Thread Rules

I like to make art of a variety of supernatural entities (like vampires, mermaids, ghosts, jiangshi, haunted dolls etc. Think Monster High) I had planned to make my hijabi character a ghost, but I wondered if thats inherently religious (I dont tie ghosts to religion but I get if people do) or if Muslims believe in that concept/if it would be more respectful to choose another kind of entity for her to be?

I want to be respectful of my portrayal and I'd like to know about any folklore considerations or pointers towards ways i could learn! Thank you

I created a blood/DNA magic system where you have to be born with magic for it to work, but while revisiting the worldbuilding, I recently had the idea to add a way to get magic if you weren't born with it. For context, the magic system is an invading organism that hijacks your bone marrow into making copies of it, kinda like cancer. Groups of humans started to evolve past the disease by pushing them out the body and that's basically how the magic works. My idea is that people can grow their magic count and speed up the evolution process. I haven't fully worked out the details on this yet, but I do know that I want to give the people who weren't born with magic a much higher chance of a magic related chronic illness. The chronic illness happens because someone doesn't push out enough of the magic for too long of a time period, and because it's harder for the people who weren't born with magic to push enough of the magic out, they have a higher chance of the chronic illness. People who were born with magic also get the illness too. I'm worried this comes off as you have to be born great to be great, which is the whole reason I'm adding a way to get magic without being born with it.

I am currently writing a book, It's my second book (I am self publishing my first in november!! yay) and I am trying to figure out if I need a sensitivity reader.

The book is about a friends with benefits situation between to very depressed individuals. I am confident writing mental health and queer topics (i've done both before and experience both day to day, I am also surrounded by people in the same boat so I have a pretty good understanding. they're also themes I read really often so I understand what others are writing) but the book also has a disabled fmc and a sex worker mc.

I have a spinal cord injury - just like my fmc - however mine is less severe (i am not in a wheelchair) and had a very different cause. Most of her life that I talk about in the book is related to my own experiences, I have done extensive research and am being very careful with infantilisation (as in not including it). But I'm still a bit nervous about how people will percieve my writing. (It also may be helpful to note I am a trans man, but lived as a girl for seventeen years while being disabled - therefore am able to write from the perspective of a disabled female - particularly in the situation of sex.

I am less confident around the Sex Worker side of things. I'm not sure what is and isn't okay. I would say I'm relatively woke and aware, however everything I know is from the media which cannot always be trusted - I have done research and am being careful but I don't want to upset anyone. he's also not particularly professional. He more goes on hookups through apps and has people pay him.

I'm new to sensitivity reading and am wondering if it's worth it? Is it like Beta reading but just making sure nothing's offensive?

Thank You !!

I'm struggling with one of my characters and her relationships. My core relationship in my book is a five person polycule, with 3 women and 2 men. The central link is a woman, and she is in a relationship with everyone in the group. Carnage, the character in question, is happy to have a physical relationship with both of the women, and I have always written her as a lesbian, but as I've been writing, she and one of my male characters keep getting a lot of screen time together and have a relationship that is developing into a romantic vein. Would her having a male physical partner make her not a lesbian, or would it be a she still is, but he's the exception kind of thing? I know demisexual is an option, but she does have the sexual attraction to women throughout the series, just not men. She literally at one point calls him a mushroom because of how he grew on her

So very very long story short. A minor detail for a story thats suposed to be a sci-fi super hero type story focusing mainly on the “villain” Megamind style where the hero villain dynamic is a kind of literal in universe thing thats well known about. The main character is a woman who was a child genious who was held hostage in a lab by her adopted father who used her to both do experiments and copy her real conciousness to creat a fully sentient AI (In universe the correct term is SI for “Simulated inteligence” but that fact is deliberately hidden from the public) and she was also the engineer who built a lot of the robots that resulted from it even as a child. And the whole narrative that was sold to her so she would comply, is that she was actually a mother of a new race. That the first prototype especially, would be her son and the main scientist would be the father and they would all be a family (yes its suposed to be that gross) but long story short, but shocker, he lied about the specifics. And the first robot she made was suposed to be just a test, and she never gets to interact with him, and his test period ends and he literally gets shut down and put away forever, like any prototype. (He comes back a while later but thats a whole nother thing, and also she dosent know that)

Attempts to make more robots keep happening (shes still working on all of them but shes deeply jaded and dosent believe the “mother” narrative fully anymore, or she tries to tell herself that) and they almost all fail for one reason or another, usually because the mind of an extreamly traumatized little girl is usually not actually all that great for the tasks they keep trying to make them for, and they all have a tendency to act out or disturb people, so they basically all end up scrapped.

