Yeah, I agree with you 100%. Before I’m writing a story I make sure all of my characters are written out and well planned. I usually write out what my characters intentions, dreams, traumas, morals, personality, history, hopes, etc are and I like doing it, it’s so interesting to me. So when people make characters basic and all the same, nothing different than the cliche stereo-types then I have no intention of wanting to read that story anymore. Characters are what make the story interesting ,how they react in different situations, and what they do make it more interesting.
Like you said, adding diversity to your story is not just adding color and race. Its so much more then that, so not taking out your time to add just a little bit of diversity in your story is just- 
No 
I think you’re watering it down a lot on what diversity means, especially for people who aren’t cis, straight, able-bodied white people.
And these things you also list:
Many of those things are a part of every story whether you notice it or not. Diversity in people’s morals, perspectives, class, etc isn’t a rare thing you find in stories. It’s the source of conflict and what progresses a story forward. I think you need to marinate over this a little bit more.
I never said every story doesn’t include these things, I said that they aren’t judged for diversity based on that very often. And as I said, these things aren’t just diversity if you add them in a story, they are diversity if each character’s experience with them is different. Also I don’t understand what you mean by
… many groups can have a diversity of these traits- traits in different characters, when put together, form a diverse group - A person doesn’t have to be white to experience different levels of basic human struggle…
Also, I got into more detail about that list here:
Okay, I think you’re confused. Let’s look at what diversity in this context means (definition taken from the Oxford Dictionary):
“the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.”
“Diversity” in thoughts or opinions isn’t diversity in this sense. You’re using a very vague definition to water down what it means to actually have diversity in your story.
None of this made sense to me or even related in the context of what I was saying. If you want to elaborate you can. If your story is full of cis, straight, able-bodied white people then your story isn’t diverse.
honestly, I just straight up disagree with you on most of what you’re saying and how ur saying it lol. I don’t see myself continuing this specific convo with you, but if you have more to add, feel free.
Okay 
it’s just a discussion so if you felt offended or anything, I really didn’t mean to come off that way. I’m sorry if I did.
no, you’re fine, I just don’t see this going much of anywhere lol, but a lot of it will most likely end up being repetition, and I don’t want to bother either of us with that cycle - ty for ending this respectfully :))
You are both kind people!
Couldn’t agree more. I found myself thinking about this often after seeing the rubrics of the diversity category in story reviews. The thing is that diversity is a very broad term and it embodies a lot of aspects. It’s a growing one too, it’ll constantly have new elements added into the notion as the society changes.
It’s not just what’s noticed on the surface of a character. It’s deeper than that. It goes as far as interests, flaws, mindsets, fears, education and even the general outlooks on life. and many others that are already mentioned in the original post
They are widely overlooked although they enrich a character, add depth to the external scene. And thus, writers should be encouraged to consider these aspects too while shaping their characters.
These should bring as many diversity points as the generally accepted diversity elements do in those story reviews…
I’m not understanding how this is a list of diversity. If anything, it’s a list of possible conflicts, which should be a given in a story since that’s what moves it along.
I find it a bit misguided to say that what you listed is the same as a marginalized group being represented in a story, under the guise of it being “diversity” too. It just sounds like an excuse to not include certain groups, which is your right in your story, but just call it what it is.
I agree. Diversity on Episode comes from real life, so of course it’s very complicated.
um no. Idk how that makes you think I’m wanting to disclude marginalized groups simply because I want to recognize other forms of diversity. Those things ARE conflicts, but giving the various characters those struggles or traits creates a diverse environment. I never once said I didn’t want to include those groups, and I don’t appreciate that assumption. Acknowledging other forms of something does not mean you want to negate the other.
Okay, but why should you get special points for writing conflicts? That’s what a story is. You should already be doing that.
you don’t get… special points? These concepts aren’t only applied to conflict- they can be traits applied to a character in order to provide more diversity. Idk what’s so complicated about that. Diversity isn’t just color, but color IS and should be considered diversity- but those things are also diversity if all characters have a variety of those traits, making them all adding a new component to the group ; thus creating diversity
If all the characters have the same economic position, that wouldn’t be very diverse, would it?
If all characters had the same opinions, that wouldn’t be very diverse either.
**diverse in that component of diversity
Yes, I’m rlly glad this thread was made. A lazy author thinks they can add diversity by purely adding different body types + ethnicities. And although it’s vital to add ethnic diversity (absolutely vital, there shouldn’t b a second thought abt that) but also, having all ur characters all think similar, act similar & have no proper development is a large lack of diversity and also extremely tedious to read bc irl ppl r different 
YESSS- this!
It’s great people can acknowledge the conversation and inclusion of diversity is much more nuanced :))
The type of diversity Episode is going for is to give a voice to the stories of marginalized people, stories that are often nowhere near the top of the trending page. That’s why they’re scored differently. That’s why people keep bringing up marginalized people.
Okay, that’s fine, but I don’t see what’s wrong with discussing the fact that diversity isn’t as simple as that- and that episode should consider other components in relation to diversity.
I think diversity in a story is awesome and makes it a complex and compelling story- so why not encourage more forms of it being expressed…?..
Stories already should have diversity in that way. All stories have conflict, problems, different personalities, etc. That’s how stories work, or at the very least they should. It doesn’t need to be encouraged in the same way that these groups need their stories heard. We should be prioritizing getting under-presented groups in the spotlight, and then maybe you can argue that we need to expand the definition.
I think it does need to be encouraged. What I’m saying is, when stories are being reviewed, it couldn’t hurt to consider that as well. I’m not even denying it isn’t included, I’m saying that should be apart of scoring, because it’s important.
For you to say ALL stories already have that is a little absurd lol- a lot of authors tend to have similiar characters because they ever got the opportunity or never had the thought to explore that specific strategy within character building- making character traits different.
You may feel people need to prioritize one form of diversity, and that’s fine, but you probably shouldn’t dictate what other’s want to be discussed as well.
Also, the definition of diversity, the one I feel should be spoken on, is having a variety of traits within characters in a story- that is the already exisiting definition I’m considering rn.