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Sending you such love 🧡 Break ups are so incredibly painful. I’ve been through the moving back in with my mother (and out again), the comfort reality tv, and the empowerment of pole fitness. It’s a rite of passage! So excited for you to experience a better and brighter 2025. You glow girl 💚

I've never minded that you upload sporadically because I know when you do upload something, that your reviews will be thoughtful and interesting. Happy reading for 2025!

So lovely to see this video in my notifications this morning - I'm sorry 2024 was such a turbulent year for you but I hope you're doing well! I don't think I could narrow down a favourite book of 2024 but I read 5 Lizzie Huxley-Jones books last year so I'd consider them my favourite author of the year!

Thanks for calling out people by the color of their skin. Dear POC TH-camr, quit being racist.

Thank you! I LOVE writing diversity in my books. Although they’ll never be seen by anyone other then my friends and myself but I still love diversity and I wanna do it correctly without anyone being offended.

I’m so glad that I discovered your chanel. I loved your review and it was very helpful for my classic discussion lead that I’ll be doing this week for my class based on first 26 pages of this book. 😘

Such a joy to see you in my subscription feed! 🩵

Racist lady makes video about how white people need to stop writing cause they are racist. Ok 👍

Dear! Publishers are pushing wokness! Books dont get published unless your liberal crap is included.

Stop appropriating the british accent.

Everyone divided by an immutable physical characteristic... Segregation sure glints the eye of certain people.

I am a white cis guy writing and publishing a series if YA scifi books. There are five main characters - all college-age and GenZ since the stories take place more or less present day - and one of the MCs is an AA guy. It’s about an advanced alien race abducting five people from five different planets and putting them in an interplanetary galactic contest. I hope that what I did isn’t considered tokenism, it’s logic to me, that if out of the billions of people on the planet the aliens only choose five humans to represent the whole race at least one of them should be a POC. (They are also of different nations.) I love all five of my MCs, I feel I have really created five interesting people and developed them well over the course of the series. I did get some advice from a few people on including a AA character, like reducing or totally eliminating any AAV, not trying to address at all any AA struggles (like I deleted a conversation about him being afraid of cops/being pulled over etc) and I basically wrote him to be more or less like the other middle-class GenZers in the main cast with the same struggles and foibles, etc. I do worry, though, about having gotten something wrong but all the feedback I’ve gotten, including my editor, didn’t have a problem with my depiction so I think I did alright.

hi I need some help because I am writeing my fist book and I have 2 colorde carakters that is friends whit MC and I don't know how to describe theyr color. i don't want to offend anyone or something like that and I want to be respektful so I really need help😊❤️

AHHHH YOU MADE A COMEBACK!!! WELCOME BACK 🩷

Welcome back!! 💕 Never got to Witches Steeped in Gold but it seemed to disappear after the original boom 🫥 Noooo not the The Poet X 😭 that’s how I KNOW this unhaul was cutthroat

Hi!! Seeing Burnt Sugar made me lol because I just saw it in someone's Insta book haul a couple of hours ago 😆The universe is balanced haha Well done on managing to do the necessary culling :)

You're back! Yay! Missed you!

i'm not white (i'm indian) but i wanted to know more about how to write characters of other race. i want to thank you for making this video, it's gonna help me a lot! i definitely agree with the part that TOO many white authors only add POC/WOC/BIPOC characters just for the sake of representation, and it's so patronizing. no, my country is not something you can use as "look guys i'm not racist! i put one 2d, poorly written, POC character in my book!"

As a person of color myself I don't give a fuck anyone write the fuck they want and up to you the reader or viewer or gamer to see if you enjoy it or not.

And how ''well-represented'' are white authors in Africa, East Asia, the Caribbean, South America, etc? I guess this only goes one way, then? Last time I checked, equality meant equality...

Too much to comment on here: I am a male European descent writer (therefore evil) and I am bad because I refuse to conform to the publishers “checklist” of visible minorities (sorry, my other evil is that I am Canadian) to create characters whose only purpose is to satisfy the checklist. And if I create a character who is black, but from a fictional culture whose roots are in the mix of Russian, Nigerian, and Anishanabe settlers in the same region on Mars; I do not think that I am appropriating African American culture (or so the USA publishers say). Anyway, I am not going to stop writing just because Americans say it is politically incorrect for me to continue to do so. Nor am I going to commit suicide as has also been suggested, for the greater good of African Americans , of course. I will just keep in my lane, how about that…

Seriously? What a load of old crap! Should black authors write about white people? Should sighted authors write about blind people? Should able-bodied authors write about disabled people? Should authors who grew up with their birth parents, write about adopted people? The list is endless - and f+&#@ng tedious. Your video displays super-ugly behaviour. Get off your high horse and settle yourself. Things are changing in publishing. Perhaps not as fast as you’d like, but . . . people are trying their best. Maybe if you recognised this, and praised their efforts, rather than scolding folk, you’d not be so bitter and twisted? You’d do better to stop your whingeing, and let other writers do as they do. For the record, I’m black, gay, adopted, blind and disabled. I also write middle grade fiction. I have a blessed, happy life. ☺️

I am African. Both my parents are African. And I am about to enter to storytelling scene. Wish me luck.

