Can a White Writer Legitimately Write Characters of Color?

[Mary]

I struggle with this dilemma a lot. I want to include diverse characters in my work, but feel sort of funny about it. How can I properly portray a person who has had such a different life experience?

[Sharon]

Mary wrote: "I struggle with this dilemma a lot. I want to include diverse characters in my work, but feel sort of funny about it. How can I properly portray a person who has had such a different life experience?"

Go talk to people who have had those life experiences. Listen to their stories. Explain why you want to know. Ask questions.

First person information will help a lot. I promise.

[Jennifer]

Absolutely!

Do not be afraid to write outside your experience. If you aren't sure if you're getting it right, then find a beta reader from that community (ideally more than one) to look it over.

Talk to people from that community. Read their blogs. Learn what portrayals they want and what offend them.

I always feel I'm getting my non-white characters wrong, but I don't let it stop me.

[Mary]

Jennifer wrote: "Absolutely!

Do not be afraid to write outside your experience. If you aren't sure if you're getting it right, then find a beta reader from that community (ideally more than one) to look it over.

..."
LOVE the idea of walking through a diverse neighborhood with a sample chapter. Good think I live in New York!

[Lisa]

If you can immerse yourself in the characters then I would say yes. I think the idea of using Beta readers from that community is a really good one. I don't think it is possible to be a writer of fiction without being s bit of an actor. Men writing women characters, gay writing straight, the exact opposites of these? There are just so many other variations on that diversity theme. I would just say be imaginative, do the research and be genuinely respectful whenever you write a character who is "not you".

[Dwayne]

I do it all the time. I am a middle-aged white male, but rarely have middle-aged white males the main characters of my stories. Don't over think it. Just let your "diverse" characters flow like any other. Truth be told, unless you're going to populate your book with characters who are exactly like you, all of your characters will be different. Don't shy from the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of someone else. Embrace it.

[Pamela]

I've done it in my book as well. You can do as the others have mentioned, as well as try recalling your own experiences with people of different backgrounds. I'm like Lisa because I try to immerse myself in my characters, black, white, male, female, etc.

[James]

Think of Hollywood. How many people of color are happy about the way they are portrayed in movies that are written and directed by white people? And then think about the idea that white audiences seem to be perfectly ok with it. Hollywood does it because they are pandering to an audience to make money. They don't care about the legitimacy of the characters.

To represent a person of color in a book as a person of color rather than as an individual you would need to engage in stereotypes, which would probably work fine with a white audience. But it would hardly be legitimate. Nor is it something I would promote or respect.

Let's add an additional question: Could a white person who grew up in Santa Monica legitimately write a white character who grew up in Brooklyn? I think the answer is no. But if you resort to stereotypes an audience in Santa Monica might be fine with it.

If you want to write about real people in real situations, I think you need to write about, or extrapolate, or integrate your own actual experiences to create a realistic character.

That said, a white writer from Santa Monica could always portray a person of color or a white person from Brooklyn as a character that interacts in a book if the interactions are based in some part on the actual experiences of the author. Otherwise, I don't think even that could be legitimate? How could it? If you are trying to create realistic characters how can you write about experiences you've never had and expect to get them right?

[Jamie]

Fiction isn't fact. People are people first and foremost. There's a blog. http://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/po...

Although I found it of limited help as a non-American. I also found it after I had finished my book. I didn't feel the need to go back and revise anything. It may be of more help to American writers.

[K.P.]

just write about a character. color shouldn't matter. if you have to point out this character is *applied race* then you're already near stereotype territory.
in fiction most folks (especially americans) assume all the characters are white as if it's some kind of default. I primarily write characters of color but most folks assume theyre 'white' because I don't use stereotypes as shorthand. sure other races might have problems depending on where they are but it shouldn't be their sole experience.
I read plenty of books by white authors who wrote characters of color and it was convincing because the characters and their situations mattered not their race.

[Nathan]

In my book: amazon.com/gp/product/B01CTD4O6G

one of my narrators is an undocumented hispanic girl living in the US under false papers. I feel I wrote her fairly and contrasted her without stereotyping.

