My Main Cast of Characters-Too Diverse or Offensive?

[Risha Fidda]

As the title of this thread suggests, I am rather curious to see if my main cast of characters, who are of different races, is too diverse or rather, if having a lot of them come from different non-Western/non-white cultures is unfair and offensive (according to what someone who read the profiles of my characters once told me).

-Three people of this group are Black/African-American

-One is Asian/Chinese. Well, to be specific, he is a Huli-jing (a fox-spirit).

-Two of them are white

-One is Native-American

-One is half Native-American and half Middle-Eastern

Thoughts? :frown2:

 

[Walrusdragon]

I never really pay attention to race in a book. If you are worried about your characters being too diverse or offensive then maybe just try not to mention their race. Their names could likely be a give away as to their race, but if you don't really do anything else to draw attention to it then I don't think anyone will find it offensive.

 

[JCFarnham]

All I will add to what Walrus said is:

All People are just people.

 

[Drakhov]

I can't see how using any and / or all of these would be considered offensive in and of itself- how you portray them, however, might be (racial stereotyping would be an example).

Whether they're too diverse would depend on the context / setting for your story - the group you mention probably represents a fairly faithful crossection of the population of any large modern city (with the possible exception of the Native Americans - saying that, Native Americans were known to have travelled to Europe since the time of Columbus - admittedly often as captives / slaves but sometimes as ambassadors of the Indian Nations in their own right). A story set in North America any time after say 1850 and you couldn't go far wrong with this group at all. That being said, in the context of an American 'Western' type setting, all of the above could be subject to prejudice, including your White characters (if they're of Irish origin for example, or Jewish). The way you handle this - their interactions with each other particularly, is where people might find offense.

 

[Devor]

-Three people of this group are Black/African-American

-One is Asian/Chinese. Well, to be specific, he is a Huli-jing (a fox-spirit).

-Two of them are white

-One is Native-American

-One is half Native-American and half Middle-Eastern

First impression, it seems pretty forced to me. How do you bring a group like that together? If that's not the natural selection of characters demanded by the situation in your story, then in my opinion it does risk looking a little offensive, with the potential for a whole lot of awkward moments.

It would depend a lot on why you're using this level of diversity and what you intend to do with it, though. If you intend to "play it up," especially, I think you might have overdone it. If they're students at a university who mostly talk about their classes and just happen to be of such different backgrounds, which comes up rarely, then you're probably okay.

Have you participated in a lot of groups this diverse?

 

[sashamerideth]

First impression, it seems pretty forced to me. How do you bring a group like that together? If that's not the natural selection of characters demanded by the situation in your story, then in my opinion it does risk looking a little offensive, with the potential for a whole lot of awkward moments.

It would depend a lot on why you're using this level of diversity and what you intend to do with it, though. If you intend to "play it up," especially, I think you might have overdone it. If they're students at a university who mostly talk about their classes and just happen to be of such different backgrounds, which comes up rarely, then you're probably okay.

Have you participated in a lot of groups this diverse?

Agreed, you get this diversity in melting pots, big metropolitan areas, and a lot of cultural identity can be wiped away, groups can integrate, some segregate themselves or are ostracized. I don't know how it will work unless it is a modern urban fantasy in a melting pot.

 

[Risha Fidda]

First impression, it seems pretty forced to me. How do you bring a group like that together? If that's not the natural selection of characters demanded by the situation in your story, then in my opinion it does risk looking a little offensive, with the potential for a whole lot of awkward moments.

It would depend a lot on why you're using this level of diversity and what you intend to do with it, though. If you intend to "play it up," especially, I think you might have overdone it. If they're students at a university who mostly talk about their classes and just happen to be of such different backgrounds, which comes up rarely, then you're probably okay.

Have you participated in a lot of groups this diverse?

Agreed, you get this diversity in melting pots, big metropolitan areas, and a lot of cultural identity can be wiped away, groups can integrate, some segregate themselves or are ostracized. I don't know how it will work unless it is a modern urban fantasy in a melting pot.

My characters meet in a different world set in modern time that's already a melting pot. Or rather, the world they meet in is a mythical paradise that has sort of turned into a place where a lot of people (humans from our world, and mythological creatures/spirits immigrate to for new and better opportunities.

Considering these circumstances, does diversity of my group of characters still sound forced to you? And if they sound forced, what do you recommend I do?

And yes, I have participated in groups this diverse.

To everyone else who has given me their feedback: Thank you very much. Your inputs were/are very well appreciated and I'm going to stick with this group of characters as well as keep your advice in mind. Thanks again.

 

[sashamerideth]

My characters meet in a different world set in modern time that's already a melting pot. Or rather, the world they meet in is a mythical paradise that has sort of turned into a place where a lot of people (humans from our world, and mythological creatures/spirits immigrate to for new and better opportunities.

Considering these circumstances, does diversity of my group of characters still sound forced to you? And if they sound forced, what do you recommend I do?

And yes, I have participated in groups this diverse.

To everyone else who has given me their feedback: Thank you very much. Your inputs were/are very well appreciated and I'm going to stick with this group of characters as well as keep your advice in mind. Thanks again.

Last thing, does their race... matter?

 

[Risha Fidda]

Last thing, does their race... matter?

Do you mean, if their race is going to be brought up when they're around each other? Then no, their race does not matter.