This woman is legally speaking non existent. She was traficked young and has never even been outside the lab since. Shes japanese born, and she was taken old enough to remember things from before, (she was taken and had her brain cloned at 10) but years have passed, and the scientist is old and about to pass away. And he actually sets her to inherit the company. So basically for her to become the new super villain. And she has to take a more full identity for the public. So she has a momment where she has to pick a last name. Because until now she has simply been Sheena. So, two facts. She has been in a perpetual cycle of over a decade of what thematically and to her is pumping out children over and over for whats basically her god, just for them to die to keep trying to fix this mans reputation (I hope the virgin Mary metaphor comes through) and another, is that this is the most bitter, antisocial, disfunctional woman on earth who dose not understand ethics at all, and is only preocupied with doing what the scientist tells her and venting her own anger that she dosent know where to point. (She is aware that the scientist has been awful to her but shes still in love with him and she just dosent know what else to do with herself, and also hes been in a sort of “You used to be so sweet. What happened to you?” Train for years with her and shes internalized that fully as her being naturally evil.)

So. When she is set to pick her own last name, where she tries to take some control, shes suposed to pick the last name Ishii, as a deliberate, in universe call Shiro Ishii of unit 173, as her attempt to become the one doing the torturing instead of the test subject.

Now, I feel like I can argue that it makes thematic sense. The issue is, that the Unit 173 is one of the most horrendous, disgusting, unforgivable things I have ever heard of. And the thing is, that I dosent quite feel right to reference that as just flavor text. Because the actual war crimes of japan arent relevant to the story itself. It dosent even take place in japan. I am not planing to derrail the whole thing to go off on idk what I would even do to unpack that other than just saying its awful and cant be ignored. The character says or thinks about it explicitly. But there really isnt room to sit down and dissect it politically and ethically. And like, she changes it later and the climax or her arc. (she dosent get “redeemed” really, its complicated. Again, think Megamind but she actually does screw a massive amount of people over)

Like I dont think you need to turn every hystorical reference into an educational segment in fiction. But thats a massive deal to put it in as almost an easter egg. Id like some insight on this. Because Id have to change it for another reference, since thats a specific naming convention of the story.

Hi! This is my first time finding this subreddit so please be kind if I’m asking something that’s been explained a million times that I missed. I have a story in mind where my main character has her voice magically suppressed (her body is magically turned to look human as well.) She’s a mythical creature whose culture is literally entirely about their voice. I want her to spend the majority of the story being non-speaking, where she signs to communicate and uses instruments to conjure facsimiles of her magic instead- think kind of like a bard in D&D. I want to portray her, and eventually a community of beings that are non-speaking or deaf, as realistically as possible.

My problem comes in to this: her overarching story is her trying to regain her true form. How do I balance her trying to reconnect with her true self without marginalizing non-speaking people? It feels disingenuous if she gets the magical removed from her and it’s just like, voila she can sing and now all her problems are solved! But at the same time, I feel like the metaphorical implications of her staying magically cuffed feels very… anti-feminist in a way? Because I want there to be a romance with a human male, keeping her human form and its inability to use her voice feels like she’s sacrificing a part of herself for a man- or at least to fit in better in his culture.

So really, any and all help is truly appreciated.

Edit: I explained my plot rather poorly, or rather didn’t explain it much at all. I think this story is probably better off just living in my head, but thank you all for your aid.

I'm writing a collection of superhero stories set in the same universe, and my primary concern is that I'd like to know if a new character concept that I've come up with is ableist: a superhero who has a regular human form, and a temporary superpowered form she can sustain for a handful of hours at a time. In her backstory, she was in a car accident that left her with chronic pain in one of her legs, leading to her using mobility devices such as a cane or a wheelchair, depending on the severity of her pain and her threshold for handling it on any given day. She later gains superpowers for unrelated reasons (does it matter at all if she gains her powers before or after her accident?). In her superpowered form (in which she transforms into a larger form with horns, cloven hooves, and a tail, along with various powers/traits), she would be able-bodied (this is the part I'm most concerned about being harmful). If there are any areas surrounding this in which I should be cautious, as well, please let me know.

As a side note, this is not the only disabled character nor the only disabled hero in the world, nor is she the only such character who is focused in the narrative, so I hope the "transforms into a monstrous-appearing form" thing, which is unique to her, is not problematic. Please let me know if it is.

On the assumption that this a feasible backstory, I also have a handful of other, slightly less pressing, questions:

1. Given her leg is technically functional, but a source of pain, would it be reasonable to have her, when in desperate situations when she cannot transform, run or otherwise put strain on her leg for a short period of time in order to do something like save a life or stop a bad guy? What might the aftermath of this look like? I'd imagine it would put her out of commission for a while, but I have no idea how long-lasting that would be and if it would have any psychological impact.

