I've been hearing about this guide to writing characters outside your own lived experience for years, and as someone who wants to include rich diverse casts in my stories, I thought I should check it out! This book was published in 2005, and I think the conversations about own voices and diversity in the publishing world have developed quite a lot since then. I did find the first half of the book a bit dated. However, I loved the last essay in the book, "Appropriate Cultural Appropriation," specifically it's categorization of different writer's approaches to borrowing from other's cultures as Invaders, Tourists, or Guests. I'll be thinking about that metaphor for a long time, and trying my best to be a Guest as often as I can, and at worse a Tourist who pays for the directions and expertise I need to do a good job and not misrepresent cultures I didn't grow up with.