Description: Making Representation Obvious

tropesaretools:

criminallynerdy:

tropesaretools:

Sometimes you have to code characters, either because the terms they use to describe themselves don’t exist (like secondary world fantasy), or because they haven’t found the words themselves yet (undiagnosed illnesses and disabilities). But if at all possible, you should make it clear who these people are and own that you’re putting them in the story.

Even if you actively can say that somebody is part of a certain group, you still have to make sure you’re not -washing them in the narrative. Be it whitewashing, straightwashing, abledwashing, or any sort of situation where you say one thing, but the story itself doesn’t reflect that.

Here are some things to consider that will help you make it obvious that…

This character is PoC

Describe:

• Skin tone (just don’t use food metaphors)
  
• Hair texture/colour (especially black hair)
  
• Most commonly eaten foods at home
  
• Microaggressions
  
• Cultural clues that they would have (either assimilated or not, because both will have tells)
  
• Their opinion of white people/things outside of their experience
  

This character is LGBTQA+

Describe:

• Who they’re attracted to (or lack thereof)/past crushes (or lack thereof)
  
• Their circle of friends (seriously, we travel in packs, I know like five straight people)
  
• For trans characters: hormones, binders, packers, breast forms, tucking. Also, for more subtle clues, pronoun asking, euphoria at gender affirming things (like them being proud of their particularly dapper, feminine, or ‘I have no idea what gender that is but I like it’ style), dislike of off-gender things (like complaining about somebody getting them something that doesn’t match how they like to present)
  
• The actual orientation that they are, for crying out loud
  
• Their opinion of straight people/things outside of their experience
  

This character is disabled

Describe:

• Their disability. Preferably in the actual labels, or make up your own labels for a secondary world fantasy
  
• Any mobility, hearing, or speaking aids
  
• Behaviours that come with the disability (ie- stimming such as rocking or flapping for autistic/ADHD people, navigating through appropriately wide paths for wheelchairs/walkers, sitting on one side of the group conversations to make sure their good ear catches it, etc)
  
• Levels of aid needed and any accommodations
  
• Avoiding things that trip them up (like somebody autistic not wanting to go where it’s crowded, a wheelchair user avoiding curbs, a Deaf person making sure there’s a sign language interpreter at a concert, somebody with celiac avoiding gluten like the plague)
  
• Plan cancelling because it’s a bad day, or having to leave early because the environment is bad
• Medications, doctors, etc, if applicable
  
• Self care rituals for after a long day or during a flare up
  
• Their opinion of abled people/things outside of their experience
  

This character is mentally/chronically ill

Describe:

• Their symptoms, from good to messy, consistently
  
• Their energy levels, as many of us use the spoon theory
  
• Self care rituals they practice during flare ups or after hard days
  
• Medication, doctors, therapies, etc
  
• Cancelling plans because a bad day came up, or having to leave early because the environment is bad
• Triggers and their individual reaction to their triggers
  
• Their opinion of well people/things outside of their experience

And so on. These lists are not meant to be exhaustive at all, but they are meant to get you thinking about how you need to go about describing representation.

One thing to note: you can go about establishing representation in one of two ways. Either have the characters noting their differences, or them nothing others’ differences. Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys describes white skin when it appears, because within the narrator’s world, black skin is the norm. But others note their own differences. It’s all about their character.

Either one requires a lot of careful thought and sensitivity readers, but both are valid* options for owning** representation.

Followers, feel free to add more!

*Do be aware that some groups are chronically under-represented when it comes to the actual word of their identity. Bisexual people hardly have characters say the word as their identity. Autistic people also hardly have characters say the word as their identity. Be very careful of not having characters talk about themselves if the group is prone to being coded but not explicitly represented

**You have to actually own it and say they’re that when people put all the clues you left together

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Also make sure to do careful research on the real life struggles these minority groups face. Check and double check your sources. Learn about how to avoid info on these minorities that come from right wing and or Nazi groups. They can and will deliberately give you information that will cause these groups more harm. If you accidentally put information from outdated bigoted sources in your works while trying to portray these groups and you get called out, don’t ignore it. Always listen to legit complaints from the people in these minorities who are passionate about being portrayed respectfully.

Also when you’re writing a trans person, don’t look for information on them from self identifying radfems, terfs, transmedicalists or truscum. They all have misinformation on what it’s like to be transgender. And don’t believe the lie that trans people have to look a certain way to be trans when designing/describing a trans character. Cis passing trans people are a thing.

I hope you don’t mind me adding this addition to your post OP.

Not at all! Source-checking is one of those critical skills you absolutely need when writing marginalized groups.