#writingwithcolor

[writingwithcolor]

Happy New Year 2025 from WWC

Hello everyone,

Merry, cheery holidays! The WWC team and I have been making many silent strides closer to a writingwithcolor.org.

What we've been up to

While the going has been slow, we've made a lot of progress since raising donations from you guys to go towards a .org, which we've secured ever since. With this support and encouragement, we plan to maintain the blog as a permanent resource.

As for progress and use of donations

Times have been busy and oh, so trying, but we're trying harder. Also, donations (and free time) have been going to good use.

For instance, we've:

Cleaned up (Added, removed, renamed, combined) WWC post tagging for clarity and consistency.

Created mirroring pages on new blog (e.g. navigation, stereotypes and tropes navigation, etc.)

Migrated all blog posts to our standalone blog (4000 some posts)

Maintained the URL ($12 a year, Writingwithcolor.org, hidden from view lately as we get closer to launch, although we've had it redirecting to Tumblr only until recently)

Overall building out blog content on the host site ($15.99 a month)

Next steps are to:

Finalize our theme (The fun part)

Finish blog post cleanup on the migrated posts (WIP!).

More actions at a latter date after publishing

Currently, I have been going through each and every post, one-by-one, to:

Edit, update and refine content

Fix broken links

Improve accessibility, particularly on image-heavy posts

A lot of changed in the world since 2014, so we want even our earliest posts to reflect today's standards or at least note if something is olden days or we have a more helpful post or resource since.

Example of a post on the .org. Final theme and colors not applied yet

Soft launch and new hopeful publish date

This is the end stretch before we have an official SOFT LAUNCH!

We're considering it soft since there are just some things we can't easily correct yet or will just make everything take even longer to wait on. We'll continue to cross-link between here and there as we work on getting it all centralized, though.

But to be clear, as intended, we'll continue to post on tumblr as well as long as it sticks around.

Our new prospective publish date is for Spring 2025, in which we can also re-open to questions, release new guides, invite new members, etc. etc.

But who knows - perhaps we will get a chance to answer some questions in between then.

Thank you and let's catch up!

All of your support and patience has been so appreciated. Thank you for sticking around throughout the extended hiatus. Nonetheless, I do hope our robust depository of existing answers, detailed guides, recommendations, reblogs and so on has been helpful with your creative, professional and academic pursuits.

What have you all been up to? What strides have you made in 2024 and what goals do you have for 2025? Have you published any works? We want to hear it all. Share with us on this post!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2025,

~Colette and WWC team

[ghostofpolaris]

I beg of you please also go read up stuff from @writingwithcolor because they do a FANTASTIC job at providing information and resources too. I cannot express how amazing they are! When I tried getting help to make a Korean name for an OC based on my grandmother (the tldr is that she didn't exactly have a "proper" Korean name by today's standards most likely due to the bastardization of Korean names in America when she immigrated after marrying my grandfather), they did their best to help and I am so thankful to them for that.

if you’re white and wanna write a poc character and feel awkward about it i implore you to ignore any twitblr stuff treating it as a massive ethical burden and instead come in more with the same mindset you’d have if you wanted to write about idk firefighters but didn’t know anything about firefighters so you do... research. Like fuck off with the weird kinda creepy calls for spiritual introspection you’re not writing about god damn space aliens you’re writing about humans and if you think you need more perspective of different life experiences just read?

[kosovo-omelsisi]

Hiiiiii,

I need some research help.

I'm writing a fantasy western novel and one of the characters is meant to be a black lesbian character who presents herself as male(primarily as a disguise to work as a bounty hunter/merc[also character things]).

He/She(they primarily go by he/him) would have a black Georgia accent, I would like to do the character and representation justice and I only moved to the states about three years ago and haven't had the chance to go to the south. I've found plenty resources showcasing white accents from that period but resources for black people are a lot more scarce. So I'm really just asking if anyone could point towards where to look where to look I'd be very grateful.

[mystia09]

Hi!

I am so Glad I found this blog! I want to write a character who originates from Brésil but was born in Canada!

