Margins
Writing an Identity Not Your Own book cover
Writing an Identity Not Your Own
A Guide for Creative Writers
2024
First Published
4.40
Average Rating
377
Number of Pages

Do you have the tools to authentically write and edit a character whose identity is different than your own? It’s not a subject that’s generally taught in creative writing programs. There are few online resources, but in terms of craft books, what exists is outdated or limited in its scope. Some seminars and classes are offered by independent writing workshops, but can you learn everything you need to know in a three-hour seminar or even a four-week class? Not at all. You need a book on hand to provide guidance and insight as you craft characters with historically marginalized identities. That’s where this book comes in. In Writing an Identity Not Your Own, award-winning author Alex Temblador will discuss one of the most contentious topics in creative crafting a character whose identity is historically marginalized. She’ll begin by discussing what she means by ‘identity’ and why it’s important to understand the state of diversity in publishing, before delving into how unconscious bias and bias blocks are the biggest obstacles to this writing approach. From there, you’ll learn about intersectional identities and specific things to consider when writing different race/ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, disabilities, nationalities, and more. Alex will guide writers through the pre-writing phase to the editing process so they can gain a full understanding of the complexities of writing other identities and why it’s important to get it right.

Avg Rating
4.40
Number of Ratings
95
5 STARS
55%
4 STARS
34%
3 STARS
9%
2 STARS
1%
1 STARS
1%
goodreads

Author

Alex Temblador
Alex Temblador
Author · 5 books

Alex Temblador is the Texas-based author of the award-winning novel, Secrets of the Casa Rosada. Her second novel, HALF OUTLAW, is forthcoming from Blackstone Publishing (2022). Her debut novel has won such awards like the Middle Grade/ Young Adult Discovery Prize Winner of the 2018 Writers' League of Texas Book Awards, Kirkus' Best of YA Books of 2018, the NACCS Tejas Foco Young Adult Award 2019, the Texas Library Association's TAYSHA's Nomination, and received a Starred Kirkus Review. When she's not working on her next novel, Alex is a full-time freelance travel, arts, culture, and design writer and teaches the occasional seminar on creative writing. Alex loves literary fiction with a multicultural or diversity aspect and prefers to write about family dynamics, race, ethnicity, and identity.

548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2025 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved