Improbable Press Blog — #OwnVoices
Writing Non-Binary Characters (a Very Personal View)
#OwnVoices Ali Coyle Dark Cheer: Cryptids Emerging Volume Blue Writing Non-Binary Characters
By Ali Coyle I love to meet nonbinary characters in fiction. I love nonbinary protagonists, nonbinary antagonists, and nonbinary side characters hanging around in the background, waiting for their fleeting chance to exist and prod the plot along while the main characters catch a break. What I love even more is nonbinary characters who are sensitively written. But what does that mean to me? Below are my three favourite things about well-written, fictional, nonbinary characters. Disclaimer: this is my personal view as a nonbinary human and you are free to agree or disagree to whatever extent is comfortable for you....
#Own Voices – What It Means to Us
#OwnVoices Atlin Merrick Own Voices
By Atlin Merrick I like labels. No, that's wrong, I like labels which help. Lots start out that way, but some labels are turned, used to marginalize, belittle, other. The ones that help though? Oh, the clarity they can bring, the community they can create. This is why I like the #OwnVoices label, a hashtag which popped up on Twitter a few years ago. At its simplest Own Voices means that if your main character identifies as part of a minority group, you the writer are also part of that group. If an author identifies their story as Own Voices,...