Any interest in a story event for non-white characters?

[Euphony]

It would be very easy for anyone to submit a random story and just label one or more character as people of color in order to be included.

I can only informedly speak on the events that interested me but I don't remember feeling much of a standard that was/was not being met. Theme to actual execution often felt tenuous at best.

An enforced "standard" rarely crosses my mind when it comes to contest, let alone events.

Karaoke had some that used a generic concept title but familiar song and tacked on a story. Were it not for the titling requirement, I don't know you could connect them much at all.

Or, conversely, some will try to write specifically coded Black, Asian, Latino or other characters, and at least a few of them are going to be appallingly off the mark. Things could get ugly.

Orchid went through some significant growing pains, has especially generous sponsors doubling as proofreaders (obsentisly to help but they also keep things on rails), and still occasionally has submissions that read like a live grenade thrown directly into the middle of the spirit of the event.

Lit will never fail us in showing how much we underestimate the capacity and commitment of those who are hell bent on causing issues.

But if we never do anything that could go wrong, we would never do anything.

Also, sorry but just sayin', this will be the most one bombed event in Lit history.

Sad truth is you are probably here but my curiosity is such I wonder how much misogyny (Orchid) gives racism (POC event) a run for its money.

Orchid gives me hope it might not be worst case scenario but god only knows.

Still rather give voice to authors and the theme's audience over the threats of a loud, particularly shitty minority.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I chose the name Millie when I went into foster care and had my name legally changed to it. It was my grandmother's first name, but it was also Julie Andrews in a musical I watched one time. Millie and Tillie or Milly and Tilly were common slave names. I kept my middle name, Dee. Of course, that's where the Dynamite comes from. Well, not not really. Dad called me Dynamite or 90 lbs of Dynamite all the time when I was a kid. Cause I had so much energy. (and I was more than a handful to take care of)

Now see... I thought you were just Black Dynamites cousin or something. Did you at least come from a whorephanage?

 

[Bramblethorn]

As someone that lives outside of America, I agree with this 100%. Part of the reason racism is still so prevalent in the world is in part because race is such a big issue in the American media,

[citation needed]

and is always brought up, always involved, always somehow relevant even when it isn't. And the American view influences the rest of the world. I hope you all realize that in many other parts of the world where people from many different cultures live closely together, people are just people, and we don't obsess about the colour of their skin.

As someone that also lives outside of America, I'm curious about what these places are that aren't influenced by American media and don't have racism.

I do know enough of the history of the country where I live to know that racism was a powerful force here long before US culture was a significant influence. Trying to blame it all on Americans seems kind of... what's the word?

 

[Devinter]

As someone that also lives outside of America, I'm curious about what these places are that aren't influenced by American media and don't have racism.

I do know enough of the history of the country where I live to know that racism was a powerful force here long before US culture was a significant influence. Trying to blame it all on Americans seems kind of... what's the word?

No, I think you misunderstood my post. Or perhaps I didn't communicate it clearly enough. I am saying that most people are influenced by American media, because they are the leading country when it comes to media culture; including not only the news, but also TV series and movies. Furthermore, in my post I simply stated that "in many other parts of the world where people from many different cultures live closely together, people are just people, and we don't obsess about the colour of their skin".

Obviously there is racism in every part of the world, and it has existed throughout all of history. People see those that are different and think "those guys are not like us, so they are not with us, therefore they are against us" - heavily simplified but you hopefully get the point. However, once you start living in the same country - spending every day together as one unified group, basically sharing similar life experiences, speaking the same language, working towards similar goals - then it becomes bizarre to me that people still see "us" and "them", and feel the need to divide people into different groups instead of looking at them as individuals, and seeing that in fact we have almost everything in common.

 

[HopelessDreams]

My impression is that most Lit stories don't indicate the race of the main character. I suspect that most of the stories written by non-white authors don't either. Thus, readers can easily imagine the protagonist as being whatever race they want. If you assume that any character of unspecified race is white, I expect that you'd grossly overestimate the prevalence of white characters. But, I'm guessing that what you want are characters who are obviously non-white but don't conform to racial stereotypes.

