{"id":455712,"date":"2021-11-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/?p=455712"},"modified":"2022-09-23T12:30:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T11:30:16","slug":"writers-guide-to-inclusive-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/writers-guide-to-inclusive-language\/","title":{"rendered":"A Writer&#8217;s Guide to Inclusive Language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Writer&#8217;s Guide to Inclusive Language<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Disappearing into a great book can be a transformative experience&nbsp;&#8211; a&nbsp;form of escapism&nbsp;and&nbsp;an&nbsp;expansion of&nbsp;your understanding.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I\u2019m diving into the world constructed by a creative author, I want to feel as though I belong in that world. Reading&nbsp;inclusive language is one of the ways in which&nbsp;all readers can&nbsp;feel&nbsp;connected&nbsp;to a&nbsp;story.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So how can you ensure you don\u2019t exclude any of your readers&nbsp;and you help them feel seen?&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Firstly,&nbsp;ask yourself this&nbsp;simple question\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Why-Are-You-Writing-This-Particular-Story\"><strong>Why Are You Writing This&nbsp;Particular&nbsp;Story?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We all possess an unconscious bias, and no matter how hard we fight it those hidden prejudices can be projected on to our work. Before we begin exploring inclusive language, ask yourself these questions:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Am I writing about what I know?&nbsp;<\/li><li>Is the person\u2019s&nbsp;identity, socio-economic status, race, and age relevant to the plot?&nbsp;<\/li><li>Is this my story to tell, or would it be better told by someone who has lived this experience?&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If the answer to any of the above is \u2018no\u2019 and you still want to write this story, we strongly suggest you do your research and work with critique partners\/beta readers\/sensitivity readers who have lived the life you are writing.&nbsp;This will not only strengthen the realism of your work, but it will grant you more respect when it comes to&nbsp;pitching your novel&nbsp;to agents or editors.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<br>As society changes, we need to remember our readers and their expectations change too.&nbsp;So, let\u2019s look at how to write inclusive stories\u2026&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"What-is-Inclusive-Language\"><strong>What is Inclusive Language?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Inclusive Language Definition:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Inclusion is the practice of fostering a sense of&nbsp;belonging, by including many perspectives, imagining&nbsp;a diverse audience, a multiplicity of ideals,&nbsp;values,&nbsp;and experiences. Inclusive language is&nbsp;how&nbsp;authors&nbsp;show that they&nbsp;recognise&nbsp;their readers, whoever&nbsp;they&nbsp;are, and that&nbsp;they&nbsp;are welcome.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many people who belong to marginalised communities yearn to see and read&nbsp;about&nbsp;well-rounded,&nbsp;authentic,&nbsp;and&nbsp;diverse&nbsp;characters who are&nbsp;empowered. Characters&nbsp;with independent purpose in&nbsp;narratives,&nbsp;and&nbsp;therefore&nbsp;given&nbsp;the ability to make meaningful change.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inclusive language&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;just&nbsp;the&nbsp;description of&nbsp;appearance or&nbsp;using&nbsp;appropriate pronouns; it\u2019s&nbsp;also&nbsp;the use of language to portray power, interest, and direction.&nbsp;It&nbsp;directly addresses the violence of racism, sexism, ageism,&nbsp;ableism,&nbsp;transphobia,&nbsp;islamophobia,&nbsp;anti-semitism,&nbsp;homophobia, and&nbsp;heteronormativity. Use of inclusive&nbsp;language also avoids&nbsp;direct discrimination,&nbsp;implicit and unconscious biases,&nbsp;and other forms of prejudice.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By practising inclusive writing,&nbsp;you will become highly aware of the language that has been used to communicate exclusion, bias, and hate.&nbsp;In order to appeal to ever-evolving audiences, it\u2019s vital to be&nbsp;aware of&nbsp;out of date&nbsp;language, words,&nbsp;and descriptions,&nbsp;as well as those that have always been intended to cause offense.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Why-Use-Inclusive-Language\"><strong>Why Use Inclusive Language?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Inclusive language is important because it means you are thinking about&nbsp;your&nbsp;most vulnerable and marginalised&nbsp;readers.&nbsp;It\u2019s&nbsp;important for us all to identify where our writing style inadvertently includes out-dated, offensive terms and work toward eliminating these&nbsp;\u2013 because we can\u2019t expect our readers to sift through our work to find the good stuff.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So many people experience the world through the writing of others, whether it\u2019s in museum text, film, TV, literature; representation matters to everyone.