[Grace]

100% agree with K.P. :)

@James while I agree that writing about someone who hasn't had the same life experiences is difficult, can we really only write what we've personally experienced, from the viewpoint of someone who's only a copy of us?
With a little imagination, writing can put us in anyone's skin, even if their life experiences are vastly different from ours, took place 800 years ago, or are tainted by disease or insanity. It doesn't have to be completely accurate (though of course the more accurate the better) but I think that the simple assumption that all humans can understand each other, and the time spent trying to do so, is a sign more of respect than arrogance.

[Charlsie]

I write historical fiction set in the South. It's hard to write Southern history without including black folk, but I figure my black characters are no more stereotyped than my white supporting cast--and I'd like to think NONE of them are cardboard cutouts. I would never attempt to write a "person of color" as a protagonist or even as the primary antagonist. I lack the background and the comfort level.

[J.D.]

Ask Bill Clinton about this. I personally do not care what color the character is, unless it is relevant to the plot. I guess that when I write about black, it is usually about a beautiful girl, and from the prospective of a white person.
I personally think that throwing race distinctive things into a story, such as jive or dialect, are out of date and useless. A Hundred years from now, no one will be able to tell if you are white, black, or the various shades of yellow. We are more than half the way there, and so, who cares?

[Joe]

When I point out the skin color/tone of humans in my books, it's actually not just for the sake of diversity. My main character is not human; her people have black skin (not brown, but actually black), so she finds all the different variations of human fascinating. I like that something we typically find divisive, she finds amazing, and thinks to herself, "Why aren't my people as diverse?"

[C.M.]

Well said K.P!

Its never crossed my mind that someone would have a hard time with that. For me personally, thats the beauty of fiction, you can write anyone or anything. And you should. You absolutely should! In my novelDefiant I write from many POVs, including a criminal. In the sequel (not yet released so this is technically a spoiler guys) I even write from the POV of the man that tried to murder a king. I love exploring many POVs. Im not a murderer but I'd write from a murderers POV if I thought it fit the story and made it better. The whole point of fiction writing for me is exploring humanity as a whole and individual. Different places, different faces. Its a fun experience. If you feel you dont have the experience, get out and find some experience, talk to people, learn something new, then write about it and make it amazing :)

[Cat]

Mary wrote: "I struggle with this dilemma a lot. I want to include diverse characters in my work, but feel sort of funny about it. How can I properly portray a person who has had such a different life experience?"

I say write from within. If that character comes to you as someone from a different background other than yours, don't let that deter you from who that character is. If you write from within and how you, as the artist, see that character, that character will come across as believable.

Also, it is not so much of color, believe me. It is about the environment that one is raised in. You can take anyone, and have them raised in the same environment, and they will be somewhat similar. Trust me when I tell you that it has NOTHING to do with the color of ones skin.

[Mark]

Okay, so that's fairly reverse-racist, even raising the very question, and way over-sensitive in that you would have such a concern. Were authors unable to write about characters they were not, fiction would cease to exist or even never have existed.

Just make sure you do your due diligence researching whatever/whomever it is you write. The only time authors get in trouble is when they're lazy. Which is (honestly) far too often.

[Clare]

Well, you could go back and ask what would have happened if Harriet Beecher Stowe had not written due to such concerns; or James Fenimore Cooper; or James Clavell.

When people are writing about their own experience, the characters are drawn from people they have known, provided the author is not themselves prejudiced a good, if perhaps partial, portrayal will emerge.

I was drawn to this thread because I write SF in which characters are many different colours, from blue-green to yellow, according to what their species needs to survive on their planet, just as Earth humans employ. And I have placed the characters in central London, a melting pot, with two protagonists who are one Irish redhead, one Jafraican. In this way I am showing that while prejudice may exist, it is fear of the stranger or outsider more than fear of a race or colour.

Research - yes. Read more, travel more, look more, talk more. I've made a few slips which others have kindly corrected. It's going to happen in all areas of writing.

[Bibiana]

It is important to be authentic. Ask yourself why you want to portray their race/gender or charachter? Thomas Hardy wrote one of my favorite female protagonists in fiction ever- Bathsheba Everdeen and clearly he wasn't a woman. So it is silly to limit your thoughts this way.

I struggled with my own fears writing a teenage African American male into my book Carolina Spirit. I did not wish to create animosity, but to make him someone I would spend time with as a friend. Life on an island in South Carolina is different than what popular culture might choose to portray. A kind man named Robert, who is also African American took my sometimes goofy questions and guided me with his experiences as a young boy.

