Re: how to describe your character's race - Neil Gaiman (a white author) did an interesting thing in his book Anansi Boys, where his main characters are all black; he only described someone's race if it was white. The characters whose race he did not describe were black. It made a nice change from the whole 'white…

I'll just gently suggest that you may be going about this in a backwards fashion. We all have our own process, but I would say that every strong and worthwhile character that I have ever created (in my 15 years of doing this for a living) came to me. It feels a bit artificial and constructed to try to choose the…

Disclaimer: am white.

This is a point of interest for me, and I'm looking forward to the responses.

Creating is always hard, especially when you're a thoughtful, caring, reflective person. Be proud that you're a socially conscious artist.

My ex used to have similar strong reactions to hypothetical suggestions (once, when I was a junior in college, I mused about possibly doing some study abroad for a PhD program—without even a specific program in mind, and he got upset at me for "springing it on him"). If I were you I would wait a day or two, and then…

I understand the way you feel. Most of my characters in my writing are POC (as are most of the people in my family and many of my friends), but I know that I've been touched by American media and I really try to analyze my characters and whether or not they touch on harmful tropes. I had a real mind-wrestle…

So I need to learn about Alice Cooper for a school project. Literally everything I know about him comes from that cameo he did for Monk. Any ideas where I should start (albums, songs, etc.)?

Also, as far as describing skin color in terms of food, I think it's okay when done correctly. It's also not particular to people of color, eg. "peaches & cream" or "olive-skinned." A lot of foods are double as color references. I have no problem when someone tells me, "You have a mocha-colored complexion." I have a…

I have no clue about NYC specifically, but I think fetlife.com is a good starting point!

So, I have a close relative who is having difficulty becoming pregnant. I have idly thought about what I would say if she asked me to be an egg donor or a surrogate. I brought this (hypothetical) scenario up to my boyfriend the other day. We have been living together for over 3 years and are quite serious. I am 24 and…

Today I got my first vapor cig and am going to start to try to quit smoking! I've been smoking for 10 years and I hate it and want to stop! My coworker had smoked for 20 years and used this vapor cig to quit (he still uses the vapor, but that is WAY BETTER!) Wish me luck!!

I spent the week dropping off truckloads of stuff for myself and coworkers for a giant rummage sale that our Relay for Life team put on. Then worked the event Friday and today. I am beyond exhausted, but we raised over $5000. I would do this again next week for that kind if money, not to mention my clean garage and…

Still problem drinker or just guilt ridden? I wanted to discuss this issue that I have been having for years. I was a problem drinker, but have been drinking "normally" for a while now, but I still have this inner guilt because I know that I have to have a glass of wine every night and am not really choosing to. B/c I…

Did Kristen Bell ever have that dumb baby?

I've had enough beer to be able to post this question, here. How does one go about exploring the lesbian S&M world in NYC? It feels like a second coming out, and it's just as scary as the first time.

So, who bought what at Record Store Day? They didn't have what I really wanted (Frightened Rabbit's new pressing of The Midnight Organ Fight) but I did get the Shearwater/Sharon Van Etten 7" and Christopher Owens solo album. On CD. It's been years since I bought a CD - my computer does not like it.

Hey y'all, I have a rather strange situation and was looking for some advice (I've asked everyone I know, but no one really seems to know what to do here). I've been good friends with a guy since my sophomore year of high school (we're both 2nd years in university now), but only became really close with him my senior…

I feel like I'm still trying to collect my thoughts on everything that's happened in Boston over this past week. I live and work in Boston and things were crazy. I know that there have been a lot of posts and maybe this isn't the place to post this but I just feel so proud of this city and the people here. I work as a…

Sold my motorcycle today. She was an old Kawasaki I bought for $800, put over $1000 into her over 4 years. Sold her for $400. I just couldn't ride for very long before the arthritis flared up. I tell myself I'll get another bike with modifications to suit my problems. But outside of miraculous opportunity I don't know…