CONTEXT : I'm writing a suspense/horror book set in Québec, Canada (my home town) it's in french (my first language) and this character is the neighbor who is a close friend to the father of one of the main characters. He is the first one he comes to when the protagonist disapears. He saw the girls run into the woods that night. He lives with his wife and they don't have kids. He is a retired doctor. The neighbor is the confident of the parents of the protagonist.

In the story there is an old legend : the woods are haunted, there is an evil spirit that lives in the dog who lures victims to their death by showing them what they désire or someone they lost...

He doesn't beleive in this legend but worries the girls might have been foul play!

I want to know how to bring him to the story without using clichés!

[seveneyesoup]

episode was. fine. not sure why they set things up like the family ruby has is what matters and then also make a big deal out of her biological family. weird decision there but the stuff w coincidence and language and knots and rope. speaking my language there. definitely an approach to timeless child we’ll see how it shakes out tbh. also sideeying rtd a little bit over rubys mom. she’s only been in one episode and she’s shown to be not Necessarily a caring mother etc but still much closer to the mammy archetype than i would like

[megamindfandombookclub]

writingwithcolor is an awesome resource and helped me in regards to writing poc in one of my fics!

Anonymous asked: How do you describe the black skin of a mythical creature without confusing it with a description of people of color and sounding racist? I'm writing a fictional demon with literal black skin and white hair and I don't want to do it if it will hurt or offend anyone.

(Ask edited for length)

This one is outside my scope as a white lady, so I would suggest spending some time on the tumblr blog @writingwithcolor (https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com) as they have absolutely tackled this subject in the past (describing mythical creatures with black skin versus describing the skin of a human), and their knowledge will guide you through the important nuances of both portraying and describing this character in a way that won't come across as offensive or harmful.

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

LEARN MORE about WQA

VISIT MY Master List of Top Posts

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[whumptober]

Resources for Writing Sensitive Topics

As always, when writing about sensitive topics/injuries/illnesses, we encourage everyone to research and tag works appropriately. This is to ensure that the whump community can remain a safe space for everyone, as well as assist writers in creating well-informed works that avoid offending people and stereotyping, romanticising, or sensationalising hard topics.

We have also added some additional links that may be useful when creating characters.

Below are some links to resources we and others found useful - we'd like to thank the wonderful members of our community for helping us with finding great resources.

Blogs/Tumblr Posts:

@cripplecharacters - A whole blog dedicated to helping people write disabled characters.

^ A Guide to Writing Disabled Characters

@writingwithcolor - A whole blog dedicated to writing and resources centered on racial, ethnic and religious diversity.

^ Stereotypes and Tropes Navigation

@creatingblackcharacters - Creating Black Characters *with intent!

Resources for Writing Injuries (Tumblr Masterpost)

Resources for Writing Sketchy Topics (Tumblr Masterpost - please note that a couple of links are broken due to the post being 7 years old, but many are still working!)

A guide to designing, drawing or writing characters who use mobility aids (Tumblr post)

Writing A Blind or Visually Impaired Character (Tumblr Post)

Independent Websites

Avoiding Stereotypes in Fiction: Characters with Mental Health Issues (WritersHelpingWriters)

How Do I Depict a Disabled Character Respectfully? (Fay Onyx, Mythcreants blog)

Respectfully Depicting a Character Adapting to a Disability (Fay Onyx, Mythcreants blog)

Writing Deaf Characters (T. Frohock, author.)

How to Write Deaf or Hard of Hearing Characters (Melanie Ashford, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association)

How to Write a Blind or Vision Impaired Character (AllWriteAlright)

If anyone has any additional sources, feel free to share them in the reblogs/replies!

POST CONTRIBUTERS - Thank you!

@psychologeek - Thank you for sharing some of the primary resources with us, it helped us a great deal :)

@tabletop-whump

[tatarstani]

the fact that @/writingwithcolor is to this day still considered a good resource that i see people recommending is insane. the racist blog. youre recommending people the racist blog

[cripplecharacters]

do you happen to know of any tumblrs that do what you do, but for other... types(?) of people? i'm struggling to find an active LGBT writing guide blog specifically at the moment but it'd be nice to have a masterlist of any blog of this variety, since tumblr's search is remissfully unhelpful..! tysm

Hi lovely asker!

