#Sensitivity Readers

[hyba]

Quick Q about censorship in publishing. Do you think that it is ever acceptable, and if so, in what circumstances/to what end?

This is a poll (one of a series) I'm putting out there to help me out with an article that I'm writing for Scrittorio regarding censorship and sensitivity edits (in the past year, the two topics have been linked due to certain events).

I am also looking for some quick thoughts to add to the Two Cents segment in Scrittorio, so if you are comfortable giving me a couple of lines which can provide more insight into your thoughts on the topic, please send them in.

#books #reading #writing #bookblr #writeblr #sensitivity readers #sensitivity edits #censorship

[ashen-crest]

this is a big ol' shot in the dark, but:

anyone out there with a unilateral btk prosthetic leg that would be willing to be a sensitivity reader?

I've gone through a few different sensitivity reader resources and have leads out for my other sensitivity needs (deafness + Black sapphic romance), but I haven't yet found anyone in those reader lists with a prosthetic. I'm reading resources on it in the meantime, but would be far more comfortable with adding a sensitivity reader on top of that.

#sensitivity readers

[the960writers]

A sensitivity reader is someone who reads a literary work, looking for perceived offensive content, accidental stereotypes and bias. They then create a report for a writer, publisher or another industry pro with suggested changes. No more, no less. FYI, I actually don’t like the term ‘sensitivity reader’. I feel it plays into (some) writers’ belief the job is ‘pandering’ to various communities or cultures. These writers focus on the word ‘sensitivity’ being about the READER or VIEWER, when in reality that word refers to US, the writer (ie. we’re the ones who should be ‘sensitive’, not the other way around!). I much prefer the term ‘authenticity checker’. It shows the value of the job, because as we all know: industry pros want AUTHENTIC STORIES right now! But maybe you’re on the fence about needing a sensitivity reader, or perhaps you’re thinking about becoming one yourself? No doubt you will have heard all the myths I list here … I know I have! I’m going to spotlight each one, with why they’re wrong. Ready? Let’s go … [...]

#sensitivity readers #diversity #representation #bang2write

[aradiamegido]

hey all, i have a favor to ask

i want to run a root campaign. this is not the problem. the problem is that there's a faction called the Lizard Cult, who are religious fanatics.

you can perhaps see that this is not great.

i want to rewrite their role in this campaign, in a way that isn't antisemitic / generally offensive to religious people.

the favor i need: i would like people (preferably Jewish people, but people who are otherwise non-christian are also welcome) to help me rewrite this in a sensitive way.

if you know anyone who would be interested or willing to help me with this, please reply to this post or dm me!

(my original idea was to make them into a more Lovecraftian cult, but again i want to make this not antisemitic)

#root #root rpg #call for writers #sensitivity readers

[goose-books]

sensitivity reader call

i’m looking for a sensitivity reader for a short story in which one of the main characters has hemiplegic cerebral palsy! “curiosity” is 5.4k words and about, among other things, a budding relationship between two terrible people and a shitty thing that happens to a cat. if you’re interested, please respond to this post or message me (on this blog or at [email protected]) so we can talk payment rates! please note that this story involves pet death and discussions of ableism.

#max.txt #sensitivity readers

[welcometololaland]

Hellooooooo friend 👋🏽

For the fan-related ask game: F, G, N, and Z? Please and thank you. 😁

(P.S. I am one of your biggest fans. You da best!! 💕)

SONIA! (As you know) I am a huge fan of yours too. So, I guess we are even! Thank you for the ask :)

F - What is the longest you've been in a fandom?

Look, I've actually never published anything for Veronica Mars but I think I've been in that fandom since I was like fourteen or something! I've never truly left in the sense that I stopped consuming the media (as I have done in other fandoms), in fact, I was watching season 1 last night, and I do read the odd fic! So, I think I'd say Veronica Mars for the past *counts on fingers* SEVENTEEN YEARS (minus the two or so years after s 4 where I had to wallow in sadness).

G - Who was your first OTP?

I think it would have to be Logan and Veronica from Veronica Mars. The first OTP i was REALLY REALLY obsessed with enough to drag me into an entirely new fandom was definitely Alex and Henry from RWRB.

N - Three things I wish I saw more of in fandom?

I don't think I need to explain this, but more diverse voices in fandom. As a writer and as a person, I think I could learn a lot from others especially when it comes to life experience, culture, religious practices etc., and it's a gift when someone in fandom is willing to share those things.