&nbsp;Limited representations and stereotypes of people in our society does not just harm those who are misrepresented or erased, it harms all whose imagination is limited and&nbsp;keeps their&nbsp;worldview small.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"What-Does-Inclusive-Language-Look-Like\"><strong>What Does Inclusive Language Look Like<\/strong>?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Power&nbsp;and agency&nbsp;are vital&nbsp;when considering&nbsp;your&nbsp;diverse characters. They&nbsp;must&nbsp;have autonomous, developed identities (so not just sidekicks or plot devices) who participate actively in the story and world.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As experiences of marginalisation and exclusion differ across identities here are a few ideas and examples&nbsp;to consider for your writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Parents-and-Pregnancy\"><strong>Parents and Pregnancy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For many&nbsp;authors creating&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/how-to-create-character-bio-template\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">character&nbsp;profiles<\/a>&nbsp;is a useful&nbsp;starting point&nbsp;when developing family dynamics.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When writing inclusively you&nbsp;should be aware of:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Hetronormative&nbsp;family structures. Heterosexual romantic relationship(s)&nbsp;don\u2019t have to be&nbsp;central to the familial history and structure.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Gender norms as affecting roles taken by parental figures&nbsp;(the mother doesn\u2019t have to do all the&nbsp;cooking,&nbsp;the father doesn\u2019t have to be great at DIY).&nbsp;<\/li><li>Assumptions of&nbsp;the nuclear family with&nbsp;two parents&nbsp;and one or more child. These&nbsp;erase\u202fpolyamorous&nbsp;and blended families&nbsp;and is a western&nbsp;ideal that&nbsp;doesn&#8217;t often include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins,&nbsp;and multi-generational households&nbsp;as&nbsp;the core familial structure.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Language matters<\/strong> \u2013 use&nbsp;<em>toughen up<\/em>&nbsp;instead of&nbsp;<em>man up<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>homemaker<\/em>&nbsp;instead of&nbsp;<em>housewife<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>husband and wife<\/em>&nbsp;instead of&nbsp;<em>man and wife<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This doesn\u2019t mean you&nbsp;<em>can\u2019t<\/em>&nbsp;have a family that is made up of a married female mum, male dad, and 2.4 kids \u2013 it simply means that society doesn\u2019t&nbsp;<em>only<\/em>&nbsp;look that way. It\u2019s&nbsp;important to reflect reality in your work, as long as it doesn\u2019t feel forced, gratuitous, or irrelevant.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A&nbsp;book that explored the idea of family in an inclusive way&nbsp;is&nbsp;Candice Carty-Williams\u2019s 2019 novel&nbsp;<em>Queenie<\/em>. The titular character\u2019s family is central to her narrative and their history unfolds throughout&nbsp;the story&nbsp;with the family dynamic driving the narrative.&nbsp;Queenie\u2019s family is her grandmother, grandfather, her&nbsp;aunt, cousin&nbsp;and&nbsp;her mother;&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;the family she creates in her \u2018corgis\u2019. The relationships feel authentic and complex&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;their dynamic is a natural part of the texture of the world.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Gender-and-Sexual-Orientation\">Gender and Sexual Orientation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s&nbsp;essential&nbsp;to use inclusive language when&nbsp;exploring gender experiences&nbsp;as well as experiences of sexuality&nbsp;across the spectrum&nbsp;of the&nbsp;LGBTQIA+ communities.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This&nbsp;acronym&nbsp;is&nbsp;used to capture a wide spectrum of experiences,&nbsp;not just&nbsp;those&nbsp;of&nbsp;the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. The first three letters (LGB) refer to sexual orientation. The &#8216;T&#8217; refers&nbsp;to transgender, and so&nbsp;to gender identity. The \u201cQ\u201d stands for Questioning or Queer, the \u201cI\u201d for Intersexual and the \u201cA\u201d for Asexual.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless of your own&nbsp;sexual preferences, remember the world is made up of many people with many different outlooks&nbsp;and lifestyles.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<br>This also applies to unconscious bias when it comes to gender roles and what it means to be \u2018male\u2019 or \u2018female\u2019. Think about&nbsp;non-sexist language such as:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Gender binaries&nbsp;and&nbsp;gender-neutral&nbsp;language&nbsp;(the&nbsp;idea that&nbsp;you&nbsp;<em>have<\/em>&nbsp;to be&nbsp;either&nbsp;male or female).&nbsp;<\/li><li>Framing&nbsp;around gendered appearances&nbsp;(e.g.