So there used to be a whole lot of blogs that were labeled "Scriptx" blogs and of course others too. Good thing is a lot of them were archived! So while they're not open for new questions you can still use the search and use the information provided to other asks they answered. So I'm gonna tag the other active blogs or the ones that are just on hiatus and then I'm gonna link all the archived ones!

Active:

@yourbookcouldbegayer

@scriptlgbt

@fuckyeahasexual

@writingquestionsanswered

@scriptmedic

@blindbeta

@askablindperson

@writingwithcolor

@creatingblackcharacters

@howtofightwrite

@script-a-world

@scriptstructure

Not active/Archived:

scriptservicedogs-blog

actuallyservicedogs

scriptshrink

scripttorture

scriptveterinarian

scriptautistic

asexualadvice

scripttraumasurvivors

scriptpharmacist-blog

scriptpolitics

scriptpublishingindustry

scriptfirefighter

writenavy

scriptwitchcraft

scripthacker

scriptcriminaljustice

scriptgenetics

scriptflorist

scriptlawyer-blog

scriptastronomer

scriptchemist

scriptmyth

scriptspoonie

scriptkink

scriptequestrian-blog

scriptsocialwork

scriptbrainscientist

fantasticallyfactualforensics

scriptaccountant

scriptballerina

scripthistory

scriptlibrarian

scripteconomist

scripteducator

scriptlinguist-blog

I briefly scrolled through a few of these that I personally wasn't aware of but I can't vet and scroll through each and every individual blog in its entirety because well it would take a very very long time. Also of the active blogs some don't have their ask box open and/or some are on small hiatus'. Please be respectful of that, pretty please, everyone puts in a lot of time and effort and yeah.

~ Mod Virus 🌸

[creatingblackcharacters]

Hey, I love your blog and lessons and think you're doing a great job of educating people on their biases. I saw that you're tired of people coming to you for advice on whether their ideas are racist/perpetuate racist stereotypes. Perhaps a good blog to direct them to is @writingwithcolor ? They offer advice on that exact thing, and have a range of POC moderators (including Black) for a broader view.

I did not say I was tired of people coming to me for advice on whether on their ideas are racist.

What I said was that I'm tired of people asking me if "my idea/prompt/premise is problematic". I also explained why the particular phrasing of the question is an issue, and how it limits understanding of both the problem and the solution. This isn't something I haven't said before in lessons and in asks.

That being said, @writingwithcolor does in fact, have moderators of color with a range of experience! I know I don't always have the same opinions as them, but they are very much a popular resource with perspectives worth hearing 🙏🏾

[esraafamilys-2002]

Gaza is burning.........💔😭

link gofundme.......🍉🇵🇸

PayPal link....😭

Verified........

@90-ghost

@kermitthegod @silenceismychoir @cauli-flawa @endoplasmian @yongmy-blog @long-suffering-little-spoon @occhiofino @roguesrevenge @callmedrkhan @midnigtartist @hamstrbaxtr @pure-failure @6e-n-d6 @transparentstrawberrysoul @project-catgirlpillar @little-miss-drama-queen @toyotacorrola @random-multi-fandom @cauli-flawa @cervidaecorpse @transgender @fandomhopper98 @mysuperlexy43vr-aka-weirdo @jahnu18 @izzy-bizzie @faggotanachronism @mapsofnonexistentplaces @these-veins-are-borrowed @nousername78934628 @antiauteur @sizzlingjudgebanditpaper @sizzlingjudgebanditpaper @bravesalamander @writingwithcolor @sbqnmb @webtoonscreenshots @coffepandas @beas- @fefeman @finnicksbf @from-the-rivrr-to-the-sea @faggotanachronism @ikeuwons @sanaimissyou @strugglingqueer @the-bastards-of-the-barrel @spock-in-awe @squidchu @ultravioletbread

[strawhatsoviet]

the more i think about it the funnier blogs like writingwithcolor actually are. imagine thinking that it's your position as a yank that in fact makes you the authority on every single group of people in the world who are not descended from europeans

[heywriters]

Hey so I am sort of new, or more like re-introducing myself after so long a way I may as well be a new person, to writing side of tumblr. Do you have an recommendations on people or tags that be cool to follow?