For those of you who are considering this challenge, I recommend against indicating the race of a 1st-person narrator unless it's relevant to the story (or unless you switch POVs). Otherwise, their race would seem tacked-on and distracting. It could also easily come across as a half-baked attempt at diversity. Instead, you could do further research about a culture other than your own, to help you find a way to make it into a more integral part of the story. I also highly recommend finding someone from that culture to review your story and give you feedback about how effectively you portrayed it. I think this could be a beneficial exercise for authors of any race.

 

[Rustyoznail]

To be honest, I'd give this a miss. Been there, done that four times with my 'Cricket Anyone?' series. I concentrated on the cultural differences and similarities between India and Australia, not the dark/light skin aspect.

There's been a couple of off comments, but overall they've been well received.

 

[Omenainen]

I'll just put my foot right in it

Its not empowering, its pandering tokenism.

FWIW and to show consistency I feel the same way about the guys here who go running into the Pink Orchid event screaming "Yay girl power!" Look at me ladies, look how down I am with your cause! Now please flirt and say dirty things to me uh huh uh huh huh.

If you don't write these types of characters already, and are just doing it for the sake of a challenge? I mean, let's be blunt here, what's the goal "Look my character was blacker than yours?"

Progressive racism at its finest. Make sure all you woke authors tell everyone how many black friends you have in the challenge thread.

I want to put it on record that LC68 has a history of lurking on unrelated threads, behind my back, whining about my event and trying to intimidate people from attending. Sadly, some people listen to him just because he's had success on the story side. This year I specifically tried to send him a PM to invite him to either come to the event thread to discuss his concerns, or maybe, you know, sit this one out and shut up, but to my amusement I found that he has put me on ignore such a manly man, that one. He always brags how he is such an outstanding feminist outside of Lit, of which we have no other proof but his word, and how he's been such a nice knight in a shiny armor for women around here, of which I also haven't seen much evidence, and apparently that means nobody else is allowed to do anything about misogyny in porn around here. Talk about having an inflated ego.

I find it curious that an old, white man is so aggressively telling demographics he is not part of what is and is not pandering tokenism. Then again, my experience with old men is that if they think they know something, it's no use pointing them they're wrong. They just can't compute that. Poor geezers.

Sad truth is you are probably here but my curiosity is such I wonder how much misogyny (Orchid) gives racism (POC event) a run for its money.

I was mentally prepared to receive some serious flak and 1-bombing when I founded the first Pink Orchid event, but so far that hasn't happened. Maybe the trolls haven't really paid attention. There are a lot of events, and events don't get the attention the competitions do.

No, I think you misunderstood my post. Or perhaps I didn't communicate it clearly enough. I am saying that most people are influenced by American media, because they are the leading country when it comes to media culture; including not only the news, but also TV series and movies.

This is very eurocentric. There's more than a billion people being influenced by Bollywood, and I suspect the Chinese have their own media for additional billion.

Furthermore, in my post I simply stated that "in many other parts of the world where people from many different cultures live closely together, people are just people, and we don't obsess about the colour of their skin".

And yet, after generations of living together, we have ethnic wars in Europe. Kosovo, for instance.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I would probably try to participate in this event, but I cannot commit. I have always struggled with deadlines, and with my current work responsibilities and other commitments the situation has worsened. In fact, I did not even finish the story I was writing for my own story event. (Thank you again to everyone who did participate--you did a great job!)
Writing non-white characters is not a stretch for me. I already include Latin and/or African-American characters in probably 75% of my stories. I write about my background and my surroundings. I am a Latin male living in Miami, one of the most diverse cities in the U.S.
That being said, I understand the opposition. There are a lot of ways this can go wrong. But for anyone who is opposed, the solution is simple. Just skip it.

