Writing People of Color as a White Author
Almost quarterly, it comes up in the writer's discourse that a white author has published or intends to write a book from the perspective of a character with a vastly different lived experience from their own.
As someone who has first-hand witnessed these discussions online, it usually comes down to numerous authors of color from an array of different genres and backgrounds laying out well grounded reasons why this behavior is harmful, how it impacts melanated authors, and essentially giving out free emotional labor just so a white writer can say in response: “But what if, I…”
The predominant issue regarding this topic right now is that so many white authors have written harmful perspectives of people of color. From books riddled with micro-aggressions to overt racism, white authors have proven over and over that they have no business writing stories from the perspective of People of Color (POC). It’s time for white people to step aside and let people of color tell their own stories.
We’ll touch more on this later, but this doesn’t mean that you’re not allowed to include characters who are POC in your story. In fact, you should. It’s all just a matter of how you’re writing them (as three-dimensional characters) and why you’re writing them (are you just throwing in diversity for diversity’s sake?)
The reason this is such a big deal—outside of the fact that it sucks to have another “well-intentioned” racist book out in the world—is that publishing skews white. The gatekeepers in this industry are 76% white, according to the Diversity Baseline Survey in 2019.
Publishers just aren’t acquiring enough work from authors of color. In 2018, just 11% of books were written by people of color. There’s either some sort of quota to the number of books publishers will acquire or they’ll already have a book “like that”—even if the previous book was written by a white author.
Ellen Oh says it best: “Yes We Need Diverse Books. But that doesn’t always mean we want you to write them. No, it means we want you to read them. We want you to promote them, talk about them, buy them, love them.”
And with that, let’s dive into writing people of color as a white author!
Writing POC as a White Author
Find Your Why
Yes, more and more agents are looking for diverse stories, but that doesn't mean you should be writing them. With every book that you write, it’s important for you to find your why—Why this story? Why are you the person to tell it? What are you trying to say with this story?
If you find that you want to write a story from the perspective of someone with a different lived experience than your own, specifically a character with a different racial background, ask yourself a few more questions:
Why are you writing a POC main character?
Is this your story to tell?
Are you taking up someone else's space by writing this experience?
Jacqueline Woodson, author of Brown Girl Dreaming and Red at the Bone, shares: “As publishers (finally!) scurry to be a part of the move to represent the myriad cultures once absent from mainstream literature, it is not without some skepticism that I peruse the masses of books written about people of color by white people. As a Black person, it is easy to tell who has and who has not been inside ‘my house.’
Some say there is a move by people of color to keep whites from writing about us, but this isn’t true. This movement isn’t about white people, it’s about people of color. We want the chance to tell our own stories, to tell them honestly and openly. We don’t want publishers to say, ‘Well, we already published a book about that,’ and then find that it was a book that did not speak the truth about us but rather told someone on the outside’s idea of who we are.”
It's clear that the call for diversity in literature is not merely about expanding the number of stories that feature characters from different cultural backgrounds; it is fundamentally about authenticity and agency. Woodson skillfully highlights the nuanced difference between tokenism and true representation. To merely add a sprinkle of diversity without respecting the essence of different cultures is to miss the point altogether.
The push for more inclusive narratives is not an attempt to gatekeep who can write about what culture or ethnicity. Rather, it's a call to let those who have lived and breathed a particular culture to take the reins and guide their own narrative.
Diverse Cast
One of the biggest retorts white authors will give during this discussion is, “Well it’s problematic if everyone in my book is white but you don’t want me to write POC? What should I do?”
First off—this is not what melanated authors are saying. Your novel should absolutely have diverse characters and reflect the real world around you. The question is: How will you as a white writer accurately depict the world without falling back on harmful stereotypes?
Unsurprisingly, the answer really comes from treating your POC characters like humans. Treat your characters with respect and do the research needed to ensure that that comes across. We pour so much time and love into our stories and our main characters, the least we can do is make sure our marginalized characters are given that same amount of time and love.
In a Book Riot opinion piece, Mateeka Quinn states: “The problem that the African American community has with writers like Stockett and Thug Kitchen is not the fact that they are White. Rather, it’s the fact that their controversial writing assumes a perspective that they have not—could not, by the simple nature of their birth—experience. If not handled properly, the work can be offensive... Now, no person should be made to feel that they can only write about people of their own skin color, in my opinion. How could my fantasy Elfin husband Legolas exist without a little imagination? And of course writers, readers, and general human populations everywhere crave diversity in their media. Still, a writer must consider the implications they make when releasing their words to an audience."
Quinn identifies a nuanced problem: the line between imagination and appropriation is tenuous and fraught with potential pitfalls. When authors take liberties with experiences and identities that are not their own, they risk reducing complex lives and cultures to simplistic or stereotypical narratives. Quinn suggests that this isn't a matter of segregating creativity by skin color or cultural background; rather, it's about honoring the profound responsibility that comes with wielding the pen.
The call for conscientious writing isn't a call to restrict creative freedom, but a plea for writers to acknowledge the far-reaching impact of their words. Quinn makes an essential point—imagination is the lifeblood of fiction, but it must be employed with empathy, research, and due consideration. The aim is not to place boundaries on what stories can be told, but to challenge authors to tell these stories in a manner that respects the complexity and diversity of the experiences they seek to depict.