....Ultimately you are in charge of how this comes into the story, but finding someone who is willing to answer questions and share stories will only enrich your writing. You might even make a new friend. Good luck with it, do your research and proceed with bravery. Carolina Spirit

[Renée]

This post as been *so* helpful. I've been dealing with this very question with the book I just turned in to my editor. It's told from multiple POVs, one of which is a black male and I'm Jewish white female.

I resisted including him for a long time and tried writing the story around him but it's a book about the Blues and how could I tell that story without including a bluesman from the Delta? So I took a leap of faith and began writing and as so many others have suggested a black male friend is now vetting the book for me.

If this offers reassurance to anyone out there, I did find that once I got to know this character, he began telling his own tale. It helped that I did a lot of reading beforehand and spent some time in the Deep South.

[Luci]

Sure it can be done, but depends on the research and talent of the author. One of the main characters in When Saigon Surrendered: A Kentucky Mystery is an elderly black woman... very convincing strong character, story written by a white author, who no doubt did research or knew a lot of African-Americans...

[Danielle]

Yes, a white person can portray a person of color as long as they go beyond the stereotypes (think the super smart Asian or sassy Black friend) and call on empathy to portray them as fully developed, nuanced characters. If you are unsure about your understanding of a certain group, reach out to a friend of that background or read some non-fiction to educate yourself. Diversity in literature will grow when all writers, white or not, include characters of different backgrounds that go deeper than token media stereotypes. You (as white writer) may not get minority characters right every time, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't keep trying.

[Dwayne]

I actually toy around with stuff like this quite a bit. In one of my short stories, George Stew I write about two homeless people. They have a relationship that is clearly offensive to most people in their town, but I never say why. I give as little info about their gender, their age, their race, etc. as possible.

Bonny Truman has a ton of stuff to say about intolerance toward people of other races, nationalities, religion, gender...

In another story I'm working on, the father of a teenaged boy tries to keep him from doing the things he loves because the father is afraid the boy will be laughed at for doing things that are "stereotypical" of his race.

Be bold. Build a racially diverse cast if you wish. Make a statement. If you are being sincere and meaning no harm against others but people are offended anyway, it says more about them than it does about you or your writing.

[R.J.]

I asked this question at an author's group (all white women) but didn't exactly like their answer. They said that the reader wants to know what the protagonist looks like--like it was just as important to know what Scarlet O'Hara was wearing as it was to know what she felt. I disagree. It's more important to know who is reading. If you are writing a book to a classroom full of children of all diversities, it becomes hard to describe the main characters in any way that you know will ostracize some of the intended readers. I think it's a rising art form to write in such a way that a person of any color, ethnicity, or (increasingly) mixed ethnicity to see themselves in that main character without having to imagine that their skin color, hair color, or ethnicity is any different.

Maybe I'm a nut, or maybe I'm on a whole new page, but I see a future generation where a kid can be half heintz-57-white and half "colored" (whatever that means) and nobody really cares because that's not a defining factor. It's more important to me whether or not a kid's father immigrated from Kenya or was born in Philadelphia than it is to lump them in with everybody who (kind of) looks like them but has absolutely no common cultural background. Write like that, and you might actually change the way people see "color" in this world.

[Mary]

Robert wrote: "I asked this question at an author's group (all white women) but didn't exactly like their answer. They said that the reader wants to know what the protagonist looks like--like it was just as impor..."

First, Robert, I love that you're in a writing group with all women. Such an evolved male! hahaha

Second, let me say that I think you make an excellent point. Oh, to write a character that all people could see themselves in. Heaven. It's been my experience, however, that editors often ask for more character description. As if it's a "rule" of fiction publishing.

Any other writers experience the same thing?

[Mary]

S.L. wrote: "Several years ago, I had the priviledge of GED co-testing in central Pennsylvania alongside an older black Vietnam veteran who was also a retired physician. Jackie helped me navigate the particular..."

Beautiful. And true.

[Mary]

Wow, oh wow. These are the BEST responses ever. Thank you all for your insights. They have helped me dive in and be bold. Wheee!

[Al "Tank"]

This is a no-win situation. If you're a white writer writing about a member of another race, you'll be criticized for errors you didn't even make by people looking to be "offended".

If you don't include members of other races, you'll be criticized for racism because your characters are all "lilly white".

I prefer to err on the side of inclusion.