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This is going to be the first part in a duology of tips. First is "Writing People of Color" and the next is "Write People, Not Tropes," so certain topics covered here might apply to the second half and thusly won't be mentioned there and vice versa, so understand that they go together.
Now remember that this is just a suggestion, but this is something I feel extremely strong about, because I am a PoC and I find myself in a constant struggle to find a happy medium whilst writing as well, so don't think you're on your own if you have some trouble, just keep these in mind.
¹ 𝖜𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖊 𝖕𝖊𝖔𝖕𝖑𝖊 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖕𝖊𝖘 — I cover this heavily in the next part (as it is focused on the idea of characters not tropes) but I want to emphasize it here, as it's important for people to acknowledge this for PoC especially.
Do not hyperfocus on fitting into stereotypes or completely defying them, because what could wind up happening is completely butchering your character's background and identity if you decide to follow standards to a T or completely demolishing them.
Write them as a person, not as a trope. Do not focus on what society perceives their race or ethnicity to be like, rather focus on who the character is. They will conform and break to stereotypes as they find themselves, but what you as the author need to do is understand stereotypes and how they can be negative, find the myths and the truths to certain preconceived notions, and then set them aside and make your character. Refer to the stereotypes and preconceived notions as guidelines to make sure you're not making your character offensively stereotypical nor are you completely erasing their identity.
Make a person, not a caricature.
² 𝖉𝖔 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖎𝖌𝖓𝖔𝖗𝖊 𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 — just because you don't want to write a stereotype does not mean you forget culture. Unless you character's family is distanced from their culture for specific reasons (which would be an interesting topic to approach, but remember, don't write them as a trope) their culture is there and present in their lives, even if it's something as simple as what they typically eat, how they enter a house, small little habits and customs that might not occur in other people's homes.
³ 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖎𝖘 𝖘𝖎𝖒𝖕𝖑𝖞 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 — I know it's tempting to want to really focus on the fact that your character is Filipino or Romani or Brazilian, and I get it, I really do, but the thing is, and this will be covered later, you're not writing a character if you're just writing a race. If your entire character's description and story is based around the fact that they're a certain ethnicity, you need to seriously evaluate why you're writing the story.
Ask yourself: is your character a certain race/ethnicity because you want to fill a quota or because your character legitimately presents themselves as this particular race/ethnicity? Because I would rather have someone have all their OC's be white than force themselves to write a PoC and have them be disingenuous and wholly inaccurate to the point of erasure.
