Characters of Color

[Mary]

After years of writing main characters who mostly look like me: white, I long to be more inclusive. But, I wonder, can a writer without the genuine life experience create authentic characters of color?

[Jane]

That's a very difficult question to answer coolly and sensibly.

You just might have started a riot. But I'll have my two pennyworth in the hope it may be helpful.

It may prove to be very hard to write a believable character whose life experiences are far removed from ones own. (Different race. Different gender. Different sexuality. And so on.)

Also. My own fear is that trying to create characters outside of ones own ethnicity leaves one open to all sorts of criticism from those who see themselves as the guardians of political correctness.

And before anyone starts hurling abuse I ain't saying that this kind of scrutiny is wrong, I merely make the point that it is often worded in a way that suggests the critic is a much more evolved being than the pond life he/she is criticising.

Therefore I have stuck to pink as the skin colour for most of my protagonists. I have made exceptions, though, for green - and grey with scales.

[Joe]

The genre makes a big difference. Something contemporary and grounded in reality is a totally different scenario than, say, writing characters of color in an epic fantasy.

[L.C.]

I agree that genre has an influence. For me personally, I think it's fine when white authors write people of color, as long as the characters aren't overly stereotypical. I believe authors should be able to write whatever kind of characters they want. We shouldn't limit ourselves just to our color.

[Emma]

I agree, it depends on the setting. Fantasy/scifi? Not a problem. But in a contemporary setting, I think its better to stick with things you are familiar with, you could risk offending people if you get details wrong.
If you have extensive knowledge of another ethnic group and can give it an authentic voice, go for it.

[Jim]

For a writer to create and adequately portray a character of a race, creed, nationality, culture and/or color other than their own, he/she must first perform adequate research. There are books and periodicals that describe in intricate detail specific cultures, religions, histories, languages and traditions of every conceivable origin. Most people's social circle includes diverse groups of individuals - Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Native American, etc.

If skilled authors expend the necessary time and effort to access the abundant material available and engage in intelligent discourse with relatives, friends and acquaintances representative of the particular aspects in question, they will create characters that are believable, accurately portrayed and interesting. If they don't, they won't.

[Sharon]

Jim wrote: "For a writer to create and adequately portray a character of a race, creed, nationality, culture and/or color other than their own, he/she must first perform adequate research. There are books and ..."

Everything that Jim said. If you're not sure, *ask someone you know.* Read a lot of things. If you're not sure about what you read, ask someone you know.

I knew I wanted to write about what it was like for a regular person to be caught up in the Islamic revolution in Iran for one of my books -- so I asked my hairdresser, who was a refugee. She was able to tell me things, answered all of my questions generously ... and gave me information that would allow me to write a believable Persian male character.

[Michael]

Margaret Mead did quite well in describing Samoans. Sometimes an objective viewpoint produces a fuller picture of someone from another culture because people within the culture take things for granted that stand out when viewed by an outsider. Besides, perception becomes reality in a fictional work.

[Dwayne]

Not only do I write characters with various skin colors, pink, bronze, brown, what have you... I go further. I include characters that are younger than I am, older than I am. I include both genders, male and female, as well as various sexual preferences. I often have characters that were not born in my country.

I tend to go about it this way: I write people as people. I fear that writing people this way or that way due to superficial stuff as skin color, how many years they've been alive and so on will produce nothing but stereotypes. Does their skin color or age or what have you have any bearing on the type of character they are? I suppose, but it's a bit of a secondary thing. A house is more than just the color of paint outside, after all.

Write your characters the way you want to write them. Have no fear.

[L.C.]

I strongly agree with Dwayne. Couldn't have said t better myself

[Grace]

Well, I'm willing to write about vampires, werewolves, aliens, centaurs, assassins and atheists and people from different centuries... so I guess writing characters with different life experience has never been a huge deal for me. That's kind of what writing is for, isn't it--getting into someone else's shoes and imagining what their life is like? I feel like there are a lot harder things to imagine than being a different color.

Not to mention that different race doesn't necessarily equal different life experience.

[Dwayne]

Grace wrote: "That's kind of what writing is for, isn't it--getting into someone else's shoes and imagining what their life is like?"

Yes. This. Granted, it may be true of all of us that our characters carry a bit of ourselves in them, how dull would our books be if every character was exactly like us? I could write a novel about a bunch of middle-aged fat white guys like me, but even I would get bored of it after about three sentences.

[Kristin]

I have a fantasy world so there's really no real life colors. There are blue-skinned person though ;)

I don't do preferences though. Only male-female pairings in my books

[Zuri]

Yes, I agree with many of you. Just because it may not be easy to write characters of colour shouldn't mean that authors shouldn't tackle it. Otherwise they won't ever be present.

Even though you may think it's easier to write characters of colour in Fantasy/Sci-fi, as authors can create the cultural background, those genres have still traditionally omitted characters of colour (unless they're aliens or monstrous creatures). So it's about effort and a willingness not to stick to what you know. I personally find it strange in modern works based in cities where there is not one person from a different ethnic background. That speaks volumes to a reader of a different background about the author.

As Jim said, research is key. If you're willing to do research for your book on setting, language, locations, history, male/female POV etc, it's not going to be more difficult to research a culture or races. And all you've got to remember is that, as Dwayne said, we are all people. If all of the stigmas and stereotypes were reversed, we'd still all be people. Good luck with your writing. The fact you care suggests you'll be fine!

[Lyra]

I think it depends on the story, and if it feels right for the author. For me, I have many races and colors represented in my sci-fi series, as well as different genders and sexual preferences/identities (lesbian, gay, trans, etc) and even though I haven't lived as these people, I do my best to empathize and represent them as best I can. I think we all need to try our best, even in modern stories, to present all different walks of life. Diversity makes it real, and readers will appreciate that.

[Mary]

LOVE the thoughtful replies to this thread! Wish our country could discuss as openly.

[Grace]

@Dwayne hahaha indeed! And quite honestly, the characters I put the most of myself in are usually the least like me appearance-wise--I can write a teenage girl whose thoughts and feelings are diametrically opposed to my own, and some middle-aged male character will come along who I can seamlessly empathize with.