If authors shouldn't write characters who have a different skin colour, gender, sexual orientation, etc., every story would only have characters of one skin colour, gender or sexual orientation. If your story excludes people who are not like you, it becomes a pretty boring story, I'm afraid. Stories are about the interaction of different people. And how is someone taking someone else's space? The space is virtually unlimited, as everybody can create an ebook and publish it on Amazon. Most of these books probably aren't good, but it's up the the readers alone to decide which books are worth to read.

I’m creating a character who I’d like to be a person of color but I don’t want their main focus to be on their race. How can I achieve this without undermining the fact that they ARE a person of color and HAVE HAD unique experiences because of it? Is it even necessary? Btw, they aren’t the main character, but they are a friend of the main character, so I do want to expand their personality more than I would a side character.

Can you send me your address

As a gay white spanish author (with sooo much to learn), i appreciate very much your amazing analisis ❤ Thank you!!

I have a black oc for PJO and came here to make sure he didn’t follow any harsh stereotypes. The few I know of that he follows have unrelated reasons He can’t swim because in many past lives he has drowned and since he is constantly partly possessed by said past lives he gets a brutal sense of dread yet draw to the ocean, being scared that he may just let himself drowned if he finds himself stuck in deep waters. He had an abusive dad because the dad was a contract killer(why Melinoe was interested in the parent in the first place since gods are attracted to those who represent their domains in some way) and he was practically raised up to be a weapon

but would that logic not preclude POC people from writing non-POC people in their stories, as they do not share their experiences?

“Only 15%” Literally the same proportion as amongst the general population. Why didn’t you check that before you said it?

Anyone who uses the phrase "people of colour" sounds more racist to me than the average "white" person. We all have colour, and it's high time we stop segregating ourselves with this racist language.

Omg you are Sooooooooo gorgeous & The sound of your voice is soothing.

The way I RAN to watch this

I find the term poc to be highly racist, can you stop using this offensive term. Why are you lumping me in with every non white group?

I am puerto-rican and dont care if someone is racist. I have four african character(1 of which is a main character), One puerto-rican and a white character ( who is also a main character) in a fantasy story I am writing. I dont care. Oh and one mixed race. Any way Toodloo.

I get what you are saying! As a white person and passion to be a writer, thank you. I seriously appreciate videos like this as they’re eye opening and of course representation is important but it needs to be done right. As you said, an author shouldn’t put a minority character JUST to have a minority character. That’s tokenism and can easily lead to harmful stereotypes whether it’s intentional or not. And I see that some people in the comments aren’t getting it. She’s not saying that white authors can’t write minorities whatsoever, please really listen to what she says at 5:07. White authors of course can write minority characters but it should be done with the intention of them having an actual purpose to the story, not just something to check off on a list or to have them just to have them. That’s what she is saying. And of course she wants more minority authors to be brought to light, she is right, they do need to be brought to light. That is completely valid and what she said is true. An author of a minority will write a character of the same minority group better than an author who is not, that’s just the truth as one has a mutual understanding while another one doesn’t, at least not on a personal level. That doesn’t mean a white other can’t write good minority characters though, of course they can, it’s just important to do research as well as listen to minority voices. I hope to see more diversity in authors as well as I too believe it’s super important! ❤️ Thank you for making this video! ❤️

You're wrong on all counts. If an author can only write about things that they have personally experienced, then we wouldn't have all the remarkably complex characters of Shakespeare. Gay writers could only write about gays and POC couldn't include white characters. The poor couldn't have wealthy characters, etc. Literature is a way of bridging differences and experiencing different points of view. What you are suggesting is that artists don't consider how people all fit together. You can pick up a book and assume that all the characters are white, able-bodied, and middle class, or the author can tell you that Detective Miller is a middle-aged black man. 'Nuff said.

I absolutely agree, and I am sick and tired of all those non-elves writing elvish characters. What would a human know about the elvish or dwarven experience? And maybe the reason there is such a low number of POC authors published because there is such a low number of POC authors? Lets look at the statistics of what percentage of white authors that are tyring to get published get rejected to the percentage of POC authors that are trying to get published getting rejected. I can say from direct first hand experience, this "only x% of included people are of X demographic" is complete bullshit. The company I worked for was slated for having only 5% of the workforce female, but guess what, 83% of female applicants got the job while less than 30% of male applicants even got a second interview. So, start looking at how many people of "marginalised" demographics actually are trying to become authors, and couinting only those who are trying, how many are succeeding, and compare that data against the equivalent white proportions or attempting and succeeding.

