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Hey friends!!

So I’m currently looking at starting a coming of age book that primarily focuses on overcoming trauma, mental health struggles, etc, and learning to love where you are. It’s a fantasy book and will feature quite a few real issues as all of the characters will have some form of trauma they need to face. This varies drastically, however, I’m having a bit of trouble with one character in particular.

One of the characters I want to include as a lead is a boy who is a survivor of a drive by shooting. He grew up in a rough area and ended up getting pulled into some illegal activity. For him, this was in the form of petty things like stealing from the gas station, vandalism, etc. However, one of his friends ends up in trouble and ends up becoming the victim of a drive by shooting while they’re trying to buy beer. The case is treated as a statistic and gets wiped under the rug drastically. The character suffers PTSD and an identity crisis, ending up sort of numb for a long time.

This is very similar to the area I grew up in and a situation near to me, however, I’m white and this character to me feels like he should be BIPOC or Latino. I want my cast to be diverse and realistic and I think this scenario feeds moreso into POC. I was hoping for any advice in writing him or other POC characters in their trauma? I was avoiding trauma centered around race as I can’t speak on the experience, however, I feel like it shouldn’t be ignored here.

Looking for advice for this, any other things regarding characters of color, or any thoughts on building this character or one similar. This is a story still In the very early stages so any thoughts are welcome. I’m willing to change the character and such if needed but I was hoping for some advice before I make that move.