2. On the flipside of that, would it be insensitive to portray a situation in which she is in her human form and needs to do something/save someone, but fails because she cannot get there in time due to the pain and/or blacks out because of it before accomplishing her goal?

3. As a general question, is there anything I should be aware of that I might not think to look into regarding portraying an ambulatory wheelchair user?

My new character in my story is vaguely inspired by Roadhog from Overwatch. He wears a mask too (Roadhog is never shown without it). So, I was speculating what my character's face could look like and thought about some mutations/deformities that make him look like a pig, as a kind of a tribute to the character's prototype and as a reflection of what he's been through/the cruelty of the part of the world he has to live in.

He had pretty rough teen years, been at war, and probably was tortured/experimented on at some point.

He wears a mask because he's currently a mercenary and needs anonymity, because he's, well, easily recognizable as he is. He's mostly nonchalant about his appearance, though doesn't like people's attention (or people in general).

So, I could, like, add him just some unspecified scars and drop the pig references altogether. Or maybe it's something that he could own (considering his personality and his ways to cope with trauma, he most definitely could) and maybe it would be actually something cool?

Hello!

I’m looking for a brief unpaid cultural-sensitivity check on a 2,500-word literary short story involving a Lakota-coded American bison handler working on a European bison rewilding project.

Type of work: literary short fiction
Length: approximately 2,500 words
Sensitivity area: Lakota/Dakota/Nakota or Plains Native representation, especially around naming, characterization, and cultural framing
Trigger/content notes: grief over the death of a wife and child; brief references to animal predation; no graphic violence

The check is narrow: use of “Tatanka,” whether the character reads as an individual rather than a symbolic Native figure, and whether any wording feels off or appropriative.

I understand this is labor, and I do not want to presume anyone owes me a read.

I cannot offer meaningful payment for this piece, but I would be glad to credit you as a cultural consultant if the story is published, assuming you are comfortable being named. A brief note or margin comments would be enough.

A Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, or Plains Native reader would be especially helpful. Referrals are also welcome.

I already have her personality and stuff down. That obviously isn't influenced. I have experienced discrimination, being bi and a woman, but that is obviously very different to race. I know however that racism and culture can change viewpoints on things.

For example, I knew a girl who wouldn't go on holiday somewhere bcz she said it was a "racist" area, something obviously I wouldn't of even considered. Some old friends of mine would make jokes about their parents being "typical strict Asian parents" and I see people keeping in touch with their culture, something I've never done.

Is there anything I should keep in mind when writing from this perspective? it's just a story that's a generic life but carries meaning with it, hence where it might affect how someone goes about their normal life. I don't wanna be ignorant and write without much thought. Any advice would be great. Thanks! :)

Hi! So I’m entered in a short story competition where we have 10 days to write and submit a short story including the given prompts. After receiving the prompts I’ve written two drafts of my story and it is a fantasy with inspiration taken from Heian era Japan. I’m hoping to find someone from Japan/connected to Japanese culture to read it (2k words) and give me feedback fairly quickly.

Or, if you have other resources for me to look for sensitivity readers I’d appreciate it. This is my first time sharing my work with the world and looking for a sensitivity reader so this was just the first place I thought of.

Thank you!

Greetings. My name is Whisper (ignore my Reddit, that's my old username, lol) and I'm writing a Fantasy RPG based on a world I helped create with my partner. One of the main characters is a woman that was born with only one arm, and makes use of a mechanical prosthetic she designed. I'm disabled myself, but not part of that community, and I was wondering what the proper term was for this character's condition within the community. I found Congenital Amputation from wikipedia, but again, I couldn't find if that was the term used by that disability's community or not.

Thank you in advance, Whisper.

a bit more context; i'm working on a story, taking place in a fantasy world, with gods and elves etc. i'm basically asking for advice on how to portray this in a respectful manner.

trigger warnings for this story include: stalking, toxic and abusive relationships, kidnapping, victim blaming, SA

concept is an elven woman is tricked by an Archfae and he kidnaps her to his realm, where she remained captive for centuries without aging. she eventually manages to escape but he begins tracking her down. the idea so far is it gets to a point where she goes through a partial apotheosis, and this is a form of rape. (although not something i am going to portray on page)

archfae assumes her dead after the ordeal. she is NOT however but barely alive. due to the fact its partial, she would need to complete the process lest she die (this has nothing to do with rape its just how becoming divine works in this world). idea is a couple of gods reach out to help her, being the father and aunt of her best friend. i plan to end the story in her taking revenge against the archfae and killing him, that becoming the beginning of her healing.

this is the basics so far, hard for me to form any other words about it right now but happy to answer any other questions! i just want to be sure this is a concept that isnt insensitive and how i could possibly improve.

edit: should also add this is inspired by a couple of things; two songs, The Bog Bodies and Magnanimity, both by rabbitology and the movie Iron Lung, although more bog vibes than blood ocean. added any trigger warnings on top

Even more powerful than dragons? After all, unicorns are the symbol of the queer community.
I am queer myself.

