And just to seem busy

[marfisk]

Another question has come up on this novel. Nationality/appearance. This is a fantasy novel set in a fertile crescent type climate. The characters have not shown their skin color to me yet, but will probably be Middle Eastern or Black African in type. There have been discussions about character race on the OWW listserv that made me have to THINK about this. Normally, I would just let the characters look however they wanted to, but now I am asking myself does it have meaning or does it have to. *Sigh* Well, the meaning is obvious in terms of climate, but part of me wants to make them very dark just because I've never had a main character with true blue black skin and frankly, I think it is a beautiful tint. (And to diss people who say non-white characters have to have Meaning with a capitol M.) I grew up in the Middle East but am Irish and Slovak primarily. When I was a kid, I tanned dark but my light brown hair went white blond so no passing for me. Still, I find the contrast between really dark skin and my own intimidating (based on when I was temping in Washington, D.C. and my coworkers were all African American) but that's just because I seemed so pale, almost non-existent in comparison. They made a mark on the world while I faded into the white-washed office walls. Okay, maybe I had other issues going on, but hey ;). None of this gets me any closer to figuring out my characters however. I guess they'll tell me as usual and I'll accept it.

Comments

[mayakda.livejournal.com]

I think it's a beautiful tint too. Go for it.

*waves hi*

[marfisk]

Honestly, I still need to see what my characters are saying, but people come in such wonderful colors :).

[eimarra]

I think most skin tints are interesting and beautiful. But if you want to sidestep Meaning with a capital M, use a pigment other than melanin -- let their skin be dark blue or green or maroon, and tint the sun appropriately so the pigment's still blocking most of the radiation. Yeah, I know, that's more something you'd worry about for SF, but there's no reason not to use that kind of logic in fantasy, is there? (Lessen, acourse, you're settin' it rite cheer on planet Earth.)

[marfisk]

A good point and plausible in a truly alien fantasy setting. In this case, it would probably be too much and seem like layering because it is near earth, but I've certainly used that before in SF stories. Still, I really don't think the only options are to write white characters or go outside the natural human color range when writing a human-based story. It's annoying that people will read things into the choice whatever my logic though. Luckily, while another race shows up briefly, all the conflict is within their society so at least they can't accuse me of perpetuating anything ;).

Margaret

[eimarra]

Oh, I agree that it's not necessary (Mihoj wasn't white). I just suggested it as a way to sidestep the issue.

Ah :)

[marfisk]

Well, it's a good way for the right story and I'll keep it in mind. My elves had blue skin, but it was blue-whitish not blue black :)