Too many PoC or not enough?

Just do what feels natural. You can have three black people, or five asians, or whatever you want. There's no rule saying you can only have *one* character of a certain race.

Look up the diversity ratios for the city in which your story is set. Apply said ratios to your number of characters.

Maybe some of them are mixed-race?

Having different ethnic backgrounds could help too. Say, a Filipino kid instead of the Asian kid. If that makes sense? That helps make sure the character represents only themselves, not entire continents.

I'm reading Heroine Complex right now, and the two main characters are both Asian-American. But they're very different Asian-Americans. One is the daughter of Chinese immigrants; the other is half-Japanese. Though they bonded as children over both being Asian, they're not "the same" at all, and have wildly different personalities.

I would encourage you to think about how ethnicity informs your characters. Like a poster above said, you could have five out of six of your characters be Asian-American and have them all be wildly different and for their various cultures to inform them in wildly different ways. You could have characters who are mixed or who have multiple racial identities (e.g., black and Latinx). You could have characters who are immigrants or first generation or third generation.

I've often been in situations in America where I look around the room and realize that either nobody's white or only a few people are white. But it's not like... planned. It's not like we went around checking off ethnicities; we're just people living our lives. Sometimes I look around me and think, "If this was a movie, people would call it unrealistic. But it's reality."

slhuang said:

I've often been in situations in America where I look around the room and realize that either nobody's white or only a few people are white. But it's not like... planned. It's not like we went around checking off ethnicities; we're just people living our lives. Sometimes I look around me and think, "If this was a movie, people would call it unrealistic. But it's reality."

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I... just realized I don't actually have any white friends apart from my ex girlfriends.

I gotta say one of the the things that's always made me nuts in books, movies and TV is inclusivity weirdness. In most of the fictional world as written by white people, there is that one black/brown face, which has no agency of it's own. Social groups do not tend to look like demographic data. Black/brown people may have white friends...possibly; especially if (like me) they live in a mostly white environment. But we also tend to mix it up quite a bit with different cultures; Latinx, Asians of all stripes, Jews, Greeks, etc and a few white people.

When creating an interesting social group which involves POC, a cool way (for me) to think about it is like grabbing a handful of mixed nuts, as opposed to reaching into the bowl and picking out equal numbers of each kind of nut. When you grab a handful there's never a balanced number. You're bound to come out with many more of one kind than the others. Yet, each nut is radically different from the others. 'Kay...I'm pretty sleep deprived.

I think of my parents. My dad left his home town at 17 and joined the armed forces. His mother died when he was twelve, his father not much later. Once he left, he rarely returned. My mother's family? My nurse grandmother divorced the crazy, drunk, abusive member of an otherwise stellar family (Tuskeegee pilot included, tyvm) when my mother was practically a baby. Grandmother went on to marry a soldier who became Daddy to all the kids. My mom was a military brat, then a college student, then a wife to my Dad. They settled down in the town where my mom spent the most time growing up; where my grandparents and her sisters also settled. My dad, basically raised by wolves and then thrown into Vietnam. My mom, raised in a loving home where the military became the family business. She went on to earn her Master's, bake bread and raise terrrrrrific kids. What conflict could possibly found in that relationship?

For me, however many characters of whatever ethnicity, I want to be able to lose or find myself in them. I'm a black girl whose life was changed by Mrs. Dalloway, I identified so keenly with the character. The same is true for many, many books and characters....a tiny fraction of which had any POC at all. Your characters may be all black or all Latinx or all Asian, the important thing is writing them in a way that lets your reader feel they "are not alone".
Kay...this was really long, cause I am really tirrrrrred

NerdyNikkiFTW said:

I've got a group of six characters that are central in my story and I really don't want them all to be white. That's not how the US is, so why should it be that way in my book?

But I'm also terrified of making them look like a group of Power Rangers. One black, one hispanic, one asian, one native american, and two white. That seems forced, you know?

What do you think?

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Okay. I hear this a lot, and I'm going to answer purely from personal perspective here - I HATE when people make their cast diverse just for the sake of making it diverse. Especially when it's done with absolutely zero consideration for location, class, local demographic etc. For instance, if you wrote a story about a group made up entirely of black friends in Lambeth then yeah, I'd get that. But if you tried to write the same story with the same racial make up set in St Albans I'd be annoyed.

Long story short - yes, do include a diverse cast, but ONLY IF that suits the story, the location, the time period etc.

kuwisdelu said:

I... just realized I don't actually have any white friends apart from my ex girlfriends.

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Do you consider White Latinos as part of that group of "white"? I'm one of the Hispanic people who have to put White for the race section on the demographics papers alongside my Latino/Hispanic ethnic group choice on those same papers.

In terms of friends or playmates, I have had mostly White or various shades of tan or brown Latino/Hispanic friends (and relatives) and a few Anglo White friends in the past. (I'm not one for socializing often, so I only have handful of close friends. The rest are childhood playmates or relatives.)

Thinking back on it, I didn't really have (and still don't have) any non-Latino African American or Asian (or anyone who's not on the Latino or Anglo-white spectrum) friends. 0_o Well, offline, anyway.

