Creative Writing

The following selection of web-based resources address important issues such as IBPOC representation in Creative Writing programs, cultural appropriation, gender-inclusive language in the classroom and beyond, addiction, mental illness etc. The selection is not exhaustive and invites further conversations and discussion.

• The Student of Color in the Typical MFA Program by David Mura
• On not Writing for White People by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
• Rethinking the CW Workshop by Jimin Han
• Unsilencing the Workshop by Beth Nguyen
• The Imposterism Scale by Jenny Yang Cropp
• The Program Era and the Mainly White Room by Juliana Spahr and Stephanie Young
• Words of (Dis)comfort: On the Luxuries and Limitations of Reading While White by Helen Chau Bradley

• Anti-Ableism Guide from Simmons University
• The Dos and Don’ts of Writing About the Disabled by Nicola Griffith
• The Most Damaging Way Movies Portray People With Disabilities, an interview with Alice Wong
• Let's Talk Villains & Disfigurement by Jen Campbell
• Why Does Literature Have So Little to Say About Illness? by Meghan O'Rourke

• The do's, don’ts, maybes, and I-don’t-knows of cultural appropriation by Chelsea Vowell
• On Seeing and Being Seen: The Difference Between Writing With Empathy and Writing With Love by Alicia Elliott
• Shaping a New Voice — Or, How the Spectre of Censorship Still Haunts Me by Mehdi M. Kashani
• Think Before You Appropriate: A Guide for Creators and Designers

• CanLit, AmLit—NishLit? Rematriating Indigenous Literature Beyond Borders by Kai Minosh Pyle
• The On-Screen Protocols & Pathways: A Media Production Guide to Working with First Nations, Métis and Inuit Communities, Cultures, Concepts and Stories

• The Problem With Pronouns by Rachel N. Levin

• Writing About Addiction with Care: 5 Tips by Jessica Fleming
• Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong by Johann Hari
• A Life of Sharp Declines: The misrepresentation of addicts in film by Christopher M. Jones

• A Guide for Skinny Writers Who Want to Write Fat Characters by Sarah Hollowell
• Unruly Bodies by Roxane Gay

• Writing Characters of Different Races and Ethnicities
• Representation Matters: A Literary Call To Arms by K. Tempest Bradford
• How to Unlearn Everything: When it comes to writing the "other," what questions are we not asking? by Alexander Chee
• They Pretend To Be Us While Pretending We Don't Exist by Jenny Zhang
• The Storytellers of Empire by Kamila Shamsie

• Writing Women Characters as Human Beings in Fantasy Fiction by Kate Elliott
• Before you write about a transgender character, read this by Casey Plett
• These are groundbreaking times for trans literature — here are your essential reads by Gwen Benaway
• Writing Characters with Different Sexual Orientations

• Ways Mental Illness is Commonly Misrepresented in Media by October Boyles
• Do I Have the Right to Inhabit Another’s Mental Illness in Fiction? by Sarah Faber
• Depicting Depression: A Difficult Tale to Tell on TV by Stephen Kelly