Sister Nerds, Your Attention Please...

My friend and fellow author Dennis Upkins, has asked for our input on an upcoming writing project.  Here is the premise in his own words:

Ladies, I have questions. May I have a moment of your time, please?

So for Clarion Write-a-thon, I’ve been knocking out a lot of writing projects. I just finished a book which I’m currently editing. I’m working on an outline for a publisher. I’m about to work on my next project which I’ve developed.

An action-packed SF/F story, it’s a predominantly female merc crew with a queer black heroine as the central protagonist. In fact, I envision said heroine resembling the lovely and talented Ms. India Arie in the above pic. This is a diverse team that features other women of color, a protagonist of size, as well as a trans heroine. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that even with most women-centric stories, women of color, particularly black women, are often thrown under the bus and that’s definitely something that never sat well with me. The story is loosely based on an old comic book script I previously wrote. Think a female Expendables meets Birds of Prey in a dystopian setting.

So my question to the women is this. In an action packed book where the ladies take center stage, what would you like to see more of from writers and what would you like writers to avoid? I basically want to hear your thoughts so I can know what to bear in mind while writing the story.

Your comments can also serve as a great resource for other male writers who genuinely want to do it right. While many of us know to avoid the major tropes and fails, there may be a few elements that we haven’t considered.

Women of color and queer women, I especially want to hear from you. Thank you for your time.

Thoughts?  Feel free to share them here, here, or here.  It's up to us to tell our own stories because no one else is going to do it.  Denny's a terrific author and a good guy, so I know he will do it justice.  I'm ready to spend my money.