DISCUSSION: Writing Minority Characters

[AceTrainer14]

I am currently in the midsts of writing a new story set in Alola. It seemed logical that the island's inhabitants should take some inspiration from its real world equivalent, so the main character and many supporting characters will be my world's version of Pacific Islanders.

However, being about as white as they come, I have quickly run into a few small hurdles around biological accuracy, namely things such as would my character be visibly sunburnt after a day spent outside and how flushed/red would they look after running a great distance.

I was wondering if anyone else had struggled with this as well, so I thought I would make a place for people to talk about any issues they are having with accurately portraying ethnic minorities and LGBT+ characters; hopefully other users can point us in the right direction, and we can share resources to make sure we are all being respectful.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I've run into this problem. One of my main characters is mixed ethnicity, same as me. It's difficult to hit a balance - I don't have any problem describing myself in relation to physical characteristics, but on paper it can easily come across as lazy stereotyping, depending on how prickly the reader is. On the other hand, an accepted term like "African-American" or even the very vague "Asian" doesn't easily work in a fantasy world loosely based on ours.

The second layer to the problem is that, like it or not, readers tend to assume characters are white - whatever that means in context - until told otherwise. If you don't want to make ethnicity a big deal about the character but still want to make it known, you end up with a tricky balancing act (I hint at it in the Prologue and confirm in Chapter Twenty Seven). Then there's the third "Reality is Unrealistic" layer, especially if you have readers that like to insist their experiences as +insert ethnicity here+ are universal.

As a reader, I'd like to see a cheerful indifference to getting hung up over physical descriptions, at least. Maybe it's due to my growing up with obviously black and obviously white relatives, but I'm quite happy with reading about a white fellow who goes cherry-red after a few hours in the sun, for example.

 

[Persephone]

I have nothing good to add here except that I'm trans and can answer writing questions about that.

Pale af snow queen, though.

 

[canisaries]

i didn't really give writing ethnicity too much thought when starting out, mostly because i'd drawn the characters i write about for so long and my audience was very familiar with my depictions. nowadays, i'm aware that outside people don't know these things in advance, but i still don't really draw that much attention to it. ethnicity isn't really relevant at all in my stories, save for if someone's being described very accurately (as in, for a police sketch or so).

my version of kanto has a lot of ethnically japanese (tohjoan, as i call them) people, but there are also other ethnicities. kind of like the us, but with less caucasians. definitely unlike my own country which is, like, 99% white. still, this won't really show, as i write in first person and the narrator has lived there his whole life and wouldn't call specific attention to it.

on the subject of sunburns: i don't go outside. i wouldn't know

 

[diamondpearl876]

Also a pale af white person, RIP.

I do think @BinkVallen's Lucky Egg handles description of a POC very well. While I think it's safe to assume the fic's abandoned at this point, I remember there being decent physical descriptions of how the main character, Nani, looks without making it seem like race defines her character or is a big deal when in the context of the story it isn't.

As for LGBT+ characters, I'm gonna have to rec any of Cutlerine's fics. They're on Serebii, but trans characters and their everyday experiences with those who judge them based on their appearance and lifestyle are perfectly written. I'd also rec @Athena's Iterations, but she's here to talk about it herself if she wants to explain her process on that.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Some interesting thoughts so far. I did not remember Lucky Egg having a mixed-race lead, which may be a problem in itself for me, but I will have a read back through that and make note.

One thing I have realised thinking about this is how rare I read novels with black leads. Looking at my bookcase right now, there is only about one Maori lead on there and that's about it. I don't know if that is a general experience or not, but I am a bit stunned to think about that. But also at the same time I can't remember their skin colour affecting descriptions and such, so maybe I am over thinking a little issue. It's not exactly something that would be mentioned every chapter, but it's more I am unsure how to mention it in a way that is not offensive or making too much of a point on it?

As I do think sharing resources can be handy, @Ghostsoul sent me this link when we were talking about it which others may find handy: Fitzpatrick scale - Wikipedia

 

[Beth Pavell]

I'd forgotten that Nani was mixed as well, but I think that's more to do with how in prose appearance usually takes a back seat. It's not that much different to hair colour or having a squint in one eye in that regard - unless it becomes a plot point there's rarely a reason to reiterate it.

As far as professional fiction is concerned, I often hear there's a dearth of non-white (Whatever that means in context of the genre), which I'll believe. Publishers often have strange ideas about what will and won't sell, and are in their own way just as small-c conservative as Hollywood. I don't know, I get the point of "redressing the balance" in fanfiction, but it's not enough for me as a reader to pick up the story, any more than filling it full of slash pairings is.

