We’ve updated our FAQ and Guidelines which, just from the volume of questions that we receive that fall under these categories below, isn’t read quite as often as I’d like so we wished to make it easier to access.
Please check out these FAQ and guidelines, also foundhere.
The navigation is found here or at writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/navigation.
For your inquiries on tropes and stereotypes see the Stereotypes and Tropes Navigation here.
Thank ya!
-WWC
Writing with Color: Ask Guidelines
Ever since this blog opened for business, we’ve been inundated with Asks pertaining to writing PoC, and some of them are quite difficult to answer thoroughly. We check the answers with the other mods to make sure we’re giving you the best advice we can. Please be patient. On the other hand, here are Asks that we won’t answer:
general writing questions.
questions that are very broad or vague.
questions that have nothing to do with PoC or only deal tangentially with them.
questions that ask for facts you can easily Google.
questions that ask “how do I write a ___________ character?” See FAQ.
questions that have nothing to do with writing (we will either direct you to blogs that can answer them or answer them at our own leisure).
questions that are basically ‘Why haven’t you answered my question yet? Why are you so slow?’
Those that are similar to questions we’ve already answered (please check the navigation). We will not always redirect to the answer.
Finally, we urge you not to send in questions with racial slurs that aren’t blocked out or denoted as “n word” “g word” etc.
We may choose to delete uncensored slurs (and any other blatantly offensive Q’s) as to avoid triggering ourselves and/or others.
Please use submit for questions longer than two parts. Do not send questions through fanmail please.
Frequently Asked Questions
“What are some appropriate ways to describe my character’s skin tone?”
“I’m afraid my character has harmful stereotypical traits. How do I avoid making them a caricature?”
Trace your logic in this character’s creation. What traits have you given them and why did it turn out this way? Does it just “make sense” for your Black female character to be the motherly figure of the group? Why?
Is your character comprised of several stereotypical traits, or are they allowed to act and think in ways that are not confined to stereotypes? If your character is three-dimensional and allowed to be more than the stereotypical trait(s) they may possess, you should be fine. It also helps to have another character of their same race + gender etc. whom you can say are distinctive from each other.
Please also see the Tropes and Stereotypes navigation for more information on particular tropes and stereotypes and how to handle them.
“How do I write a ____________ character?”
1.First off, check the tag pertaining to the character you’re looking to write. For example, if you’re writing an Indian character, search terms such as “Indian”and“South Asian” might be a good start.
2.A general rule when writing any Character of Color is to be mindful that while they might not be like you in terms of some cultural and certain daily experiences, they are like you in that they’re human. Humans with thoughts and dreams and feelings just like you. Capable of joy, snark, and laughter. So remember: human. Not aliens.
3.Don’t focus so much of whether you’re writing a proper ______ character.
You risk homogenizing your Characters of Color when you do this. Not all Black girls think the same. Not all Japanese men act the same. There may be some common experiences and feelings within a group, but everyone has their own perspective, experiences and thoughts despite their race; no hiveminds here. Also, as with any character, background is a huge factor of a person and where they live and family life has an influence on a person’s making. For example, a Black boy who grew up in a mansion in California will have a different outlook than a Black boy who grew up on a Wisconsin bee farm swapped in cornfields. Same for their accents, style, and overall experience with life.
“I’m uncomfortable with all the pressure to include People of Color in my writing. Wouldn’t it just make it forced, anyway?”
Distance yourself from this pressure and ask yourself why you feel it. I’ve yet to encounter anyone who’s barging on doors demanding people be inclusive, but rather trying to illustrate its importance and encourage it, so where do you think the pressure to be inclusive is really coming from?
Campaigning for diversity should not feel like an attack, so do not perceive it as one.
This comes easier when you step outside yourself for a moment, and stand into the shoes of those who call for diverse books, who need diverse books. These are people whose voices and faces have and are shunned from the multitude of literature, enjoy an adventure as much as anyone, and have learned to “become” characters who look more like you…yet when it comes to those of color being the hero, being included beyond the small and often troped role, they have their presence immediately questioned, discredited, fought against, because folks just cannot “relate.”
And if we’re only (or mainly) reading about White people, no wonder they’re so easy to relate to. But not so much those PoC I guess, whose pain folks literally cannot relate to.
