Gee, I don't know how to research writing Characters of Color tastefully:
So You Want to Write a Fantasy: Writing Female Characters
So You want to Write a Fantasy: Culture
Ā SYWTWAF: Writing What you Donāt know
Ā A list of adjectives to describe physical attributes, Or, As it turns out, I could go to Starbucks with half this list
Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
Ā RaceFail ā09: Or where Deepadās I didnāt dream of Dragons comes from, and why.
Ā Writing characters of Color
Ā Writing Outside your experience
Media Representations Wiki - stereotypes/tropes/culture/etc
Ā On A:TLAās whitewashing - All The Worldās White, the Rest of Us merely live in it
The Face of the Other: Do Manga & Anime characters look āwhiteā?
Describing Characters of Color pt 1 & Describing Characters of Color (pt 2)
Ā I Didnāt Dream of Dragons
Ā So You Want to: Avoid Unfortunate Implications
Ā Transracial Writing for the Sincere
Ā Why Writing Colorblind is Writing White
What a Girl Wants: Representation
Ā An Equal Place at the Table
Ā Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes
The Problem With Colorblindness (and the Rest of Racebending.com)
Ā Making Movies for White People: A Tongue in Cheek critique of Minority Representation in the Media, or lack thereof
Ā From Margin to Center: Writing Characters of Color via Racialicious
Ā Writing Characters of Color - a helpful community!
Ā Why my Protagonists arenāt white (even though I am.)
Ā The Dangers of Telling a Single Story (a helpful Video)
Ā The Lack of People of Color in Historical Fictions
Ā How to Read and Respond to Literature of Color
Ā The Advantages of being a White Writer (in getting published)
Ā Writing Characters of Colour (Now With 10% Less White Liberal Anxiety!)
Ā Fic and Skin Tone (discusses Nyota Uhura, otherwise relevant)
Ā Writing Race in YA fiction: Debunking Myths
Ā Diversity Writers: How to Write People of Color
Ā The Importance of Inclusionary Writing
Ā Overcoming the Noble Savage and the Sexy Squaw: Native Steampunk
Ā The Intersection of Race and Steampunk: Colonialismās After-Effects & Other Stories, from a Steampunk of Colourās Perspective
Ā Beyond Victoriana: For EVERYTHING Steampunk/1800s/Industrial Revolution that isnāt just Victorian England and the archives Tales of the Urban Adventurer
Ā Can I just watch A Game of Thrones in Peace? (A brown feminist fan rant).
Fantasy and Sci-Fi race Bingo
Invoking Strangely Colored people
AfroFuturism, SciFi, and the History of the Future
Some Open Thoughts on Race & Dsyutopia
When Will White People Stop Making Movies like Avatar?
Portraying POC in YA Fantasy: Are we There Yet?
Magical Realism is Fantasy written in Spanish.
1.) Itās not hard to figure out what to do, there are plenty of resources.
People say you have to get it right, do your research, but ā¦ what else are you supposed to research? Itās not like people with more pigment in their skin have completely different personalities than those with less, any more than any individual. Itās frustrating when I canāt even figure out what the heck people are talking about.
Bam. Research step one done for you.
2.) Writing characters of color/minorities is a good thing.
I donāt like the notion that fantasy authors are under some kind of obligation to present ethnically diverse worlds. Iām English, and a fair sized part of English history consists of unwashed beardy white people in mead halls. If Iām inspired by my own history and cultural heritage, then thatās what Iām damn well going to write about. Iām not writing about some other culture just to appease the people who think there arenāt enough black characters in fantasy, or whatever. You want it, you write it. Nothing to do with me.
3.) Your all White Fantasy Land Didnāt Exist in Real Life:
ā¦the rather medieval one has more diversity than real medieval Germany probably had [ā¦] In a world with medieval means of transport, it just doesnāt seem natural to me to mix dark-skinned people with blue-eyed blondes in one setting. I just try to give the people a colour that fits the place where they live.
You mean like the people from Africa and the Middle east who began to take over Southern Spain, as well as the Jews who were pretty well spread out throughout Europe, the Middle Easterners they would have met on the Crusades, and the incoming Mongol Hordes who spread to the very edges of Eastern Europe before the empire finally collapsed? Donāt forget that Turkey is right there, and the silk road would have gone from Song Dynasty China, through India, and ended in Turkey before moving further westwards into places like Germany. Also the attempts at the Franco-Mongol alliance would have been pretty interesting. (Thatās about the 13th century - arguably smack dab in Middle Ages Europe and definite contact between France/Christian Europe and the Mongolian Empire.)
Unless youāre writing everything in the far reaches of Denmark or something, historically speaking, I call bullshit on people who have societies that are only all white ever, because itās just inaccurate. Consider the relative closeness of Northern Africa to Spain, or Turkey to the rest of Europe, the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Crusades, Slavery existing in Europe, including England, the slave trade, imperialism, Pax Mongolica, The Silk Road, Jewish Diaspora, the Islamic Empire vs The Holy Roman Empire, Egypt, Algeria, Chinaās sailing across the world, The Maruyan/Gupta Empires of India, tea trades, Columbus sailing in hopes of finding China, etc, etc, etc.
4.) I mean I just donāt believe you anymore. Itās unrealistic. Seriously guys.
Youād think Iād just denied the holocaust or something. Get a grip. All I said was that Iām going to write about my own cultural experience and anyone who thinks I should do otherwise for the sake of political correctness can bugger off.
This isnāt even about being PC this is just not being wrong about everything.
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