How to describe skin tone
-Don't just describe the skin tone of non-white characters. By doing this, you’re blatantly pointing a finger out to “other” this character.
-Don't use food to describe skin-tone, i.e. "chocolate" or "coffee." Personally, I feel like this is an obvious one, but I have seen a significant amount of authors still using food-based language to describe skin tone. In general, no one really wants to be compared to food. I’ve seen authors use the word “milky” to describe white skin, and I’m still not here for it. (And “milk” is at least better than being compared to something like mayo!)
-Don't use "nude" or "flesh-colored" to describe something. What you mean is beige. Or khaki. Or other beige-like colors. By saying “nude” or “flesh colored,” you’re implying only one type of skin color and therefore amplifying white as the “norm”—it isn’t.
-Don’t state the specific ethnicity of a character when describing them. I’ll let Christine Ro explain from here: “Unless you or your characters have magical ethnicity-detecting devices, enabling precise determinations that a person is Japanese and not Chinese, or Indian and not Bangladeshi, there are some pretty ignorant assumptions being made here."
Your character, but especially your white-character, will not be able to determine someone’s ethnicity based on appearance. This is where some generalization can be helpful. If, for example, you’re trying to describe someone who is East Asian versus South Asian; however, it’s usually best to describe physical attributes and then (if it’s pertinent to the story) let that character reveal their ethnicity or background at a later time.
A useful resource for writing melanated characters can be found on this Tumblr blog: Writing With Color.
Get Specific
Specificity is key in writing, and that applies here as well. A way to do this is to base your POC characters off of a real person of color that you know. This doesn’t mean stealing your friend’s entire identity and putting them into your book, but instead, take well-rounded and specific qualities and infuse that into your character.
The purpose of this is to keep from consciously or subconsciously relying on what you think you know about a person from a specific race. When you transition your frame of mind from, “I’m writing a Black woman” to “I’m writing my friend,” it’s going to come more natural to you and is probably going to widen the possibilities of who that character actually is.
When you’re not relying on stereotypes (harmful or otherwise), you’ll find that you’re really just writing a well-rounded individual with a different life experience from your own.
Hire Authenticity Readers
Authenticity readers (formerly known as sensitivity readers) have a similar role to beta readers, but where beta readers are diagnosing how the story reads as a whole, authenticity readers focus specifically on a topic or character(s) to ensure that you’re covering a topic or character realistically and in a way that won’t offend your readers.
While some writers pay for beta reading services and others don’t, authenticity readers are generally paid for their services of providing emotional labor and potentially encountering triggering content. These folks are also professionals at providing feedback and insight to help get the writer on the right path.
I will point out here, though, hiring an authenticity reader isn’t always going to be enough — especially if you’re not already being mindful about the other things we’ve mentioned in this article. Sometimes things get missed, or sometimes what you really need is a handful of authenticity readers because one person may not catch everything or be impacted by the same thing. One to six authenticity readers cannot speak for a whole community, but the more readers you have the more diverse perspectives you’ll receive on it too.
Read Books from Authors of Color
I think one of the biggest faults I see from well-meaning white authors is only reading books from other white authors — or it’s only having read like one or two of the most popular ones out there. (Nothing against “The Hate U Give” but come on, there’s some other really amazing Black stories out there!)
Not only are you missing out on some incredible or important or purely delightful books, but you’re also doing yourself a disservice as a writer. Writers love to talk about how reading is a way to broaden our world view, but you’re only broadening your world so much if you’re only reading books that are centering whiteness or showing POC through a white lens.
This is crucial simply through a craft perspective. When someone wants to write fantasy, all the writing advice suggests reading tons and tons of fantasy. It’s how you get a feel for the world and genre. By reading books from authors with different backgrounds from your own, you’re also going to get a first-hand look at how POC authors write POC characters.
What better way to learn how to write about a culture or lived experience than by reading about it through writers who can actually speak to that perspective. Now obviously, one writer cannot speak for the whole community, and you shouldn’t try to create a carbon copy of another character — however, the more you immerse yourself in stories with characters that you may not always “relate” to (don’t even get me started on white folks who leave low reviews on POC books because they couldn’t find the main character “relatable” enough), the better chance you have of rounding out your skillset as a writer and picking up on the different ways that POC authors write about race in their books.
And to Recap:
Don't just mention the skin color of non-white characters. White should not be the default.
Don't assume the ethnicity of anyone.
Make sure to capitalize Black when talking about a person.
Don't just change the names of characters to make them sound more diverse.
Read more books by authors of color.
We also highly recommend you to do additional reading on this topic. Here are a few links that Burgeon recommends to check out:
Tiffany Grimes (she/they) is the founder of Burgeon Design and Editorial, a queer founded boutique editing and design house for the creatively audacious. At Burgeon, we specialize in book editing, coaching, and web design for the individualists, nonconformists, and trailblazers of the literary world. If you’re a maverick, outsider, rebel, renegade, dissenter, disruptor, or free spirit, you’ve come to the right place.
