In an ever-diversifying world, sensitivity importance has grown in the literary scene. In this article, we're going to look at why the sensitivity reader process is important and what it really means to portray diverse characters in an authentic way.

Sensitivity Reader Process

A sensitivity reader is similar to a beta reader. However, they are particularly reading from the point of view of marginalized characters portrayed in your story or from the point of view of characters affected by the issues you are writing about.

A sensitive reader will be someone from the same background or community as the characters in the book, or someone who has been impacted in their lives by the issues presented.

In terms of the process, a sensitive reader will read the book from the perspective of an issue such as race, LGBTQ+, disability, or addiction (those are just some examples) and ensure that the people portrayed in that book are being portrayed fairly, accurately, and in an authentic way.

Sensitivity readers do a close reading of the entire text. They will give you feedback, which you, the author, can accept, reject, or discuss further.

Sensitivity Readers Importance

When it comes to sensitivity, reader importance is all about portraying issues and communities from a realistic perspective. No one author can be from every single community in society, so authors won't always have a true experience of what they are writing about. A sensitive reader can help because they are a member of the community being portrayed.

Sensitivity readers help authors avoid stereotypes or discrimination in their writing. It's important to note that the job of a sensitive reader is not to completely sanitize a text. People often hear diversity and quickly jump to words like snowflake or cancel culture. But really, a sensitive reader is just making sure that the book is written in a reasonable way from the point of view of members of the community who are being represented.

It's worth bringing in a sensitive reader if your book includes characters from a background or community different from yours.

Authenticity in Literature

The importance of diverse representation in books goes beyond simple representation. When it comes to authenticity in literature, characters from marginalized backgrounds and communities (which is to say, backgrounds and communities that aren't in the majority of society), it's important to ensure the representation is not mere lip service or stereotypes. Authentic representation should involve:

• Communities are presented as having more than a handful of qualities.
• Not all members of a community are portrayed in the same way.
• Characters have more to their personality than being from a certain background.
• Traditions and cultures are portrayed in realistic ways.

Diverse Representation in Books

A crucial thing about diversity is that it should come naturally within the text. There's no need to shoehorn in attempts at diversity, as this will just reduce characters from marginalized backgrounds down to one-note plot devices. In order to provide true diverse representation in books, characters should be more than mere token inclusions.

Oftentimes, the best way to achieve authenticity in literature in terms of diversity is to have more than one character from a particular marginalized group. For example, often we don't see authentic portrayals of autistic characters beyond stereotypes, and we rarely see works of fiction that see autistic characters portrayed across a wide spectrum of traits. The same can be said in terms of indigenous characters, who are often represented as characters who are there to be saved by white protagonists. It's important to show characters from marginalized communities or backgrounds as diverse, and this is difficult to do if you only have one token of inclusion. So if you are genuinely looking to delve deeper into issues facing marginalized communities, it's vital to have more than one character from that community as a fully fleshed-out part of the story.

Something the sensitivity reading process can aid with is ensuring the characters presented are portrayed as more than just their background but also as people. For diversity to be effective, it has to be meaningful. When we say fully fleshed-out characters, we talk about characters who seem like real people. So regardless of background or community, all of your main characters should be well-rounded. They should all have clear motivations and personalities, and readers should be able to see what makes them happy or sad.

Crucially, diverse representation shouldn't be about pandering or box-ticking; it should involve accurate representations of the society we live in, which is in itself very diverse with people from all kinds of backgrounds.

Part of the sensitivity reader importance we see is ensuring that characters aren't being portrayed entirely as negative stereotypes. At the same time, characters from any background shouldn't be portrayed as completely perfect, as nobody in real life is. So take on board advice from a sensitive reader about how to make your character seem more human.

Respectful Depiction Guidelines

Here are some respectful depiction guidelines to keep in mind when writing diverse characters:

• Give characters a story beyond simply their background.
• Avoid relying on stereotypes.
• Include multiple characters from the same community.
• Understanding neurodiversity is a spectrum.
• Do research into what you are representing.
• Avoid token characters.
• Ask yourself, "Is this my story to tell?"
• Take on board feedback from people within the community you are representing.
• Avoid representing characters as completely good or bad.
• Discuss your characters with an actual person from that community.
• Avoid generalizations (e.g., "all x people are y").

Authentic portrayals of diverse characters can help empower the voices of tomorrow. Part of sensitivity readers importance is ensuring you are reflecting marginalized groups in an accurate way while embracing compassion.

Final Thoughts

Sensitivity reader importance is relevant in an increasingly diverse and globalized literary scene. Following respectful depiction guidelines and taking on board feedback from the sensitivity reader process can help promote authenticity in literature with an increase of meaningful, diverse representation in books.