 

[Gamblnluck]

I personally write my stories without mentioning race. Offhand I cannot think of any of my characters where a POC was mentioned directly. I use Cajuns or those of south Louisiana ancestry. Many of those are of mixed race, but I never went there specifically. Many do not physically describe the character. I leave that to the reader.
I want to remind some of you of a movie featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Jumpin' Jack Flash. The original MC was NOT written as a black woman, yet after its release, one can barely envision anybody BUT a black woman in the title role after Whoopi's performance.
Too often we see black men portrayed as large, athletic men with massive cocks. Often they are egotistical aggressive assholes, pussyhounds or some such. They may be thugs, drug dealers or even business men, but their physical and mental attributes are the same. None are 'Urkels'. In those same stories, their white male characters are always small dicked, wimpy guys.
Even in a bdsm or humiliation type story I see no reason to go there, but I guess there is a readership.

 

[Paul_Chance]

I think it would be a good idea, except maybe as an invitational, with some editorial control over the submissions, to help avoid the stereotypical depiction of race and ethnicity that is so common. I'd participate (as a person of color). I don't often write from that perspective. College burned me out on it. "Oh, you're native American! Your paper should be about native Americans!"

 

[SeraphNocturne]

I think it would be a good idea, except maybe as an invitational, with some editorial control over the submissions, to help avoid the stereotypical depiction of race and ethnicity that is so common. I'd participate (as a person of color). I don't often write from that perspective. College burned me out on it. "Oh, you're native American! Your paper should be about native Americans!"

Fantastic thought.

 

[MillieDynamite]

NO!

Now see... I thought you were just Black Dynamites cousin or something. Did you at least come from a whorephanage?

 

[JaxRhapsody]

NO!

I'm guessing you never saw the cartoon? It wasn't a slight at you, unlike the movie, Black Dynamite runs what he calls a whorephanage in the cartoon and most of the kids are basically 70s black tv show characters and his prostitutes run it. My bad, I thought you'd have got the reference.

 

[Bramblethorn]

My impression is that most Lit stories don't indicate the race of the main character. I suspect that most of the stories written by non-white authors don't either. Thus, readers can easily imagine the protagonist as being whatever race they want.

Yes, there are many characters whose race isn't specifically indicated. In particular, authors often don't give a lot of description for male protagonists. But characters very often are established as white, in ways that a lot of readers may not even consciously notice.

I looked through something like seven stories on the New Stories list last night. (And then lost the post here and got frustrated and went to bed.) On a quick skim, more than half had a significant character who was established as being white. Never as bluntly as "she was a white girl". It's usually stuff like "her creamy, freckled skin" or "her tanned body". (It's very uncommon for non-white characters to be described as "tanned" when they're first introduced. Maybe occasionally for somebody light-skinned who comes back with a tan after a week at the beach, but not when they're first introduced.)

One story was about a women's football coach (UK) who has sex with five of the women on his team. It mentioned one character as being "the only black girl" on the team, and called attention to how the opposing team had an Asian player. It never said "the other ten women on the team were all white" but it's pretty strongly implied by that context.

Out of the ones I skimmed, I got:
- One significant character established as black
- Seven significant characters established as white
- One very minor Asian character and six minor white characters
- One who was described as "Gypsy" but this seemed to be referring to her style rather than actual ancestry
- plus some whose race wasn't mentioned

If you assume that any character of unspecified race is white, I expect that you'd grossly overestimate the prevalence of white characters.

Here's the thing: in my experience, when an author here lets slip that a character is white, very often it's just a stray detail that's never going to be mentioned again. But when a character is mentioned as being some other race, it almost always turns out to be a deliberate choice that's important to the story in some way. Sometimes it's setting up for a "two cultures meet" kind of plotline, sometimes it's "author's obvious fetish for Asian women". For instance, the football story repeatedly invokes the black character's skin for visual effect, "droplets glistening on her black skin" etc. in a way that isn't done with the other women in that scene.)

