After Waking for Hours was published, I heard of the Bechdel Test, a feminist way to analyze fiction for diversity. There are three criteria that a work of fiction needs to meet in order to pass this test.

1. There must be at least two female characters,
2. they must talk with each other,
3. and they must talk about something other than a male character.

Waking for Hours passes the Bechdel Test, but just barely. But if that story wouldn't pass the Bechdel Test, neither would my high school years. I went to an all-boys private high school and the main character of my book is in a very similar situation. There wasn't any gendered diversity among the students in my high school, just as there wasn't for the student bodies of the two all-girls high schools in San Mateo County. Those three high schools are still, to this day, segregated by gender.

But there are some other tests that can be applied to fiction, and they can be found in this Tumblr post.

The Ellen Willis Test asks if a story would still make sense if the genders of the characters were flipped. I think my book would pass this test.

I'm proud to say that Waking for Hours would fail the Sexy Lamp Test, as the females in my story could not be successfully replaced by inanimate objects.

I don't think that my book passes the Mako Mori Test, as the naratives for the female characters are incomplete. But one has to bear in mind the setting and that the main character is a bisexual boy going to an all-boys school.

I think my book does pass the Tauriel test, thanks to one of the characters who is very good at her job: the pastor Marianne.

Waking for Hours would fail The Deggans Rule as there is only one person of color, an Asian girl (Melody), in the main cast. There is also a Latino/Fillipino boy (Nelson) and another Asian girl (Mandy), but they are minor characters in this book. Likewise, my book fails the Racial Bechdel Test, because while there are two people of color who speak with each other, Nelson and Mandy, they are minor characters who don't appear all that much.

If I were to write a story based on my true perceptions of my high school years, there would have been even less diversity. These days, there is no longer a clear racial majority in San Mateo County in general. But there are still regions in the area where the populations are not as diverse. What is the best approach when trying to portray accurately the population of the setting? What if the story is set in an area that's somewhat homogenous?

Also, diversity must be believable and not stereotypical. The cast should contain characters, not caricatures.