As an author- writing about characters who are ethnically dissimilar to you

[John_Doe]

I don't know why I'm doing this, it's not really important to me and I could probably think of something I'm more interested in if I just wanted to start a thread that probably no one will reply to but I was wondering what you think about authors writing about characters who are ethnically dissimilar than them (in high fantasy terms, that could translate into writing about characters from imaginary cultures that are loosely based on real-world cultures; for example, Charles Saunder's Imaro series features a character who comes from a group loosely based on the Masai, his group is called the 'Illyasai' or something like that, and his world, Nyumbani, is loosely based on precolonial African cultures). I've self-published two children's short story collections and most of my characters were white and/or came from a world that is loosely based on European culture. In the first book, one of the stories takes place in an imaginary world that is loosely based on Yoruba culture. The other stories (only one doesn't take place at least partly in a secondary world) are all based on European-ish worlds with a Native American-like character in one, an imaginary broadly non-Western/brown-skinned people briefly featured in another (that still has white main characters) and a couple of non-white characters in the story that takes place entirely in our world. With the second book, one of the stories features an imaginary people who are loosely patterned after Nilotic-speaking East Africans (the main character is still white), one of the stories is rooted in an imaginary world loosely based on Hindu culture, one story that takes place in our world has a Latino-American protagonist and I have white characters briefly visit southern Africa in another story that takes place in our world (mostly in a parallel universe that is identical to our future or one probable future of our world in this story).

I almost feel somewhat awkward about this because other black, and probably non-white, authors seem to write about characters from their own culture or group. Octavia Butler is my favorite author and I'm pretty sure that every main character she wrote was a black female or at least a black female will probably be among her main characters in any given story (I can't remember much about Clay's Ark, Patternmaster or Survivor because those are my least favorite books by her, I will probably never re-read them. I used to like her Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Talents series, which does have a black female protagonist, but I kind of lost interest). I hate to sound sexist but for a while I was wondering if women were more likely to do this (to write only about characters who come from their own race, ethnicity or culture. Even Naomi Novik with Spinning Silver, which I on/off liked but probably won't ever re-read, had a Jewish character in a secondary fantasy world. I loved Uprooted, another high fantasy by her, and Christianity still exists in that world although I can't remember if the main character was herself Christian. Now that I think about it, Ursula K. Le Guin has brown-skinned characters in some of her stories), maybe because I vaguely remember Walter Mosley writing about non-black characters but I can't remember anything about his work so I have no idea how race-conscious he is/was, and women seem more likely to write fiction to begin with. I'm just wondering if it's strange to other people to see this very ethnic African name on the cover of a book that you can tell will probably take place in a European-like society or if it comes off as if I'm obsessed with white people. What excites me most is writing about characters who share my basic worldview; I don't care about their gender, race, ethnicity or even species, and in some ways, for some reason, I somewhat feel that you can do more with a preindustrial loosely Europeanish society (if we're talking about high fantasy and not something that takes place in our world) but that might have to do with my own preconceptions and self-limitations.

Even though I have writer's block and writing another book would be such a waste of time, money and energy (not a single person would buy it), I considered writing a historical fiction novella that takes place among the Bemba in precolonial Zambia, or a high fantasy world based on an imaginary version of Bemba society, or a high fantasy world based on an imaginary version of Yoruba mythology (because I've always been interested in exploring the Yoruba religion and its 'gods,' the orisons, through fiction) but I was worried about being able to maintain a culturally authentic voice (even just how the characters speak, how they view the world, etc. Pan-hedonism is universal, it applies to sentient aliens if they exist, but I guess a part of me feels that it's very out of place in traditional African society, and it is although that's true for every human culture to date; who is to say that no statistically atypical ancient African had ideas similarly to my own that s/he may or may not have kept to themselves) and historical accuracy if it's a historical fiction that takes place in the real world. I wouldn't want people who were raised in Zambia to cringe at my attempt at creating culturally authentic 'Zambian' characters (I use scare quotes because it would either take place in precolonial Zambia or in a fantasy society based on precolonial Zambian/African cultures). Compared to other people like Tomi Adeyomi who have written proper novels (as in not novellas or short stories, and for adults) about imaginary worlds based on precolonial African cultures, I would probably make a fool of myself.

I don't really know where I'm going with this; I actually wasted my day on this one post (maybe around 90 minutes so far, I have no idea how this happened but it's extremely frustrating because I had things planned, I have barely watched the last season of Xena because I constantly get carried away online), from what I've just quickly googled Walter Mosley has apparently written novels with non-black characters but he was mixed. Besides him, I can't immediately think of a black author with a novel that centers around someone who doesn't come from their culture, ethnicity or at the very least race. I guess on some level I'm worried that it comes off as self-hating or 'whitewashed,' it's not a huge insecurity I have, just something that was on my mind. On the flip side, I wouldn't want to make a fool of myself with an African-inspired novella either, especially if it was a historical fiction which it probably would not be because fantasy/science fiction is my home. It doesn't ultimately matter because I'm not planning on writing a novella any time soon.

I forgot what I wanted to title this. I have such a messed up memory, it will bother me for the rest of the day.

[DANAT4T]

Zambia: 2012 AFCON champions.