It's not often that I see a Chan or a Singh or whoever who just happens to be non-white for no reason beyond "not everybody is white". But it happens with white characters pretty often.

That kind of thing leaves the impression that most writers are defaulting to white and only writing non-white characters when they have some specific reason to do so. Which is why characters whose race isn't specified tend to be assumed white by default: if they weren't, it'd be because the writer had some reason for it, and that would've shown up in the story.

 

[EmilyMiller]

It's not often that I see a Chan or a Singh or whoever who just happens to be non-white for no reason beyond "not everybody is white". But it happens with white characters pretty often.

I fear I’m the opposite. Park Na-ri in Determination (supporting FC) and Caputpdedes (co-main FC) is ethnically South Korean, but basically another American girl in space. About the only reference to her ethnicity (apart from describing her appearance) is a joke about her not yelping when cumming like girls do in Asian porn.

Patterson the black first officer could be white apart from his cited appearance.

I figured by 2223 (or whenever it’s meant to be set) blaccents would be a distant memory and everyone would kinda share a culture.

Again, Lauren / Mimi in A Hard Day’s Night is ethnically half Thai. She acts out a Thai stereotype for clients, but gets called out on it by one who is familar with the Far East. She’s from Trenton and went to Rutgers.

Again, my characters have ethnicities, but that’s not the main thing about them.

Em

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I fear I’m the opposite. Park Na-ri in Determination (supporting FC) and Caputpdedes (co-main FC) is ethnically South Korean, but basically another American girl in space. About the only reference to her ethnicity (apart from describing her appearance) is a joke about her not yelping when cumming like girls do in Asian porn.

Patterson the black first officer could be white apart from his cited appearance.

I figured by 2223 (or whenever it’s meant to be set) blaccents would be a distant memory and everyone would kinda share a culture.

Again, Lauren / Mimi in A Hard Day’s Night is ethnically half Thai. She acts out a Thai stereotype for clients, but gets called out on it by one who is familar with the Far East. She’s from Trenton and went to Rutgers.

Again, my characters have ethnicities, but that’s not the main thing about them.

Em

Fetishes aside, that's how it should be.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Here's the thing: in my experience, when an author here lets slip that a character is white, very often it's just a stray detail that's never going to be mentioned again. But when a character is mentioned as being some other race, it almost always turns out to be a deliberate choice that's important to the story in some way. Sometimes it's setting up for a "two cultures meet" kind of plotline, sometimes it's "author's obvious fetish for Asian women". For instance, the football story repeatedly invokes the black character's skin for visual effect, "droplets glistening on her black skin" etc. in a way that isn't done with the other women in that scene.)

It's not often that I see a Chan or a Singh or whoever who just happens to be non-white for no reason beyond "not everybody is white". But it happens with white characters pretty often.

That kind of thing leaves the impression that most writers are defaulting to white and only writing non-white characters when they have some specific reason to do so. Which is why characters whose race isn't specified tend to be assumed white by default: if they weren't, it'd be because the writer had some reason for it, and that would've shown up in the story.

Let's go tap-dancing through the mine-field here.

We're writing erotica here, so the assumption is we're going to want to provide characters who are sexy and beautiful. Or maybe in somecases plain but about to seriously get their freak on. Movitation, believability and personality are all important, but for a lot of people (men) visualization is important as well.

And you can argue when a preference becomes a proclivity becomes a kink becomes a fetish, but let's just call this whole spectrum 'fetishes' for the sake of simplicity.

On that basis, I'm going to announce that I have an 'exoticism fetish' - I am attracted to women who are culturally and geographically different from me. This isn't quite the same as a race fetish and especially isn't the same as a clear fetish preference for a specific race, as I'm going to explain below, but race definitely plays a part in it. Put simply, all other things being equal, I find I'm more likely to be attracted to a foreign woman than the one who lives next door.

As writers we tend to layer the fetishes we find attractive or exciting onto our characters - the domanatrix roleplaying a nurse, with red-hair and stilletoes and so on.

