Writing the Other | Online Writing Classes and Workshops

Representation is fundamental to writing great fiction. Creating characters that reflect the diversity of the world we live in is important for all writers and creators of fictional narratives. But writers often find it difficult to represent people whose gender, sexual orientation, racial heritage, or other aspect of identity is very different from their own. This can lead to fear of getting it wrong–horribly, offensively wrong–and, in the face of that, some think it’s better not to try.

The hard truth is this: Representation and Diversity are too important to ignore.

It IS possible to write characters who represent the “Other” sensitively and convincingly. Through our classes, workshops, and seminars and the resources available on this site and elsewhere creators can get a solid foundation in how to craft characters from any background, no matter how different they are from you.

Recent Classes

Deep Dive Into Description

February 9, 2020February 9, 2020WtO Admin

When writers get to the point of describing people from marginalized groups they’re sometimes filled with anxiety over the words and phrases they should use. In this three week craft-centric class, authors Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford dive deep into these language and description pitfalls and how to avoid them. [...]

Writing the Other In-Person Retreat @ Hollyhock

November 28, 2019January 26, 2020

Deep Dive Into Diverse Characters

November 27, 2019January 28, 2020

Clarion West In-Person Weekend Workshop: Writing the Other

October 30, 2019November 25, 2019

Available Any Time: On-Demand Webinars

Writing Deaf and Blind Characters | On Demand Master Class

January 21, 2019January 7, 2019Writing the Other

Partially deaf and partially blind writer and editor Elsa Sjunneson-Henry walks writers through the process of researching and understanding both conditions for fiction writing. [...]

Writing for Trans and Non-Binary Narratives | On Demand Master Class

November 22, 2018November 22, 2018

Writing Native American Characters: How Not To Do A Rowling | On Demand Master Class

July 24, 2016March 21, 2018

More than Eunuchs and Extraterrestrials: Writing Positive Portrayals of Asexual Characters | On Demand Master Class

July 24, 2016March 21, 2018

News & Events

Support the Vonda N. McIntyre Sentient Squid Scholarship

November 20, 2019December 11, 2019Writing the Other

Are you interested in helping us help writers learn how to combat cultural toxicity? To create fiction that is inclusive, and that better represents and reflects the world? Yes, it’s possible. But we need your help to make it happen for more people. [...]

Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford in Conversation at Seattle’s University Book Store

October 30, 2019October 30, 2019Writing the Other

November 23, 2019 at 6 PM – Come hear authors, editors, and partners in crime Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford interview each other about craft and creativity. [...]

Custom Writing the Other Seminars for Agencies and Publishing Houses

June 30, 2018January 24, 2019Writing the Other

Agents, Editors, Publishers: Do you want to help your clients and authors create representative, inclusive fiction without inadvertently using damaging tropes or outdated [...]

Podcasts and Videos

Writing the Other on Writing Excuses – Writing Characters With Physical Disabilities

December 11, 2019Writing the Other

Nicola Griffith joins Tempest, Piper J. Drake, and Dan to talk about how to faithfully represent people with physical disabilities through the characters we create. [...]

Family, Culture, and KidLit – a Conversation with Shveta Thakrar

October 9, 2019October 8, 2019Writing the Other

A conversation with YA author Shveta Thakrar about writing YA and Middle Grade families outside of the WASP or Western family framework pushed by most media and literature. [...]

Writing the Other on Writing Excuses – Yes, You Can!

June 4, 2019September 1, 2019Writing the Other

If you’ve heard from agents or editors that writing books that aren’t #OwnVoices isn’t something you can do, listen to us dismantle that idea and give advice for how you can go forward. [...]

What our students say about us

The conversations and community that emerged over the course of the Writing the Other intensive was as valuable as the issues discussed within the readings and exercises, if not more so. So glad I did this!

― Fran Wilde, Nebula Award-winning author of Updraft

Going into the workshop I had a particular story I was burning to learn how to tell without being inappropriate. I was terrified I was writing it (and anything else involving characters of color) like an out-of-touch white dork. Ms. Shawl and Ms. Bradford were compassionate and emotionally generous while being very straightforward. Their class both eased my mind and made me realize how clueless I’ve been; it has started me on a lifetime learning project that can do nothing but make me a better writer.

― Ellen Saunders, a Weekend Intensive student

This is a very good, condensed, well balanced and presented mix of information and practice on writing about difference.

― SK on the Classic Seminar

Taking this deep dive class connected me to a lot of wonderful people and resources. It helped me pinpoint several immediate problems in my current works in progress, gave me specific strategies to address those flaws, and ways to analyze my work in the future to better tell the inclusive stories that I imagine. I would not have been able to take this class without the scholarship.

― A Building Inclusive Worlds student