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Avoiding Insensitivity in Characters or Story

3/24/2021

8 Comments

 
Hello friends, today I share a post that author John Howell created for Story Empire, a blog site for writers. John posed several interesting questions and prompted considerable conversation among writer communities. I thought you might appreciate it as well, thus the reason I bring it to your attention.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and hope you have a wonderful day.

MARCH 24, 2021 / JOHN W. HOWELL 

Hi SEers, John here with you again. Today I want to discuss authorship in light of the changing environment within our social framework. What do I mean by that statement? Well, to put it bluntly, I think it is time to take a look at how we write characters and stories in an atmosphere of ever-increasing sensitivity to the possibility of offending individuals and groups of people. Put another way, maybe it is time to seriously ponder the question, “Am I knowingly or unknowingly writing characters or a story which casts aspersions on anyone relative to their race, nationality, gender, sexual preference, religion, disabilities, or age?”
​

Now you may wonder why I suggest asking the question that I posed. I’m sure none of us would knowingly write any situation that in our heart knew discriminated against others. The key to the question is we may write something that we didn’t think would discriminate but did that exactly. How could this be? Think of how the concept of individual rights has changed over the years. These changes have come about through education and evolving acceptance within social norms.

Click this link to read more   
8 Comments
John Howell link
3/25/2021 07:35:13

Thank you so much for sharing the Story Empire post, Gwen. This is a topic that we all will need to understand and explore further. As our social situation changes, our writing needs to be kept current. 😁

Reply
John Howell link
3/25/2021 07:38:04

I forgot to mention the beautiful graphic with all my books pictured.Thank you for that as well. 😁

Reply
Gwen M Plano
3/25/2021 17:54:34

Ah, thanks. I'm glad you liked them. 😊

Gwen M Plano
3/25/2021 17:54:02

You're most welcome, John. It was a great post. 😊

Reply
Jan Sikes
3/25/2021 12:23:06

John touched on a relevant subject in this post. Thank you for sharing, Gwen.

Reply
John Howell link
3/25/2021 15:24:42

Thank you for visiting and the comment, Jan

Reply
Gwen M Plano
3/25/2021 17:55:12

Absolutely. I so agree, Jan. Thank you for stopping by. 💗

Reply
Vashti QUiroz-Vega link
4/1/2021 14:38:06

Thanks for sharing this fabulous post, Gwen. :D xo

Reply



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Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ―Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning


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