For me, and as a Brit, one expression of this exoticism fetish is the idea of the blonde, big-breasted all-American girl. In more than one story I'm currently writing, the main characters are literally Playboy models. In others she merely looks like one. In my story she's probably doing American things like driving down a desert highway in a convertable. In other stories, I've written the mean-girl cliquey cheerleaders. If you told me they have some cheerleading teams in Britain now, I wouldn't thank you.

A childhood spent watching James Bond movies has left me with a fetish for coldly beautiful, dangerous blonde Russian women (and thanks to For Your Eyes Only, avenging Greek angels as well).

And the exoticism is part of it - not only in the visual but also in culture and behaviour. If I actually met women who looked just like the ones I described as they invited me back to their house and we ended up watching Stritly Come Dancing on the tele, she served me a steak and kidney pie and started accidentally slipping back into her real Brummie accent, I'd be disappointed (Though as noted, this a preference rather than a hard-and-fast rule, so...I'd make the best of it).

But similarly, I have a liking for Asian girls of every stripe - Japanese (be they ninja or geisha, genki or shy), Chinese or Thai - and those are all very different culturally. Going back to Bond, Grace Jone's is probably the most striking Bond girl in the franchise's history and defintely left an impression on me in my youth. Part of the reason for my fetish, or at least the time when I first became aware of it was that I grew up in the Fens, one of the most racially homogenous (and geographhically boring) areas of the UK, but every time we'd go to the great metropolis of Peterborough, I'd see the (Anglo-)Indian girls in the shopping centers there and they were just so darn fashionable and cosmopolitan.

Now though we're into non-white territory and suddenly things become awkward to discuss. Lots of people on the thread are saying they include diverse character. Nobody, yet, has said that they find them hot. Which is kind of strange because, again, we're writing erotica and hotness is kind of the point. We're trying to marshall a series of characteristics for our characters that the reader is going to be excited about. We don't write "She had huge breasts, but it was no big deal. She had a French accent, but it was no big deal. She had fierey red-hair, because not everyone is blonde or brunette."

When it comes to writing, my stories come about in various ways. Sometimes it's starting from a visualization of my female main character often in a location - My Blonde Barbie character pulls into a gas station late at night - now, how are we going to have the self-insert attendant have sex with her in a semi-believable way. Sometimes those visualization are women of other races and cultures, as in my China Kiss series. I've done 'two cultures meet' stories because they're interesting. I'm probably also guilty of 'obvious fetish is obvious,' but I like to think I put at least a little work into the cultural backgrounds and behaviour and give most stories a further point.

In our stories everything that happens is a choice. In my most recent story, the set-up was the arrangement for a blind date gone wrong leading our two female characters to enjoy each others company. For one of them, the gender mix-up came about as the result of the shorting for Joanne/Joseph both being Jo(e). For the other one, I wanted the character to have a unfamiliar name that the average British person wouldn't be able to assign a gender to. I settled on an Indian name. I did this partly because the plot required it.

But I also did it because I find Indian women hot.

Another of this years stories, my started point was the old 'naked woman playing the cello' fetish. I made her Chinese, and in so doing moved the story to China nad made sure character and setting were appropriately believable (to the best of my ability). Again, to me this made the story hotter (and certainly more interesting)

But maybe that's just me. It's probably true that a lot of writers on this site just want to the girl next door and that girl is probably white (Or in I/T they want the sister in the next bedroom and that sister is definitely white)

 

[Gamblnluck]