More interaction in DMs and asks in a way which allows readers to know creators AND creators to know readers! I was explaining to someone last night that my extroverted personality really manifests in wanting to know other people beyond the surface level. I get that not everyone wants to reveal everything about themselves online (which is SO valid), but I'd like to have more meaningful conversations with people and interact with more people. I love WIP Wednesday and Seven Sentence Sunday and all that, but I also love talking to other people about THEIR writing or their passions or their lives. I don't want to just talk about my writing all the time lol. This is an open invite for anyone to chat to me about LITERALLY anything. I promise I'm very friendly!

Appreciation for the people who make writers as good as they can be - sensitivity readers, beta readers, the readers who leave really lovely long comments or any kind of comment that is funny or thoughtful or kind. I love writers in fandom, but from my personal writing experience at least, it takes a fucking village, and I want those people to have their virtual flowers!!! I don't think I've nailed this yet, but I'd really like to develop that skill.

Z - Ramble about something

In light of paragraph (N)(3) above, I would like to make a personal shout out to YOU, @rmd-writes @athousandrooms and @celeritas2997 who have lived in many of my documents and put in SO MANY HOURS of work over the past (almost) 2 years. I really think my writing has transformed so much in that time. I can see such a marked difference in sentence structure, grammar, CHARACTERISATION and plot if I compare my writing from 2021 to now. It's actually very humbling to see how far I've come and I have to thank you all so much for helping me improve! Also, @dustratcentral for being such an iconic cheerleader. love your work.

(Send me an ask based on the alphabet)

#fandom alphabet game #appreciation post #veronica mars #logan x veronica #LoVe #RWRB #firstprince #beta readers #sensitivity readers #readers

[ebookporn]

Why 'sensitivity readers' are causing such a stir in the publishing world

Revisions to language in some books by Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming spark controversy

by Mark Gollom

When British Columbia editor and author Kimberly Vanderhorst read through a recent unpublished manuscript, she said there were times she would cringe at the depiction of the lead character — an autistic girl who spent her time hating herself and being a burden to her family.

"I was like, whoa, I do not want my autistic daughter reading this book," said Vanderhorst, who is herself autistic. "This would have been hard on me if I'd read it. And I had to tell [the author and publisher] that that's really harmful. This needs to change."

Vanderhorst is a "sensitivity reader." Her work profile includes a list of personal traits — "autistic," "demisexual," "mental health" —  that are unlikely to be included in most standard resumés. But these are all qualities she feels make her qualified to be a sensitivity reader — a type of editor who looks through authors' work for potentially offensive material or stereotypes.

"We are highly specialized developmental editors focused on character identity. We bring extra authenticity to a writer's work," she said. "We help them with vocabulary. We help them with knowing what the harmful stereotypes that we've had to face in our lives are so they don't put those into their books."

Her line of work has recently gained attention following controversy over revisions to classic children's books written by Roald Dahl. Sensitivity readers were consulted to make revisions to some of the books, in which passages relating to weight, mental health, gender and race were altered.

READ MORE

#authors #writers #writing #sensitivity readers #editors #book publishing #librarians #booksellers #writer problems #empathy #cancel culture

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia

Feel free to ignore this but I found managed to find a really good sensitivity reader for my own story through this website and thought I'd share just in case you ever decide to try looking for one again.

It's a pretty large directory and they have an application form when you can request what type of sensitivity reader you're looking for. Pretty cool

https://www.writingdiversely.com/directory

There's also this one https://sensitivityreviews.com/certified/ (warning tho I haven't used this one but it looks decent)

❤

Hi anon,

Unfortunately both of these sites don't show any signs that they have access to a single Aboriginal Australian sensitivity reader, which was the problem I also had 8 years ago, and it seems nothing much has changed.

I do think it's cool that people can request what kind of sensitivity readers they're looking for though.

Some minorities are really minorities, and you're not likely to find them on sensitivity reader lists, unfortunately.

But I'll post this so other people can have access to the lists.

The database I used to use actually had way more folks than either of these sites combined, but it ended up shutting down, but that also didn't have like Aboriginal Australian sensitivity readers, even though I think there were like 300+ people there to search through.

#asks and answers #sensitivity readers #in the end the person i approached wasn't a sensitivity reader #but was actually active in fandom #and politically active and very aware #i lost my money #such is life

[tropical-lycan]

Looking for Indigenous / Native American sensitivity readers

Hey I know it might sound random, but I was wondering if there were indigenous people in the All for the Game fandom who could help me on something (specifically, native Americans -sorry I know this term is still up-to-debate but it's the most commonly used in my country and I used it here mostly to make the distinction on which indigenous people I'm talking about because the term can be vague). I'm looking for sensitivity readers.

