Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla... What's with this, anyway?
Wait.
Wait a moment.
Where is all the chocolate?
I've been reading fantasy since I was twelve, or thereabouts. At least that's when I actually remember having read a fantasy book. (Did you think this would actually be about chocolate? Sorry :D)
But now that I think about it, I can't remember one single book (that I have read) with a dark-skinned main character. Hell, you know, asking for them to be in the group surrounding the main characters and bearing the title of side-main-character has also been too much to ask, it seems!
Now, I'm not all that altruistic about this. I think dark skin is sexy. It's just as sexy as pale skin, the same goes for fascial features. I only want to read something where things I find sexy appears (not as in "I only read books where characters I think sexy appears", but rather "this is what I'd like to find, where is it?"), and with one part, I'm well set (kinda... where's my lesbian fantasy!?). But the other?
Now, I just can't remember reading about a dark skinned main character (or side-main-character).
I randomly thought of a few of my fave fantasy series/authors; David Eddings, both the Belgariad and the Elenium... I can't remember any. I mean, in especially the Elenium I'm having trouble remembering if there even were dark skinned people in that world! Both the continents that appeared in the two series were laid up along the same "line".
Deverry; Uh, there's Bardek, with features some. No main characters though, really. And they seem to have a greater penchant in theor population for the child lovins, if we're supposed to believe what's said about them. Lovely.
Maybe I'm reading all the "wrong" books; aka, books by white people. You know what I'm going to say about that? This is FANTASY. Not Earth. You don't have to deal with real-Earth issues in fantasy if you don't want to.
Culture? Go make up your own. I mean, hello? Fantasy. Draw on from where it fits in real-Earth, as is usual in fantasy, but in general; these are not Earth-people you're going to write. You don't have to treat them as such either. If you don't introduce the sort of ugly racial "problems" that exist on Earth into your own fantasy world, then they don't exist there, and you don't have to take them into consideration of your characters and characterization.
Weather? Usually dark skinned people are found in climates with different weather than what some writers are used to, I suppose... Either you ignore that, or otherwise... It can't be so hard! Weather's just weather, after all.
Or am I completely naive and stupid for wishing for more... dare I say it? diversity in the role of main characters? Am I being disrespectful to say that real-Earth and its history doesn't figure in in the fantasy setting and you can do whatever you want to with your fantasy people?
Should I shut the fuck up because I don't know what I'm talking about, for whatever reason?
Sorry, I don't feel like it.
Should I write it myself? Yeah, I am, actually. But, as anyone knows, it's just not the same to only write and read your own stories, so I'd like to read someone else's too. If anyone finds something to reccomend, go ahead... But I'm picky. I have no patience for the ever-present heterosexual romance, anymore.
At least my selfish demand about skin colour diversity serves to show that (at least from what I've read) we're missing a bit of it, eh?
Wait a moment.
Where is all the chocolate?
I've been reading fantasy since I was twelve, or thereabouts. At least that's when I actually remember having read a fantasy book. (Did you think this would actually be about chocolate? Sorry :D)
But now that I think about it, I can't remember one single book (that I have read) with a dark-skinned main character. Hell, you know, asking for them to be in the group surrounding the main characters and bearing the title of side-main-character has also been too much to ask, it seems!
Now, I'm not all that altruistic about this. I think dark skin is sexy. It's just as sexy as pale skin, the same goes for fascial features. I only want to read something where things I find sexy appears (not as in "I only read books where characters I think sexy appears", but rather "this is what I'd like to find, where is it?"), and with one part, I'm well set (kinda... where's my lesbian fantasy!?). But the other?
Now, I just can't remember reading about a dark skinned main character (or side-main-character).
I randomly thought of a few of my fave fantasy series/authors; David Eddings, both the Belgariad and the Elenium... I can't remember any. I mean, in especially the Elenium I'm having trouble remembering if there even were dark skinned people in that world! Both the continents that appeared in the two series were laid up along the same "line".
Deverry; Uh, there's Bardek, with features some. No main characters though, really. And they seem to have a greater penchant in theor population for the child lovins, if we're supposed to believe what's said about them. Lovely.
Maybe I'm reading all the "wrong" books; aka, books by white people. You know what I'm going to say about that? This is FANTASY. Not Earth. You don't have to deal with real-Earth issues in fantasy if you don't want to.
Culture? Go make up your own. I mean, hello? Fantasy. Draw on from where it fits in real-Earth, as is usual in fantasy, but in general; these are not Earth-people you're going to write. You don't have to treat them as such either. If you don't introduce the sort of ugly racial "problems" that exist on Earth into your own fantasy world, then they don't exist there, and you don't have to take them into consideration of your characters and characterization.
Weather? Usually dark skinned people are found in climates with different weather than what some writers are used to, I suppose... Either you ignore that, or otherwise... It can't be so hard! Weather's just weather, after all.
Or am I completely naive and stupid for wishing for more... dare I say it? diversity in the role of main characters? Am I being disrespectful to say that real-Earth and its history doesn't figure in in the fantasy setting and you can do whatever you want to with your fantasy people?
Should I shut the fuck up because I don't know what I'm talking about, for whatever reason?
Sorry, I don't feel like it.
Should I write it myself? Yeah, I am, actually. But, as anyone knows, it's just not the same to only write and read your own stories, so I'd like to read someone else's too. If anyone finds something to reccomend, go ahead... But I'm picky. I have no patience for the ever-present heterosexual romance, anymore.
At least my selfish demand about skin colour diversity serves to show that (at least from what I've read) we're missing a bit of it, eh?