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.

Open for Registration

Deep Dive Intensive: Creating Diverse Characters

January 15, 2022January 15, 2022Writing the Other

Authors Nisi Shawl, Piper J. Drake, and K. Tempest Bradford will dive deep into character creation with writing exercises, discussion, and lectures on intersectionality, character relationships, avoiding stereotypes and tropes, and depicting characters from different genders, sexualities, classes, ethnicities, ability levels, and religious backgrounds. [...]

Charting Your Character’s Arc Webinar and Workshop

December 1, 2021November 20, 2021

Available Any Time: On-Demand Webinars

On Demand Webinar: Cultural Appropriation – What It Is & How To Avoid It

November 16, 2021Writing the Other

Most writers want to avoid Cultural Appropriation but worry that they don’t fully understand what it is or how to ensure their work does not include it. In this On Demand webinar, we’ll give you the resources you need. [...]

On Demand: Writing Fat Characters | Master Class

November 14, 2021November 15, 2021

On Demand: Should Authors Write Characters Different From Themselves?

November 13, 2021November 15, 2021

Writing Blind and Deaf characters header

On Demand: Writing Deaf and Blind Characters | Master Class

January 21, 2019November 4, 2021

News & Events

Holiday Sale: 15% Off Gift Cards and On Demand Classes

November 25, 2021November 16, 2021Writing the Other

To celebrate the holiday season, the end of 2021, the announcement of our 2022 class schedule, our new on demand videos, and still being alive in These Times, we’re having a sale! [...]

Announcing New On Demand Webinars

November 18, 2021November 18, 2021Writing the Other

Writing the Other has always sought ways to offer affordable options for learning. In addition to our core classes expanding on the concepts found in Writing the Other: a Practical Approach, we are also pleased to present a new and expanded selection of affordable On Demand Writing Classes. [...]

Announcing our 2022 Writing The Other Class Schedule

November 11, 2021November 18, 2021Writing the Other

Our 2022 Class Schedule includes twelve writing classes, seminars, and workshops featuring established and new instructors. [...]

Resources

Writing the Other on Writing Excuses – Crafting Chinese-American Characters

March 1, 2021February 17, 2021Writing the Other

Yang Yang Wang joins Tempest, Piper J. Drake, and Dan Wells for a discussion of language, food, and a whole raft of other cultural elements critical to crafting Chinese-American characters. [...]

K. Tempest Bradford and Sheree Renée Thomas on the Glitchy Pancakes Podcast

February 27, 2021February 18, 2021Writing the Other

K. Tempest Bradford and Sheree Renée Thomas do a deep dive into Own Voices fiction, why it’s so important, and how it fits in with Writing the Other. [...]

Writing the Other on Writing Excuses – Researching for Writing the Other

February 24, 2021February 17, 2021Writing the Other

Nisi Shawl and Silvia Moreno-Garcia join Tempest, Piper J. Drake, and Dan Wells to talk about how writing stories which feature people who are not like you is, in a word, difficult. [...]

What our students say about us

The class on worldbuilding provided many valuable insights into how to include a diverse cast of underrepresented groups, demonstrating how to break out from traditional hierarchical and normative presentations with solely focused on privileged groups. Rather than a prescriptive list or an approach that focused on performative and manipulative “wokeness” the class offered insight and an opportunity for dialogue on true worldbuilding and the art of crafting secondary worlds that are inclusive and avoid accidental usage of analog cultures and otherization. Lessons on research, criticism, and varied frameworks left me well prepared with a toolbox to tackle issues of inclusiveness for today, tomorrows that may or not may not be, and histories that never were.

― B Phillip York, a Building Inclusive Worlds student

I can’t recommend this course enough; as well as delivering everything it promised in terms of new perspectives on writing about marginalised people, it gave me tools that will improve my writing overall, particularly with respect to character development and worldbuilding.

― Rivqa Rafael, a Multi-Week Class student

This class was eye-opening and world building for me as a writer. The content was amazing, the guest speakers impressive, and the exercises broadened my thinking. If you want to build worlds in your writing (and after the class I would argue that worlds get built in all fiction) you need to take this class. It will give you the knowledge, courage and community to take risks, to be inclusive in ways you’d not yet thought of, and to change the world by building a better one.

― Michelle, a Building Inclusive Worlds student

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