Social Justice
Analysis
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn is an urban fantasy story about a young Black woman infiltrating an order of all white mages, fighting demons, and uncovering her own heritage. I just finished reading it, and to the surprise of all, I am impressed. Not with everything, … read more »
Commentary
Romance is one of the most scorned genres of fiction. Straight romances are loaded with cultural baggage regarding gender, so many of these stories are attacked on one side by misogynists and on the other by feminists. The fans who write and love these romances, … read more »
Analysis
Heading up to the release of War of the Spark: Ravnica, expectations from Magic: The Gathering (MTG) players ran high. Ravnica and its sequel, Forsaken, were touted as MTG’s version of Infinity War and Endgame, a culmination of the years-long Gatewatch saga and the epic … read more »
Storytelling
Discrimination against Muslims, especially Arab Muslims, is often attributed to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. However, the truth is that Islamophobia goes back centuries before that. From 18th-century oil paintings of scantily clad harem women to modern TV dramas, fiction has a long … read more »
Q&A
I have a character who recently got blinded and now has to deal with what that means. How can I show him struggling and adapting to his new life without caricaturing or stereotyping the experiences of blind people and blindness in general? In addition, my … read more »
Analysis
You might be tired of dark stories, I might be tired of dark stories, but, nonetheless, the dark stories just keep coming. Since that’s apparently the state of things, we might as well try to get dark stories right. Oversaturation aside, there isn’t anything inherently … read more »
Q&A
So, I want to write villains and want them to really play the part. But I read on this site that villains can still send harmful messages or be hurtful to the audience if you’re not careful. How can I make my villains really evil … read more »
Q&A
How can I write a story about fighting racism? I want to write a character who’s faced prejudice and hatred from everyone around them and never found a place to live. How can the character learn to combat racism and bigotry and oppression in a … read more »
Q&A
Fay, I’ve read your article on addressing ableism in sanity systems, and I’ve been wondering how to write about horrible things that do cause radical alterations in people. I come from the land of the SCP Foundation Wiki and they have anomalies that hijack and … read more »
Analysis
There are lots of things that stories can get wrong, but few are as relevant to our lives as power and privilege. Whether we like it or not, power and privilege affect every aspect of our lives, from how much we’re paid to whether we … read more »
