Season 2 Episode 1 -Writing Skin Color

2022-01-13

In this first episode of Season 2 of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—discuss how to write skin color. Here’s what we talk about: Why we should avoid comparing anyone’s skin tone to food, even if people from a certain community do that among themselves Why we should be careful when using the term ‘colored’ to describe black characters and characters of colour What descriptions we CAN use and how to get creative How important it i...

In this first episode of Season 2 of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—discuss how to write skin color.

Here’s what we talk about:

Why we should avoid comparing anyone’s skin tone to food, even if people from a certain community do that among themselves
Why we should be careful when using the term ‘colored’ to describe black characters and characters of colour
What descriptions we CAN use and how to get creative
How important it is to actually look at what you’re describing
That skin colour isn’t the only way how to convey someone’s racial or ethnic background

And here are the (re)sources we mentioned on the show:

“Ethnic group” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_group
“Description Guide Skin Color Part I: POC & Food Comparisons” on Writing with Color: https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/95955707903/skin-writing-with-color-has-received-several
“Description Guide Skin Color Part II: Words for Skin Tone” on Writing with Color: https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/96830966357/words-for-skin-tone-how-to-describe-skin-color
“Tips on words and describing skin for writers”: https://caithyra.tumblr.com/post/51492707550/tips-and-words-on-describing-skin-for-writers
“If White Characters Were Described Like People of Color in Literature”: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/if-white-characters-were-described-like-people-of-color-in-l
How to Write Black Characters: An Incomplete Guide by Salt and Sage Books: https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Black-Characters-Incomplete-ebook/dp/B087ZSJ9BN
The Color Me Beautiful website: https://www.colormebeautiful.com/
Bethany’s Editing Your Novel's Structure: Tips, Tricks, and Checklists to Get You From Start to Finish: https://theartandscienceofwords.com/new-book-for-authors/

This week’s episode page can be found here: https://representationmatters.art/2022/01/13/s2e1/

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