Not having any white MC's?












3















(For reference, I am not white. I've asked another question about race here).



So I'm pretty far into writing my dystopian novel and I was reading over what I had. Something that helps me when I first start a novel is to get a clear picture of my characters in my head and put a face to a name, so I usually sculpt a personality and find a Google image of someone who I think matches that, and I put all of those into documents for my personal reference. I looked over my main five characters--Analise, Poet, Shove, Star, and Nova--and then suddenly something jumped out at me. Analise is Hispanic, Shove is Japanese, and the Poet, Star, and Nova are all black.



I had forgotten about their races because it wasn't important to me and I had not noticed while I was writing, because the story isn't about their racial backgrounds. But is it, I don't know, somehow alienating or offensive to white readers that the characters aren't white, and that no main characters are white?






creative-writing characters readers







share|improve this question


















  • 1





    How is the race of these characters mentioned or alluded to in your writing?

    – Laurel
    3 hours ago











  • Is Analise white-passing? "Hispanic" is kind of a broad category. I have a character from Honduras whose skin is quite dark, but if you look at someone like Fernando Alonso, he's basically white.

    – F1Krazy
    44 mins ago
















3















(For reference, I am not white. I've asked another question about race here).



So I'm pretty far into writing my dystopian novel and I was reading over what I had. Something that helps me when I first start a novel is to get a clear picture of my characters in my head and put a face to a name, so I usually sculpt a personality and find a Google image of someone who I think matches that, and I put all of those into documents for my personal reference. I looked over my main five characters--Analise, Poet, Shove, Star, and Nova--and then suddenly something jumped out at me. Analise is Hispanic, Shove is Japanese, and the Poet, Star, and Nova are all black.



I had forgotten about their races because it wasn't important to me and I had not noticed while I was writing, because the story isn't about their racial backgrounds. But is it, I don't know, somehow alienating or offensive to white readers that the characters aren't white, and that no main characters are white?






creative-writing characters readers







share|improve this question


















  • 1





    How is the race of these characters mentioned or alluded to in your writing?

    – Laurel
    3 hours ago











  • Is Analise white-passing? "Hispanic" is kind of a broad category. I have a character from Honduras whose skin is quite dark, but if you look at someone like Fernando Alonso, he's basically white.

    – F1Krazy
    44 mins ago














3












3








3








(For reference, I am not white. I've asked another question about race here).



So I'm pretty far into writing my dystopian novel and I was reading over what I had. Something that helps me when I first start a novel is to get a clear picture of my characters in my head and put a face to a name, so I usually sculpt a personality and find a Google image of someone who I think matches that, and I put all of those into documents for my personal reference. I looked over my main five characters--Analise, Poet, Shove, Star, and Nova--and then suddenly something jumped out at me. Analise is Hispanic, Shove is Japanese, and the Poet, Star, and Nova are all black.



I had forgotten about their races because it wasn't important to me and I had not noticed while I was writing, because the story isn't about their racial backgrounds. But is it, I don't know, somehow alienating or offensive to white readers that the characters aren't white, and that no main characters are white?






creative-writing characters readers







share|improve this question














(For reference, I am not white. I've asked another question about race here).



So I'm pretty far into writing my dystopian novel and I was reading over what I had. Something that helps me when I first start a novel is to get a clear picture of my characters in my head and put a face to a name, so I usually sculpt a personality and find a Google image of someone who I think matches that, and I put all of those into documents for my personal reference. I looked over my main five characters--Analise, Poet, Shove, Star, and Nova--and then suddenly something jumped out at me. Analise is Hispanic, Shove is Japanese, and the Poet, Star, and Nova are all black.



I had forgotten about their races because it wasn't important to me and I had not noticed while I was writing, because the story isn't about their racial backgrounds. But is it, I don't know, somehow alienating or offensive to white readers that the characters aren't white, and that no main characters are white?






creative-writing characters readers




creative-writing characters readers






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked 5 hours ago









weakdnaweakdna

1,52031132




1,52031132








  • 1





    How is the race of these characters mentioned or alluded to in your writing?

    – Laurel
    3 hours ago











  • Is Analise white-passing? "Hispanic" is kind of a broad category. I have a character from Honduras whose skin is quite dark, but if you look at someone like Fernando Alonso, he's basically white.

    – F1Krazy
    44 mins ago














  • 1





    How is the race of these characters mentioned or alluded to in your writing?

    – Laurel
    3 hours ago











  • Is Analise white-passing? "Hispanic" is kind of a broad category. I have a character from Honduras whose skin is quite dark, but if you look at someone like Fernando Alonso, he's basically white.