 

[AceTrainer14]

I definitely do not think that minorities should be used as a way to make a story seem more enticing, and I think that writing them as such and viewing it as such is one reason why progress can stall. Really, it is one reason why I made this thread. In writing Pua and coming across that first stumbling block, it is that clash of having the opportunity to point out his skin colour, but then at the same time I rarely do for any of my other characters.

I did recently read a book that featured queer leads both of colour, and it did feel at times like the author was pandering a little by randomly making one character slightly Latino in terms of their name and nothing else, as though a foreign sounding name is enough diversity to be satisfying.

 

[Gama]

Firstly, thanks Ace for raising this interesting issue. I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately. (For context of below, I'm myself cis non-white.)

In terms of the personal thoughts I've had on this, I think when talking about racial minorities there are two issues here: physical descriptors and experience differences. The latter would, of course, also apply to sexual minorities, though the former less so. The former may be relevant to trans characters, though if so probably in a different way, and again the latter of course would.

Physical descriptors can be difficult because, as Ace said, it feels forced and unusual to add in comments about a non-white character's skin colour as this is not usual practice for white characters. The intuitive conclusion to draw from this is that it would be wrong to give racial descriptors to non-white characters. I think in this case the intuitive conclusion is backwards. The reason it is not intuitive to racially describe white characters is because we only describe notable characteristics about characters (e.g. we would not say someone had two legs but we would probably say if they had one), and, as Beth said, people tend to assume characters are white unless told otherwise. I think if you are making the effort to write ethnic minority characters and you want to do it well then you, as a writer, should not play into that default assumption. I think that the correct approach to descriptions should be to racially describe all of your characters, assuming you describe their appearance. It is, after all, a part of their appearance, and I don't see why it should be one that you avoid, provided you treat your characters equally. It does, after all, tend to be relevant to people.

Experiences can be a fine line to tread too. Certainly you don't want your minority (ethnic or otherwise) characters to become all about their relevant identity characteristic but at the same time, people's identity characteristics do tend to give them different experiences in life, and life experiences influence how you respond to certain situations. In most cases, the differences should be infrequent and subtle, but ideally they will be present when the scenario calls for it. Personally, my approach to this would simply to try to draw out what these different experiences and consequent personality traits may be.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Thank you for your thoughts @Gama, you really raised some interesting points and I think gave pretty much the definitive answer on physical descriptors. My mind has certainly been put at ease.

You did get me thinking with your second point. How much of our world's political and social treatment of minorities, whether ethnic or sexuality, do you include in your stories? Do you go for a copy and paste job, or do you create your own reality?

 

[Beth Pavell]

If you don't want to make being a "minority" - this is a word that only really make sense in the context of the real world - a big issue in the story then almost invariably that means at least a similar fantasy political context. Explaining how things are different, whether you show or tell it, means drawing attention to it.

 

[AceTrainer14]

@Beth Pavell I meant more if you kept them minorities or not. There is no real reason for them to be treated as minorities in the same way that minorities have been treated in our world. I mean, what reason would there be for things such as slavery in the Pokemon world (asides from the forcing tiny animals into small balls thing)? Things would invariably have to be different as it is a different globe made up of different countries. And you wouldn't have to explain or draw attention to it because there is no reason for them to be in the same position they are here

 

[FroyoDragon]

Sooo, this is a fairly interesting subject to me. First post here lel hi WW.

I agree with Gama's comments about physical appearance, so not retreading that.

While it could be interesting to give real life minorities a non-minority fictional role, I think a point needs to be made that bottom line, it's a story written by someone from the real world, and will (probably) be read by people from the real world as well, so all in all, it will still be a political message even if it's not intended to be so, and indeed, isn't in-universe. So I think care needs to be taken when doing so, because an unrealistic portrayal could not be picked up on as unrealistic by the readers, which can cause more harm than good. I think a good solution to that is making sure the difference in circumstances from the real world is explicit somehow.

Going off that, an inaccurate portrayal can also prove harmful, so, when writing minorities you aren't part of, it helps a lot to research the factors that play in their lives - in the real world - as a result of being a minority. Research, and of course, asking around. When in doubt about experiences you don't face, asking people who do face it can be incredibly informative even out of writing, and can further enrich your writing. Write what you know and all that, and look into what you don't know when you want to write out of your comfort zone.

Regarding portraying their experience. On a somewhat realistic setting, of course, IMO a balance should be found between portraying it and maintaining the integrity of their character. Making sure it doesn't become their only character trait, without removing it altogether or shoving it under the rug. For an example, making a queer character have their struggles shown, but not making them their single point of development. People are multifaceted, after all.

