A review by hissingpotatoes
Writing an Identity Not Your Own: A Guide for Creative Writers by Alex Temblador

3.5

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The content is very good and vitally important. It covers a wide range of stereotypes/tropes/pitfalls to avoid harming marginalized communities. It also goes way beyond those lists to discuss methods for doing your research as a writer, not just in the current climate for how things stand at the moment but how to navigate these issues as they naturally evolve. As a writer I feel much better equipped to approach writing identities not my own in a respectful, nuanced, untokenized way. Many fantastic resources are listed throughout the book.

While the author discusses genres like historical fiction and fantasy, much of the advice/focus seems to be on contemporary fiction. She acknowledges that her information and opinions may not be complete or universal and does a good job of standing by that throughout the book, and sometimes I disagreed with her assertions (especially regarding her list of "tired" romance tropes, which doesn't seem to belong in this book anyway since it doesn't connect to the topic of writing marginalized identities).

Even for an advanced reader copy, I was surprised at how unfinished the book is. It desperately needs a proofreader, there were missing/placeholder page numbers and links, and the digital formatting was atrocious (e.g. tables spanning multiple pages and overlapping other content, making it impossible to read). Hopefully these issues are addressed before publication.