Advice/Help How to describe a variety of skin tone/colors?

[Changing_Winds]

I came to the realization the other day, that I tend to avoid describing my characters' (in whatever context/world/story they're in) skin tone/color. The assumption then, for my partners who are writing opposite me, is that these characters are white. After a long discussion with one of my partners and even a few none role-playing friends, I realized that I stray away from this because of my own insecurities as a light-skinned poc often being told by others that I'm not enough and don't have a right to create characters that look more like them. In fighting against that, I would really like to start getting more comfortable describing my characters in all aspects - but where and how do I start? Any advice, recommendations, suggestions are welcomed and appreciated!

 

[Hootle]

I'm sorry that you had to go through that. No one has the right to make you feel less than what you are based on your ethnicity, race or background. Sounds like ignorant people with nothing better to do than be nasty. No one can tell you what kind of character you can make. As long as you steer clear of stereotypes and do proper research, have at it.

As far as describing your characters, what helped me was reading books by heavily descriptive writers. The one that comes to mind for me is Snow Falling on Cedars by David Gutterson. He was able to bring the world to life by describing his characters and the history of his world. In the first sentence Gutterson describes his character's attire and facial features like having a strong posture and an angular face. When you write whether it's with someone or on your own, immerse yourself in that character. What are they wearing? Do they have a slender or fat face? Skin tone can be tricky too because it's easy to be offensive or insensitive without meaning to. You can use words like mahogany or chocolate for black people, tan or olive for asian people and white people can be described as having fair or alabaster skin. I've seen a lot of different ways people have described the skin tone/color of their character. Find what works for you.

I hope this helped some.

 

[Changing_Winds]

Thank you, it really does mean a lot.

And it does help! I think its a good starting point in reading how others have described skin tone. I think I've just seen heated debates over using descriptors like chocolate or olive to describe skin color - so I'm a little wary. However, you're right. I would just need to delve deeper into how it's been done.

 

[Hootle]

Thank you, it really does mean a lot.

And it does help! I think its a good starting point in reading how others have described skin tone. I think I've just seen heated debates over using descriptors like chocolate or olive to describe skin color - so I'm a little wary. However, you're right. I would just need to delve deeper into how it's been done.

I can't speak for anyone else, but being a black woman, I have used chocolate, mahogany, and so on to describe the color of my characters skin. I don't have a problem with it.
You're trying to improve how you go about describing your characters. There's always going to be someone who has a problem with something someone is doing. I wouldn't even worry about it.

 

[Jannah]

I'm sorry that you had to go through that. No one has the right to make you feel less than what you are based on your ethnicity, race or background. Sounds like ignorant people with nothing better to do than be nasty. No one can tell you what kind of character you can make. As long as you steer clear of stereotypes and do proper research, have at it.

As far as describing your characters, what helped me was reading books by heavily descriptive writers. The one that comes to mind for me is Snow Falling on Cedars by David Gutterson. He was able to bring the world to life by describing his characters and the history of his world. In the first sentence Gutterson describes his character's attire and facial features like having a strong posture and an angular face. When you write whether it's with someone or on your own, immerse yourself in that character. What are they wearing? Do they have a slender or fat face? Skin tone can be tricky too because it's easy to be offensive or insensitive without meaning to. You can use words like mahogany or chocolate for black people, tan or olive for asian people and white people can be described as having fair or alabaster skin. I've seen a lot of different ways people have described the skin tone/color of their character. Find what works for you.

I hope this helped some.

I just want to note that I've heard of darker skinned people being offended over their skin tones being described using food terms like chocolate. It should definitely be approached with caution. Then again I'm just going off of what I've seen, as a white person.

 

[Hootle]

I just want to note that I've heard of darker skinned people being offended over their skin tones being described using food terms like chocolate. It should definitely be approached with caution. Then again I'm just going off of what I've seen, as a white person.

That's just the nature of it. You can't please everyone. You should approach with caution but then again you can't feel like you'll be constantly stepping on toes otherwise you will never get anything done. That's why I've said it before and I will say it again: Research. It will help you greatly.
I for one am not offended by those terms but that's just me. I would rather be called chocolate than to be called tar black.

