Feb 3, 2018
Character diversity sheet I made for the slimy barnacles. Here they all are ( bongo joins later on)
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Character diversity sheet I made for the slimy barnacles. Here they all are ( bongo joins later on)
So, I made this color palette to show the diversity in all the characters I’m working on, and I really hope I nailed it when it comes time to post what they all look like.
The age of main characters in my story has always been a bit of an issue. It's hard to write about anyone outside of teenagers and people in their early years of adulthood, since that's about where I am. For the sake of diversity I really want to write about characters who are outside that range. The problem is that I don't have the experience a full on adult would have, nor a keen enough memory to remember what it's like to be a kid.
Hey there! I understand how you feel about this, since I’ve been where you are.
My advice may not be the quick, simple solution you maybe want to hear, but it’s honestly the thing that I’ve found works best. And that is to talk to those age groups.
Kids have such a unique perspective on life and everything in it. I worked with kids for a while and getting to talk to them is always amusing. You can never predict what they’re going to say or how they’re going to say it.
Honestly adults are all alike. Older adults are just like us younger adults, except that their responsibilities are more expensive and they have more money for coffee. Sometimes they have kids with them, but that’s technically an expensive responsibility.
There’s no easy trick to teach you to write them better, you just have to talk to enough of them. When you do this, you’re able to write in those quirks that we tend to associate with each age group. Those quirks will in turn help you write those groups more naturally.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you need more help! Good luck!
-Dianne
What's a good way for the POV characters to observe someone's ethnicity or race? (For the purpose of creating a clearer picture in the reader's head)
Excellent question!
Firstly, it is important to note that all the typical rules of character description apply! There’s really nothing wrong with blatantly saying that a character is of a certain race or ethnicity. But if you want to describe your characters in detail, a remember that you don’t have to describe every physical feature of a character at once. Making small references to a character’s appearance throughout your story gives your description a more natural effect.
I’m glad you specified in your question that the description is coming from POV characters as opposed to an omniscient narrator. This distinction is important! When writing an observation of a character’s race, consider a few things:
Is the POV character reliable?
In other words, do they observe another’s race correctly? Some people will be more familiar with the features within a race, for example, seeing the differences between chinese and korean. Others might not be able to tell the difference between someone Latinx and someone Southeast Asian.
The race of the POV character will likely heavily influence this reliability.
The media consumption patterns of the POV character will influence this too. For example, there are plenty of Americans that can distinguish different British accents because of their consumption of British news/movies/shows (*coughcoughYoutubecough*).
Also, mixed-race people exist too!
Some people have more features of one race than another, others look more of a mix.
If your pov character knows a character is mixed-race, they can mention that while they are describing the features of the character in question.
*Side note:
As someone who is half black and half filipino, I often get mislabeled as Cambodian or Puerto Rican (or other Latinx) because that’s just how my features lay out to different people.
Depending on the context of your story, it might be important for the narration to include a character’s reaction to the observation. Does the appearance of someone of a certain race make them happy? Confused? Disappointed?
I know as a person of color, I always notice very quickly when another person of color is around if I am in a situation where there aren’t many POC. In addition, I do get excited when I see a fellow Filipino or AFAM. I know through personal observations that immigrants (POC or not) get really excited when they run into someone of their race/ethnicity (As far as I’ve seen in Canada and the US).
Of course, I don’t know the context of your story, but it is good to recognize the pov that goes along with being a certain race.
Now, when concerning the details of physical appearance, consider what your POV character first notices about someone’s appearance: hair, eyes, body shape, etc. What stands out to them? Going back to the idea of reliability, does your POV character exaggerate the (un)attractiveness of certain facial features? Would a different POV character provide a contrasting description? This can be fun to play with if your narration jumps between different POV characters.
If you are interested in keeping POC descriptions inoffensive, I would suggest visiting the Writing with Color blog. They have a long archive of posts for the experience of and the tropes associated with specific races and ethnicities.
One final note,
I know you asked this question in reference to imagery, but remember that ‘observing’ can go beyond noticing a character’s physical features. For example,
If you have two or more characters of the same race, you can make a small reference through language.
Ex: Maureen whispered something to Arthur in Tagalog, fighting desperately to muffle the giggle bursting at her lips.
*It’s good to note that a language cue should probably accompany other description, because language does not necessarily indicate race or ethnicity. It is also good to note that not everyone of a certain race will speak a certain language. For example, you can be Italian-American and not speak a lick of Italian. (That was a bit redundant, but I want to make sure I’m getting the point across.)
I hope this post was helpful. Happy writing!
-Cilla
Character designing
Sometimes I think my dragons are a bit lackluster but then I remember 'nah their fine'. Because their simple enough to exist in canon but are still unique enough to be told apart.
(can't say the same for literally any canon Nightwing or Icewing. see Hebi_Haberdashery (6:39) he have a display with multiple Nightwings and Icewings proving my point). Also his plushies are sick as.
For example when the Nightwings left the Night kingdom and got trapped on their volcano home, it would have stunted their genetical diversity(due to the amount of death), leading to multiple/ more traits to identify dragons by. Hence why Thoughttella has vitiligo and Fatekeeper has leucism and they were able to be together.
This is also why if malnourished Nightwings should be duller and less vibrant, see Blackout, if she was healthy she'd be as dark as Thoughttella who grew up inland his whole life. (health does contribute to scale health much like coat health to mammals(I think)). Moonwatcher is a great example of this and her mother makes a comment on how perfect she is.
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Anybody writing, writing with, or asking for a character in their forties, I love you. Anybody writing, writing with, or asking for a character in their fifties, I love you. Sixties, I love you. Seventies, I love you. Eighties, so much. Nineties, you're beautiful and have damn fine longevity. Every step you take is awesome.
<3