The point of this article is to write people as people.

I suspect there’s a little more to it than that, but there isn’t less to it than that.

Originally shared by Lisa “LJ” Cohen

Before I dive into #Parallax I wanted to share this very insightful article about the necessary role of empathy in writing, and its failure.

This really encapsulates the challenge and issues around writing people who have different life experiences than the author. I particularly resonated with this:

“If you cannot write other without the assistance of a dedicated team of marginalized people to check your every sentence, then you should likely interrogate the writing that is about self. Writing requires you to enter into the lives of other people, to imagine circumstances as varied, as mundane, as painful, as beautiful, and as alive as your own. It means graciously and generously allowing for the existence of other minds as bright as quiet as loud as sullen as vivacious as your own might be, or more so. It means seeing the humanity of your characters. If you’re having a difficult time accessing the lives of people who are unlike you, then your work is not yet done.”

http://lithub.com/there-is-no-secret-to-writing-about-people-who-do-not-look-like-you/