Writing An Identity Not Your Own A Guide For Creative Writers By Alex Temblador
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Writing an Identity Not Your Own
Author: Alex Temblador
language: en
Publisher: St. Martin's Essentials
Release Date: 2024-08-13
A practical guide to help authors authentically write and edit a character whose identity is different than their own. Do you have the tools to authentically write and edit a character whose identity is different than your own? It’s not a subject that’s generally taught in creative writing programs, and there are so few craft books and online resources on the subject. Even if you can take a seminar, class, or workshop, there’s nothing like having an easy-to-understand book on hand to provide guidance and insight every time you craft characters with historically marginalized identities. In Writing an Identity Not Your Own, award-winning author Alex Temblador discusses one of the most contentious topics in creative writing: crafting a character whose identity is historically marginalized. What is “identity,” and how do unconscious biases and bias blocks impact and influence what we write? What is intersectionality? You’ll learn about identity terms, stereotypes, and tropes, and receive genre-specific advice related to various identities to consider when writing different races and ethnicities, sexual and romantic orientations, gender identities, disabilities, nationalities, and more. Through writing strategies, exercises, and literary excerpts, writers will gain a clearer understanding on how misrepresentations and harmful portrayals can appear in storylines, dialogue, and characterization. Alex will guide writers from the brainstorming phase through the editing process so they can gain a full understanding of the complexities of writing other identities and why it’s important to get them right.
Creative Writing & the Experiences of Others
"In times that are rife with complex manifestations of identity politics, writing classrooms across the world are hosting heated debates about what it means for authors to write about experiences outside our own. This book focuses on writing as the act of witnessing when the writers themselves were not present to witness in person. It seeks to answer the questions that come along with these experiences, like what might it mean to write in order "to watch," "to try and understand," "to never look away," and "to never forget" when the writer is an outsider to an experience-- what might it mean to write about others in ways that do not essentialize or sensationalize, and in ways that are as humble, ethical, and responsible as possible? What might it mean to bear witness through the written word while engaged in a constant (re)negotiation with one's own positioning i.e., to cultivate a condition of critical empathy that doesn't also have the consequence of creative paralysis?"--
Identity
"In the United States, we are constantly defining and redefining who we are to each other. As quick as we are to pull ourselves together as "Americans" in times of war or natural disaster, we also incessantly define the other, at times favorably, at other times not so much. We band together as "us" to defend our freedoms and safety from outside threats, yet we also move away from each other and maintain our differences, our uniqueness, our independence. We are a nation of commonalities, differences, natives, immigrants, and visitors. We recognize that our strength is our ability to intelligently negotiate our independence and dependence, and similarities and differences with each other. The negotiation process takes place because we are a nation of readers and writers. We inform ourselves to understand issues important to us, and we then share our thoughts with others, trying to inform or persuade them of what we believe is the correct way to understand or act in a situation. To understand our ever-changing society, the issues important to it, and take stands on issues, we by necessity must read. To get our views out there, we write. In order to read and write well, we must understand rhetorical principles, our roles and identities, and the writing processes that are the foundations of literacy and writing practices. Why learn to read and write, or become more sophisticated readers and writers? Take a moment to think about what we could not do if we could not read or write. Could we shop online? Could we read the text that helps as we play a video game? Could we read or send an e-mail, a text or tweet, or post to our Facebook or Skype accounts? The answer to all of these is, No. Nothing in these environments would make any sense. Imagine trying to make a résumé or write a research paper or lab report. Our world and work possibilities would diminish substantially from how we experience them now. The more schooling we have the better and more varied are our reading and writing skills, and from these refined skills more opportunities exist for us. The processes that we go through to become highly literate are many and complex. Traditional literacies, the abilities to read and write, and digital or electronic literacies, the abilities to communicate and understand using multimodal means, are a vast network of possibilities and challenges that we must learn at increasing levels of sophistication and complexity. Throughout our years in school we will need to advance our critical reading and writing skills through study and practice. Each chapter's title in Identity: A Reader for Writers is a question about our identity, from "What's in a Name? The Role of Language and Identity" to "Where Do You Draw the Line? Privacy, Socializing, and Life without Boundaries." The Second edition of Identity includes three new chapters: Chapters 6 explores readings that help us talk about gender: "Who Decides Gender? Notions of Gender & Identity," Chapter 7 "How Are Your Political Views Formed? Political Identity, Alliance, & Exclusion" helps us find common language among the complexities in identifying and taking political stances, and Chapter 8 "How Can I Become a Better Writer?" guides us to better understand what is involved in transitioning from student writers to experienced writers"--