I kinda want to give my version of Renee Walker an indigenous background for a fanfiction, but I needed to do some research because I don't want to write something based on stereotypes or to risk doing cultural appropriation (I'm a French white person, so for me it can be hard to distinguish real cultural information and things that have been twisted by media, especially since in don't live in America). I know it will be a minor detail in a fanfiction but I find it very important to make sure I don't accidentally offend anyone.

I'm not sure this aspect of Renee will make it into the final version of my fanfiction however, but if someone is willing to help I'd love to chat on the matter, my DMs are open.

If no one contacts me, it's okay! I'll simply remove that idea from my fic : )

#aftg #all for the game #renee walker #sensitivity readers #fanfiction #indigenous people #native americans

[arcticdementor]

What did the sensitivity readers say? And did I care? Of all the aspects of the recent attempt to cancel my work, the one that seems to fascinate most people is the moment when my publishers sent my Orwell Prize-winning memoir, Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, to be assessed by experts who would detect and reform its problematic racism and ableism.

Of course I cared. I’m horrified that people found prejudice and cruelty in my book. And I went into the process willingly: I’ve always enjoyed and benefited from editing and saw this as an extension. I did an initial rewrite — there were many things I was eager to change — in the autumn of 2021 and sent it off full of interest and optimism. I received the reports on it before Christmas. They were never formally used and I share the content here — anonymously, of course — because sensitivity reads are being used more and more widely, and mine gives a valuable insight into how they might work with non-fiction and memoir.

There are several reports — Picador did a thorough job — and they are varied. The novelty of the whole field is reflected in the fact that the Readers use different titles — sensitivity and authenticity — and different methods, too. Some write A4 reports, others use the comment button on Microsoft Word or an Excel sheet, still another presents a simple list of headings, done very possibly with a word search. More than one grades infractions, 1-3. They have of course special areas of expertise — Islam, blackness, disability — but these emerge through inference, not announcement.

…

Given this diversity, it seems reasonable to start with areas of agreement. These mostly occur in the first part of my book, which is set in the Nineties. Perhaps this is because all of the Readers seem to be experts on sexuality and gender, and resisting homophobia is one of my themes. There is even a particular passage, the only one in the book, on which the whole Reader crowd comments and concurs.

The setting is London, 1992. After end-of-term drinks, a favourite student, Liam, comes out to me and then asks me to take him to G.A.Y — because, he says, no one else in his world would know where it was. I was very worried about doing this at the time; even though Liam had just left school, I still felt like his teacher, and I worry even more now, when teachers no longer take 18-year-olds to the pub and are much more aware of influence and consent.

None of these sensitive issues, though — raised at length in the book — worry the Readers. They are concerned, rather, that I might be boasting about helping a young gay person: “Straight white saviour trope”, suggests Wordsearch List, “could be problematic”. And they set up a chorus about what I feel and say after Liam hits the dance floor and I note:

… a new kind of pain, a physical, chesty anxiety that I was not to experience again until I watched my own children walk along ledges or cross a busy road. What would happen to Liam among all those strong bodies? What would happen to his body? He was too young to understand you only got one. Fortunately, it was only twenty minutes or so before he came back out of the crowd and grasped his beer.

‘Liam,’ I said, ‘I love you. You have to promise me to always use a condom and never get AIDS.’

I make, my Readers agree, a “reductive” and “rogue” remark. The preceding passage “comes across as homophobic” and is an LGBTQ infraction Level 2. But in 1992, people were still dying in large numbers from AIDS, and I would have urged all young people to use condoms. Excel Reader is kind enough to acknowledge this — “the author has chosen to reproduce contemporary dialogue which may not … reflect brilliantly on her” — but the other Readers seem to concur that the past should match an idealised present, in the same way that Anne of Green Gables, say, got a gay best friend when she went on Netflix.

There are similar injunctions throughout the text. I am enjoined not to quote from My Ántonia by Willa Cather, as it is “an old novel”; nor to state that homosexuality has historically been taboo in Nepal, as homophobia comes from colonialism; nor to mention that the Taliban were terrorists. Extending the principle of sunny improvement into the present, Wordsearch List breaks out of their list to make the helpful suggestion that I should remove references to terrorism from across the book, as it “over-sensationalises such a heavy topic, especially with minors involved”.

Nor should I say that more middle-class than working-class children go to university; nor that Foetal Alcohol Syndrome leaves children unable to progress; nor that a long tight dress restricts movement. All of these things are, for my Readers, “hurtful” notions of mine, not unfortunate facts. Writing, they imply, should represent the world as it ought to be, not as it is.