 

[Idea]

To be honest, I just wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. Your skin tone doesn’t define you as a person it’s a physical feature like any other. I think it should be pointed out if it’s relevant to the situation, and otherwise relegated to being a descriptor much like the shape of the nose. Of course one wouldn’t want to sound crude but I don’t particular see the need to be very elaborate in that regard. “The man sat at the table, a dark-skinned hand wrapping around the wooden glass of a similar color, while fierce eyes pressed onto round cheeks.” Is a perfectly serviceable line in my opinion. If anything I would find it strange if someone started visibly skirting around the issue of the skin color or putting an excessive focus on it without any in-universe reason that would be… concerning? I don’t know if that’s the right word but I don’t want to say “weird” or “strange” again.


Of course, when there is an universe reason that’s a different tale and at that point I would say tailor your description to the situation. A character that is in love with someone might describe their skin in a very elaborate and flattering way. If the setting has a certain ethnicity associated with that skin color, perhaps a cultural element of it might be brought in for a thematic comparison. Two characters shopping for clothes might talk about whether a certain color or pattern in clothes matches a particular skin color, in which case they might be more specific on the exact shade.



Hope this helps.

 

[nerdy tangents]

I usually stick to simple descriptors myself.

So dark or pale skin as needed.

I think the biggest issue when it comes to writing skin color is that you don’t insert your own beauty preferences into the description.

So you don’t want to make a meal out of describing the skin color, body type, hair type, etc. of your character.

If you want to ensure that your characters aren’t read as white then just simply saying “character X has dark skin.” is fine.

Unless your specifically talking about colorism and how racist people perceive anyone who doesn’t have a specific shade of skin the over identifiers often just read as “I the writer find this thing attractive and thus you the reader must also find this thing attractive.”

 

[erzulie]

When it comes to darker skin tones I’d avoid using food terms like chocolate and anything similar, a lot of people tend to believe that it’s a compliment but personally I don’t think so. Instead you could use different colors like umber, russet, or taupe. If you want to get really detailed think about their skin’s under tone or even, how their skin looks depending on the season.

There’s a lot of different sources you can use, for example there are people with skin the color of a starless night or skin so dark that it appears blue in some lights. Nature is a great source to take from in my opinion. And thankfully there are tons of resources that people use to expand their vocabulary when it comes to skin tone.

 

[Murdergurl]

White/Light Skin: Wan, Milky, Pallid, Pastel, Faint, Ivory

Brown/Mid-tones: Tawny, Sun-kissed, Earthy, Bronzed, Caramel

Black/Dark Skin: Ebony, Sable, Inky, Tenebrous, Swart (swarthy)

---

And no one gets to play gatekeeper to the color of skin your characters can have. Unless it's a clear and obvious example of you purposely putting down an ethnic group because of the way you are writing them, there is absolutely no reason to get offended. If anyone is giving you shit over that, just ignore them. Don't feed the trolls. These days, people are just waiting to get offended over anything and everything. And instead of being proactive and actually going out there to tackle any real issues, they clearly don't have the guts to do anything more than play keyboard commando and badger you over a fictional creation.

Imagine if we could only write about characters that were the ethnicity/gender/sexuality/etc. that we, ourselves were. The writing world would be so boring and stunted. And also, that mindset is completely counter-intuitive to the movement of inclusivity. People want equal representation, yeah? So how do we achieve that if we can only write as people of our own color? Fucking DUH?!

 

[Jannah]

White/Light Skin: Wan, Milky, Pallid, Pastel, Faint, Ivory

Brown/Mid-tones: Tawny, Sun-kissed, Earthy, Bronzed, Caramel

Black/Dark Skin: Ebony, Sable, Inky, Tenebrous, Swart (swarthy)

---

And no one gets to play gatekeeper to the color of skin your characters can have. Unless it's a clear and obvious example of you purposely putting down an ethnic group because of the way you are writing them, there is absolutely no reason to get offended. If anyone is giving you shit over that, just ignore them. Don't feed the trolls. These days, people are just waiting to get offended over anything and everything. And instead of being proactive and actually going out there to tackle any real issues, they clearly don't have the guts to do anything more than play keyboard commando and badger you over a fictional creation.

