Super casual and friendly reminder that if you are writing about a culture you don't belong to you need to do your research.

Start with, "Is this my story to tell?" and "Could I use my own culture, history, and folklore to tell this story?"

For instance, if you're white, you probably *don't* need to be writing about Hindu gods. There are plenty of European cultures and gods. Check out the iron age in your ancestral homelands and see if they might have gods you can borrow.

If you're writing anything Asian... so the research and check out how those people write about themselves. The Chinese take on Mongol history is - I know this might shock you - a bit biased (as in very, very biased).

The Dutch view of African cultures is not the one you need to read to understand anyone in Africa. It's a huge continent with lots of books on the history of Africa as written by Africans. Even better? People specialize in cultures, countries, and regions so you can read that.