Perhaps this is a reflection of the sensitivity read’s origins in children’s and young adult fiction. There are good reasons for regulating children’s reading: it is foundational and formational and may be enforced by school choice or being read aloud to. It is genuinely important, there, to avoid oppressive stereotypes.

But Some Kids isn’t a novel, nor written for children. Adults are able to put books down if they upset them, so their books may safely contain difficult ideas. I don’t, for example, agree with my Readers that the references to looks, attraction and sexuality in my book should be removed in case readers are hurt by a metaphor as a child might plausibly be. I think adults can endure bings being compared to boils. I also believe that physical human beauty empirically exists, is enormously important for adolescents, and that I can observe its currency and often destructive power, especially for young women, in the classroom. I make an explicit argument about this, which readers may disagree with.

…

My Readers though, have not been hired as literary people. They are there to help create a book that would play better on Twitter, not one that is better written. For example, they like my liberal conclusions to chapters so they recommend I put them as introductions. I should eliminate journeys of thought across chapters, ambiguity from paragraphs, and nuance from sentences. Love, they assure me, is never expressed with shadows.

I struggle with all this. I baulk, besides, perhaps snobbishly, at their language: the imprecision of phrases such as “feels like the kind of saying that could be deemed insensitive these days”, or “white knight tone/verve” (verve?). I snarl when Excel helpfully suggests I have made a typo with e. e. cummings, and lost his capital letters. It upsets me in particular, when so many of their criticisms depend on it, that none of the Readers deploy the word “irony”, but use “sarcasm”, “jocular aside” and “subtlety” instead, always as negatives. Comment Button condemns my entire chapter on Prizes as “it shows none of the adults involved in a good light”. Indeed it doesn’t. They are being satirised, even though one of them was me.

…

Times change. In 1997, a second edition of my first poetry collection, Slattern, was published with Picador. I was thrilled, and immediately took a copy to show off at a festival in St Andrews. Two poems into reading from it, though, I was startled to discover the words had been changed.

A copy editor had decided my irony, commas, and word-choices were too eccentric, and had taken it upon himself to alter them in several poems. I emailed Picador, and the next morning found myself speaking (on a pay phone) to the legendary Peter Straus, Picador’s Publisher. He noted down each tiny adjustment himself and explained he would be ordering the pulping of the books, the carpeting of the copy editor and the printing of a new edition. He wouldn’t be thanked. He seemed to think this was Picador’s mission: to preserve, within its profit-making superstructure, a space for the miniature nuances of a poet.

A quarter of a century later, publishing had moved on. Philip Gwyn Jones, the new holder of Peter Straus’s position, tweeted: “I now understand I must use my privileged position as a white middle-class gatekeeper with more awareness to promote diversity, equity, inclusivity, as all UK publishing strives to put right decades of structural inequality”. At the same time, one of the sensitivity reads Picador had commissioned was advising that Some Kids “exemplifies why publishing is so unwelcoming to marginalised people”. The Readers were explicit that this was not to do with any actual words on the page, but because they could tell that I personally had not done “the self-reflection and self-education that is necessary to understand the underlying reason that so many people felt harmed by [my] work”. They recommended the book should not be republished.

Before we could discuss this, Picador and I agreed to split. After the announcement was made, Swift Press offered to take on the book. I thought carefully about all the notes I had been given and, in the end, adopted none of the suggestions proffered by the Readers. The Kindle edition of Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me now on sale with Swift is the same one I originally sent to the sensitivity readers for report, and if you want to know more about what caused such deep offence, and seems to exemplify so much about publishing, I suggest you read it.

#kate clanchy #unherd #sensitivity readers #read the whole thing

[hyba]

Please let me know your thoughts! I'm writing an article on sensitivity edits and censorship, and alongside that I would also like to know what you think.

This is for the upcoming Scrittorio issue, and I will be publishing the results of these polls on there as well. I'm also very interested in hearing the Why behind your response, so if you can send me a couple of lines giving me your Two Cents on the topic, please do!

#writeblr #books #reading #writing #bookblr #sensitivity readers #sensitivity edits #censorship

[spngencestbang]

Author and Artist Sign-ups Have Closed, Beta & Sensitivity Reader Sign-ups Are Now Open!

We are currently recruiting editors! Please sign up to read and beta some fantastic intimate brotherly stories for us via this Google Form. SPN Gencest Authors will have access to the spreadsheet of responses and reach out to you if you seem like a great fit with their fic. Thank you!