Thank you for input.

 

[Devor]

My characters meet in a different world set in modern time that's already a melting pot. Or rather, the world they meet in is a mythical paradise that has sort of turned into a place where a lot of people (humans from our world, and mythological creatures/spirits immigrate to for new and better opportunities.

Considering these circumstances, does diversity of my group of characters still sound forced to you? And if they sound forced, what do you recommend I do?

And yes, I have participated in groups this diverse.

I was genuinely asking. A lot of people don't realize how much the diversity completely vanishes behind whatever commonality brings the group together. Based on my experiences at NYU, an overly diverse group, in reality, can actually be very bland. People might talk about their differences one on one, or when one person is the stand out figure in a group. But not in a hugely diverse group.

 

[Risha Fidda]

I was genuinely asking. A lot of people don't realize how much the diversity completely vanishes behind whatever commonality brings the group together. Based on my experiences at NYU, an overly diverse group, in reality, can actually be very bland.

Oh, I'm not offended by your question and I figured you were genuinely asking. But I am curious as to what you mean by how a diverse group can be "bland." Could you possibly be more specific about being the group being "bland"?

 

[sashamerideth]

Oh, I'm not offended by your question and I figured you were genuinely asking. But I am curious as to what you mean by how a diverse group can be "bland." Could you possibly be more specific about being the group being "bland"?

I have seen this myself. The group becomes just... people, some too afraid to say anything in case they offend, or draw attention to their differences. If they are your average people, being different won't really be a factor. Or, you can make them all a bunch of flaming racists.

 

[JCFarnham]

Or, you can make them all a bunch of flaming racists.

Something else I feel should be mentioned here is that even if your characters are hypothetically nasty racist pieces of work they are still fictional characters and in no way reflect your world view.

I would hate for people to create nice characters just because they don't want to offend, sometimes the whole point of a trully nasty character doing horrible things is to offend so as to draw the spot light onto the fact that people like that really do exist in real life. If anything the main drive of most fiction (when its not escapist and the like) is to highlight the human condition.

Anyway, that was a bit off topic but I felt it was a kind of "preface" that needed to be said ^_^

 

[sashamerideth]

Something else I feel should be mentioned here is that even if your characters are hypothetically nasty racist pieces of work they are still fictional characters and in no way reflect your world view.

I would hate for people to create nice characters just because they don't want to offend, sometimes the whole point of a trully nasty character doing horrible things is to offend so as to draw the spot light onto the fact that people like that really do exist in real life. If anything the main drive of most fiction (when its not escapist and the like) is to highlight the human condition.

Anyway, that was a bit off topic but I felt it was a kind of "preface" that needed to be said ^_^

There are some dark places we need to go in, terrible unthinkable places to write. Thoughts and feelings that normal people hide away in a dark corner in a tightly locked box. We need to open this box and revel in its contents, making that box our life for a time, then pack it away again, so we can be normal once again.

 

[ThinkerX]

Depends on whether or not there are legit, credible reasons for these diverse people to become part of the same group. Were they forced to come together by some catastrophe or outside party? Did some of them see some benefit in allying with others of radically different race? Is it an 'equal' partnership or are some members of the group there involuntarily - captives, for example?

 

[ascanius]

I have never understood the meaning of the word diverse in our modern culture. To me it has always seemed like a way to appease a group of people based on the color of their skin in order to satisfy their own moral high ground concerning those they see as lesser. If anything it brings attention to our own stupidity.
My question to you is this. Are these people truly diverse. Aside from skin color or inclusion into a specific group of people what makes them diverse? the color of their skin? where they grew up? Diversity, as modern American culture sees it is nothing but based on race, with some notable exceptions. How can one claim diversity based on physical traits yet claim the moral high ground? Does claiming ancestry in a different continent mean we are diverse, in that case then everyone is diverse. I friend once told me about when she went to chad. They did not consider her African American, but as simply American no different from any other American who came to visits. If you are basing diversity on the color of skin then yes I find it offensive. Take out the skin color then an American is and American. Diversity based on physical traits is a diversity I find laughable and in direct contrast to what it supposedly means.
If however you speak of diversity in terms of mentality that is representative of that group then no I do not find it offensive. So again I ask what makes them diverse. If you look at what makes people different it is not the color of our skin, or where our ancestors claim their birth but how we differ from what others believe us to be.
Is their so called diversity important to the story you have to tell?

 

[Ghost]

It really depends on the execution for me. Some authors are graceful when it comes to racial descriptions, and it works for them. Others can be heavy-handed, and they come across as being enamored with the exoticism factor rather than the characters' personalities. "Asian" doesn't tell me anything about the character. It lets me visualize an Asian person, but that's useless when it comes to the story. Even a story concerned with being Asian needs more than that.

Maybe the person who read the profiles doesn't like reading about characters who aren't his race. Maybe there was another issue that, combined with the ethnicities, made him question the way you express the characters' ethnicities. Whatever the deal is, I think you should take assessments based on profiles with a grain of salt. A profile isn't the same as the narrative. Write and see what people think of your characters in the context of the story.

I have never understood the meaning of the word diverse in our modern culture. To me it has always seemed like a way to appease a group of people based on the color of their skin in order to satisfy their own moral high ground concerning those they see as lesser. If anything it brings attention to our own stupidity.

I feel like something got lost in translation here.