Describing POC's Skin...

[FifthView]

And this is why I never give the colour of my characters' skins. Especially in fantasy, there is no real reason to give it. It tells you nothing about their personality, upbringing or culture because the world is not our own. The only reason to go over and above describing all the ethnic minorities in your story is, imo, just to show how "inclusive" you are.

"It tells you nothing...because the world is not our own." This sounds like you are saying that in our world, skin color can tell you all these things about a person. Hmmm.

In any case, I think that everyone alive notices skin color regularly. We might or might not think about it, consciously note it, but we see it as a matter of course. The same way we see all the grass and trees and every crack in the cobblestones in our field of view. Well, those of us who live anywhere cobblestones are used. In our fictional worlds, do we describe every scene down to the last detail? Nope. We pick and choose what to tell. I sometimes wish some writers would operate from the understanding that details about a scene can be described even if the POV character isn't consciously thinking about them; but that's a different issue.

I suspect that in many fictional worlds, in many situations, the characters would find in skin color some signals about other features, like culture, of other characters. At least to the degree that skin color in those worlds correlates with other features. (Ex., foreigners or even ethnic enclaves in cities.) Even if these fictional cultures are unlike what we have in our own world, characters will still note significant differences, including skin color. "He had the blue-green tint to his skin that spoke of Angularin ancestry, but mascara circled his red eyes in the Hurb fashion. Those two peoples had warred nonstop for centuries, and Jamis wondered what kind of man this must be."

I still return to the idea that we should choose what is noticed and how it is described with the understanding that these things reflect upon the character who is making comments or viewing another person and not on the author. As others above have mentioned, they or some they know may be fine describing themselves using food items. But others might not be fine. This speaks to a diversity of outlooks. Individuals are different. (Should go without saying?) So our characters will have different outlooks, depending on upbringing, the society in which they live, individual personalities, and so forth—and, depending on particular situations. But the caveat here is that we also need to be careful because we may not want readers to react negatively to a character that we intend to be highly sympathetic.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I really like to describe my characters. Maybe you guys don't, but my preference is to give a clear idea of what my characters look like. A character's appearance can say a lot about what they are like (clothing, body language...) I have a picture in my mind of what most of my characters look like, which I want to share. Also, having fan art sounds amazing...

Of course, I write in the first person, so my descriptions will be based on my MCs' perception. My MC's might not notice skin color that much. They live in the tropics, where light skin is relatively rare. (Average would be maybe a medium brown.) People with light skin are familiar but they exist outside the bell curve. So, my characters might feel compelled to describe a light-skinned person's skin color, but not someone with a darker skin tone. It might be more interesting to focus on clothing, weapons, and stuff like that in description rather than skin/hair/eye color. (There's rarely a reason to describe eye color. I don't even notice eye color when I meet someone.) But, skin color will probably come up. Especially with the love interest of my female MC, who loves to describe. (Her POV provides lots of description.)

My MCs themselves probably won't feel the need to describe themselves or each other.

 

[Nimue]

I always forget, between these discussions, that straight white amateur writers are the most persecuted people in the world. Every day, they face the risk of a person maybe critiquing their writing on social issues one day when it gains enough traction for anyone to even care.

I'm slightly done.

 

[Reaver]

Again, I want to remind all participants in this thread to treat other members with respect. The posts in this thread are the opinions of the members posting them. There are no right or wrong opinions. If you can't participate in this thread without being respectful, then don't participate.

This is my final reminder. Any further disrespect will not be tolerated.