    – F1Krazy
    44 mins ago








1




1





How is the race of these characters mentioned or alluded to in your writing?

– Laurel
3 hours ago





How is the race of these characters mentioned or alluded to in your writing?

– Laurel
3 hours ago













Is Analise white-passing? "Hispanic" is kind of a broad category. I have a character from Honduras whose skin is quite dark, but if you look at someone like Fernando Alonso, he's basically white.

– F1Krazy
44 mins ago





Is Analise white-passing? "Hispanic" is kind of a broad category. I have a character from Honduras whose skin is quite dark, but if you look at someone like Fernando Alonso, he's basically white.

– F1Krazy
44 mins ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















4














The answer I'll give you here is the same as the ones I've already given you and others: write what works for you. If these are who the characters are, then that's who they are. If you're forcing diversity, then it will come off as forced. That includes making some characters white just to be diverse.



Will you alienate or even offend some white readers? Yes.



But this is not the type of offense to worry about. Some people are so used to being in the mainstream everywhere and for everything, that they loudly protest when suddenly they're not. If they don't like your story, they can go literally anyplace else to find beautiful, stirring, authentic depictions of all sorts of white people. Even within works about people of color.



Some people will argue that this is exactly the same as novels only including white people. But, no. It isn't. Because representation isn't just about a single work. It's about the entirety of our culture. Americans (and most Westerners) find white people so central to their understanding of the universe that they insert them in places they might not otherwise be and tell entire stories set in nonwhite worlds from the white character's point of view. (I just watched The Last King of Scotland which does exactly this...they invented a white character for this very purpose...in a movie about real events in Uganda.)



Write the story that matters to you.






share|improve this answer



















  • 1





    You already nailed it, so I'm not even going to write an answer, lol. The only thing to add is that people forget that "white" (we could talk forever about the problems inherent in that term) people are not even a global majority. If you took a hundred humans from the planet, at random, there actually wouldn't be all that many white folks, comparatively speaking. So, depending on the hows and wheres and whys, it is, ironically very possible that a cast of color is actually more true to life than the inverse.

    – user49466
    4 hours ago











  • @user49466 Ya know, I thought of that point when I was formulating my response then had to leave the house and forgot to put it in. Thanks for bringing it up. It's very important.

    – Cyn
    1 hour ago













Your Answer








StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "166"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});














draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fwriting.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f41587%2fnot-having-any-white-mcs%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









4














The answer I'll give you here is the same as the ones I've already given you and others: write what works for you. If these are who the characters are, then that's who they are. If you're forcing diversity, then it will come off as forced. That includes making some characters white just to be diverse.



Will you alienate or even offend some white readers? Yes.



But this is not the type of offense to worry about. Some people are so used to being in the mainstream everywhere and for everything, that they loudly protest when suddenly they're not. If they don't like your story, they can go literally anyplace else to find beautiful, stirring, authentic depictions of all sorts of white people. Even within works about people of color.



Some people will argue that this is exactly the same as novels only including white people. But, no. It isn't. Because representation isn't just about a single work. It's about the entirety of our culture. Americans (and most Westerners) find white people so central to their understanding of the universe that they insert them in places they might not otherwise be and tell entire stories set in nonwhite worlds from the white character's point of view. (I just watched The Last King of Scotland which does exactly this...they invented a white character for this very purpose...in a movie about real events in Uganda.)



Write the story that matters to you.






share|improve this answer



















  • 1





    You already nailed it, so I'm not even going to write an answer, lol. The only thing to add is that people forget that "white" (we could talk forever about the problems inherent in that term) people are not even a global majority. If you took a hundred humans from the planet, at random, there actually wouldn't be all that many white folks, comparatively speaking. So, depending on the hows and wheres and whys, it is, ironically very possible that a cast of color is actually more true to life than the inverse.

    – user49466
    4 hours ago











  • @user49466 Ya know, I thought of that point when I was formulating my response then had to leave the house and forgot to put it in. Thanks for bringing it up. It's very important.

    – Cyn
    1 hour ago


















4














The answer I'll give you here is the same as the ones I've already given you and others: write what works for you. If these are who the characters are, then that's who they are. If you're forcing diversity, then it will come off as forced. That includes making some characters white just to be diverse.



Will you alienate or even offend some white readers? Yes.



But this is not the type of offense to worry about. Some people are so used to being in the mainstream everywhere and for everything, that they loudly protest when suddenly they're not. If they don't like your story, they can go literally anyplace else to find beautiful, stirring, authentic depictions of all sorts of white people. Even within works about people of color.



