Exploring the important issue of writing 'the other'

[Andrew]

Hi All

In a few weeks time I am hoping to present a guest podcast to talk about the challenging issue of writing characters who are not from our own gender / ethnicity.

I think this is a critical issue for writers as it is for society as a whole, and I am hoping that we can all (me included!) learn from the debate. More news when I have it on this one.

A

[Kate]

Great idea Andrew. I write books where it makes sense for the characters to be international - and no sense for them to all be American like me - but my beta readers often dislike my attempts to use dialect or slang (which I look up on the internet!) It's not too bad when the characters are - say - all on a spaceship. That gives them common experiences and somewhat limits their topics of conversation - think Star Trek. But even there, I'd like believable backstories.