Can someone help me please, I my story to be as diverse as possible without it being stereotyped. I want to hear your ideas and suggestions on how people and culture should be represented into a story, I am not adding any religion but at the same time I don’t want it to come across as adding characters for the sake of it and I want to be able to add character and personality to the characters but being respectful and mindful of how this should be represented. If you could add suggestions and advice on what to include and what to avoid I would be so so greatful.
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I honestly am struggling with the same things and am still working on trying to make my characters look different.
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I’m gonna assume you mean diversity in more than just the race category, so you should try to include plus size characters and transgender characters.
But for me, I’m black, and I think it’s cool to include a black female character with an afro, or locs, or braids, fuller lips, it does NOT have to be the biggest option, but not tiny lips because that’s not very realistic. But if you include a black character, any hairstyle is fine, but if you want it to be realistic, I think curly hair or a protective style is the move.
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Yes I did, although I can see why it did come across as that, I will make the edit.
My main struggle is ensuring these do not seem added for added sake not because they are added for added sake but because I don’t have much experience in certain areas, but race is my biggest down fall such as, as you pointed out how they should look to give a realistic view but also clothing and cultural wise for example I know it would be disrespectful to have a character eat something that realistically they wouldn’t eat etc
I want to use my own interpretations for disabilities as an important part of my story is inspired by some of the children I have worked with and their journey as well as my own.
As for plus size characters (still waiting for the male plus size 
)
I do have these characters in a plan which I am working on but currently I’m trying to find a way to allow the reader to choose their body type as well as sexuality but this is proving difficult due to the amount of coding as it’s require a lot of different scripts.
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RIGHT. I’m waiting for PLUS SIZE MALE TOO. And yess, because even the clothing for Plus size is different.
Also, I just have to say, no matter what race someone is, almost everyone eats multiple types of food so I don’t think you can really go wrong with that one. What race are you talking about specefically?
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It’s difficult to say as I haven’t 100% decided yet as I want to see where it goes and then make edits and for example if I know I said I’m not adding religion it would be disrespectful to some to have them eating pork (I’m obviously not going to do that, but the is a restaurant scene and I don’t want to unintentionally apply food that they wouldn’t eat… I’m not sure if that makes sense 
)
Also totally of topic but I love your name 
Would you mind me using it?
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You can have an option that says something like, “Do you want your character to have a headscarf?” Or have a headscarf option in a dressing game… unless this is offending? I don’t want to offend someone by saying the wrong thing 
You said you’re not adding any religion, but there are some people who prefer to wear a headscarf even if it isn’t required in their religion so… I don’t know. I’m not good with this kind of thing.
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Oh yeah, if they’re Muslim. And I understand 100% what you’re saying .
AND AWWW THANK YOU 
. That means a lot and OF COURSE, now I want to read your story.
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It really depends on where your characters are from, their ethnicities, how they’ve grown up, their experiences etc.
But extensive research is second only to asking people who have more specific info on your selected characters. 
As for something in general, not all black ethnicities have the same features, there are some which have straighter hair and smaller lips, examples would but the majority of mixed Indigenous Australians, mixed Torres Strait Islanders and a lot of Maoris. So, choosing where your characters’ roots are from, is important to reflect how they look.
Also important to look into the spellings and slang of any countries you choose to add, an example would be us Australians use “prawns” instead of “shrimp” even though we’re somehow known for the phrase “Throw another shrimp on the barbie.”
What I’m saying is, if you want info on writing a character from Australia, it’s best to ask an Aussie.
If you want info on Japanese characters, it best to ask someone who’s Japanese etc. etc, but never let that neglect research too.
Again, research. If you want some characters to be apart of the LBGTQ+ community, ask around and look up what is considered offensive and what you should avoid. One of the biggest ones I’ve seen is gay men being portrayed as over-the-top girly men who only care about fashion, tea and boosting their female bestie to get a man. There’s also certain words that are highly offensive to the LGBTQ+ community, so you should avoid using those too after learning about them and what they mean to the community.
That also applies to any community/group you want to add for example: Avoid making it seem like a person in a wheelchair is not capable of looking after themselves, that’s offensive to those with a disability or that someone who stutters has a lower intellect or that women can’t do the same things that men can.
There’s so much I could include but I’m pretty certain you get my point. If there’s a specific group or ethnicity you wanna write, research and ask. 
A few links:
Also highly recommend watching a show called “You Can’t Ask That.” It covers a wide range of different people of all communities.
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/you-can-t-ask-that
https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/women/wrgs/pages/genderstereotypes.aspx
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/WrongfulGenderStereotyping.aspx
Stereotypes & prejudice of 'Aboriginal Australia' - Creative Spirits
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Thanks, it’s a long way off yet I’m trying yo make it user friendly but of course episode can’t make this straight forward for people
For example I’m adding a choice to use closed captions but instead of using a feature that allows the reader to do this automatically I’ve needed to code this myself by doing this
if (closed caption) {
Sound: sound name
Readermessage
Door knock
}
Else {
Continue
}
Then it’s repeated for each sound/music. Totally worth it tho 
just episode could make life easier and allow all stories to have this feature
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Ok not ignoring you guys but It’s 2am and I’ve been up since 6am yesterday
I’ll take what people have said on bord and get replying when I wake up
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OHH IKR. You should just do the closed captions for everyone because sometimes I listen to a story with the sound and if I’m in an environment where I can’t play the sound and I’m without earphones, I think it would be a good idea for have the closed captions on for all. Especially to save yourself some work 
Thanks guys 
it has been helpful to hear some views, I’m going to do some digging and see how things go.
@juliewrites I really like that idea and it shouldn’t be too hard to code either as it’s just adding an outfit choice
@schittwriter
Thank you so much, I do have some LGBTQ+ friends who said they will give me some ideas on what to avoid although like they said “write the character the way you view and treat me”
I hate that so much, I don’t usually have a stutter unless my anxiety kicks in (this doesn’t happen all the time.) I’ve had people who don’t know me give me funny looks and whisper if they happen to be present when my anxiety kicks in as I end up fidgeting , twitching and stuttering but I don’t like anyone with any disability because talked to or treated as though they can’t look after themselves.
@Symonne_8304
I know 
episode talk about equality in stories and stuff but aren’t prepared to make the app user friendly. It doesn’t need a lot but little details could really help everyone have the same experience!
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I’m struggling with this too. For my first story, I want my character to be Latina. I tried to make her as close to Latina as I could based on photos and my friends who are Latina. I can see her in my head as Latina but idk if she appears in episode as Latina.
You should be doing extensive research and then, and only then, should you go and ask people. And when you do ask people, be respectful. Don’t ask surface level, obvious questions that have been repeatedly answered by other people. And don’t ask people about how often they get hate crimed lol.
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By “second only to” I mean the information you gain from research in many cases isn’t as valuable and sometimes not as accurate as the information you get from people who live it, experience it and understand it.
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When people say to research something, especially when it comes to diversity, they mean seek out resources made by the group. Videos, articles, books etc. Those things are information written by people who have & live those experiences, and they feel comfortable enough to talk about it.
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Also many Jewish and some Christians don’t eat pork.
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For black people just don’t make them look all the same. A lot of us have afros and braids and locs but that’s not always the case! We can be born with any hair texture/color. So go crazy!
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Well no Latina looks the same. Latinas can be any race and ethnicity.
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