Write Diversity

Describing People Of Color

Describing Characters without Othering

Mentioning skin tone, hair, and other physical features is literally how you represent someone; you describe what they look like. I mean, you could always outright say "They're Black" to represent someone as well, but in general it's a great idea to physically describe your Characters of Color. Personally, I always highly recommend it as an essential means of representation.

It can become exoticizing in the following cases:

White people are not described, but only the People of Color.

To only describe PoC would imply they're the Other, who must be described because they break up the pattern of what readers should assume to be another white person, unless noted otherwise. This is easily remedied by describing everyone enough to indicate race (who is noteworthy enough to get a description).

There's a hyper-focus on particular features associated with the race

If, say, describing a Native American character you're hyper focused on their cheekbones, or a Black character their lips, and describe them obsessively when no one character has their facial bone structure or lips mentioned, then it can become a bit exoticizing.

It's perfectly fine to mention those features, but it shouldn't become the go-to point of description to indicate "she's Native American / He's Black." And do be sure to let them be known for other traits, such as their voice, mannerisms or other physical features. What you're trying to avoid is defining them by one racially-associated trait, like a caricature.

Representation can be tricky as it's a matter of opinions and personal perspectives, so it's impossible to satisfy everyone. As long as you're getting other point of views and doing your best in ways of research, everything should be fine. Now to some real world opinions from your fellow writers: 

If I were to ask you to describe yourself what would you tell me? 

One user told me she describes herself as: 

British Nigerian since I was born in London and lived there for quite some time but was also born of Nigerian parents. I describe myself as her serious about grades (you can thank my parents for that) but also takes myself too seriously at times. 

I asked that same user to stand in the mirror and describe what she sees. The response was as follows: 

Honestly? A beautiful girl that can do anything she puts her mind to. A strong, determined girl who is willing to go the extra mile to accomplish her dreams.

Not once did she mention that she was black because she has been black all her life. Her color is not the first thing she thinks of when describing herself and in her particular instance when asked to describe her shade she did not compare it to coco. 

Some People of color do not mind the food reference or users who use color schemes that can be mistaken for food references like user gtgrandom who says: 

This might not be a popular opinion, but I actually really like it when my race is described as having olive or olivewood skin because it's used so often to describe the Latinx community. I become giddy when I see that description. I also enjoy descriptors like "tan skin" or "golden complexion/undertones" and "deep-set eyes."

There's nothing particularly wrong with using food to describe eyes, and in passing a complexion but for body types and certain skin tones it can be objectifying so this section is going to list some ways we can get away from the food groups starting with the eyes. 

According to NowNovel.com many beginning authors over-rely on eye descriptions and eye colour to create an impression of their characters. When describing people of color people tend to rush to food descriptions or my personal go-to "Big Brown."