You’re writing a book and you want readers to love it. But are you using tropes and worldbuilding elements that could harm your future readers? Whether consciously or unconsciously, you may be including harmful stereotypes or tropes in your stories.

In this episode of the Better Writer Podcast, I’m sharing four mindsets that can help you worldbuild & write with sensitivity so you can avoid limiting your audience prematurely or accidentally falling into your own misrepresentation trap.

Let’s dive in!

Resources related to this episode (some mentioned, some not, all here to help you write better books):

• Writing the Other (many resources on representing varied racial & minority groups respectfully): https://writingtheother.com/
• Verna Myers’ TEDTalk “How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYyvbgINZkQ
• Molly Rookwood’s Blog Post “Antisemitism in Fantasy and Fairy Tales”: https://www.rookwoodediting.com/post/antisemitism-in-fantasy-and-fairy-tales
• My blog post “First, Do No Harm: World Building Tropes to Avoid”: https://www.oliviahelpswriters.com/blog/world-building-tropes-to-avoid
• Another blog post from me “3 Resources for Improving LGBTQIA+ Representation in Your Stories”: https://www.oliviahelpswriters.com/blog/improve-lgbtqia-representation-in-your-stories

Thanks for listening, keep writing, and keep getting better one word at a time!

For a full transcript of the episode, please visit https://oliviahelpswriters.com/bwp/28.

00:00 Intro

06:23 Mindset 1: Listen & Learn

09:50 Mindset 2: Leaning on "classic" tropes Isn't an excuse.

15:48 Mindset 3: Don't Write for One Reader

20:12 Mindset 4: Think Beyond Trauma