For those of us who write "brown" characters, do you ever take skin color into consideration? As in, sure your character is black, but are they Sudanese black or african american black or Vanessa Williams black?
Does it make a difference to you as a writer? Or to you as a reader?
I ask because I never really imagine characters with skin tone much darker than my own. They tend to be mixed and some are definitely black, but they're never dark skinned or even average colored for an african american. My black characters have freckles or curly hair. The thing is, in the US, that's still considered black. Obama is "mixed" but he's African American.
So do you think skin shade matters? Should we strive to show a range of colors as much as a range of races? If it does matter, is it just as important? Or more a matter of preference?
Does it make a difference to you as a writer? Or to you as a reader?
I ask because I never really imagine characters with skin tone much darker than my own. They tend to be mixed and some are definitely black, but they're never dark skinned or even average colored for an african american. My black characters have freckles or curly hair. The thing is, in the US, that's still considered black. Obama is "mixed" but he's African American.
So do you think skin shade matters? Should we strive to show a range of colors as much as a range of races? If it does matter, is it just as important? Or more a matter of preference?