Adding Diversity to Your Writing:

A Few Simple Strategies

Laura Oliva

A huge shout-out to Madhuri Blaylock for hosting this awesome blog series.  Thanks for inviting me to add my two cents on this incredible topic!

Literary diversity has been getting a lot of press lately.

Near as I can tell, it all started when NaNoWriMo announced its 2014 partnership with the organization We Need Diverse Books.  While WNDB’s stated mission is to “address the lack of diverse, non-majority narratives in children’s literature,” many writers of adult literature (including me!) have also elected to hoist the flag.

And it’s about time.

I had been doing some soul-searching on the subject of literary diversity even before I became aware of the NaNo/WNDB partnership.  More and more, I’ve been noticing the marked cultural uniformity in genre/pop/mainstream fiction.  It’s high time we as writers lead the charge for change.

I’m fortunate to…