Unusual skin colours

[TheCrystallineEntity]

In the first fantasy novel I wrote, pretty much none of the characters have remotely white skin, from gold to silver to glowing light to greenish-blue [if they even have a physical form to begin with].

Now, for my newest story, I am trying to consider skin colours that reflect the characters themselves, instead of just having unusual skin colours for the sake of having unusual skin colours. Yes, I am being redundant, but I am often so when I have very little sleep.
Here's what I've got so far:

Oeuyia, Yinxi, Na-ah, and all Sereners: silvery, death-ish
Lien the flower maiden: greenish
Kisa, daughter of Lien, Yinxi and Nah-ah: light brownish
Annys and Oak, Lien's parents: brown like bark

 

[Miseo]

So... what is the question?

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Oh. Oops. I guess I put this in the wrong place. I was mainly wondering what other people thought of my ideas.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Cool ideas. I like

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

I'm sort of doing an extreme version of what Ursula Le Guin did with her Earthsea Cycle [mostly brown-black characters, rarely any white characters at all].

 

[spectre]

It reminds me of the Sylvari in GW2 (a game) and the odd Sylvari, tied to their Mother the Pale Tree were very well received.

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[TheCrystallineEntity]

^? Um...sorry, what?

 

[spectre]

^? Um...sorry, what?

The use of skin color. The Sylvari are red, green, gray...Etc. Anyway it's an important part of the lore tied to their race, being that it is a trait coming from the Pale Tree after awakening from the Dream to seek their Would Hunt, and the fact they are a part of the evil Elder Dragons. The use of skin color set a tone of its own for the Sylvari race, much like you are intending.

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[TheCrystallineEntity]

^Oh, okay. That makes more sense.

 

[Miseo]

I personally use normal skin colours but... no harm done if you make it unconventional.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

^I was a bit tired of so many characters in books being white skinned, so decided to be peculiar.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

^I was a bit tired of so many characters in books being white skinned, so decided to be peculiar.

There is a great need for diversity in fiction still. And creativity

I'm tired of everyone appearing to be from Europe too, so I was kind of pleased when Ember, one of the main characters in a newly hatched story idea I've been turning over in my mind, had dark brown skin (and pale gold eyes, which I think are cool). When they just come into your head like that, you can't really dictate how they look, but I'm pretty happy about Ember. Valentin's long, wavy black hair is a detail I like too. I don't have a lot of guy characters with long hair but it seemed to fit.

 

[valiant12]

I have a main character with dark blue skin.

 

[Miseo]

Well I gotta say, my world is pretty European. But I guess not all "people" are white skinned... humans and fairies descend from the same ancestor, but took diverging paths. Fairies are kinda like a cousin species to humans. And they can come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and skin colours.

 

[Miseo]

The fairy Muninn for example is about 1 foot tall and has light green and yellow skin.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

I like how some Hindu deities are blue.

 

[SeverinR]

My current Wip has a 1/2 elf with dark skin from dark skinned human side. People will constantly see her elf features and dark skin and say she is drow, which she has to explain Drow, Dark elves are dark blue not black. (Thinking technically, any animal that never sees/exposed to sunlight would probably be albino white with glowing eyes to see in the dark (like the deep sea creatures). Maybe that will be the Drow that never get close to the surface and probably would not be comfortable with any light source.)

 

[Ireth]

I have two WIPs with major dark-elf characters, who all have black skin and silver hair; in one there is also a half-light elf/half-dark elf with grey skin.

My latest WIP has a biracial (human) MC with pale bronze skin, and her betrothed is a woman with deep brown skin. The only white character (aside from a name-mention or two) is the MC's mother.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

In my previous book, the second main character was a Dark Elf with silvery skin.

 

[Christopher Michael]

^I was a bit tired of so many characters in books being white skinned, so decided to be peculiar.

I'm not against having non-human skin colors for non-human creatures and races but..."I don't want a white guy" is not my favorite motivation for doing so. As a straight, white, male I make a conscious effort to include other sexualities, races, and genders, in my stories. But, even in my fantasy WIP, I stick to the variants of each you would find on our earth.