I did write a story that had non-caucasians. "Jasmine Patel" It did not describe skin color at all. The characters were all Indian who run the gamut from very dark to very light while maintaining distinctly Indian features. The reason was simply I had been asked to write a story by an Indian woman. She gave me some suggestions and kind of pointed me in the direction she wanted me to go.
I set it in the US and made one a US congresswoman similar to Jayapal. For me to write it, I had to do some research. Without going too deep, I needed to know a few customs. Like the nath, a nose ring often worn at marriages. The Hijra, a type of trans-sexual cult. Threading as a means to remove unwanted hair. The research itself was interesting.
My main purpose of this explanation is that I was not trying to pander and write something for the sake of writing about POC characters. It just happened to be necessary in that story.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I did write a story that had non-caucasians. "Jasmine Patel" It did not describe skin color at all. The characters were all Indian who run the gamut from very dark to very light while maintaining distinctly Indian features. The reason was simply I had been asked to write a story by an Indian woman. She gave me some suggestions and kind of pointed me in the direction she wanted me to go.
I set it in the US and made one a US congresswoman similar to Jayapal. For me to write it, I had to do some research. Without going too deep, I needed to know a few customs. Like the nath, a nose ring often worn at marriages. The Hijra, a type of trans-sexual cult. Threading as a means to remove unwanted hair. The research itself was interesting.
My main purpose of this explanation is that I was not trying to pander and write something for the sake of writing about POC characters. It just happened to be necessary in that story.

For the past three days or so, I've been day dreaming about meeting and taking an indian woman out on a date.

 

[EmilyMiller]

For me, and as a Brit, one expression of this exoticism fetish is the idea of the blonde, big-breasted all-American girl. In more than one story I'm currently writing, the main characters are literally Playboy models. In others she merely looks like one. In my story she's probably doing American things like driving down a desert highway in a convertable.

Oh dear, reality would be such a let down, hun.

Now though we're into non-white territory and suddenly things become awkward to discuss. Lots of people on the thread are saying they include diverse character. Nobody, yet, has said that they find them hot.

I find my specific characters hot. Park Na-ri is based on an old girlfriend. Of course I find her hot.

I don’t in general have a fetish about any race.

Em

 

[MillieDynamite]

Never saw it, which is odd since Dad has been in exhibition since his high school days.

I'm guessing you never saw the cartoon? It wasn't a slight at you, unlike the movie, Black Dynamite runs what he calls a whorephanage in the cartoon and most of the kids are basically 70s black tv show characters and his prostitutes run it. My bad, I thought you'd have got the reference.

 

[Bramblethorn]

On that basis, I'm going to announce that I have an 'exoticism fetish' - I am attracted to women who are culturally and geographically different from me. This isn't quite the same as a race fetish and especially isn't the same as a clear fetish preference for a specific race, as I'm going to explain below, but race definitely plays a part in it. Put simply, all other things being equal, I find I'm more likely to be attracted to a foreign woman than the one who lives next door.

I think that kind of xenophilia's pretty common; I'm not immune to it, and it's something that does influence my own stories here and there. (Although I'd have to find some other expression than "woman next door", since none of the people who live next door to me are white.) Several of my stories here involve a character from an Anglo-Australian background (like mine) getting involved with somebody from outside that: Indian Australian, Greek Australian, Iraqi Australian, and fictional-Slavic-country.

Much of that is just because I live in a place where people do come from a wide range of backgrounds and it would feel weird to write a story where everybody's the same. If I'm honest, some of it is because those differences can turn me on. I try to handle that in a way that doesn't reduce people to ethnic stereotypes while also not pretending cultural differences etc. don't exist.

Now though we're into non-white territory and suddenly things become awkward to discuss. Lots of people on the thread are saying they include diverse character. Nobody, yet, has said that they find them hot. Which is kind of strange because, again, we're writing erotica and hotness is kind of the point. We're trying to marshall a series of characteristics for our characters that the reader is going to be excited about. We don't write "She had huge breasts, but it was no big deal. She had a French accent, but it was no big deal. She had fierey red-hair, because not everyone is blonde or brunette."

Yep, but not everything in the story is there to push those buttons. I've read stories here with realtors, cinema projectionists, janitors, gas station attendants; I didn't get the impression that the writers thought those occupations particularly sexy or expected their readers to.

