How do you write characters whose worldview is completely different from your own?
It takes time, and there is no single method. But here are the three approaches that worked for me.
The first is empathy — and I mean empathy practiced as a discipline, not just a temperament. Whenever I encounter a controversial topic, I actively seek out the full range of perspectives that exist around it. This does not always change my own position, but it gives me genuine access to how other people think and why their thinking makes sense to them on their own terms. One of my core aims as a writer is to avoid positioning any character as simply right or wrong in their worldview. Presenting perspectives without judgment goes a long way toward removing the author’s bias from the page.
The second approach is the old adage: write what you know. This is more useful than it first appears, because most of us have held significantly different worldviews at different points in our lives. The person you were at twenty is not the person you are now. Writing from past perspectives — beliefs you once held, positions you have since revised — is a legitimate and underused resource. So is drawing inspiration from people you know or have listened to carefully over time.
The third approach is research. Identify the worldviews relevant to the character you are building. Read what people who hold those views actually say about themselves, in their own words, in their own spaces. Then take deliberate steps to ensure that what you are presenting on the page is accurate and not stigmatizing. The difference between a character who feels real and one who feels like a type often comes down to this step.
At the end of the day, presenting worldviews free of judgment is both a craft goal and a disciplinary habit. It is, not coincidentally, a foundational principle of anthropology. The training helps.
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