Season 2 Episode 1 -Writing Skin Color

Doing Diversity in Writing

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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