You are responsible for that little piece. Portraying black characters realistically is not just a matter of avoiding stereotypes and writing a character who “just happens to be black”.

If you are a white writer and you wish to inhabit the consciousness of a POC, do not base their narrative around noble suffering.


That’s where you start.”. She did well in school and naturally made a large number friends. An archetype is a character prototype (i.e. I’ve also been in the uncomfortable position where I’ve tried to write a female lead (to name just one example) and have gotten frustrated at the implication that I might never be the right person to tell the story my soul desperately wants to tell because I’ll never experience what my protagonist does as she would.

The age of Twitter amplifies the voices of a loud, angry few who claim to act on the side of progress. One should actually know enough about the black community to recognize where African-American culture really does differ from the majority culture. spotted the so-called ‘Expendable Hero’ is very often cast as a BAME actor (most often male!). Change ). Additional resources for writing character descriptions: 10 Tips for Writing Physical Descriptions of Your Characters, © 2023 by Make Some Noise. The only thing that matters, and will ever matter, is the work and the reader’s interpretation. This actively helps writers avoid CLICHÉ, which has to be good! By this, I mean writers should not just consult secondary sources like history books, biographies or museums; nor should they rely on simply their OWN interpretation of  people, events, issues, etc! between writer and poet Jenny Zhang and writer Nate Brown, the pair discussed the less than glamorous aspects of the writing life.

It’s okay if your characters resemble some of these traits, but they should be bigger than these traits, too. He couldn’t land a date until college, and the one girl he managed to date cheated on him with his brother after a month. The white family isn’t “racist” or culturally insensitive or anything of the sort, but Shona culture’s stark differences with American norms are in and of themselves enough to create conflict. If a character of yours doesn’t exactly fit societal expectations, more likely than not, it won’t be a problem.

When you write using stock characters, you limit your writing ability.
Flournoy expertly posits the personal heartaches of the Turner family as an extension of the world at large and not the other way around. GRRM and those that agree with him state boldly that “women are people” and don’t go on and define what a person is.

Even if you get your beta readers on-board with your idea, and your friends approve, and you’re extra careful to do your research, there’s still a chance people won’t like the choices you’ve made in your work.

What might that mean? While we often use archetypes and stereotypes interchangeably, the two are not the same. Then that’s JUST the haters’ opinion! You aren’t there to explain your “intentions” when all your gay characters mysteriously die before the third act, or when your white characters are leaders, scientists, and doctors, while your black characters are vagrants and bums. He recalled an incident where a student handed in a short story with a problematic representation of a black character. Or, if you’re like me and social anxiety makes that hard, learning about the experiences of other people in some other way. There are black people that act “white” (man, that’s a whole can of worms for another time) and gay people that act “straight” (worms, cans) and poor people who don’t talk or act or thing like the stereotypes would have you believe (wow that’s a lot of cans).

Even though she’s out of college, she has a robust network of family, friends, and co-workers to talk to, hang out with, or lean on. You should know the emotional range of your principal characters. I’ve read too many novel manuscripts in which Black characters are speaking Ebonics and using poor grammar. Post was not sent - check your email addresses!

Here’s how to avoid character cliches in your storytelling: 1. I think the single best advice I have for writing diverse characters is to accept that you might not get everything right on your own.

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