I'm looking at various books and stories to see how other writers do physical descriptions. One thing that's becoming clear is just how many of them don't bother to specify if someone's white. They just say "a man", "a woman", "a blond woman", etc. It's disappointingly annoying, and it's helping me realize why the descriptions I've done in my vignettes so far feel so odd — I actually *am* doing something different from far too many other writers. Ugh. 😒😞

#writing #race #racism #SystemicRacism

@kagan I'm not white, and most of my characters are not white either. When I write, I consciously do not mention colour because I don't think colour is relevant. They are just people.

Of course, this is not what you are talking about with the writers who don't mention their characters because there, I'm fairly certain that at least a good portion of those writers (consciously or unconsciously) don't think there's anything other than white people 🙂

But personally, I don't think we should be focusing on colour in general because that too leads to rascism, just in a different way because we are saying it matters what colour a character is. And it shouldn't.

@f @kagan

I don't do much in the way of physical description unless some detail is pertinent to the story. As a reader, I've always imagined the characters as I liked--even if a description was provided--& I want my readers to be able to do the same. Of course, for my genre--fantasy--there is so much else to describe I really do have to limit details to what advances the plot.

@crcollins All I can say is, "Me too" 🙂 I like giving readers the option to imagine a character as they might want to because that's what I do when I read. So I stick to the bare essentials and try not to get too descriptive.

I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing, but that's what I do.

@kagan

@f Sorry, perhaps I was unclear. (I was running up against the post length limit.) These examples and writers I'm talking about *do* have non-white characters. And when they do, they mention that, often at the very beginning of the description, putting "black" or "Japanese" or whatever before things like clothing or height or whatnot.

So they're writing diverse characters, but with white as an unspoken default. I don't like it, and I really don't want to do it myself.

@kagan Yep, that makes it clearer and you are right, I don't like that either. If you're going to mention colour, then mention for all, don't assume a default.

@f @crcollins The thing is, I'm writing a story set in San Francisco in 2024, with a diverse cast of characters. And I'm uncomfortably reminded by what happened with Rue in The Hunger Games that if I don't *clearly* specify people's races, too many readers will just assume white. I don't want to... not sure if this is the right way to phrase this, but all I can think of right now is: I don't want to allow my readers to make that mistake.

(Not that Suzanne Collins was at all unclear, though.😒)

@f Thanks, yes. So I guess I need to find some good examples of authors who *do* describe everyone's color and race.

@kagan

I do think it depends on the genre & story to a certain extent. For example, I would think romance would need more detailed character descriptions. My books are set on another planet hundreds, at times thousands (depending on the timeline) of years past our current day, with quite different populations and cultural concerns. Biases exist, and can feel familiar (& just as stupid,) but are not directed toward the same groups. Physical appearances vary a lot but rarely impact the plot.

@f

@crcollins @kagan @f

Interesting convo!

I'm always aware that what I'm doing needs to make sense both within the context of the story, for the characters, and also has to accord with how I want to be, myself, as a writer, vis-à-vis the public. It's definitely something I think about.

@crcollins @f Yes, definitely a different situation. I think in your case, I'd be far less worried about specifics like this. But since the story I'm writing is so much set in the here and now, and has threads of politics to it, it becomes important to make the diversity visible — and that "here and now" aspect also makes *representation* much more important (people don't expect or need representation as much in other times and places).

@kagan Agreed about the context 🙂Anything set in the present day, especially if it touches on race politics, would need to talk about colour. I write SciFi set in a far future where I like to imagine that humanity has gone beyond racism to specism — so my own stuff doesn't rely so much on race/colour as on what species you are and how humans still cling to the old race/colour biases but in a new bottle (or glass), so to speak 😛

@crcollins

@f @crcollins Oh yeah, that's very different! 😀 Heck, I think talking about people's color, race, or ethnicity in your work would actually undercut your point.

Very different needs for different stories.

(Although, N.B., my story touches on politics, but not specifically race politics. More city planning and so on. Except... city planning in the US *does* touch on race, so, uhhh... 😶 Anyway, let's just say it very much behooves me to have people of many and varied backgrounds.)

@f @kagan

One of the main divisions in my world is native Ardonnans vs. refugees from another world. The humanoids (and even some of the animals) look similar & can even produce offspring so it's not physical traits that matters--it's heritage-where you (or your ancestors) came from. So, for example, if you had a native and refugee with the same skin tone, etc, the native is still likely to consider the refugee inferior. Yes, I tossed all Earthlings in the same boat with this storyline 😆