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actully i like this question, I also see characters as white, so when lets say lenny kravits played cinna i was like WOW did not think of him as black!!!! but he made a GREAT cinna and with Twilight i didnt imagine Eric asian in my head i imagined him white, i also wondered how others see characters im white also so i thought maybe it was natural for me to see the characters as white and i wondered if others ethnic groups seen the characters the same as them... this is a good question i look forward to seeing other ppls thoughts

but see in this book they made one of the twins black so obviously i seen her as black in my head but when a book doesnt give u that detail ur minds sees what it wants

Isn't the main character part Native American? And doesn't she have a black friend? Other than that the races outside her group of friends are not mentioned. And her group of friends is small.

Well one of the main characters in the Gone series by Michael Grant is asian.

Hmmm, i see your point. Really, if you want my opinion: It dosn't matter. it's just the colour of their skin. it means nothing, (Not trying to be racist if that's what you think.)

As a reader I don't think of characters in terms of race/ethnicity unless the author includes details or descriptions and a plot line that indicate I should develop a certain perspective. As a writer, I'm a white female and it would be difficult for me to develop a deep portrait of a character from a vastly different culture, and maybe even a male character, and be true to the character's motivations and perceptions. I have a varied mix of friends I interact with but that doesn't mean I understand what it's like to be them. I think we write and possibly read-in what we're comfortable with.

For me it's I picture them whatever it mentions them to be. Then when the movie comes out I'm like oh yeah the person is (blank) race. Truly I done't think it matters it's just the color of their skin. I mostly think of the character by their personality.

I also don't think that, unless the author specifies it, we know what the characters are or are not in the mind of the author. Which is kind of the beauty of reading, isn't it? You can follow the author's storyline, but everyone envisions and imagines the details in their own way: characters, scenery and costumes.

Its why most people are surprised when someone interpreted a book a different way or are surprised or disappointed when they see the movie version, its all interpretation for the most part.

Its personally my favorite part of reading.

But on a side note, try not to think of it as one color or the other. For instance, I read a lot of historical fiction novels so all my characters are English, Scottish, French, South African, British India etc...not white. if that makes sense.

I know in more modern novels these lines blur, but i also think it allows us to envision the characters in more diverse way because after all aren't most of us a mix of something (don't want to speak for everyone) and thats also a good thing. i like to think of myself as so much more than a specific color, so i try to focus on and relate to the colorful personalities and likes and dislikes of the characters versus their physical traits.