So, no, I don't have a "rainbow" cast with the one Asian person, one Black person, etc. XD It's either Latino or Anglo-White Americans for me in the offline real world.

Advice to OP: Go with what works for you or fits your setting. I don't like the fake "rainbow" cast the OP mentioned earlier, either.

Latina Bunny said:

Do you consider White Latinos as part of that group of "white"? I'm one of the Hispanic people who have to put White for the race section on the demographics papers alongside my Latino/Hispanic ethnic group choice on those same papers.

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Do you mean white Hispanic? Or white and Latina? I'm counting people who would racially self-identify as white (and not white plus some other race).

kuwisdelu said:

Do you mean white Hispanic? Or white and Latina? I'm counting people who would racially self-identify as white (and not white plus some other race).

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Oh, I apologize for not being clear. The first option, I think. White-skin (or somewhat light-skinned enough to "pass" as White) Hispanic/Latino people.

I'm Puerto Rican-American, but I would be categorized "white" (well, I'm more yellow and tan shades) in those skin color demographics terms.

I hope that makes better sense? ^_^;;

Latina Bunny said:

Oh, I apologize for not being clear. The first option, I think.

I meant the white/light-skinned Hispanic/Latino peeps with light skin that would be considered "White" demographics-wise. So, I guess it's "white" (light-skinned enough to "pass" as White) Hispanic/Latino people.

I'm Puerto Rican, but I would be categorized "white" (well, I'm more yellow) in those skin color demographics terms.

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Please feel free to slap me if I'm getting this wrong, since I know you are Latina and Hispanic, and I'm not, but I think you may be confusing white/non-white Hispanic and Latin@.

Latin@s are generally considered non-white, though one could certainly be white and Latina (like, say, a girl who's part Mexican and part Irish).

Hispanic just means coming from a Spanish-speaking country. White Hispanic usually means primarily European ancestry, such as Spain. Puerto Rican is generally non-white Hispanic. It's not based on the color of your skin. Latin@ means coming from a Latin American country, and generally means being a person of color regardless of actual skin tone.

Passing as white is not the same as being white or identifying as white.

Unless you have some European ancestry with which you identify of which I'm unaware, then I think you would be non-white Hispanic and Latina.

Conversely, my sister-in-law whose father was Spanish would be Hispanic but not Latina.

That's why the Hispanic checkbox is separate from the ethnicity checkbox. It's not an ethnicity, while Latin@ is.

While I do agree with you on how the labels technically should be used, the whole Hispanic/Latino label is actually a bit of a debate among the various groups, and maybe depends on where you are in the states and how some specific groups feel about it, and Americans use the labels interchangeably, so it gets pretty confusing and messy, lol. ^_^;;

I've heard people in Eastern coast prefer Hispanic, while Western coast peeps prefer Latino. Not sure why that is.

I've heard Puerto Ricans being more in the Hispanic label, but they can be included in the Latino label as well, which makes it more confusing for me. XD

Some people get offended by these labels and would prefer either their national country (i.e. Puerto Rican), or be called Americans. Some don't like the "Hispanic" label because it's an American term. (Colonial term?)

Here, where I live and grew up in, I often heard either Hispanic or the specific country (Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc). My family says Hispanic or Boriqua, though they do group themselves with the Latino label if there is no other option.

As a child, I was told to put down White under Race options, so that is how I often filled those papers out. I'm very American, I guess.

It's still all a very confusing mess, and I still have identity crisises and am still learning stuff, so I could be wrong. I am merely giving my own experience and what I've been told by other Latinos/Hispanic peeps. (And they don't all agree on this stuff, so...)

I don't know what else to put down for Race on those annoying papers, since I'm not Black, Alaskan, Asian, Pacific, Hawaiian, etc. I guess Other (if there is a choice for that)? Though I don't know if that is reserved for Bi-racial/Multiracial people?

I'm American, and I associate with American stuff, and can sort of "pass" as White, so...

Race does not necessarily equate with skin color, either, especially with people of mixed heritage. I've got cousins who are pale skinned with red hair (a recessive) and cousins with dark skin and dark curly hair; they share the same parents.

There are two primary genes associated with skin pigment; which gene(s) you inherit and carry, and which you express (show) depend on the great genetic lottery.

Also passing is not the same as strangers deciding "what" race/ethnicity/sex/gender/orientation you are; that's on them, not you.

Latina Bunny said:

I don't know what else to put down for Race on those annoying papers, since I'm not Black, Alaskan, Asian, Pacific, Hawaiian, etc. I guess Other (if there is a choice for that)? Though I don't know if that is reserved for Bi-racial/Multiracial people?

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If it's not required (usually there will be a note saying if it's required) ask yourself why they need to know?

What will they do with the data?

Sometimes you may want to be "out and proud" so's to speak; sometimes you may decide it's not their business.

It probably depends greatly on social and cultural awareness and how much one wants to blend in. When we talk about PoC representation, at least, we're usually talking about Latin@, rather than Hispanic.

