I'm working on a YA novel set in a fictional boarding school in northern Ontario. One of the supporting characters (my MC's room-mate) is going to be Ojibwa and the last thing I want to do is play into all the stereotypes. The second-to-last thing I want to do is totally ignore her culture and pay lip service to her ancestry, while writing her as ( Read more... )

I know this community's tagline  is "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," but sometimes, there may be times when it's better to put the pen down…;)

( Read more... )

This isn't specifically about writing characters of color, but it's certainly relevant. Sorry if this is not the appropriate place for this. The mods are, of course, free to remove it if it's not. Also, dang this comm has a lot of redundant tags. :l

( Warning: Violence, abuse, horrible stereotypes, and rape triggers! A little discussion on characters like Fenrir Greyback, Magneto, and other characters who became evil in one way or another as a direct result of oppression. )

So how can it be that in 2010, this is where we find ourselves:

• The percentage of published children’s books featuring characters of color is far smaller than - perhaps less than half - the percentage of people of color in the U.S. population, and the majority of these books are still created by white writers and illustrators.
• Many of the most ( Read more... )