(no subject)

[vr_trakowski]

Let me preface this by saying--I'm white.  My father claims that there are Mongols in our ancestry somewhere, back when his side of the family was dallying in Russia, but we have no proof of this.  We're nearly as ethically dull as it's possible to get and very Caucasian.* 

That said--how do you describe race/ethnicity when you're writing? 

It's a question I've been pondering for some time.  I actively don't wish to give offense when I write (except possibly to people who are already offensive).  And it seems silly to me to out-and-out mention a character's ethnicity/skin color when I'm introducing them in a story, unless it's immediately important to the plot. 

But it seems to me, and I'm NOT pointing any fingers here, that so often fictional characters are assumed to be white unless some mention is made otherwise.  Mind you, we don't have to introduce and describe so many people in fanfic, because after all we know most of them already.  But most stories, at least longer ones, do bring in original characters that need to be pictured and fleshed out.  One may, of course, use ethnic names and/or accents to illustrate a given character as they are introduced, but (at least for me) it's not something one can do every time.  When it comes to CSI fic, there's going to be plenty of folks of all varieties to choose from. 

So--what do you do as a writer? 








*Though, come to think of it, I doubt the Russian part of the family tree had anything to do with the Caucasus.  *grin*

Comments

[ligaras.livejournal.com]

*Fear the Norwegians*
-Nah...

As a Norwegian I guess we've already seen an example of that in the way the Greg character has had ethnic facts woven into the character/story lines. Have they ever done anything with Warrick? I mean, Mr. Dourdan is a mixture of many ethnicities I believe. If it is important for the author because they picture a character a certain way, then I think it is important to the reader as well, plot importance or not. And to paint a picture of a character as one sees him/her, using 'color' is one tool - yes?

I need sleep...

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Fear, maybe not...in awe of, certainly... ;)

I don't think they've done anything with Warrick's ethnic background, though his immediate culture was brought up in an early episode--i.e., the culture/neighborhood he grew up in.

Yeah, color-as-a-tool is one way to do it! I guess I just don't feel that it's used often enough for Caucasians, maybe. Hrmph, I'm not expressing myself well.

[elfling65.livejournal.com]

I don't write so I don't know if this will be worth anything but...as a reader:

I think it works both ways. It does depend on the story though. Devil In a Blue Dress is written by a black man. The main character is black, pretty much every character introduced has a color assigned to them. It works for the story. *shrug* I generally don't see why the ethnic back ground of a character needs to be mentioned unless it's a part of the story. If the character has been developed well enough mentioning their color is a distraction for me, the reader. Sometimes it takes me out of the moment, I've read some fics that I didn't finish because it was so heavy handed...

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

It's a dilemma. I'm not inclined to make an issue of ethnicity within the plotline itself, so relevancy varies...