And we’re just brushing the surface of the adverse effects with lack of diversity, such as lower self-worth in the underrepresented. Because really; it causes pain on high and low levels. Never the beautiful princess in the tower, never the badass kicking butt and flying dragons. Then when we do show up God forbid it’s a two-second role or in the form of a stereotype, not as a real, complex human being.
Long story short: People of Color are people and want to be seen and treated as such. Not as a burden to devote your time to, but people who have a place in the world, fictional or no.
As for the issue of diversity being “forced”…nah, what’s forced is the all-white fantasy some authors conceive for their stories. Whether you consciously or unconsciously make all your characters White, this is a choice. One that does not reflect the magnitude of the real world, which actually has more People of Color than White people. And yet you wouldn’t be able to tell from reading a book…
Becoming comfortable with diversity requires unlearning White as the default and PoC as the Other. It takes setting aside feelings of pressure to emphasize, open your heart and listen.
“It wouldn’t be historically accurate for my story to include PoC.”
Lately in topics such as the movie Frozen the argument of “historical accuracy” has been flung around most vigorously by fans of the Disney movie. The story was set in a fictional country bases off of Norway and according to many (white) fans the county has little to no POC. Especially in the time period it takes place. Adding POC to the casting would make the movie historically inaccurate.
And that is nonsense. First of all, there are indigenous people in Norway – the Sami – (and many surrounding countries) and they were a part of the original story and concept art. Now only a token amount of their culture, bastardized as it is, has been permitted into the movie.
But enough of the movie and more in the topic. Historical accuracy can never be used as an excuse (a credible one that is) for media to be exclusively white in its casting. No matter which time period, there are POC everywhere around the world. There might be some places which are predominantly white, but there will always be travelers, merchants, sailors, artists, etc. from surrounding countries.
This argument has been a very popular one for stories set in Europe. Europe is known by many for people the home continent for white people. What they do not know, is that is also a home continent to POC. This fact has been written out of history by historians in the past centuries because of racism. White supremacy which has spread its dreadful influence across the entire globe has done so since before colonialism. And of course when you want people to think that they are superior and grand, they whitewash not only their religious figures (Jesus), but also the complete history of the world and its people.
Europe has seen two main influxes of people from the time when people traveled outside of Africa. The first were black people through Spain. The second were groups of people with albinism from east-central Asia (which also originated from Africa). It is believed that these people are the forefathers of white people (through mixing with other people they attained a certain amount of melanin). The Germanic people were known for their red hair, blue eyes and pale skin. The presence of all the POC in Europe throughout time can be found in many art pieces, such as paintings and sculptures. There have been black people (royalty as well) in Britain. The moors had a great influence and control stretching throughout south Europe from Spain. There have been black Vikings. Sailors, merchants, artists and more from different parts of Asia and Africa.
Cultural appropriation involves a culture and/or sacred aspects of it being worn or used by people outside of the culture with little to no understanding for the significance of the usage at hand. Cultural appropriation is void of any “cultural sharing” aspect, since this would imply someone of the culture inviting them to engage in certain aspects of their culture (aka you can’t put on a headdress and say you’re appreciating Native culture…because who invited you?)
When applied to writing, cultural appropriation/misappropriation is what happens when you write about a culture that is not yours and either perpetuate racist stereotypes about it or egregiously misrepresent it. It’s taking a culture for your story because you think it’s cool or interesting, but when you don’t bother to look into the aspects of how that culture works. Why is this harmful? Because writing about these marginalized cultures in such a way leads readers to believe that your work is presenting the truth about them, even when that’s not the case. Members of these cultures already have a difficult time finding proper representation—that is, seeing themselves as they really are—and it’s incredibly important that outsiders wanting to write them do so with care.
How can you do this? Do your research. Read books by people from that culture. Talk to people from that culture. If you’re writing a story, get someone from that culture and have them read it and point out the inaccuracies. The key is that you’re depicting these cultures with care and respect.
If you’re writing sci-fi and/or fantasy, that doesn’t let you off the hook (one of the most tired excuses people have for cultural appropriation is that because it’s SFF, we all should get over it). You might be writing an imaginary world or a story far in the future, but your work is going to be read by people who live in the here and now, and they’re going to know if you were lazy and didn’t do your homework, and they’re not going to be happy about it.
“What is tokenism and why is it harmful?”
Tokenism in writing is the practice of doing something (such as writing about a person who belongs to a minority group) only to prevent criticism and give the appearance that representation is included. Tokenism is writing about a minority character to give the illusion that the author is being diverse and inclusive while relying on stereotypes as an attempt to make the characters seem “authentic.” while giving majority of characterization to the main (often White) character.
