As you may already know, July is Disability Pride Month, designed to uplift the voices of people with disabilities from all walks of life. We’ve already taken a look at some amazing books with disabled characters from our RNA authors, and today we’re thrilled to introduce Ella Cook to the blog to talk about disability representation, how living with an invisible disability has impacted her writing career, and how to write disabled characters thoughtfully.

What advice would you give to somebody who wants to include more disabled characters in their writing?

Do it with kindness and sensitivity, and please, please avoid tokenism. What I mean by this is don’t just shove in a disabled character to try and tick a box. Ask yourself why you’re writing this character with whatever condition or challenges you’re including, and what relevance it has to the story. If you can’t explain it to yourself (or agent, publisher, beta readers etc.) then maybe consider spending some more time thinking about your motives. Or just don’t do it.

To write about more disabled characters well, I believe you have to write with authenticity. I’ve never set out deliberately to write about disability – or mental illness, which should be included in Pride Disability Month discussions – and it’s not a primary theme in any of my books. But it is a part of life for a lot of people, and I therefore think should be featured.

So, from someone with conditions that aren’t immediately visible but do impact my daily life, and which can be dis-enabling… here’s my advice and pleas on writing it well:

• Do your research. Know the topic you are writing about. Find people with the condition you’re writing about and talk to them, let them read your work, and accept criticism
• Make the character relatable. Especially in romance, please don’t turn them into a stereotype or mystery to be uncovered. Unless you’re writing romantasy, your characters are human… keep them that way. And stay true to character: for example, if your lead is usually kind, caring and sweet – they won’t stop being that way because they’re having a flare up, break down or anything else
• Be realistic. There isn’t a cure, or an escape, for most conditions. I have the same conditions – and responsibilities – on a good day, and a bad day. I can’t withdraw from life, not turn up at work, or let down loved ones and neither can your character… so be true to that
• Don’t sensationalise: Avoid the stereotypes, don’t make the condition the driving plot point, or the plot twist. And don’t be lazy and use it as a device to show off your hero’s “goodness” by having them rescue the disabled/depressed/neuro-diverse character and heal them with love. Please do better than the (great at the time but now outdated) damsel in distress or hunchback in the tower
• Don’t discriminate: Just because someone lives with conditions that can be dis-enabling doesn’t mean they can’t have a job, a happy relationship or be successful. So write that
• Write with kindness and hope: This is the most important one for me: Give your characters light at the end of the tunnel, give them hope. If they’re not happy at the start of your book, give them the stepping stones to happiness. Maybe even write them a happy ending. Because we all deserve that!

[Editorial note: as if to prove Ella’s point, the image used for this section shows a medical/hospital wheelchair – not the sort someone is likely to use in daily life – but I was unable to find one that’s more accurate and shows a happy couple. Even stock images have poor represenation!] 

What does a typical day look like for you?

In honesty, a lot of them start of like Imogen’s in Midnight Rainbows over the Little Village. I don’t always know when I wake up if it’s going to be a good day or a bad day… how much energy, focus or pain I’m going to have.

So I start slowly – usually with a cup of tea made by my partner (who gets up earlier than me) – and stretching. I have lots of physio activities and exercises I have to do to keep myself moving, then I have my day job (I’m a full-time Business Development Writer).

Then, after I’ve made dinner (with the help lots of shortcuts and clever kitchen gadgets) I try to settle down and write. If I’m struggling with foggy brain syndrome, I’ll make a few notes for when I can think clearer. Or I’ll do something unimportant to the plot. Or edit some previous pages. I also have a lot of lists and tables when I’m writing to keep track of key information and plot timelines, and to try and keep myself a bit clearer!

Please tell us about your book(s).

There’s the Broclington series which is up-lit romcoms, with a sparkle of magic. The series comprises of 4 books (so far!) and includes Midnight Rainbows over the Little Village. Rainbows is Imogen’s story, who has invisible disabilities very similar to my own.

There’s also my first (hopefully of many!) standalone novel Life After Me which is “an emotional and uplifting romance about love and loss and healing”. It’s a contemporary romance with a big twist. And, because it does deal with some very heavy themes like bereavement and grief, it does also discuss depression. But, because it’s me, I promise there’s hope too.

About Ella Cook

Ella’s been obsessed with books since the moment she could reach to pull them off the shelf by herself, and has wanted to write for as long as she can remember.

She grew up in London where fairies lived at the bottom of her Grandma’s garden, and she still looks for magic – and often finds it – in everyday life. She doesn’t shy away from writing about the harder things in life, and isn’t afraid to weave her own lived experiences of hidden disabilities and mental health challenges into her stories.

She won the SWWJ Floella Benjamin Award in 2019, and published her debut, in 2021. Her books are now published by Joffe Books, and she doesn’t plan to stop writing any time soon.

When she emerges from her fictional worlds, she writes bids for children’s services and lives in Warwickshire (where there are probably more fairies) with her ever-loving husband who reads all her stories first and makes gallons of tea in magical cups that keep drinks warm for whole chapters.

You can learn more about Ella and find links to where you can find her on social media here!