For me, part of how I handle it is not presenting the "foreign" love/sex interests as the only non-Anglo people in the universe. The main attraction in "Anjali's Red Scarf" is an Indian-Australian woman, and cultural differences are part of that story. But Anjali's supervisor is a Professor Cheng, and one of their acquaintances is a Seungmin, alongside various other non-white supporting cast, for no reason other than "it'd be weird if everybody else in Sarah's world was from the same background".

But maybe that's just me. It's probably true that a lot of writers on this site just want to the girl next door and that girl is probably white (Or in I/T they want the sister in the next bedroom and that sister is definitely white)

That's an advantage of the step-incest thing, no such constraint for the siblings to match!

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Never saw it, which is odd since Dad has been in exhibition since his high school days.

I own the movie and the cartoon is hilarious.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Oh dear, reality would be such a let down, hun.

Reality often is. That's why I have a restraining order against it and never let it come within 200 feet of my stories.

I think that kind of xenophilia's pretty common.

Xenophilia is a good word but all I can thing of is one of Emily's space octopii picking me up with it's tentacles and, as it flings me towards it strange, incomprehensible sexual organs, I'm yelling "What I really meant was it'd be nice if the girl had a Dublin accent. Arrrghhh..."

Yep, but not everything in the story is there to push those buttons. I've read stories here with realtors, cinema projectionists, janitors, gas station attendants; I didn't get the impression that the writers thought those occupations particularly sexy or expected their readers to.

Sure, occupations tend to be chosen because they're a) sexy, b) required for the plot or c) handed out more or less at random because we need to avoid the MC being a deadbeat. I guess race/nationality/culture follows the same basic pattern except c) for a lot of strories is probably more like she's generic WASP because we don't need her to be anything else. But I can't ever see myself looking at a story and just going 'you know what, she's half-Latvian just because...'. At least not for main characters.

Much of that is just because I live in a place where people do come from a wide range of backgrounds and it would feel weird to write a story where everybody's the same. If I'm honest, some of it is because those differences can turn me on.

But there are still tons of places which are still very homogenous. Places like Peterborough, which I mentioned, may be very diverse, but travel twenty miles to the small towns and it's a different story. Growing up there was exactly one black person in my school until she moved away then there were zero. Generation on generation, things are becoming more diffuse (but if any non-white person is thinking of moving to the town where I grew up, don't, it's a shithole). Equally, I've lived in places where I was literally the only white person for probably fifty miles.

For me, part of how I handle it is not presenting the "foreign" love/sex interests as the only non-Anglo people in the universe. The main attraction in "Anjali's Red Scarf" is an Indian-Australian woman, and cultural differences are part of that story. But Anjali's supervisor is a Professor Cheng, and one of their acquaintances is a Seungmin, alongside various other non-white supporting cast, for no reason other than "it'd be weird if everybody else in Sarah's world was from the same background".

Sometimes the setting and the plot make sense to do that. Other times, for example in my China stories, the MC is the only white character in them (there probably are other expats around, but they usually end up not being worth mentioning). A lot of my stories are reasonably short and one-shot - for the aforementioned lesbian story, there are the 2 MCs, a barista, a guy in a nightclub and a creepy taxi driver. I didn't bother assigning/hinting at races/backgrounds for any of those last three just to press the point that London is diverse. If I was casting for a movie, it'd be a different situation though. You obviously want to avoid the 'Friends syndrome' of everyone in New York being white.

I try to handle that in a way that doesn't reduce people to ethnic stereotypes while also not pretending cultural differences etc. don't exist.

Well that's the sweet spot, isn't it?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Reality often is. That's why I have a restraining order against it and never let it come within 200 feet of my stories.

Good for you. I’m an ultra-realist myself of course. But I understand what you are getting at .

Xenophilia is a good word but all I can thing of is one of Emily's space octopii picking me up with it's tentacles and, as it flings me towards it strange, incomprehensible sexual organs, I'm yelling "What I really meant was it'd be nice if the girl had a Dublin accent. Arrrghhh..."

My octopus is rather non-violent. His wife on the other hand beats up gorillas and force chokes an orangutan .

Em