&nbsp;describing&nbsp;someone&nbsp;as&nbsp;<em>girlie<\/em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;a&nbsp;<em>tom boy<\/em>).<\/li><li>The effects of patriarchal assumptions&nbsp;that make it seem necessary to use&nbsp;\u2018female\u2019&nbsp;as an adjective with professions that&nbsp;have&nbsp;assumptions&nbsp;of a male&nbsp;standard&nbsp;e.g.&nbsp;doctor&nbsp;or&nbsp;scientist.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Toxic masculinity that equates being a man to being tough and unemotional&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;and femininity to&nbsp;being submissive and sexualized or viewed with the&nbsp;male gaze to satisfy unrealistic fantasies.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<strong>Language matters<\/strong> &#8211; use&nbsp;<em>gay<\/em>&nbsp;instead of&nbsp;<em>homo<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>sexual preference<\/em>&nbsp;instead of&nbsp;<em>sexuality<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>trans person<\/em>&nbsp;instead of&nbsp;<em>transvestite<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>humankind&nbsp;<\/em>instead of&nbsp;<em>mankind<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Vanishing Half<\/em>&nbsp;by Brit Bennett&nbsp;discusses&nbsp;gender (and race) in an&nbsp;intimate manner.&nbsp;Reese and Jude\u2019s relationship unfolds as a sweet experience of connection and insecurity of two marginalised people. Reese\u2019s&nbsp;identity as a trans man is established&nbsp;early&nbsp;and his pronouns established and&nbsp;used consistently then on, with none of the narrative based on speculating on his gender. In&nbsp;fact&nbsp;it is society\u2019s gender assumptions that become absurd, and painful when viewed from the perspective of a couple that sit outside of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Social-Inclusion\">Social Inclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Poverty and social exclusion&nbsp;are&nbsp;often overlooked when writing inclusively. The language used to refer to people of low socioeconomic status can strengthen negative stereotypes upheld by society, without exploring the systemic inequalities that create poverty and social exclusion&nbsp;in the first place.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things to keep in mind:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Consider talking about people\u2019s&nbsp;<em>socio-economic&nbsp;status<\/em> rather than&nbsp;<em>class<\/em>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Describing people as&nbsp;<em>survivors<\/em>&nbsp;rather than&nbsp;<em>victims<\/em>&nbsp;addresses the idea of agency and power inherent in inclusive writing.<\/li><li>Describing people as&nbsp;<em>poor<\/em>&nbsp;or areas as&nbsp;<em>ghettos<\/em>, is offensive and dismissive, assigning&nbsp;value only to financial&nbsp;and material assets.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, if you&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/show-dont-tell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">show (not tell)<\/a>&nbsp;your reader what your characters&#8217; lives are like you won\u2019t need to refer to the words&nbsp;<em>poor, low class<\/em>, or&nbsp;<em>slums<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trevor Noah\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Born&nbsp;a&nbsp;Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood<\/em>&nbsp;describes the reality of living in a community that had been ghettoised by systematic exclusion and discrimination in&nbsp;Apartheid&nbsp;South Africa. The characters in his narrative are interesting and complex, not&nbsp;limited&nbsp;by&nbsp;stereotypical&nbsp;victim narratives, simply people who have to live in an&nbsp;excluded&nbsp;society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AdobeStock_427183126-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-462227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AdobeStock_427183126-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AdobeStock_427183126-600x400.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AdobeStock_427183126-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AdobeStock_427183126-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AdobeStock_427183126-640x427.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/AdobeStock_427183126.jpeg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Disability\">Disability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When writing about the experience of disabilities it\u2019s important to acknowledge the vastness of what is understood as a disability.&nbsp;As mentioned previously, if disability is not your lived&nbsp;experience,&nbsp;then work with those who can advise you.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things to consider:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Assumptions about what a disability looks like&nbsp;can result&nbsp;in invisible illnesses and mental health conditions&nbsp;being treated with scepticism and mistrust.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Framing of disability as something strange&nbsp;encourages tropes of disabled villains.