Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [ethics]

This tag should be used for questions that deal with ethical considerations, such as which facts you will want to reveal in a public newspaper article or what kind of behaviour is expected from publishers.

This tag should be used for questions that deal with ethical considerations, such as which facts you will want to reveal in a public newspaper article or what kind of behaviour is expected from publishers.

30 questions
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To what extent should we fear giving offense?

Recently we have seen multiple questions on various aspects of political correctness. They have sparked some measure of disagreement, which is what I wanted to examine here. To what extent should we fear giving offense with what we write? To what…
Galastel supports GoFundMonica
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Is it wrong if I kill off a black character?

He is one of two supporting characters that die in my screenplay. My wife says I shouldn’t make him black if he’s going to die. Would it be politically incorrect?
Marcus Meier
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25
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7 answers

How to identify whether a publisher is genuine or not?

Despite an identical title: This question is in no means duplicate of this question. In my local area, there have been various ads running on social media that invite novice writers to contribute their original writings for their upcoming…
Karan Desai
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How to tell readers your story is a re-imagination of a popular story?

If for example, I were to rewrite a story heavily inspired by Romeo and Juliet, but placed it in a complete different setting. Do you have to say it? Also, do you mention it in the title that's it's a reimagining, or would you put it in the preface.…
user36239
18
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4 answers

Writing about real people - not giving offence

The Spy is a Netflix series about Israeli spy and hero Eli Cohen. In a recent interview, Eli's widow Nadia expresses great dissatisfaction with the series: a lot of changes were made, ostensibly to "add drama", that in her opinion diminish him. She…
Galastel supports GoFundMonica
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Is the often used black and white symbolism inherently racist?

It is an extremely common trope that white/light means good and dark/black means bad/evil. I thought that - contrary to the appearances - the black/white symbolism is not racist. I believe it has nothing to do with an unfortunate period in history…
gaazkam
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The ethics of multiple contest submissions

So I'm gearing up to write an actual full-length novel and I've decided that the best way to test the mettle of my writing (and make a couple of bucks in the process) is to enter a few writing contests. But I simply don't have the time to write a…
Jed Oliver
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How far I can write about a protagonist with a different ethnicity of me?

I am planning to write a book about a life of a person. However, the protagonist is a black person. The main plot is not about ethnicity things, but where the plot happens I have to talk about some situations. The book is about romance, but the…
Vinicius Morais
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How can you humanize infanticide of the evil-tainted?

The world is surrounded by an alternate realm called the spirit world. Humans existed as separate physical entities, but maintain an attachment to the spirit realm due to their connection with god. When a child is ready to be born, it must pass…
Incognito
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What should be done if there is a dispute of opinions within the editorial team?

In a magazine where an individual author's name is not published with the article, it seems obvious to me that the article can be presumed to reflect the consensus of the entire editorial team on whatever has been written in the article. Now, in…
ACat
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Are happy deaths offensive?

Would having characters not feel sad about death, but instead fascinated about it be offensive to those who lost others? I always felt as if death is natural and should not be sad, but would writing it that way be offensive?
Gabriel Burchfield
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Is it considered ethical to accept payment from a business for reviewing a product or service?

Let's say that you operate a popular blog that routinely dispenses your personal opinions and expert advice on various topics. A business believes that your audience contains many potential customers for their product or service. They write you a…
John Feminella
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How to quote something somebody was told by someone else? (Third-party, hearsay)

THE ISSUE There must be a catch-phrase or soundbite to describe this scenario, but so far, I've been unsuccessful locating that term, and my efforts to answer this question have been flat as well. I added terms like "hearsay", "tertiary source", and…
Eric Hepperle - CodeSlayer2010
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Disclaimer when writing about governmental entities

I've read many novels involving characters working at the NASA, Vatican, Secret Police, high government officers (Dan Brown, Stieg Larsson for example) and doing stuff that I wouldn't like being made public if it was about me. (even though this is…
user2061
3
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1 answer

As an author, how can you ensure that your agent/publisher isn’t ripping you off by pocketing your money and giving you false info about sales?

Agents typically demand that authors sign over complete control of their royalties to them so that their money comes from the agent rather than from the publisher directly. I know a certain author named Dean Wesley Smith who has spoken a lot about…
user394536
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