I started writing my current novel-in-progress about a week before the Black Lives Matter protests started in America, and it made me realise that I have never written a black or minority character in any of my books. And I am ashamed of that fact. So, I did something about it.
A really useful tool for me was the Tumblr page https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/ and I have come back to this page time and time again for reference when describing people of colour respectfully and accurately. Just as white people can be tanned, or freckled, or pale, black people are not all the same.
Skin Tones: https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/96830966357/writing-with-color-description-guide-words-for
Hair Descriptions: https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/113627509260/words-to-describe-hair
I decided to do this because, for every person that reads my previous work, the only ones who can physically identify with the characters have been white men and women. Yes, I included different body shapes – I am a short, plus-sized woman so have always included curvier female characters, but I was saddened by the fact that a young black woman couldn’t pick up my book and find a character like herself.
In my current novel, I have two black characters, and I would like to use this post to share them with you. Also, I haven’t followed the trend of having the only two black characters in the story be related – they aren’t even the same species.
For reference, the book will be called The Crown of Sea and Stone: Marina’s Tale and is about a mermaid princess called Marina who turns into a human using a secret crown that belonged to a grandmother whom she thought was long-dead.
King Cedric:
The man in the middle stood tall and strong, but his face was kind and homely. Marina could tell instantly that this was the king that her guide had spoken of. His crown looked similar to the one on her own head, but his crown was wider and less bejewelled. His deep umber-brown skin had faded with age, but he still struck Marina as a handsome man. The king’s eyes were a rich copper colour, warm and kind, and his hair was short and dark grey but Marina suspected it had once been shiny and as black as night.
Enyo:
They crossed the foyer with ease, but as they rounded the corner for the office corridor, they came face-to-face with a palace guard. Her silver armour was polished to perfection, with silver scales to match, her cool tawny skin glistened with sweat, her silky black hair in tight corkscrew curls framed her angled face. She looked ethereally beautiful even in the face of danger.
“King Justus! Queen Alina!” the guard exclaimed, her eyes darting back and forth between the monarchs and the corridor from which she had just emerged.
“Oh, Enyo! Thank the stars,” King Justus sighed, but then he followed her worried gaze towards the two Scots soldiers. “Lower your weapons, Enyo is one of my private guards.”
“Are you sure she can be trusted?” Alistair peered at her, his accent growing thicker in the wake of a potential fight.
“I am the one who instructed her to return to the palace,” King Justus explained, still not in love with the idea of his brother-in-law’s men being the ones who led the fight.
“I was on my way to finding you, Your Majesty when I heard a lot of banging coming from Lord Lucian’s office. I think there is a girl trapped in there. I tried to break down the door but it wouldn’t yield, sire.” As she spoke, she pointed back behind her where Lucian’s room lay twelve feet from them, the door hidden around the curved wall. “She sounds very distressed,” she added.
I hope you enjoyed these characters, and I would really appreciate any feedback you have about the way they are described. Along with many people, I am still on a re-educative journey and I want to go out of my way to make sure I do not cause any offence or distress to members of the black community.
I have also compiled a list of books by diverse authors or books containing diverse characters if you are looking for something new to read whilst re-educating yourself on the Black Lives Matter movement.
Diverse Book List:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11-NlLwi-WmXVGZEK8BAnJDDkF2nuvTBcQHNk_dHx7DY/edit?usp=sharing
More Resources:
I found this article on Cumbria.gov.uk called Talking About Racism which was quite interesting.https://www.cumbria.gov.uk/elibrary/Content/Internet/537/6381/6387/40828163633.pdf
This article by Joshua Adams also helped me understand the problematic issues surrounding the phrase ‘people of colour’ – worth a read: https://level.medium.com/we-should-stop-saying-people-of-color-when-we-mean-black-people-29c2b18e6267
All opinions are my own. All the fictional writing contained in this blog post are the intellectual property of Melissa Holden, copyright 2020. Please do not edit or share without the author’s permission.
There was a time that only those who could pay for literature were the only ones who got to cherish its pages, its knowledge. But libraries changed all of that. They gave everyone the opportunity to learn from, and enjoy books. Are we reverting to the prior? Are we about to steal all that information from the grasps of a child whose parents can’t afford books?
Melissa Holden, Writer 