Some people will argue that this is exactly the same as novels only including white people. But, no. It isn't. Because representation isn't just about a single work. It's about the entirety of our culture. Americans (and most Westerners) find white people so central to their understanding of the universe that they insert them in places they might not otherwise be and tell entire stories set in nonwhite worlds from the white character's point of view. (I just watched The Last King of Scotland which does exactly this...they invented a white character for this very purpose...in a movie about real events in Uganda.)



Write the story that matters to you.






share|improve this answer



















  • 1





    You already nailed it, so I'm not even going to write an answer, lol. The only thing to add is that people forget that "white" (we could talk forever about the problems inherent in that term) people are not even a global majority. If you took a hundred humans from the planet, at random, there actually wouldn't be all that many white folks, comparatively speaking. So, depending on the hows and wheres and whys, it is, ironically very possible that a cast of color is actually more true to life than the inverse.

    – user49466
    4 hours ago











  • @user49466 Ya know, I thought of that point when I was formulating my response then had to leave the house and forgot to put it in. Thanks for bringing it up. It's very important.

    – Cyn
    1 hour ago
















4












4








4







The answer I'll give you here is the same as the ones I've already given you and others: write what works for you. If these are who the characters are, then that's who they are. If you're forcing diversity, then it will come off as forced. That includes making some characters white just to be diverse.



Will you alienate or even offend some white readers? Yes.



But this is not the type of offense to worry about. Some people are so used to being in the mainstream everywhere and for everything, that they loudly protest when suddenly they're not. If they don't like your story, they can go literally anyplace else to find beautiful, stirring, authentic depictions of all sorts of white people. Even within works about people of color.



Some people will argue that this is exactly the same as novels only including white people. But, no. It isn't. Because representation isn't just about a single work. It's about the entirety of our culture. Americans (and most Westerners) find white people so central to their understanding of the universe that they insert them in places they might not otherwise be and tell entire stories set in nonwhite worlds from the white character's point of view. (I just watched The Last King of Scotland which does exactly this...they invented a white character for this very purpose...in a movie about real events in Uganda.)



Write the story that matters to you.






share|improve this answer













The answer I'll give you here is the same as the ones I've already given you and others: write what works for you. If these are who the characters are, then that's who they are. If you're forcing diversity, then it will come off as forced. That includes making some characters white just to be diverse.



Will you alienate or even offend some white readers? Yes.



But this is not the type of offense to worry about. Some people are so used to being in the mainstream everywhere and for everything, that they loudly protest when suddenly they're not. If they don't like your story, they can go literally anyplace else to find beautiful, stirring, authentic depictions of all sorts of white people. Even within works about people of color.



Some people will argue that this is exactly the same as novels only including white people. But, no. It isn't. Because representation isn't just about a single work. It's about the entirety of our culture. Americans (and most Westerners) find white people so central to their understanding of the universe that they insert them in places they might not otherwise be and tell entire stories set in nonwhite worlds from the white character's point of view. (I just watched The Last King of Scotland which does exactly this...they invented a white character for this very purpose...in a movie about real events in Uganda.)



Write the story that matters to you.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered 4 hours ago









CynCyn

7,2301841




7,2301841








  • 1





    You already nailed it, so I'm not even going to write an answer, lol. The only thing to add is that people forget that "white" (we could talk forever about the problems inherent in that term) people are not even a global majority. If you took a hundred humans from the planet, at random, there actually wouldn't be all that many white folks, comparatively speaking. So, depending on the hows and wheres and whys, it is, ironically very possible that a cast of color is actually more true to life than the inverse.

    – user49466
    4 hours ago











  • @user49466 Ya know, I thought of that point when I was formulating my response then had to leave the house and forgot to put it in. Thanks for bringing it up. It's very important.

    – Cyn
    1 hour ago
















  • 1





    You already nailed it, so I'm not even going to write an answer, lol. The only thing to add is that people forget that "white" (we could talk forever about the problems inherent in that term) people are not even a global majority. If you took a hundred humans from the planet, at random, there actually wouldn't be all that many white folks, comparatively speaking. So, depending on the hows and wheres and whys, it is, ironically very possible that a cast of color is actually more true to life than the inverse.

    – user49466
    4 hours ago











  • @user49466 Ya know, I thought of that point when I was formulating my response then had to leave the house and forgot to put it in. Thanks for bringing it up. It's very important.

    – Cyn
    1 hour ago










1




1





You already nailed it, so I'm not even going to write an answer, lol. The only thing to add is that people forget that "white" (we could talk forever about the problems inherent in that term) people are not even a global majority. If you took a hundred humans from the planet, at random, there actually wouldn't be all that many white folks, comparatively speaking. So, depending on the hows and wheres and whys, it is, ironically very possible that a cast of color is actually more true to life than the inverse.

