instead of just staying in the fantasy land 24/7, I’m afraid that making her story be about being happy adventuring in a separate imaginary land filled with nonhuman characters might turn into an ”“abandon your family and culture”“ narrative.

Are there any ways how I could avoid this? Maybe making the fantasy land’s worldbuilding and designs more Latin American or Jewish inspired and thus resonate more with her cultural background, or making it clear that the land is not ”“perfect”“ and she still loves her family?

One of the first things that stands out to me is that you haven’t set her up to need to abandon her culture in order to make a life in another place. She has the ability to go home and visit her family, but I also don’t see any reason why, if she lives primarily in the fantasy land, she couldn’t be portrayed as practicing Judaism actively in her new home. It’s true that Judaism isn’t solely defined by religious/cultural practices, but it’s also true that religious/cultural practices are one of the most recognizable and most uniting elements of Jewish identity.

I think it might help in this case to think about Jewish practices in terms of communal versus personal: that is, what are practices she would need to seek out a Jewish community for, and what are practices she can do independently?

Does she control when she is able to visit her family? If so, visiting for Jewish holidays so that she can be at a family meal or holiday services seems like a way to highlight that she is just as connected to her family as someone who moved to a different city might be. If she experiences/has experienced the death of a family member or partner, going home to be with a Jewish community for shiva or to say kaddish on a yahrzeit is another touch (for readers who may be unfamiliar, Jewish mourning practices are intensely communal and are intentional about bringing the mourner into an active support system and slowly reintroducing them to the world, and as such a mourner is likely to spend this time somewhere where they can access and be supported by a Jewish community).

As far as practices she can engage with on her own in the fantasy setting, it would be nice to see her observing Shabbat, either in a traditional way by refraining from adventuring and instead engaging in hospitality and prayer between dusk Friday and sundown Saturday, or in a less-halakhic way if she comes from a Reform or comparatively-assimilated background, by marking Friday sunset with candles, blessings, and a good meal, even if she is intending to continue her research through the next day. She would hardly be the first Jewish person to live in a place without an established Jewish community, and a festive meal can be shared just as happily with non-Jewish friends if they’re griffons and fauns as if they’re Christians and Muslims.

Here’s one idea that I think would be hugely meaningful as a way of establishing both that she intends to make her home long-term in Fantasy World and that she intends to carry Jewish traditions with her into her new life: hang a mezuzah.

Think about it: a mezuzah is the visual marker of a Jewish home, as much to the resident as to a guest. When she is home from her adventures, in her garden cottage or enchanted tower or wherever she returns to between adventures to record and categorize her research, simply showing a mezuzah in the background instantly makes the point both that she is intending to stay, and that this is a Jewish space. If as time goes on she adds other Judaica items to her space, it can add to the sense that her Jewishness is present and alive in this world, simply because she is present and alive in it.

If she doesn’t have a settled space or if you’re not planning on setting any scenes there, having Jewish visual markers on and around her can help, too. For low-hanging fruit, maybe she has a silver Jewish Star or chai necklace that catches the light now and then, but since you’re going for a light, fun vibe, maybe she’s packing her adventuring supplies in a bright-blue vinyl backpack emblazoned with “Temple Shaarei Tzedek Junior Youth Retreat 1998” (am I old? I’m pretty sure there are adults reading this who were in Junior Youth groups in 2003, but I’m willing to bet retreat swag hasn’t changed that much).

I do like the idea of including Latin American and Jewish elements in the worldbuilding, especially as an intentional way to combat the cultural dominance of Western European folklore over fantasy writing, but because your character is from and has access to our world, you have the beautiful opportunity to carry real-world markers of Jewishness with her as well.

-Meir

I adore Meir’s answer, but then, I’m the kind of person to whom “enchanted tower with a mezuzah” as an aesthetic is so near and dear to my heart that I wrote a whole fantasy series about it. Couple of random suggestions: one thing I really enjoy is exposing my gentile friends to Jewish food—I love watching the absolute shock of delirium hit someone’s face the first time they taste my charoseth. Imagine this little bowl of chopped apples and walnuts, looking vaguely dirty because they’re soaked in cinnamon-infused wine, so it’s basically dingy beige slop….so that first bite of sensuous, deep sweetness is a huge surprise. Pick your favorite equivalent and imagine the first time a centaur or a winged princess or whatever other fantasy character tries it at your MC’s behest! (Feeding brisket to dragons would make a great name for…something…)

I don’t think you’re likely to do this anyway but since these are public answers: “fantasy world fun, Jewish upbringing a chore” is a narrative I would not feel at home in or care to read. But that’s a rather predictable remark from me anyway ;)

And of course I support the “the secondary fantasy world is actually Jewish” solution too, having one of my own.

–Shira

At the beginning of the month, Writing With Color published A Beginner’s Guide to Academic Research.

Some of you might have questions or comments about academic research, researching for creative writing, or the guide itself. How did we do? Did we miss anything? We will be going over your questions in a Q&A post in the coming days.

Please enter your questions in the notes of this announcement post here!

Share this post with anyone who might be looking for help researching for a creative project or for school!

We’ll catch up with you soon.

- WWC Research Guide team

@geronimo-dilfton asked:

Hi!! So, I’m writing an alien race where the characters are based on chameleons (they’re called Clarians). Clarians look very human, aside from scattered scales, sometimes tails, and colorful skin that changes with emotion. I’m a bit worried that their race deriving from a lizard species could be anti-semitic. My worry is furthered because the main Clarian character, Christopher, has a position in the government (albeit, not by choice)- and the government he’s forced to be a part of is a fascist government that uses genocide to maintain power.

My thought was that I could keep Clarians as non-human and simply change the animal they’re based on, or I could scrap the non-human idea and simply make Clarian culture apply to anyone born on their home planet Clara.

I’m just frustrated because Clarians being able to change color is a big part of their culture, and I’m not sure what other creatures can change color like chameleons (aside from octopi)- it could very well be a magic thing, or I could just make characters colorful for the heck of it.

Is the fascist government itself lizard folk or just the one guy? If it’s the whole seat of power then yes, having fascist lizard people is going to be a bad look unless you have human Jewish characters in the same story or go out of your way to make the lizards look gentile somehow, which sounds like a lot of unnecessary work.

I’m in team “make the characters colorful Because You Said So” — lizard people are already fantastical and made up, so I think you have plenty of room to make them fascist color-changing capybara people or elk people or ptarmigans or something even though capys and elks and ptarmigans don’t change color in real life (well, I think ptarmigans might have regular feathers and snow feathers but I might be thinking of something else.) Because it’s already fantasy. Simple easy solution.

This isn’t as mandatory if the government is human and only the one employee is a lizard person, but why give yourself that extra work of proving you didn’t mean to trip a trope when you could just have a color changing ostrich.

–Shira