We need more ugly MCs.

Stop making this a trait reserved for that rat-like sidekick or terrible villain. The class clown isn't the only one who can be fat. The nerd isn't the only one who can get acne.

Give your main characters thin hair, bad teeth, acne, body acne, extra fingers, weird facial hair, bad haircuts, bad fashion, weirdly big feet or hands or foreheads.

Make them weirdly tall or short, make them too fat or too thin. Make their face shape something except 'circular but in a cute way' or diamond/square/heart. Make them have a double chin or sickly transparent skin or short sweaty hands.

Especially if they're adolescents! Especially if they're from a poor/polluted area because no one who grew up drinking toxic water around mines and trash and rubble comes out of it with clear skin and shiny hair their whole life!

Make‼️Your‼️Main‼️Characters‼️Ugly‼️

And make your readers love them anyway

I have never in my life researched how to write a white character because I just consume enough media to have a general idea of what their overall culture is like. Most POC authors have the same experience. My question is what is stopping white authors from doing the same thing rather than taking some weird ass 'how to not be racist' class?

Hi! So what I usually do is think of why the environment is important to be mentioned in the scene. If your scene is a more 'active' scene then dont start by environmental description, rather you could start with inner dialogue/monologue that ties to it.

It's like 7 in the morning so excuse the poor writing but here's an example:

(Obviously yknow be more detailed than the above sentences). Then a sentence that connects it to your actual scene, continuing the above example it could be like:

But if your scene is more like he's walking through it with the intent of getting somewhere usually only mention what's either relevant to the plot (foreshadowing wise) or to a character. Or something like 'he's so late but this swarm of robot technicians talking loudly about xyz are walking really slowly in front of him'. Something that 1. makes his emotions/situation clear while 2. still being 'in the moment'.

You could also start with an active scene (like him talking to someone) then use that as an excuse for scene-building. An easy way to do it is use something he sees/hears/smells and connect it to a character or scene.

Like for example A is walking through [lane], gets to his destination, then maybe he notices B has a red flower in her hair just like the ones the street hawker was selling at [lane]. You could also use this for character development without info-dumping, something like 'of course someone like B would buy from the poor man who A spared but a glance to'.

I've rambled quite a bit, but I hope this helped! If you want I'd be happy to review an actual snippet and give feedback (honestly I've been meaning to get back into beta reading since a while).

im thinking of adding shorter list-type blogs into my rotation that focus more on bite-sized important input/advice than comprehensive guides plus that would mean 3 posts per week

I'll publish the blogs this week and the next depending on the votes

I miss being in love with words and beautiful prose. I miss typing out stories so enchanting they twist from ink to life, painting entire worlds with each stroke of the pen. I miss the thrill of the written word, the shiver of excitement that accompanied a newfound plot point.

But I fear that adoration has been eclipsed by a thirst for adulation—an ache for worldly acclaim that devours me whole, leaving behind the rotten carcass of a linguistic soul. A soul long buried and burned, laid to rest in the forgotten purgatory of withered pages and blotted ink.

For what good are words if they are never read? What good are stories if they are never told? What good is an author if they are never known?