How To Write Inclusively: An Analysis & How To Guide

By Ashwini Prasad

Inclusion, diversity, equity, and belonging are hot topics in 2020, especially in media and Hollywood. Written by a South Asian woman with three Masters degrees, two degrees focusing on anti-oppression and anti-racism issues and the third a MBA, this short yet informative e-book written explores why inclusion is important for the arts, media, entertainment, and publishing areas. Any writer in the world will benefit from the analysis that centers around Hollywood, issues regarding race and gender in the United States, and a simple how to guide to start writing inclusively. In short, any writer who wants support to make their writings more inclusive in a world that is hungry for inclusion, diversity, equity, and belonging will enjoy this read written by a screenwriter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashwini Prasad
• Release date: Aug 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393587040

Ashwini Prasad

Ashwini Prasad is a South Asian Indian immigrant to Canada and the United States, but her life is more complex. She was born in Fiji Islands, raised in Calgary, AB and Vancouver, BC, and has spent her adult life in the United States, mainly in the Pacific Northwest. Equity and justice are her pillars. Her pillars were rooted in college which is now over 20 years of experience in anti-racism, anti-oppression and social justice work with two Master’s degrees with these focus areas. For example, her first thesis was about incorporating ant-racist portfolio requirements to complete a college education, and her second thesis was about the intersectionality between non-violence and the Hindu caste system. One recent accomplishment is building a diversity, inclusion, and belonging plan for a school in a liberal arts college. She let her creative pursuits go to the side, after completing her MBA – her third master’s, and she went on to thrive in the business world. Today, that determination and strategic and organizational skills are transferred to telling stories that stem from people erased or marginalized from history as the center. Their stories are our stories, and their rich perspectives deserve to be told and celebrated. Ashwini was inspired to connect her education and the lack of inclusivity in screenplays. The lack of inclusivity directly effects the content delivered to screens and other parts of writing, arts and entertainment. As a screenwriter, Ashwini cultivates safe spaces for storytelling. “Tapestry,” her first screenplay, is about sharing the South Asian Indian contributions in WW1 and the immigrant experience to a larger, non-academic audience and into popular culture. A short which includes a Chinese lesbian couple, a trans woman, and multi-ethnic partnerships is also part of her writing portfolio. In addition, her work, “Kismet,” is a combination of mainly comedy with some drama inspired by Never Have I Ever and Fleabag with a South Asian Indian, lesbian woman as the lead. Ashwini is a firm believer in lifting others up to move from surviving, to striving, and then to thriving. The time has come for these safe spaces in arts and entertainment because the world has lost too much talent or not seen talent because of horrible indiscretions in the past.  

Book preview

What Is The Purpose Of This E-Book?

This e-book is meant to demonstrate the issues with inclusion in Hollywood, and a start in how to write diverse characters in scripts, books and other media. Each of the areas discussed is a novel filling topic, so consider this a brief overview to continue the conversation about inclusivity and writing. There is much work to be done as we strive for an inclusive world. Key concepts to understand are:

First, inclusion means incorporating the variety of people in the world into our narratives. For simplicity, the examples in this e-book are about race, ethnicity, sex and sexual orientation, but the point of this e-book is to think about bringing inclusivity in all forms to writings in authentic and innocuous ways.

Second, the simple how to guide will provide insights into how to start inclusive character development that Hollywood is beginning to look for in scripts, and in other content that people want to see and read around the world. 

Third, the exploration of how stories can evolve toward inclusivity in your scripts is described. 

Fourth, this e-book provides an opportunity to write characters that are not narrow, stereotypical, based on limited experiences portrayed in media, or jokes among social groups.

Remember, if the adage that we write what we know is accurate, then it follows that producers will only produce what they know, and publishers will publish what they know. The same argument goes for editors. As writers, we can influence the industries we love by making our stories inclusive and diverse, and work for our well-researched characters to be represented on the screen, and in books, magazines, news stories, and so forth.

Our stories are the start to any production and we can create a better world; literally, we can create, imagine and story tell our way to an inclusive world. We are the start to what is consumed by people in society; our influence as storytellers is monumental but differs depending on the outlet. For example, screenwriters lack power in the Hollywood hierarchy, whereas, today, book writers can hold onto their power by self-publishing much more easily than the days when finding an agent and publisher was the only path.

Who Is This E-book For?

The concepts in this e-book can be applied to screenwriters, or writers, in any country. The examples in this e-book are from Hollywood and about popular books in the United States; however, the principles apply to any writer who is serious about authentic character development. The suggestions on how to write inclusive characters is what investigative journalists or research documentarians do every day.

Also, this e-book is written by a North American screenwriter so many of the references are current issues deeply affecting Canada and the Unites States. Of course, the issues are also global but the examples used are primarily from North America. The ask is for folks to pivot the examples and how tos in this e-book to examples in their parts of their world. The examples in this e-book are primarily centered around race, ethnicity, sex, and sexual orientation, but the intention is to highlight that inclusion means including people who are historically marginalized in all parts of the world.

In addition, we need so much more guidance on how to include inclusion in projects. This e-book is also meant to provide actionable steps that will guide writers to put inclusivity into writings as we address decades of exclusion and narrow perspectives that continue to infiltrate our arts, entertainment, media, books, and so forth.

Moreover, the e-book may be too pedantic