Imagine if we could only write about characters that were the ethnicity/gender/sexuality/etc. that we, ourselves were. The writing world would be so boring and stunted. And also, that mindset is completely counter-intuitive to the movement of inclusivity. People want equal representation, yeah? So how do we achieve that if we can only write as people of our own color? Fucking DUH?!

As someone who does often write characters outside of my own racial/ethnic group I am pleased to say that I haven't gotten too many issues for it. I love learning about other cultures so writing characters of other cultures or ethnic groups I take as an opportunity to research something I'm genuinely interested in.

 

[Murdergurl]

As someone who does often write characters outside of my own racial/ethnic group I am pleased to say that I haven't gotten too many issues for it. I love learning about other cultures so writing characters of other cultures or ethnic groups I take as an opportunity to research something I'm genuinely interested in.

I'd have to say that my preferred genres of writing pretty much keeps me away from stepping on cultural toes. I either play in far-flung sci-fi, or some form of fantasy that puts the setting in another world. So skin tone is just a matter of color description. Cultures are all fictional and relative, so there is no "getting it wrong".

I dont do it on purpose for those reasons. I just dont like writing about stuff too close to modern reality.

 

[Jannah]

When it comes to darker skin tones I’d avoid using food terms like chocolate and anything similar, a lot of people tend to believe that it’s a compliment but personally I don’t think so. Instead you could use different colors like umber, russet, or taupe. If you want to get really detailed think about their skin’s under tone or even, how their skin looks depending on the season.

There’s a lot of different sources you can use, for example there are people with skin the color of a starless night or skin so dark that it appears blue in some lights. Nature is a great source to take from in my opinion. And thankfully there are tons of resources that people use to expand their vocabulary when it comes to skin tone.

Yea, I made note of those up above since I have seen darker skinned people get upset over being described with food terms. I think a lot of writers tend to fixate on those since they're easy. I mean, most readers will immediately know what chocolate looks like, but things like ebony and sable may not be as familiar to the reader. I can also see why the terms would be seen as offensive too, though.

 

[Jannah]

I'd have to say that my preferred genres of writing pretty much keeps me away from stepping on cultural toes. I either play in far-flung sci-fi, or some form of fantasy that puts the setting in another world. So skin tone is just a matter of color description. Cultures are all fictional and relative, so there is no "getting it wrong".

I dont do it on purpose for those reasons. I just dont like writing about stuff too close to modern reality.

I write in a lot of realistic historical settings so race and ethnicity does sometimes matter, especially when dealing with a setting where racism was present.

 

[nerdy tangents]

I think it’s context. If you describe a person of color using a food term and don’t do the same thing with a white person then it stands out.

At best as exoticizing non white skin tones or at worst as dehumanizing them.

But over all I think a good work around for when descriptions are clunky is just say the words out loud.

Like are you really going to walk up to a person of color and say “Hey I like your chocolate skin.” No cuz that sounds weird.

The same way you would not walk up to a white person and say “Hey I love your milky pale alabaster complexion.”

Like either way it honestly sounds creepy.

 

[Murdergurl]

I write in a lot of realistic historical settings so race and ethnicity does sometimes matter, especially when dealing with a setting where racism was present.

racism is a tricky element to put into writing. Especially RP, where you have a lot of other characters/players that might make it difficult to construe a racist character without irking someone along the way. I'm actually endeavoring to portray this in a group RP that has recently started, having made MC a bit of a bigot. But I'm confidant that the other players understand that I am not my character, and that I have tossed them in the mix purely for contention and story dynamic.

 

[Jannah]

racism is a tricky element to put into writing. Especially RP, where you have a lot of other characters/players that might make it difficult to construe a racist character without irking someone along the way. I'm actually endeavoring to portray this in a group RP that has recently started, having made MC a bit of a bigot. But I'm confidant that the other players understand that I am not my character, and that I have tossed them in the mix purely for contention and story dynamic.

I have written bigoted characters. It's a matter of finding the right partners and making them aware that your character's views do not necessarily reflect your own. Of course by right partner I mean those who are comfortable with depicting more sensitive themes like racism and other forms of bigotry, provided they're dealt with in a respectful manner.