&nbsp;Such as where&nbsp;disfigurement and scarring are&nbsp;used to signal wickedness&nbsp;(the&nbsp;<em>James Bond<\/em>&nbsp;franchise has been under fire for this recently); or mental health&nbsp;or childhood trauma is&nbsp;used to create a backstory that explains violent characteristics. These are dangerous and hurtful tropes with real-life impact.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;\u2018othering\u2019 of disabilities detaches&nbsp;these experiences&nbsp;from our understanding&nbsp;of&nbsp;\u2018normal\u2019&nbsp;experiences in society and&nbsp;supports social exclusion&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;despite the fact&nbsp;that 15% of the world\u2019s population openly identifies&nbsp;as having a disability.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Language matters<\/strong> &#8211;&nbsp;<em>wheelchair bound<\/em>&nbsp;implies a&nbsp;wheelchair&nbsp;traps its user, whereas&nbsp;<em>wheelchair&nbsp;user<\/em>&nbsp;articulates&nbsp;that&nbsp;their&nbsp;mobility aid&nbsp;provides freedom and greater access to its user.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With mental health, the words&nbsp;<em>mental, crazy, unhinged,&nbsp;unpredictable<\/em>&nbsp;etc&nbsp;are biased and harmful&nbsp;(unless&nbsp;purposely&nbsp;used in dialogue to represent a character\u2019s own views).&nbsp;Describe their characteristics without using words that are biased and rooted in ridicule or fear.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Audre Lorde\u2019s&nbsp;<em>The Cancer Journals<\/em>&nbsp;explores the nuance of dealing will long-term illness and disability, along&nbsp;with Black feminist theory,&nbsp;delivered&nbsp;through poetry and essays.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Race-and-Ethnicity\">Race and Ethnicity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Race is a social construct, but&nbsp;racism is a reality that affects us all.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ethnic diversity is often what people&nbsp;refer to when&nbsp;discussing&nbsp;racial&nbsp;differences;&nbsp;ethnicity is a mix of inherited features and&nbsp;shared cultures. It\u2019s distinct&nbsp;from nationality, which is&nbsp;a legal status that assigns a person to the laws of a state or nation, as well as affords them protection by this state.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many readers will have,&nbsp;at some point,&nbsp;read&nbsp;\u2018classic\u2019&nbsp;narratives with no ethnic diversity, or tokenistic and stereotypical representations&nbsp;(for instance,&nbsp;the language&nbsp;used&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;much-loved classic,&nbsp;<em>The Secret Garden<\/em>, would not be acceptable today).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When considering ethnicity in characters, remember it\u2019s&nbsp;not always vital to describe&nbsp;the&nbsp;skin&nbsp;colour or&nbsp;nationality&nbsp;of your character through physical descriptions (you can allude to heritage via their name&nbsp;or setting, or&nbsp;simply&nbsp;let readers decide what they look like).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&nbsp;<em>must<\/em>&nbsp;describe them, consider:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Our world is&nbsp;ethnically diverse,&nbsp;so your literary worlds should be&nbsp;thoughtfully&nbsp;described without dipping in to fetishized language focusing&nbsp;on features in an overt and uncomfortable way. When describing someone there\u2019s no need to isolate&nbsp;body parts like lips or&nbsp;genitals,&nbsp;or&nbsp;describe&nbsp;skin tones&nbsp;using food.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.diversitystyleguide.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Diversity Guide<\/a>&nbsp;is a great source of reference&nbsp;for&nbsp;inclusive language examples.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Language matters<\/strong> &#8211;&nbsp;use&nbsp;uppercase \u2018B\u2019 in the word \u2018Black\u2019 when referring to race, ethnicity or cultural background,&nbsp;and lower case for the colour \u2018black\u2019.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An excellent example of inclusive writing around ethnicity is N. K. Jemisin\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Broken Earth Trilogy<\/em>. Though set in a fantasy world where racial identities do not correlate to our own, the character\u2019s&nbsp;physical&nbsp;descriptions are detailed and rich enough&nbsp;that&nbsp;readers experience a&nbsp;varied cast of characters&nbsp;that&nbsp;are&nbsp;ethnically diverse, nuanced, and relatable.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Age\">Age<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I will end by exploring writing inclusively about age, which is essential as&nbsp;all&nbsp;our identities are filtered by age.&nbsp;For instance, referencing age can provide a&nbsp;restrictive lens that&nbsp;may&nbsp;ascribe ignorance and beauty to&nbsp;youth,&nbsp;and cynicism and wisdom to&nbsp;the elderly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ageism affects people regardless of&nbsp;how old they are.&nbsp;Consider these intersections to help challenge stereotypes:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Ageism with gender assumptions, around pregnancy and desires for pregnancy.&nbsp;Is every woman over thirty desperate for children?