Understanding Sensitivity Readers

The New York Times ran an article today that discussed the increasingly important role of sensitivity readers in the writing process. This quote mostly sums up the article:

Many [writers] are turning to sensitivity readers, who provide feedback on issues like race, religion, gender, sexuality, chronic illness and physical disabilities. The role that readers play in shaping children’s books has become a flash point in a fractious debate about diversity, cultural appropriation and representation, with some arguing that the reliance on sensitivity readers amounts to censorship.

I'm a little surprised to hear sensitivity readers portrayed as censors—though perhaps I shouldn't be, it seems to me that in today's hyper-media climate even the New York Times can't run an article without crafting it into a clickbait conflict piece.

Paul and I have been fortunate enough to have some great conversations with authors and editors who utilize sensitivity readers and who serve as sensitivity readers. Even better, we got to record them for How Authors Work, which means I can share them with you today:

First, Scott Reintgen spoke with us about the work he does with young adults from many different backgrounds to represent them authentically in his writing.

Second, Kaelan Rhywiol spoke with us about actually being a sensitivity reader, and was kind enough to explain how difficult that work can be.

You should listen for yourself, but in case you don't have time, here's a very crude summary of what Paul and I learned from them:

First, if you're writing about people who come from a different experience or background than your own, whether the difference is one of religion, race, gender, or anything else, representing them accurately is important.

It seems like this should be obvious. You'd do some research before setting a story in ancient Rome, wouldn't you? If you write a military story, but get all the details about the military wrong, you know you're going to frustrate people with actual military experience, right? Why would you want to write that book if you're not willing to do the homework?

Working with a sensitivity reader is just a logical extension of that research and editorial process which helps you represent the people and situations in your book in a realistic way.

Second, you should approach sensitivity readers with humility, learn from what they have to say, and respect the difficulty of what they're doing.

I can't emphasize this one enough. Above and beyond the work required to give feedback on a book in the first place, stop and think about the unique difficulty that arises from sensitivity reading.

If a soldier agrees to read your war story and give feedback, you're implicitly asking that soldier to relieve their wartime experience in their mind and compare it against what you've written. That may be difficult or deeply painful for them!

Many of the experiences that you'll want a sensitivity reader for are like this, so again, be humble and appreciate what your readers have to say.

It's interesting for the NYT to bring it's giant spotlight onto the subject of sensitivity readers, but I think listening to those first-hand experiences is a lot more helpful than reading an intentionally charged summary article. I hope you all will check out the linked podcast episodes, and if you have any comments please shoot us an email (#).