The Writing Desk: How Much of YOU to Write

The last few years, there has been a lot of discussion about diversity and representation in media, particularly around how race and gender are written in movies, tv shows, and books. Because of this, a lot more people from marginalised communities are speaking up and having their voices heard. Not only are their criticisms and calls for change being listen to and acted on, they themselves are becoming a larger and more visible demographic in those spheres. We love to see it.

So, how do you get in on it?

Number one, if you’re not a member of a historically silenced group: the best thing you can do is listen genuinely and honestly. Take the feedback you receive and act on it. Also, avoid writing about issues that those groups struggle with. For instance, if you are white, you can -and should!- write a racially diverse cast, but the story and those characters’s whole purpose, should not be ABOUT race. Write about love, greed, ambition, loss, friendship, etc- but not racial identity and struggle. That’s not an area you’re close enough to, and you need to step back and leave room for a more qualified person to speak their truth.

If you ARE from a historically silenced group, write your truth. You should also avoid writing about the struggles of people outside of what you have experience with. You don’t have to write about struggle, of course, you are more than your otherness and more than your trauma, but that well of identity is powerful, and your experiences and feelings could fill a void and be validating for someone else who has been waiting to see their story in print. If you don’t see the book you want to read on the shelf, write it. If you want to be a writer because you have a story to tell, don’t be scared and don’t hold back. Say it with your whole chest. The world needs your story.

So how much should you tell? If you’re not writing an autobiography, you likely don’t want to tell every detail of the story. And you’re right, not every little detail is necessary, in fact, a lot of it will just bog everything down.

So, how do you decide what to say?

Well, first of all, remember that a book follows certain guidelines. First and foremost is plot. Story comes before everything else. So, cut the funny lines that don’t add anything, or the quirky little coincidences. Real stories are meaty enough that you can streamline them without losing the complexity. one or two moments of irrelevant flavour here and there are fine

What about characters?

Real people are so complex and multifaceted that it’s overwhelming to think about what virtues and vices to give fictional ones to bring them to life. Recently, I was asked to list my hobbies, and I almost cried. Now, I’m a real person- I have decades of life to fill up, but a fictional character only has so many pages, most of which are dictated by the plot. You need the reader to understand who they are at their core very quickly for the events of the story to feel real.

So pick one trait to be your main quality, the one that guides all of the mundane decisions. After that, three positive or neutral traits which inform the small decisions. Lastly, two flaws which- and this is the important part- decide the major choices. That sounds backwards, I know, but think about it.

Let’s say your character is Ambitious, first. She might also be healthy, honest, and friendly- she’s a real go-getter. But she also can be a bit petty and maybe has a temper.

She goes about her day like champ, mowing down her routine like it’s nothing. Her coworkers want to go to a new pizza place for lunch. She’s trying to eat lighter because it makes her feel better, and she says so, so she checks to see if the place had lighter options. They do, so everyone goes out. She even decides to invite the new girl who everyone is awkward around, the more the merrier. However, at lunch, the new girl mentions that she doesn’t see the point in going to a pizza place just to order a salad. Your character gets irritated and considers not invite the girl out again, or snubbing her altogether.

Your mundane choices, like whether or not to do everyday tasks, those are low stakes, there’s no dilemma, so your higher angels are in control without even thinking about it. For small choices, we can usually rely on our other traits to take care of that. But when we really struggle to do the right thing, it’s because our worst traits are in direct conflict with what we know the right thing is. If it wasn’t, the choice wouldn’t be be difficult. This is what creates conflict, which is the driving force behind plot.

I know it’s difficult to trim your glorious multifaceted complexity down to what feels like a paper doll, but it makes the story much more crisp and clear. If the story doesn’t have to do with gaming, you don’t need to mention your favourite video games. Unless fashion is important to the plot, you don’t need to describe what you are wearing. You can be fit into the story without losing your authenticity.

It takes some trial and error to get the balance right, but try to highlight what is relevant to the plot and subplots, and sprinkle the rest in very conservatively, for flavour.