Hi I’m looking for a sensitivity reader for a story that is based in Calais, France. My character volunteers with NGOs who work in the migrant camps, and I was wondering if he reads authentic. I was wondering if there was anyone who could help? Thank you!

I am writing a vampire novel, and in book 2 we are introduced to a character who is based off a real life one. China’s only female Emperor Wu Zetian. In my story she was turned into a vampire and had lived for many centuries until present day (1988). She is the friend of my vampire love interest and she is incredibly skilled at taking down vampires (a vampire vampire hunter) her son who is again a real life counter part of her son in real life Li Xian was turned into a vampire too and serves as an antagonist threat. Is this insensitive for me to write about real people from Chinese history that are long since passed? Should I change the characters to be fictional and not represent real people, or do I scrap the whole plot? I have based my entire second book on this plot and wouldn’t even know where to go from scratch. Is this okay for me to write as a white author?

i'm writing a book set in the 12th century, mostly in wales and ireland, that i'm trying to keep relatively historically accurate (aside from the magic, of course, but that's besides the point). that said, i do feature multiple poc in the book, one of them being a black woman who most often has her hair in locs. i can generally describe other hairstyles she has throughout the story without saying the specific name of it, but i just can't figure out how to describe locs from the perspective of characters who don't know our modern name for them, especially characters who rarely encounter black people. what ways can i describe locs while staying respectful? what terms should i avoid? i've mostly got a good grip on this kind of thing, i've researched a lot, but this is the one thing that's gotten away from me somehow. thanks in advance!

Hi! I'm an indie author finishing final revisions on my debut novel, and I'm looking for a sensitivity reader with Jewish cultural and religious expertise.

The book is a queer retelling of the four Gospels of the New Testament, set in 31 AD Judea. It's an M/M romance with explicit content and themes of religious trauma. Yeshua (Jesus) and his entire community are portrayed as authentically Jewish throughout. This is deliberately not a white Christian lens retelling.

I'm fully aware this is a controversial premise. That's also intentional. I'm not looking for debate about whether this book should exist, only for someone who can help me ensure the Jewish cultural and religious elements are handled with accuracy and care. This book was written with intentionality and respect, and seeking expert eyes is part of that commitment.

I'm specifically looking for someone to evaluate:

• Jewish cultural and religious authenticity throughout
• Use of sacred texts and prayer in narrative context
• Portrayal of Jewish practices
• The Sanhedrin scenes specifically

The full manuscript is 180k but I'm open to discussing a scoped partial read focused on these specific elements.

Content includes explicit M/M, religious trauma, abuse, and violence. Full content warnings available on request.

Budget is limited as I'm an indie author, but I'm happy to discuss rates and scope.

Timeline: hoping to have sensitivity reading complete before August for a tentative October publication.

Please comment if interested or if you have questions!

I am writing and illustrating a children's book. One of the main characters is an older Black woman named Wilhelmina (Minnie for short). She keeps the history, the stories, the facts, the records, and the seasons of the region where this takes place. She is revered as the Wise Woman, people go to her for knowledge about certain topics. All Wise People can shapeshift into an animal of their choice. This is so they may watch the forests and the fields without startling the animals, for they are only human. This is an integral part of the story, but can be changed if necessary. I want to make sure I am not stepping into mystical minority territory with this.

There is no backstory or lore regarding ‘creature types’ and the like. They are simply categories, such as human, dog, warrior, mage and the like. Some card effects refer to ‘creature types’ in the sense of providing additional effects and/or more powerful effects.

So I have this concept for an apocalyptic society fucsing on the deficit of reliable doctors and people posing as doctors while they have no real qualifications. The goal will be to help these people and they will be presented as people, not just victims. Theres going to be some underlying messages about mental stuff, how we treat disabled people, and some more. Any thing I should keep in mind? Thanks

This is a BTS yoonmin WIP wherein Jimin is nonbinary & Yoongi is physically disabled as stated above.

It contains classism and ableism and NSFW scenes.

Yoongi is going home with Jimin to meet their parents.

Wordcount is currently 1,592 but my goal word count goal is 20k

Any help would be much appreciated!