<\/li><li>Ageism&nbsp;combined with&nbsp;racism brings forth particular stereotypes and harmful assumptions (e.g.&nbsp;Black youths vs Black elders).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>Ageism&nbsp;combined with&nbsp;disability&nbsp;can bring to light an array of pre-conceived prejudice.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The&nbsp;erasure of LGBTQIA+ elders support an idea that these communities are new in society without longevity and legacy.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Language matters<\/strong> \u2013&nbsp;although the terms&nbsp;<em>old fart, little old lady, bitter old man<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>old hag&nbsp;<\/em>are&nbsp;often used in jest, they are&nbsp;still&nbsp;insulting&nbsp;(unless they\u2019re included in a character\u2019s dialogue&nbsp;to reflect their own bias).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a great example of how to change a reader\u2019s perception of age,&nbsp;Jonas Jonasson\u2019s&nbsp;novel,&nbsp;<em>The&nbsp;100 Year-Old&nbsp;Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared,&nbsp;<\/em>is&nbsp;a refreshing narrative from the perspective of an older protagonist that actively&nbsp;challenges&nbsp;the limited expectations of older characters, instead highlighting how all the experiences of his life created accumulated knowledge and perspectives that furthered his narrative and creative possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Evolution-of-Language\">Evolution of Language<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Bear in mind that movements to reclaim language that\u2019s historically been used to offend, by those who these words were used against, is rising.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Exploration around \u2018crip culture\u2019 reclaiming the word \u2018cripple,\u2019 or movements within the LGBT+&nbsp;communities to reclaim the term \u2018queer,\u2019 are very interesting elements of inclusive practice that explore the complexity of power and positionality.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However,&nbsp;these&nbsp;remain problematic for most writers unless they&nbsp;have lived that experience and&nbsp;have a very good reason to use self-deprecating language.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reclaimed language, among other debates and advocacies based on marginalised people telling their own stories,&nbsp;can and should be explored further by following the #OwnVoices hashtag&nbsp;(created by author Corinne&nbsp;Duyvis). Other&nbsp;related community discussions and campaigns, such as the&nbsp;<em>We Need Diverse Books<\/em>&nbsp;campaign, are worth researching.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<br>But please, don\u2019t ask someone else to educate you. If you want to run ideas past someone, hire (that means&nbsp;<em>pay<\/em>) a sensitivity reader.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Champion-Inclusivity\">Champion Inclusivity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If your intention is to create a greater sense of belonging, a richer and more complicated world that feels relevant with open possibilities, then it is always worth expanding your practice and considering the impact of the words you choose and the inclusivity of your text.&nbsp;We don\u2019t always get it right, but it\u2019s important to try.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because&nbsp;I believe&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;a reflexive relationship between inclusive language and inclusive society.&nbsp;As writers it\u2019s our job to be aware of exclusions in society,&nbsp;to&nbsp;consider the agency in the characters we create,&nbsp;and to help move the world forward&nbsp;through the literary&nbsp;worlds we build.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And remember, if all of this appears to be too difficult or unnecessary \u2013 maybe your story isn\u2019t yours to tell. Draw from your own experiences. Bring&nbsp;your&nbsp;readers&nbsp;into&nbsp;<em>your<\/em>&nbsp;world, and&nbsp;in turn&nbsp;help them feel seen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Writer&#8217;s Guide to Inclusive Language Disappearing into a great book can be a transformative experience&nbsp;&#8211; a&nbsp;form of escapism&nbsp;and&nbsp;an&nbsp;expansion of&nbsp;your understanding.&nbsp;&nbsp; When I\u2019m diving into the world constructed by a creative author, I want to feel as though I belong in that world. Reading&nbsp;inclusive language is one of the ways in which&nbsp;all readers can&nbsp;feel&nbsp;connected&nbsp;to a&nbsp;story.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17460,"featured_media":455741,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[28575],"class_list":["post-455712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publishing-industry","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jericho Writers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about Inclusive Language, why it\u2019s important in writing and see many examples.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/writers-guide-to-inclusive-language\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Writer&#039;s Guide to Inclusive Language &#8211; 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