Yep, sure do!

@writingquestionsanswered

@fixyourwritinghabits

@keepcalmandwritefiction

@wordsnstuff

@writingwithcolor

@theliteraryarchitect

@thewritinghole

@the960writers

@bookishdiplodocus

@thewritersspotblog

@questionprompts

@writtentelepathy

@the-write-type

@elumish

@insanitysilver

@howtofightwrite

@jstor (below blogs are inactive/on hiatus but good references)

@scriptshrink

@scriptmedic

@scriptcriminaljustice

I also have a side blog to this one @hey-writers for writer promos and the occasional posted fiction or poetry. I don't update it often, but it is there if you want to peruse other writeblrs.

Followed tags are touch and go as people will "tag spam" things that aren't relevant, but check these out anyway!

#writers on tumblr

#writeblr

#writing

#creative writing

Make use of the "Latest" and "Top" categories when checking tags.

Welcome back!

[writingquestionsanswered]

hiya! for writers who are complete beginners, kinda sorta maybe write at a high school level, can't describe to save their lives, have overall bad flow (as in they can't decide what little moments scenes to think up and even write, if they do, they're no good), have been told countless times to write daily and just read more but that doesn't cover the basics or foundations of creative writing, not like they can learn from a book bc they're a hands on learner anyway and p.s they're super broke so can't afford writing classes and no library near them offers free ones ---- aka me :( --- do you have any advice? lol i feel kinda doomed and that maybe writing isn't for me, but I don't wanna get my hopes down!! with the right tools, it's possible.

Free Resources for Learning How to Write

I want to start with addressing why you've been told so often "to write daily and read more" as a way to learn how to write. It's very difficult to learn and excel at a craft if you have no experience with said craft. You can read all the information in the world about how to forge a sword, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to pick up a hunk of metal and be able to forge a beautiful sword. You need to spend a lot of time watching other people forge swords, and spend a lot of time actually practicing each step yourself if you want to get good at it. Writing works the same way. Reading lets you experience what fiction should be, writing lets you practice each step for yourself.

Fortunately, there are lots of ways to read fiction for free. You can borrow books from friends, family members, and members of your community. You can check out books and e-books from your local library if you have one. You can look for Little Free Libraries in your neighborhood. There's also a lot of legally free fiction available online. Project Gutenberg, Planet E-Book, Bartleby, Literature.org, Classic Literature, Classic Short Stories, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, Library of Short Stories, Levar Burton Reads, and sites like Kobo, Amazon, and Audible often offer freebies of both e-books and audio books.

Other free ways to learn how to write:

1 - Follow bloggers and vloggers and authors on social media who talk about the craft of writing. Some of my favorites are: Joanna Penn/The Creative Penn, K.M. Weiland, Liselle Sambury, Abbie Emmons, Hannah Lee Kidder, Brittany Wang, Alyssa Matesic, Bethany Atazadah, Lindsay Puckett, Alexa Donne, Shaelin Writes, Ellen Brock, The Writing Gals, and Sincerely, Vee.

2 - Follow writing craft blogs here on tumblr: (some suggestions) @writingwithcolor, @howtofightwrite, @heywriters, @cripplecharacters, @lgbtqwriting, @fixyourwritinghabits, @wordsnstuff, @yourbookcouldbegayer, @lizard-is-writing

3 - Watch writing craft videos on YouTube: If there's something specific you want to learn about, say, "how to structure a scene," type it into YouTube and many different videos will pop up that walk you through how to structure a scene. Just look for one that strikes you as appealing!

4 - Look for free writing resources online: many authors (especially indie authors and writing gurus/coaches like Joanna Penn, K.M. Weiland, Bethany Atazadeh, Brittany Wang, and Abbie Emmons) offer free writing resources on their web sites or by signing up for their newsletters. Often you'll see writers participating in free online writing summits/workshops which you can sign up for and either watch the videos live or via video playback that is offered for a short period of time (like 24 hours.)