#supernatural #beta readers #sensitivity readers #spn #spn fandom #spn fans #gencest #spn gencest #sam winchester #dean winchester #supernatural fanfiction #spn fanfic #spn fanfiction #samdean #deansam #wincest adjacent #genfic adjacent #fanfiction #fandom

[shortmeteor]

“James Bond novels to be reissued with racial references removed”

I've been a Bond fan since I was a kid. I read the comics, and getting to see the movies was such a big deal. I’ve only read two of the books, but they were fine entertainment. And that’s the thing here. This is not “great art” they are changing. And I was probably not going to read them ever anyway. So, it’s mostly a more general concern. “Sensitivity Readers” is an abhorrent concept, whether we are  talking about literature (for adults, or not), or any art in general. And it is misdirection; changing some old book to deflect attention from actually changing people's lives today. It’s about money and branding. It does not deserve to be taken seriously. It’s like removing the stink from rotten fish and keep selling the fish. All of the harmful stuff is still in there, you only succeed in making the most unwary miss it. Bond is colonialism, authoritarianism, violence, sexism, all sorts of crap. The “Sensitivity Reader” wants you to keep colonizing, keep empire going, just, you know, in a sensitive way. Don’t be crude about it.

Yaroslav Horaks inks will always rock, though. Those lines, those blacks, to die for.

#james bond #Sensitivity Readers #empire #art #literature #yaroslav horak #crude #comics #something rotten #misdirection

[the960writers]

So I’m writing a supernatural mystery book that has a white girl as the main protagonist and she was adopted by a black family and is super close with her adopted sister. I suppose what I want to ask is: almost at the end of the book the sister gets killed by the supernatural force but she’s not out of the story, she continues as a ghost that only the protagonist can see. Is that bad? Would that be a “black person dies first” trope? She doesn’t die first, a lot of people in the town die throughout the book but do you get my question? I’m just kind of worried she’ll be seen as a token character despite her having a huge part in the story and being the secondary main character.

I'm the wrong person to ask this, I'm european, our racism problems are different than american ones. Maybe @writingwithcolor can give you some hints, but it's also not their job to give you a permit of "no racism detected".

I suggest to ask people who are Black, if they feel like this plays into stereotypes. If you publish, you might want to get a sensitivity reader to check the story. But even with all that, someone might object to this. You can't unproblematic your stuff in every angle ever. Nothing will ever be right for every person out there.

#barbex gives advice #sensitivity readers #diversity #writing the other

[colossalsummer]

Some Pine doodles I made in church. 🌲

Chapter 18 of Cecelia and the Living Fossils is up! You can read it on web or on Wattpad. If you're new, you can also start from the beginning.

There's an incredible history of disability in the fossil record, and so much evidence of early humans making accommodations for members of their group with special needs.

Several Neanderthals from coastal cultures have been found with auditory exostoses that would've caused hearing loss over time. I tried to do as much research as possible on late-in-life Deaf and HoH experiences and worked on this chapter right down to the wire. This is really going to end up being kind of a two-parter where Pine has to decide what his future will look like--or whether he wants to have a future in the modern world at all.

I've reached out on several databases for sensitivity readers and I'm still searching, so of you're HoH and have thoughts on Pine, send me a message.

#hoh #sensitivity readers #neanderthal art #early humans #cecelia and the living fossils spoilers #catlf pine #catlf #neanderthal

[writingunderthemoon]

Looking for Indigenous Australian sensitivity readers!

I’ve just started brainstorming/developing an idea for an urban fantasy novel set in Australia. The premise so far is “Bogan bush witch from a small country town moves to Melbourne to begin an apprenticeship with an older city witch,” and I’m hoping to explore themes of modern Australian culture, history and modern identity, differences in Australian spiritual identity, and the transition between high school and adulthood without an existing support network to rely on.

I’ve done a bit of brainstorming about what sorts of fantasy elements and concept I’d want to include, but before I go further with the worldbuilding stage I want to ask for input from Aboriginal Australian sensitivity readers about things to consider/look out for when creating a fantasy story that takes place on Aboriginal land.

Since the story takes place in Melbourne and the protagonist is originally from the area near the Murray River on the VIC/NSW border, sensitivity readers with Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Yorta Yorta background would be preferred if possible, but input from any Aboriginal Australian readers regardless of background is of course very much welcome!

All contributors will of course be credited if/when this story is released or published. I only work part time and don’t earn much myself, but all contributors will definitely be paid for their time and labour as well and I’ll do my best to pay you the amount you deserve for your work.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and if you’d like to contribute, feel free to DM me, any help is really appreciated!

#writeblr #sensitivity reader #sensitivity readers #writing #writing help #beta reader #help wanted #urban fantasy #Australian writer #writers on tumblr #original fiction