Barbara Ridley on Centering Marginalized Characters in Your Fiction

Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is currently in its fourth year. We are a weekly podcast for writers craving a unique blend of inspiration and real talk about the ups and downs of the writing life. Hosted by Brooke Warner of She Writes and Grant Faulkner of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), each theme-focused episode of Write-minded features an interview with a writer, author, or publishing industry professional.

This week’s episode is inspired by guest Barbara Ridley’s new novel, Unswerving, whose central protagonist is gay and disabled. We explore the dearth of disabled characters in fiction, and hear from Barbara how choosing to write about a character who was doubly “othered” drew critiques that she was perhaps going a bridge too far. This episode examines sensitivities to consider when writing “the other” in fiction, and also why it’s important to write characters who don’t often get an opportunity to be centered—as it creates empathy and opens our eyes to the broad range of human experience.

Subscribe and download the episode, wherever you get your podcasts. 

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Barbara Ridley was born in England but has lived most of her adult life in California. After a career in nursing, she’s now focused on creative writing, and has published in journals such as Mud Season Review, The Forge Literary Magazine,Persimmon Tree,The Copperfield Review, and Stoneboat. Her debut novel, “When It’s Over,” set in Europe during WWII, won the IBPA Ben Franklin Silver Medal for Historical Fiction. Her second novel, Unswerving is out this year on the University of Wisconsin Press.