5 - Do a Google Search: believe it or not, there's not a single thing you could want to learn about writing that you can't find for free on Google. If you want to learn how to improve your grammar, go to Google, type in "tips for improving grammar" and you will get a million articles that will tell you how to do just that. Want to learn how to improve your story's flow? Google "how to improve story flow" and you'll have your answer. You can even search for free worksheets, guides, and workbooks on just about anything you want. "Free character development worksheet" brought back a ton of nice looking free worksheets. "Free worldbuilding workbook" brought up several free workbooks and worksheets to help you with worldbuilding. Everything you could want to know is out there.

And, bonus: you can always read through the posts in my WQA master list to get help with a wide variety of craft and writer-related issues.

Happy learning! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[mercurial-thrills]

I've been taking writing seriously for eight years. Here are eight lessons I've learned.

*Buckle up, this is going to be a long one*

As I squinted at my phone in the darkness, I stared at my Calendar. Blocks of red and pink were blocked into my schedule: do schoolwork, take a quick break, attend an online co-op class, sign up for a school workshop, finally read the first chapter of that thick textbook I bought.

Then, I looked above it all, the day of significance in magenta.

"Anniversary of Secrets." September 9th. The day I chose to take writing seriously. Between unfinished stories on loose-leaf paper, and untitled documents of characters on my desktop, writing had only been a spur-of-the-moment activity.

But then, September 9th came along. From visions of girls riding dragons and comments of classmates writing their own stories, I realized I could be like them. I could take writing as seriously as they did, spending more time on my stories than fixated on my favourite series.

In fact, writing became a fixation of my own. Over these eight years, I have watched countless videos, read a few books, and wrote hopefully around a couple hundred thousand words. As well, I have amassed a fair amount of writing advice. Here are eight of the lessons I learned over the years.

Lesson #1: Outline First, Write Later.

Ideas popped into my head like a game of whack-a-mole. They popped in and out whenever they pleased. I dreamed of cat-eared superheroes, of zodiac themed dystopias, of strange, American-style Isekais before I knew what that word meant.

My attempts to outline the story were inflated by my urge to write it. By the time I started writing my first official project, I decided to write the outline and FINISH the outline before jumping into the story.

Lesson #2: Embrace Diversity

If you've been on the Internet in literature or writing related circles, it's hard to avoid the topic of diversity, and for a good reason. Diverse situations and characters create new perspectives for readers and writers alike.

I learned to embrace diversity through a video made by Jenna Moreci:

After watching this, I thought more about my character's racial and ethnic backgrounds. Along with that, my characters became much more queer, and far more neurodivergent than I could've fathomed back in the day. Their backstories and family situations are more diverse as well: some of them were in foster care. Others came from big families.

The most important thing is to not do this offensively, and honour every culture you come across that's different than yours. Thankfully, there are plenty of resources online, such as Writing With Color(https://www.tumblr.com/writingwithcolor).

Lesson #3: Take Inspiration From Your Favourite Things.

My first story, Secrets, took direct inspiration from the books Harry Potter, Bone, Percy Jackson, Masterminds, and Eragon, respectively. But my second big project became a result of my Voltron obsession (which, assuming you're reading this on Tumblr, I'm sure you're familiar with).

The story formed as a space opera with alien planets I invented myself, and a human species who evolved to conditions on Kepler-22b. I'm not going to deny that I drew inspiration from the "Leakira and the Defenders Of Tomorrow" AU. Though this project is now its own being, I cannot deny where its origins came from.

Lesson #4: Do NaNoWriMo. Seriously.

First of all, I'd suggest staying away from the actual site. There have been numerous controversies, including demonstrating support of AI for creative works, and predatory behaviour on its forums. That doesn't mean we cannot still participate in writing a novel within a month.

Doing an unaffiliated one-month writing challenge will likely not help you get better at writing. Quality over quantity, after all. However, it will help to create a writing habit, and force you to think of unorthodox situations where you could write words… like, on the bus, in a bathroom stall, or in a waiting room.

Lesson #5: This is not going to be a career. Not for a while.

I was a 17-year-old, frothing at the mouth, obsessed with what my hands could produce at the click of keys. I wanted this to be my career. Badly.

