Munday race
Today's topic can be a racy one.... race.
What's race like in your characters' world? Is your character white (or the equivalent privileged race in their society/culture), or a character of color? How has race shaped them? Are they conscious of racial and ethnic issues?
Do you as the writer make an attempt to address racial and ethnic issues in your portrayal? Why or why not?
My characters are, for the most part, Filipino. No one is 'pure Filipino', everyone is a mix of something or has a distant ancestor that is Spanish, American, Indian, Chinese, or what have you.
But there are minor ethnic differences though. For instance, Ida is of Spanish-Filipino ancestry, and it shows in her looks. Emil is Filipino too but also has some Irish roots (accounting for his red hair), Darren has distant Chinese roots, and I suspect Lize has ancestors that are from another part of Europe. Mark's ancestry is muddled; he's mostly Filipino but I think there's a little Spanish-Chinese in the mix. Marce is very obviously Filipina, more 'provincial' with less intermingling in her family. So she's more dark-skinned, shorter, and more slender than my other characters. Sometimes people pick on her since she's so 'dark' (not a trait considered beautiful in the Philippines), but she doesn't really care.
It only really becomes an issue when Mark and Ida adopt Nina, who is of obvious Chinese ancestry. She cannot pass off for their daughter in any way. People unjustly give the poor child trouble because of this.
What's race like in your characters' world? Is your character white (or the equivalent privileged race in their society/culture), or a character of color? How has race shaped them? Are they conscious of racial and ethnic issues?
Do you as the writer make an attempt to address racial and ethnic issues in your portrayal? Why or why not?
My characters are, for the most part, Filipino. No one is 'pure Filipino', everyone is a mix of something or has a distant ancestor that is Spanish, American, Indian, Chinese, or what have you.
But there are minor ethnic differences though. For instance, Ida is of Spanish-Filipino ancestry, and it shows in her looks. Emil is Filipino too but also has some Irish roots (accounting for his red hair), Darren has distant Chinese roots, and I suspect Lize has ancestors that are from another part of Europe. Mark's ancestry is muddled; he's mostly Filipino but I think there's a little Spanish-Chinese in the mix. Marce is very obviously Filipina, more 'provincial' with less intermingling in her family. So she's more dark-skinned, shorter, and more slender than my other characters. Sometimes people pick on her since she's so 'dark' (not a trait considered beautiful in the Philippines), but she doesn't really care.
It only really becomes an issue when Mark and Ida adopt Nina, who is of obvious Chinese ancestry. She cannot pass off for their daughter in any way. People unjustly give the poor child trouble because of this.