Writing minority characters...

~nonamenames Nov 3, 2012

To do and worry? To not to worry over? How to do it? Your opinion? And if you don't mind stating if you are part of a minority and which, that would be great.

I just realized the other day the majority of my main characters are male, there's females in the background but only one is part of the main characters. I worried for a second I was being sexist but then it would make sense in the time period and context...

And then I thought... crap they're all white... but same as above it wouldn't make sense in the context and setting, and many are in the background.

And then there's the problem of main character interacting with one of them. They're, for example, black in my head, but should I mention it? Then I feel people will call them a token character. Should I not describe them? And then just risk the reader imagining them as white...

On lgbt characters I'm quite good. Since I'm bi, and have some gender issues, I basically know how I would want to be written. Some people might still think it's not enough or it's too much but in this area I can stand up for what I wrote because I'm part of the lgbt community.

PS: The reason the main characters are white, cis, and either straight or appear straight is because the story revolves around an old old society/club place whose members think of themselves and their blood in almost a royal way. They're very posh and think they're special. But of course they interact with the world which is much more diverse.

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Devious Comments

*schris91 Nov 12, 2012 Student Filmographer

Write what you know. Writing white people with gender issues will come off better than pretending you can understand a minority character just to stick them in. Usually when writers force minority characters in they either accidentally become racial stereotypes, or they just end up written like a white person with brown skin. If a good minority character comes to you that isn't a gimmick, by all means go for it, but most people would rather see a bunch of white people well written than feeling like minority characters are being forced on them.

Also you said in your story there's a REASON they're white mostly, and that's better than most stories. Most of the time they're just white people because that's all the author can come up with. So kudos.

~vglory Nov 12, 2012

A person that can only convincingly write a person of their own race is not much of a writer. Rather than 'write white' I would suggest they 'develop their craft'.

*schris91 Nov 12, 2012 Student Filmographer

Yeah but they should actually gain experience as opposed to force it if they can't write other races well. It's just tacky.

~vglory Nov 12, 2012

I don't know, forcing yourself to get out more and experience diversity might not be a bad idea.

*schris91 Nov 12, 2012 Student Filmographer

Yeah, forcing yourself to get real life experience is a great idea, faking it is not.

~fondofmusic Nov 10, 2012

I usually describe someone of color as having "tanned" skin.

~Lovely-Words Nov 12, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

Funny because as a black person, I sure don't look like I have a tan.

~nonamenames Nov 12, 2012

That's weird.... I would think of a tan person and not a person of color.

=futilitarian Nov 11, 2012 Writer

oh god why?

~fondofmusic Nov 11, 2012

I don't know, sounds more descriptive to me than saying "she was black".

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