The problem with tokenism is that characters placed into this position are suddenly put into the position of being the single representation of their particular group. Everyone has seen the sassy Black friend, the flamboyant Gay friend, the smart Asian friend, etc… Stereotypes are damaging because they state to readers that if you are in a minority group, you can’t be anything other than what the Eurocentric media portrays you as. It’s hard to rise above these stereotypes. This is even more damaging as this spills over into the real world. (i.e. “You aren’t like other Blacks/Gays/Asians,etc…”)
Tokenism is harmful in media because it reduces a character to his/her most harmful stereotypes. Invoking tokenism does not force creators to be creative and gives viewers a false sense of diversity. Jokes are taken at the expense of tokenized characters regarding their race, ethnicity, accent, etc….. Token characters are only created to be the proverbial Black friend who makes it okay for White characters to make jokes at the character’s expense, inviting the consumers (in this case readers) to make jokes as well. (i.e. Many of us have heard someone being openly racist and excusing it by saying they have a Black friend, so it’s okay) Being an “equal opportunity” racist won’t get you points either. This would be including as much diversity as you can only to take cheap shots at your characters cultures, languages, and/or ethnicities. That is not meaningful diversity and can be just as harmful as tokenism.
How do you avoid tokenism? It’s not entirely “wrong” to have a character of color be the only character of color in your story. There have been plenty of times when I’ve been the only person of color in the room. The problem comes when you place that person in the position of speaking for the entire race and saddle them down with stereotypes that they can’t get away from. It is okay to add a character of color to be a main character’s best friend, but don’t reduce this character to a cliche or a trope. Write the character from a place of empathy, make them three dimensional, do your research on the culture, and avoid stereotypes.
[Image Description: A blue lightning storm with the words ‘The Hyades Brigade’ written over it.]
◇
Happy new year everyone!
Now let’s start off 2022 with a bang ･:*:･ﾟ★ ･:*:･ﾟ☆ ╰(*°▽°*)╯
◇
THE HYADES BRIGADE
SUMMARY
Once every twenty years, a new generation of the Hyades Brigade—the world’s greatest protectors—are rigorously trained to stand at the forefront of humanity. Shining their light down onto the earth with their great strength and wisdom, Ren Yang had longed to be one of them for as long as he could remember.
That was up till, of course, he let his curiosity get the better of him again.
Within the span of a single night, he not only managed to irrevocably fuck up all his chances in the worst way possible, but also got caught in the act by a current active member of the Hyades. Just as he was certain he’d have to sign his own death warrant, she offered him the chance of a lifetime—take her place as Zeta, the emotional link of the Hyades, and she’d never tell a soul of his mistake. A perfect way to redeem himself, right?
He almost wished she just threw him off a cliff instead.
With a mask as cold as ice, social skills more miserable than a dead, flopping fish, and an EQ level that belonged in the pits, he was hardly liked by anyone, let alone capable of becoming the ‘emotional link’ of the team. Top that with the other members being just as big of a problem child as he was, and he was struggling just getting everyone to form one cohesive unit, much less actually turn them into a full-fledged team.
But there was no time for infights and disagreements—deep inside the mountains, strange animals were being found mutilated and hidden within the long cracks of caves. With mysterious sounds haunting the people with every step they take, and the elderly disappearing into the night one by one, the Hyades would have to come together fast in order to fix this mess.
Even still, Ren couldn’t help but wonder—why, out of the hundred candidates remaining, was he the one chosen to be the next Zeta?
Featuring:
A blind & trans aro ace MC :3
An entirely queer main cast~ (I actually wanted to put a token straight inside but I guess that didn’t pan out in the end… Whoops haha 〒▽〒)
A found family! Entirely made up of nothing but problem children! Hoorayyy they’re all gonna kill each other!! :D
Betting pools huhuhuhuhu
A much deeper focus on friendship and family over romance (✿◡‿◡)
TRANS AROACE MC AND QUEER CAST AND FOUND FAMILY ANDTHAT FAMILY IS MADE UP OF PROBLEM CHILDREN AND DEEPER FOCUS ON FRIENDSHIP/FAMILY MORE THAN ROMANCE?!?!?!!?
oh heck yeah
also while i’m here i’m just going to also say that the premise looks awesome
