ADDICT WITH A PEN | A WRITER'S GUIDE

• Diversity •

Diversity!! It's important, and it should be a thing in all kinds of media/real life stuff. Books, TV shows, movies, comics, news outlets, and etc.

I am a brown girl, and I never got any sort of any representation back then in movies or books that made me feel included and less alone. Back then, when there were some brown people on TV, they were usually shown as terrorists or just characters that didn't contribute to the story a whole lot. Plus, my school never really talked about diversity.....like at all, until recently when I finally entered high school. So, people like me weren't represented for the most part when I was young.

Now as the world starts to evolve and grow, most things like books and movies are becoming more diverse. Not to mention, I start to become more aware of how important it is to let your stories have some sort of diversity because nowadays, I feel more included and represented. You need to have your stories have a set of characters or have the setting that is very diverse. Diversity helps the story represent all kinds of people, and it's very good to have that.

Now before you go and write a story with a diverse set of characters, I have one important tip on how to make this work, which is to avoid stereotypes. Nothing irks me more than stereotypes because for the most part, they're wrong and they are a bit old. Sure, I'd watch Mean Girls or Clueless any goddamn day. I'm not just talking about high school stereotypes like the Douche Jock or the Emo Nerd Girl. I just don't like it when there are books or movies that include stereotypes that are a little offensive. You know what I'm talking about.

Guys, it ain't that hard to represent people without ending up stereotyping them. Know that almost every single person is different and special in their own way and that a stereotype doesn't really define someone. So, just have diverse characters, but don't cave into the stereotype and just make them your own instead.

So yeah! That's my tip on how to make your book diverse. Include all kinds of people, but don't stereotype. Diversity is really important when it comes to writing and all other things because not only does it help with good representation, it also helps with some people out there in the world feel less alone and more included.