– user49466
4 hours ago





You already nailed it, so I'm not even going to write an answer, lol. The only thing to add is that people forget that "white" (we could talk forever about the problems inherent in that term) people are not even a global majority. If you took a hundred humans from the planet, at random, there actually wouldn't be all that many white folks, comparatively speaking. So, depending on the hows and wheres and whys, it is, ironically very possible that a cast of color is actually more true to life than the inverse.

– user49466
4 hours ago













@user49466 Ya know, I thought of that point when I was formulating my response then had to leave the house and forgot to put it in. Thanks for bringing it up. It's very important.

– Cyn
1 hour ago







@user49466 Ya know, I thought of that point when I was formulating my response then had to leave the house and forgot to put it in. Thanks for bringing it up. It's very important.

– Cyn
1 hour ago




















draft saved

draft discarded




















































Thanks for contributing an answer to Writing Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid …



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fwriting.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f41587%2fnot-having-any-white-mcs%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







-

Popular posts from this blog

Ponta tanko

Image
Usona ponta tanko M60A1 Ponta tanko estas, simile kiel kirasita savveturilo, inter specialaj kirasitaj transportiloj. Kiel pontaj tankoj eblas konsideri ĉiujn memmovigaj rimedoj ebligantaj superi obstaklojn ĝis larĝeco 24 metroj rekte en spaco de bataloperacoj. Ties ĉefa tasko estas ebligi al la propraj taĉmentoj daŭrigi en rapida antaŭenirado sen senbezona reteniĝo. El tio pli-malpli rezultas taktikaj-teknikaj postuloj, kiujn ili devas plenumi. Precipe temas pri kapablo operacii komune kun unue-sinsekvaj taĉmentoj kaj transpontigi obstaklojn dum kelke da minutoj. This page is only for reference, If you need detailed information, please check here
Read more

Tantalo (mitologio)

Image
Ĉi tiu artikolo temas pri mitologio. Por aliaj signifoj vidu la paĝon Tantalo (apartigilo) . Tantalo , laŭ Gioacchino Assereto. Laŭ la helena mitologio, Tantalo (el la greka Τάνταλος , ŝancelanta aŭ tre malfeliĉa ) estis filo de Zeŭso kaj la oceanidino Pluto, laŭ la plej divastigata versio. Li estis reĝo de Frigio [1] aŭ de la monto Sipilo, en Lidio (Malgrandazio) [2] kaj post sia morto li suferis eternan torturadon ĉe la Tartaro, la plej profunda parto de Hadeso, rezervita por la plej perversaj homoj. Tamen, kelkaj rakontoj asertas ke li estis reĝo de Argo aŭ de Korinto [3] , aŭ ke li migris norden el la monto Sipilo por akiri la tronon de Paflagonio, el kie Ilo forpelis lin pro tio, ke Tantalo forkaptis kaj seksperfortis lian fraton Ganimedon [4] , kaj tiel ofendis la diojn. Verŝajne li ankaŭ regis urbon en okcidenta Anatolio, kiun oni nomis Tantalis [5] pro li, aŭ Sipilo , pro la monto sur kies flanko ankoraŭ staras ĝiaj ruinaĵoj [6] . Laŭ la geografiisto Strabo,...
Read more

Erzsébet Schaár

Image
Erzsébet Schaár Memportreto de Erzsébet Schaár en Pécs Personaj informoj Naskiĝo 27-an de julio 1908 ( 1908-07-27 ) en Budafok Morto 29-an de aŭgusto 1975 ( 1975-08-29 ) (67-jara) en Budapeŝto Ŝtataneco Hungario Profesio skulptisto Familianoj Edz(in)o Tibor Vilt v   •   d   •   r Erzsébet Schaár [erĵEbet ŝAr], laŭ hungarlingve kutima sinsekvo Schaár Erzsébet estis hungara skulptisto. Ŝia edzo estis Tibor Vilt. Déryné Széppataki Róza en Miskolc fare de Erzsébet Schaár Erzsébet Schaár [1] naskiĝis la 27-an de julio 1908 en Budafok, ŝi mortis la 29-an de aŭgusto 1975 en Budapeŝto. Enhavo 1 Biografio 2 Elektitaj solaj ekspozicioj 3 Elektitaj kolektivaj ekspozicioj 4 Elektitaj skulptaĵoj 5 Elektitaj disĉiploj 6 Fontoj 7 Referencoj Biografio | Erzsébet Schaár studis en Industriarta Lernejo, poste en Reĝa Belarta Altlernejo (1924-1926). Ŝia ĉefinstruisto estis Zsig...
Read more