More and more these days, fiction authors are hiring sensitivity readers/editors or being asked to have their works or pitches reviewed by readers/editors who share a lived experience with the characters in their stories. For me, who is a sensitivity editor and who relies on them so much, I forget that the concept might rub …
Continue reading Needing a sensitivity editor doesn’t mean you’re an insensitive person.
I am a sensitivity/diversity editor, particularly for disability representation in fiction. I am also a flawed human who's writing hasn't been perfect. Still, I'm a person who wants to keep learning and growing. You, too? There's one thing I want to underscore in this post: You are not perfect, but that's okay, as long as …
Continue reading Sensitivity and Sensibility: Learning and Growing with Representation in Writing
This week I was so excited to send The Stealth Lovers to my publisher, Renaissance. The manuscript still has to go through the Acquisitions Committee, so I have about three months to wait before I know if they'll publish it. (Please, please pick me! Pick me!) The Stealth Lovers is the origin story of Commander Xaxall …
This morning my friend tagged me on a post featuring an article about sensitivity readers. Without reading the article, I replied, "Yes! I use sensitivity readers and editors all the time!" Then, I did a bad thing—I read the comments. Ugh. A few people equated this type of editing to censorship and others made some really insulting …
Continue reading Sensitivity editing is not censorship—it’s about respect.
Yeah, so I'm cisgender, which means that a doctor looked at my new-born bits and said, "It's a girl," and when I grew up I said, "Good guess, Doc." I'm also heterosexual, which means I am romantically and sexually attracted to men. Right, so we got those boring details about me out of the way. …
Continue reading I’m cishet and I write queer characters, but not without help.
Cait Gordon—author and editor 