Write the character as a person, not a diagnosis. We’re complicated, interesting, and main characters in our own right.

Here are three warning signs you can use to determine if you should “avoid that Black character.”

Is your disabled character a fully realized person or simply a prop?

There's more to your nonbinary characters than pronouns and coming out stories. Read tips on how to write well-rounded nonbinary characters.

Let’s talk about some common horror cliches, how they are rooted in bigotry, and some tips on how to not perpetuate them.

A hijab is more than just a piece of cloth. Components of religion, culture, and agency must be considered when writing this character.

Here you are, writing the death scene for one of your marginalized characters. Have you considered the impact of this choice?

Do me a favor. Open up your manuscript and search for the word "dark." What do you notice? Are you using it literally as a physical descriptor? Figuratively, as a way to describe a mood or tone? Perhaps both? Are you noticing any trends, patterns, or maybe some problems with how you're using the word?

One of the best ways to effectively avoid stereotypes is being able to recognize them. Here are four documentaries that will help educate you on racial stereotypes that have been prevalent and pervasive in American media.

If you're wrestling with the question regarding race, sexuality, or any other identity keep these things in mind.

Authentic character voice can really propel your story from good to great but things can get complicated if your character has an accent or would speak in dialect, especially if you're writing something outside of what you're familiar with. You want your character's voice to be realistic but you don't want to offend anyone by getting it wrong either. So how do you write accents and dialect that won't make your readers cringe?

I conducted a poll on twitter (follow me!) to try to understand what authors are the most concerned about when they're writing characters outside of their own identities. More than half of the voters said "overall authenticity" concerned them the most so I want to address what authenticity is and what steps you can take to make sure your characters are authentic to your readers.

You have a character of color, a homosexual, and/or a gender fluid character in your story, is that enough? Well, no, and I suspect you know that or you wouldn't be on this blog. Since you've taken the step to be more inclusive in your writing, you've probably tried your best to avoid anything overtly offensive but it's important to think about microaggressions in your writing, as well.

Note from Renee: This is a guest blog by my very good friend, social worker, and queer activist Nathaniel Gray. I invited him to write a post because it is important for Writing Diversely to be inclusive of all types of diversity, I am not LGBTQ+, and I believe giving fellow marginalized people voice. He was and still is my level headed, open-hearted, and empathetic teacher and advisor about LGBTQ+ matters. I hope you enjoy!

Writing a bigoted character needs to be done with special consideration for your marginalized readers. Here are some things to think about as you're planning and writing a bigot.

"The Magical Negro," a phrase made famous by Spike Lee and "The Noble Savage" are essentially side-kick characters included in a story to create the allusion of diversity, a token. There are some serious problems with this trope.

Creating characters that belong to a different racial group than you are can be down-right difficult. In response to that apprehension I often see authors avoid it, they take the easy way out and you don't describe them at all, but is that what's best?