However, college loomed around the corner, and I could not fathom spending so much money to learn creative writing in university, when it would have so little pay-off later down the line. Plus, I knew the field was a competitive one, and boy, I was not ready to compete.

If you want writing to become a career one day, go for it. Work hard on your writing. Focus on it like a bird focuses on looking for its worm. Keep in mind, however, whether the pay-off will be worth it for you.

For example, if you are willing to compete and set yourself apart, it would be beneficial to study English, Creative Writing, or Journalism at a university. You could become a copyeditor, a journalist, or a teacher, with some extra learning. However, what if becoming an author feels unstable? You could consider a career in a transferrable field such as office administration, library technician, marketing, psychology, or accounting.

Lesson #6: Fanfiction is good.

When I got into the game Terraria, I spent many hours traversing the right side of my world and building cube-shaped houses, and far too many hours before I thought I was powerful enough to fight the Eye Of Cthulhu. That aside, I started writing fanfiction inspired by the franchise.

Surely, there’s not much canon material regarding the NPCs whose names change when they get killed. So, I made my own. I elaborated on characters that had pre-existing relationships and made up my own where there weren’t any. It was a brilliant practice in writing when none of my other ideas seemed appealing.

I have since finished said fanfiction, but I still write about certain fandoms from time to time. It helps to have an outlet for creative ideas that would not fit your other stories.

Lesson #7: Don’t Fear The Critiquer

Reading my works aloud startled me to the bone. Thankfully, my friend clarified that this writing club gave good critique on his own worldbuilding. So, I showed up, and oh, am I ever so thankful I showed up, because it has, quite literally, changed the way I see writing.

Reading out my writing to others has made me better at sharing, and at accepting critique. I received a lot of praise, and I also realized a lot of mistakes. Most of all, I learned not to fear what people thought of what I wrote: chances are they’d like at least part of it.

Lesson #8: Every little bit counts.

After many years of taking it slow, life started to get busy again. Life became more cluttered, and I fought to balance my classes with any extracurriculars I may have had, with therapy appointments and going to the doctor’s to sort out health shenanigans, with the full time summer job I had, and with nurturing my relationships.

If you had a hard time reading that sentence, that’s what my life has been like for the past year or so. Busy, cluttered, hard to organize, but still manageable in small chunks. This is what writing while busy should look like. Little bits and pieces of writing, whether it be in a chapter or short stories.

The Big Conclusion

Plot twist: These eight lessons I learned were relevant to each of my eight years spent learning the craft. I spent them embracing the craft, learning to make good settings, and understanding how to create interesting plots. At the same time, I have yet to self-publish any fiction other than a short story.

Still, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made in these past 8 years. It’s been a long journey, but with every year, I learn so much more.

If you’re looking for where to start, this is where you should: whether it’s writing down that random idea that’s been sitting in your head, or scribbling down a drabble about the rain outside, just take one first step.

[hijab-described]

hellooo! i've been writing a hijabi OC for a little bit now, but i have some worries about her character that i don't know is okay to showcase as a white person.

i understand you're an ID/description account, but i haven't found any other blogs yet to ask about this. if you're okay with it, could i tell you about her and see if she falls into any harmful tropes i'm unaware of? or maybe redirect me to another blog who can give me advice?

- 🍳

Hi! I think it’s really cool you have a hijabi OC. Feel free to talk to me about her and ask questions. I have helped some people with OCs before. You can DM me, or send more asks. (It’s possible to DM from a side blog, if you’re more comfortable that way.)

However, please be aware that I’m just a single person and as such I can only give my own perspective. There’s millions and millions of Muslims and we are not a monolith. But still, everyone has to start somewhere, so even talking to a single Muslim is already a great step 🫶🏽

Some blogs that might be helpful to you are @writingwithcolor and @creatingblackcharacters. If any of my followers also want to help or know more blogs, speak up in the notes! ^^

(Also, as a little aside, or maybe a first bit of advice, Muslims can be white. Those are not mutually exclusive categories. There’s a number of majority white countries with large Muslim populations such as Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, or Albania, just to name three European examples. And also converts/reverts exist too.)