Editing with empathy: why authenticity Editing matters in every genre

We’ve all read sentences that made us pause; not because the words moved us profoundly, but because they didn’t sit right. Recently, I read a mystery novel that stereotyped all Hindus as being vegetarian, stating that their homes smelled of garlic and spices. Being a Hindu myself, this didn’t resonate well. I eat most things and I’d like to the think the Coastal Breeze and Wild Rhubarb diffusers I’ve scattered around my home make it smell heavenly! Stereotypes like these are based on assumptions, give readers false impressions and beliefs, and don’t reflect people’s individuality or full humanity.

Whether you’re writing a heart-racing historical romance book, a moving memoir, a corporate blog post or a non-fiction book about the Empire, readers want authenticity. People want to see themselves, their culture, their identity and their experience reflected accurately. Editing with empathy is a responsible way to ensure writing is accurate and respectful across all genres.

What is Authenticity Editing?

It reviews the way marginalised groups, identities, cultures and experiences are portrayed in creative work (e.g. book, script, game, movie, marketing, adverts), and is usually done when creators are exploring unfamiliar topics. For example, if a character has autism and the writer has no experience of this, they can work with an authenticity expert who has autism to accurately represent it.

Authenticity editing uncovers unconscious bias, stereotypes, offensive content, clichés and inaccurate facts that writers unintentionally include.

Why does it matter?

Everyone has the creative freedom to write what they want. You don’t have to follow Mark Twain’s famous piece of writing advice and ‘write what you know’ to avoid being criticised; instead, ‘write what you don’t know’ but do it responsibly and respectfully.

Writers might thoroughly research resources to understand the unfamiliar, but even the well-intentioned writer can get things wrong – a shame when so much time and emotional investment is poured into writing.

Authenticity editing fills writers’ knowledge-gaps and strengthens their work with lived perspectives, ensuring that the language is used contextually, carefully and responsibly to minimise misrepresentation and harmful depictions.

Is Authenticity Editing a form of ‘book policing’?!

Authenticity editing doesn’t have the power to censor books  – the publishing house makes final publication decisions. If representation is poor or harmful, readers might leave negative reviews, critics call out writers on social media or publishers might cancel contracts, leading to reputational risk. Authenticity editing can help writers avoid mistakes that lead to outcry before publishing.

Authenticity Editing matters in every genre

Many people think that authenticity editing is only used to assess race and cultures, but many topics are reviewed which most genres will explore:

• Social identities such as race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, spirituality and religion, disability, body size, socioeconomic status and neurodiversity.
• First-hand experiences that are difficult to portray without experiencing them, e.g. being a carer, fostering or adoption, homelessness, medical conditions, e.g. brain trauma.
• Specialist professional knowledge, e.g. armed forces, healthcare or medical sectors, the police and lawyers, need to be portrayed convincingly.

4 tips for editing with empathy

1. Be curious

When you come across anything that’s outside your knowledge and experience, don’t assume or judge – ask questions. Is the portrayal based on stereotypes or clichés? Is your source of research credible and trusted? Instead of basing things on assumptions from Google searches, reach out to specific communities to explore what they say about being represented. What does their lived experience reveal?