Comments on: Challenging the Default

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:17:09 +0000

@Ali: I think most people probably identify characters who are not described as themselves. It’s what I do anyway.

@Paula: I also am guilty of this as well. It just sounds so much better than “brown.” I don’t know if this is necessarily a bad thing if it’s not overdone.

@Summer: I read a recent interview with the author and she basically said that she wanted the reader to envision the characters as they saw fit. What would be more interesting is to see how SHE saw the characters when she created them.

By: Summer

Summer — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:50:56 +0000

Great Post. You know it’s funny you mention the Make Lemonade trilogy. I remember reading those back in the day and I thought they were black too. I didn’t really notice there were no physical descriptions. Interesting. Was it their circumstances that led me to believe that? My own world view? Was it the author photo? (I just looked… she looks white, not gonna assume anything.) I don’t know.

By: Paula Chase

Paula Chase — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:49:43 +0000

Mitali’s article brings up a lot of valid points. And the one thing she discussed that I’m guilty of is the food-based descriptors when talking skin color etc… Something I’m still trying to work around.

However, this issue is much like the chicken or the egg syndrome. The system is broken when it comes to treating books with characters of color fairly - so you end up with a myriad of issues because of it. Issues that can be addressed, certainly, but cannot necessarily be “fixed” until the system is fixed from the top down.

I know, I personally describe race because the system is automatically set to showcase most protags as white and I’m trying to signal that my story is more inclusive. The only way I can do that is to make sure the reader understands the characters are multi-cultural and mutli-racial, in some cases.

By: Ali

Ali — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:31:24 +0000

Very thought-provoking post. I nearly always assume characters are white (probably because I am) unless something in the context tells me otherwise. That’s probably why, as a writer, I’m still not quite sure what to make of Mitali Perkins’ article (as a reader and a homeschool teacher, I totally get it).

I’m going to get ahold of a copy of Make Lemonade and see what impression I get. Looks like Virginia Euwer Wolff is a local author for me, too, so I want to be reading her, anyway!