Would I be right in saying that your problem isn't white people writing black characters - your problem is people writing token characters that are flat, pointless and don't do anything except float around in the background?

Geez Louise! How about you write the stories you want to write, and I’ll do the same.

This is the stupidest thing I’ve seen all day. Only a total fool would want creative people to limit themselves to people exactly like them. Tell a good story and I will not give two shits who you are.

Only if you stop stealing our work and turning it black.

I'm a gay male mm romance author (publishing my first novel this year) and I almost didn't write it. I know it's not exactly the same as POC in the industry, but you mentioned queer stories. When I was researching authors, novels, and a community. What I originally found was hostile reactions to my questions and concerns. I'd found a forum and when a discussion about a book came up, usually by a cis woman, I'd state what I disliked about it. Immediatly I was attacked for my opinion. I was told I didn't know what I was talking about, that these books were not for me, it's women writing for women in a space they feel safe and that a man shouldn't come in and push them out. I became angry. I was being told that stories about my life, my experiences, and my trauma were not for me. Luckily, I found a few groups on Facebook that did not share these opinions. I'm part of a group of queer men who write mm romance, a few mixed groups of mm romance readers/writers, and even been on a few Facebook days where we rotate through male authors who discuss their work. We are not trying to take over mm romance, we are trying to be heard. These are our stories. I'm fine if non-gay women write mm romance. What I don't like is when we are fetishized and when that is brought up, attacked for not understanding or saying it's just a story, it's fiction, etc. While it is just fiction, these stories give people a false idea of the gay experience, our lives, and no matter how small, people will bring these ideas into their lives.

More woke trash. How about concentrating on promoting GOOD literature and less on trying to segregate everyone?

As a person of "color" myself, I give full guilt-free permission to White Authors to write whoever, whatever, and however you want them to be written. To be used for whatever purposes you need it for. You don't need to be a black person to characterize fictional black characters. Not everyone's life experience is the same, and in your stories, you set the rules for the world these characters live in. Feel free to create and write black characters for whatever role you need them to play in YOUR story. Inclusiveness is NOT a requirement. In fact, as seen in the billions of dollars lost in various forms of media, from TV Shows, Games, Movies, and Comics, Diversity (identity politics) is a money-losing endeavor. Nobody wants it. Not even us POCs. Don't let this strange woman, a race-baiter, tell you what needs to be represented or how it should be represented. You are being steered into a path of incompetence and failure as an aspiring (or existing) author. People like this are narcissists who want to see themselves in other people's work-to satisfy their overvalued sense of self-worth. Do your own thing. Double-down on it. And don't be afraid!

Skin color genitals gender identity rules the world. Become an WOKE activist and you can have it all.

What a ghastly video.

Thank you so much for this. As a white writer (currently working on my first book btw so COMPLETELY inexperienced just fyi) I place a great deal of importance in making my characters as realistic as possible. The very last thing I want is for any of them to just feel like a list of rigid bullet points that cannot be deviated from at any given point; and this, of course, extends to writing POC. On of my characters is part-Thai (I say PART-Thai btw because its an important part of her backstory that I’ll spend a lot of time exploring (just specifying bc I don’t want y’all thinking I’m whitewashing my own characters or something)) and I want to represent that without disrespecting the Thai culture. (‘Thai culture’? Is that right? Am I overthinking? I hope so.) I still have a lot more research to do and fleshing out of the character to do before I feel fully comfortable with my efforts. I don’t want her to become a bunch of bullet points. With all that said, I do have 1 question that I would really appreciate being answered: Is it ok to name a character who is a POC with a name not from their culture? eg. calling a Chinese character ‘Jimmy’ (not in the scenario where its said characters English name (I think that’s a thing, isn’t it? Am I overthinking again?)) I ask this question in relation to the same character I was talking about earlier, which again, is to do with her backstory. I don’t want anything to come of as disrespectful. Thank y’all so much for reading, thank you for making this video, and I hope you have/have had a wonderful day.

Segregation, much? I'd like you to try an experiment: substitute the "white" in "white authors" in your video title to any of the following and see if it'd fly: *Black *Jewish *Muslim *Gay *Lesbian... Stop, please stop, bucketing white people based on them being white, and any of the other groups based on their stereotypes (including how they feel about any given thing). I'm a Jewish conservative from Bloods territory in Los Angeles, for example. If you think I don't say "yo," well you're wrong, dawg. Maybe we should think about the *actual* roots of a person: how and where they grew up. Better believe there are preppyblacks who grew up in the suburbs.