In terms of PoC representation and postcolonialism, the distinction is more important because Latin@s come from places colonized by white Hispanic invaders.

That's why, for example, when we talk about the Pulse shooting, we talk about it in terms of queer Latinx people, rather than queer Hispanic people. Because they are Latinx, there is an important racial component (in addition to the LGBTQ component) that would be erased if we simply said Hispanic.

From what I've learned about the Hispanic vs Latino thing...It's complicated. Because we are not monoliths, and people have their own personal preferences.

Basically, even though there might be a specific way these labels are used for certain groups, it all really depends on who you ask, what region they're from, and is more of a personal preference thing.

Latina Bunny said:

From what I've learned about the Hispanic vs Latino thing...It's complicated. Because we are not monoliths, and people have their own personal preferences.

Basically, even though there might be a specific way these labels are used for certain groups, it all really depends on who you ask, what region they're from, and is more of a personal preference thing.

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This usage note is a useful discussion, in terms of pointing out that there's a Venn diagram thing, with Hispanic being the larger area, and Latino/a the smaller overlapping area, and the connotative (and socio-political) aspects of each.

kuwisdelu said:

It probably depends greatly on social and cultural awareness and how much one wants to blend in. When we talk about PoC representation, at least, we're usually talking about Latin@, rather than Hispanic.

In terms of PoC representation and postcolonialism, the distinction is more important because Latin@s come from places colonized by white Hispanic invaders.

That's why, for example, when we talk about the Pulse shooting, we talk about it in terms of queer Latinx people, rather than queer Hispanic people. Because they are Latinx, there is an important racial component (in addition to the LGBTQ component) that would be erased if we simply said Hispanic.

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While I understand what you mean about the racial component and distinction, I feel it's more complicated than that, because some people don't want to be called Latinos and others don't want to be called Hispanics, and others don't want to be called neither and be referred to their nationality.

That is from my personal experience with other Hispanic and Latino people, especially the Puerto Ricans.

Latina Bunny said:

From what I've learned about the Hispanic vs Latino thing...It's complicated. Because we are not monoliths, and people have their own personal preferences.

Basically, even though there might be a specific way these labels are used for certain groups, it all really depends on who you ask, what region they're from, and is more of a personal preference thing.

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For most both terms are "technically correct", so of course it's often personal preference. Just like I switch between "Native American", "American Indian", and "indigenous" depending on the situation, who I'm talking to, and what I want to convey.

The distinction only becomes important when we're talking about certain issues like PoC representation. Like, a person could write many white Hispanic characters, but can't use them to claim PoC representation.

Latina Bunny said:

While I understand what you mean about the racial component and distinction, I feel it's more complicated than that, because some people don't want to be called Latinos and others don't want to be called Hispanics, and others don't want to be called neither and be referred to their nationality.

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Personal identity is always more complicated. I only brought it up because you seemed genuinely unsure whether you are white or not.

AW Admin said:

Race does not necessarily equate with skin color, either, especially with people of mixed heritage. I've got cousins who are pale skinned with red hair (a recessive) and cousins with dark skin and dark curly hair; they share the same parents.

There are two primary genes associated with skin pigment; which gene(s) you inherit and carry, and which you express (show) depend on the great genetic lottery.

Also passing is not the same as strangers deciding "what" race/ethnicity/sex/gender/orientation you are; that's on them, not you.

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Well, when it comes to the demographics paperwork, we never know where to put ourselves in the Race category, so we usually put in based on skin color and how much we associate with the White Americans. (My family had lots of exposure to some American pop culture stuff, and some Latinos may consider us too "American".)

I never know what to put in that category, so we usually fall back on "White". My darker skinned sister sometimes puts down Other, if I remembered correctly.

It's times like this when I have the identity crisis...I don't know if I am considered POC or not.

AW Admin said:

If it's not required (usually there will be a note saying if it's required) ask yourself why they need to know?

What will they do with the data?

Sometimes you may want to be "out and proud" so's to speak; sometimes you may decide it's not their business.

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Good point. I usually feel that I have to fill in everything, being somewhat OCD as I am.

Latina Bunny said:

Well, when it comes to the demographics paperwork, we never know where to put ourselves in the Race category, so we usually put in based on skin color and how much we associate with the White Americans. (My family had lots of exposure to some American pop culture stuff, and some Latinos may consider us too "American".)

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I guess I didn't realize that most government forms actually don't have a Latino/Latina option under ethnicity after the Hispanic question. That is genuinely weird to me.

But it's certainly not the only way government forms are illogical and inflexible.

I never know what to put in that category, so we usually fall back on "White".

It's times like this when I have the identity crisis...I don't know if I am considered POC or not.

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You're PoC (IMO). Blame the government for forcing you into a different checkbox.

While we're talking about weird check boxes and forms, does anyone know why there are options specifically asking if you're Hispanic? Is it because the Hispanic/Latinx situation is so complicated?

It's weird to me because nobody asks if one is from a French-speaking or [insert language here]-speaking country. I think I'm missing something.