In terms of color, does it matter to people if a character is not a real race?

[[deleted user]]

In most books, our reality is often the starting point for creating characters.

Because we refer to terms like biracial and Asian, African-American, Latina, Native American, etc., We often have a certain view of how we envision a character through just terms alone.

My question is, what if an author made up a race? What if they created a reality that didn't mirror our Earth? If they describe the complete features of the character with using terms like Asian or African American, or Brazilian, would it matter that they came from an alternative reality?

[[deleted user]]

For me I think it's easier to describe sometimes race instead of just saying that they're black, or white because the problem with saying that a character is black automatically forces people to mark it as a"black"book. it's unfair but this is what i've noticed with some books. Publishers fear that it won't be marketable to non black people so they just throw it in a pile with other ethnic fiction.

I'm smart enough to know by description when a character happens to share a culture that mirrors on our own, but with alternate universes an author is free to take traits from cultures without having to check whether or not they're being 100 percent accurate.It's fun to read books like that, i wish there were a lot more like that!

[Heather]

If they lived in a different reality, I'd definitely expect a completely different way of describing characters. Their history and the way their world evolved could lead to endless possibilities!

[Cindy III]

It matters a small bit for me. It is set in an alternate world, so why not make up the ethnicity of the character and describe it. For example, in R.A. Salvatore's forgotten realms books there are characters like elves, dwarves, humans, etc. One of Salvatore's characters Drizzt is a drow, which is an ebon skinned elf whose people live underground. He is never described as african american in looks. Actually drow have white hair.

[Tom]

I agree with Heather and Libertad. You have to describe a race in the terms of their setting.

[Kathy (Kindle-aholic)]

You can take a look at NK Jemisin's Hundred Thousand Kingdoms for a good example of how to have a multicultural cast of characters in a fantasy setting without referring to the contemporary racial nomenclature.

[Thisgurl]

I like the idea of describing characters based on things outside of our contemporary racial or ethnic labels. Would love to see much more of it within the scifi and fantasy genres. (i better get to writing again huh?) The way i see it, in those genres a writer has an open field to play with and boundaries we can draw or erase to fit our story world.

Sitting here thinking, if i wanted to pattern a fantasy character after one or two of my multicultural buddies how would i describe them WITHOUT using "contemporary racial nomenclature"? Because really as writers aren't our characters so much more than a racial or ethnic catalog of parts?

Not sure i'm making sense.

[Kathy (Kindle-aholic)]

Thisgurl wrote: "I like the idea of describing characters based on things outside of our contemporary racial or ethnic labels. Would love to see much more of it within the scifi and fantasy genres. (i better get t..."

I meant you wouldn't use Asian, African, European if your world does not have an Asia, Africa or Europe. :) Everything else is fair game as far as descriptions, I would think.

For instance, the heroine in Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is from a cultural background similar to Pacific Islanders, but Jemisin never describes her in the book as being a Pacific Islander (using those exact words).

ETA: I also might be confused as to what the question here is.

[Kathy (Kindle-aholic)]

I found a blogpost Jemisin did about how she approaches character descriptions, depending on the world they are in. It has 3 parts. here is part 1: http://nkjemisin.com/2009/04/ways-to-...

[[deleted user]]

Thanks for the link Kindle-aholic!

[Kathy (Kindle-aholic)]

Guinevere wrote: "Thanks for the link Kindle-aholic!"

It explains better than I ever could. I have been filling out so many forms lately (med stuff, school, etc) and they all have the ethnic demographic part - African American, Caucasian, Asian, Latin American, Hispanic, White/Caucasian not Hispanic, and so on. I think if I were to write a book set in another world, my main rule would be to not use any race-defining words that are found on government forms.

I've heard some reviewers complain about the overuse of food terms to describe skin color. How does everyone feel about that?

[[deleted user]]

Kindle-aholic wrote: "Guinevere wrote: "Thanks for the link Kindle-aholic!"

It explains better than I ever could. I have been filling out so many forms lately (med stuff, school, etc) and they all have the ethnic demog..."

It's funny because there are sooooooo many ways to describe a paler complexion but when it comes to darker ones, some of the only ways to describe in a pleasant way ARE to compare them to food. I bought this describer's dictionary and the describe pale, there had to be twenty descriptions.You wanna know how many there were to describe brown???A big whomping 3. I'm trying to find appealing words around this but it's a bit of a struggle without using food.

I guess i'm okay with it as long as it doesn't sound fetish-y. I remember picking up a book by the erotica writer Zane(don't judge, i had NO IDEA she wrote erotica.I just thought it was short stories with Asian men and black women dating and stuff like that.)And she described asian skin like honey. Ehhhh it made it sound kinda fetish-y. I didn't like that too much.

[[deleted user]]

Im not sure how someone not defined as "Black" would feel about it, but I dont mind being compared to food. A book I've seen on goodreads "Revealing Eden" deals with calling Black people "Coals." I think i'd rather much my skin be compared to chocolate or chestnuts, cinnamon, coffee or even cocoa. It's not that it's so offensive to be referred to something you are in comparison, but imagine being called a coal while someone Caucasian is referred to as a "Pearl." There are plenty of black stones that signify elegance. However, being Afro-Latino, in the US? I really dont see a ton of Blacks who are even actually resemble to crayon color "Black." Majority wise, I think most Blacks in the US are more similar to things like espresso, or honey, or cocoa. And food is appealing :) who wouldnt want to be compared to something tasty!

[[deleted user]]

Unfortunately we live in a country, where Black isn't considered as appealing as our fairer skinned beauties. So there arent as many appealing things to compare our skin to as "Snow White."

[[deleted user]]

I've been looking up so many ways to describe color outside of food btw :p

There arent as many, but they're still appealing, and at first glance they'd make you want to know what they are,and do resemble more Blacks in the US, including myself.

[Kathy (Kindle-aholic)]

Guinevere wrote: "I've been looking up so many ways to describe color outside of food btw :p

There arent as many, but they're still appealing, and at first glance they'd make you want to know what they are,and do r..."

I didn't mean it to be homework. :) Although if it helps expand ways you can approach describing your characters, then it is hopefully good.. It doesn't bother me to see color descriptions using food items. I agree that food is appealing. In reading Libertad's response (and remembering that the reviewers in question mainly read romance/erotica) I think that her observation might be why they complained. Of course, I'm not in their heads so I can't say for sure.

Just endless curiosity.

[Thisgurl]

Kindle-aholic wrote: "I meant you wouldn't use Asian, African, European if your world does not have an Asia, Africa or Europe. :) Everything else is fair game as far as descriptions, I would think.
For instance, the heroine in Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is from a cultural background similar to Pacific Islanders, but Jemisin never describes her in the book as being a Pacific Islander (using those exact words)."


My thoughts exactly!

Gotta admit i wrote a few short stories for creative writing classes and i never described my characters outside of gender, wanting instead to quickly develop their actions and thoughts so i could jump right into the story. For me it didn't matter their ethnicity or race. Yet during the workshop sessions a few of my fellow students took me to task for that. Was interesting...lol