...this probably doesn't make much sense and it's 4 AM for me so, lol :v

 

[AceTrainer14]

First post here lel hi WW.

Welcome! Glad this conversation is bringing people in XD

For a 4 am thought, it is very coherent, thank you for sharing your views. I definitely agree with your last point and with researching - really, this whole thread was conceived as a potential place for people to share their experiences.

Your point on the story being read by people in the real world is an interesting one. One thing I found when shaping my Poke-world was that, by removing any earthly religions and creating a vastly different history to our own revolving around humans and Pokemon fighting for many centuries, was that I was then removing a lot of our world's historical context. I guess the reason behind my question is: do I find some way to create that historical context myself in this world, or keep it a bit more utopian? I am interested to know if anyone else has considered this when writing.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I tend to take the view that humans are humans, and therefore tend to be good at finding ways to arbitrarily be nasty to one another. It's probably worth mentioning at this point that the concept of minorities to the (Sigh, it's a silly term, but it'll have to do) Western mind doesn't usually recognise that discrimination is far from uniquely a white man's failing. You only have to look at the history of the African continent to see a tapestry of ethnic tensions among people broadly called "black" by the rest of the world.

This is good news for a fictional world populated by humans since it means you can flip around the status quo. Ursula le Guin essentially did this in A Wizard of Earthsea, where her "white" people are the Kargads, sitting on the edge of the world and very much outnumbered by the darker peoples to their west.

It's also worth recognising where the status quo in the real world is less to do with human nature and more to do with history. The transatlantic slave trade, for example, may very well make no sense in the context of a Pokémon world with different geography. It may not make sense, then, to transplant all the cultural baggage that came from that massive forced migration. I suppose in the literal interpretation of an (For the sake of argument) ethnic minority, it is always a matter of history

 

[AceTrainer14]

That is a good point about discrimination occurring all over the world. If I was thinking a bit more sensibly, I probably would have considered that there is actually a long history of conflict within the many Pacific cultures long before white travellers became involved. The animosity between Tonga and Samoa, for example, still carries on today, as evidenced by a series of clashes earlier this year in my home country.

Let's not forget the role the media and politicians can play as well in stoking a number of racist and bigoted attitudes. Our British friends can correct me if I am wrong, but I am sure a lot of the Brexit attitude around the Polish and other migrant workers would not be at current levels without some interference from the likes of UKIP and their forebearers.

 

[Beth Pavell]

It can go both ways. The curious thing is that as UKIP gained in popularity the influence of outright racist far right groups such as the BNP went down. And after the referendum it seems something similar happened again to UKIP. So while I think the party has benefited from the old "Foreigners out!" attitude, I also think that an unintended side effect of taking concerns about immigration seriously has been to take the wind out of the sails of racist politics.

 

[Drakon]

The biggest thing about writing any character but especially non-white, LGBT, or otherwise non-mainstream characters is don't overemphasize their non-whiteness or other characteristics. Of course, those elements should be mentioned in the story when relevant and used to help flesh out the character but it should never consume the character.

Also, avoid forced diversity. It looks like a poor attempt to pander to SJWs or like-minded people and done badly it can look outright offensive.

To sum it up: Write your character as a character who happens to be [blank]; not a [blank] who happens to be a character.

Since the majority of Alolans are dark-skinned, maybe make an interesting inversion and comment on a character being light-skinned?

 

[AceTrainer14]

Since the majority of Alolans are dark-skinned, maybe make an interesting inversion and comment on a character being light-skinned?

While I agree mostly with your other points (though I am not really sure what would count as forced and unforced diversity), this idea would rather go against the point of this discussion. I don't think it would be constructive in trying to portray minority characters in a realistic and productive manner if I just ignore their skin colour and make a big deal about someone else being white, when, as we have noted above, most characters are generally written as white unless stated otherwise.

 

[diamondpearl876]

Forced diversity sounds like including a minority character simply for the sake of including a minority character - as in, you go out of your way to make your characters part of a minority when it might not really fit the role you have in mind for the character or otherwise.

What about portraying aromantic characters in a story that isn't primarily a shipping fic by any means? I have nothing to add to this right now except that I was planning on a sex scene where one of the characters afterward questions their feelings for the other character. They can't imagine feeling anything "romantic" toward anyone, but that doesn't mean they can't be in a relationship of any kind, either. I've imagined the conversation they have in my head a million times and nothing feels right still, lol.