 

[Murdergurl]

I have written bigoted characters. It's a matter of finding the right partners and making them aware that your character's views do not necessarily reflect your own. Of course by right partner I mean those who are comfortable with depicting more sensitive themes like racism and other forms of bigotry, provided they're dealt with in a respectful manner.

We'll mostly be running from zombies, tbh. But the social interactions should be interesting. The entirety of the rest of the group are of LGBTQ+ and or POC/differing ethnic groups besides like two white, cis males. lol

But yeah... I'm getting off topic.

 

[Jannah]

We'll mostly be running from zombies, tbh. But the social interactions should be interesting. The entirety of the rest of the group are of LGBTQ+ and or POC/differing ethnic groups besides like two white, cis males. lol

But yeah... I'm getting off topic.

Oh for sure. Makes me think of Daryl's brother in The Walking Dead. He was super racist iirc.

 

[Murdergurl]

Oh for sure. Makes me think of Daryl's brother in The Walking Dead. He was super racist iirc.

I never really watched it, tbh. My friends had me watch an episode or two (and not even in the beginning of the series) and I just wasnt into it.

 

[Jannah]

I think it’s context. If you describe a person of color using a food term and don’t do the same thing with a white person then it stands out.

At best as exoticizing non white skin tones or at worst as dehumanizing them.

But over all I think a good work around for when descriptions are clunky is just say the words out loud.

Like are you really going to walk up to a person of color and say “Hey I like your chocolate skin.” No cuz that sounds weird.

The same way you would not walk up to a white person and say “Hey I love your milky pale alabaster complexion.”

Like either way it honestly sounds creepy.

I haven't really thought of it this way before, but this is an excellent point.

 

[nerdy tangents]

I haven't really thought of it this way before, but this is an excellent point.

Yeah honestly I think the best thing I ever did to improve my own character descriptions was just find different face claims and write down how I would describe them outloud. It's not the longest descriptions in the world but at least it doesn't sound strange as an internal thought.

Cuz you tend to describe people in your head in the same way you would describe them out loud. Well maybe a little less PC if they have a feature you find off putting. Like you might think a person is a little on the larger side in your head but you would rarely say that out loud.

*general you, not you specifically*

But in that case I usually go with character personality. Cuz I have definitely written characters that would describe themselves in overly aggrandizing ways but it's a mark of their own ego. So in that case I can see getting away with a bit of overly flowerly language. Or even characters who are extremely insecure might over embellish their own descriptions. But the vast majority of people will stick to pretty minimalistic descriptions honestly.

 

[Jannah]

Yeah honestly I think the best thing I ever did to improve my own character descriptions was just find different face claims and write down how I would describe them outloud. It's not the longest descriptions in the world but at least it doesn't sound strange as an internal thought.

Cuz you tend to describe people in your head in the same way you would describe them out loud. Well maybe a little less PC if they have a feature you find off putting. Like you might think a person is a little on the larger side in your head but you would rarely say that out loud.

*general you, not you specifically*

But in that case I usually go with character personality. Cuz I have definitely written characters that would describe themselves in overly aggrandizing ways but it's a mark of their own ego. So in that case I can see getting away with a bit of overly flowerly language. Or even characters who are extremely insecure might over embellish their own descriptions. But the vast majority of people will stick to pretty minimalistic descriptions honestly.

Semi-related since it goes back to the original subject of character description, but I once wrote a character using Tess Holliday as the face claim. If you're not familiar with her she's basically this plus sized model who made headlines a few years back for being really large and not really complying to conventional beauty standards as a result (I find her pretty but I digress). Anyway, I was writing this character who was described as being on the larger side and I wanted a face to reflect that, hence where Tess Holliday comes in. I did actually outright say the character was considered obese by many of her peers, but that she herself was rather comfortable in her body. Didn't feel self-conscious about it at all really.

I guess my point here is that we should not shy away from describing our characters even if they fit a less desirable mould (or at least a mould that the writer may find to be less flattering). Maybe I'm missing your point here, but I felt this was relevant. In fact, I feel like many readers who do not fit what society deems as "acceptable" may even welcome these characters who are not conventionally beautiful, have disabilities, or belong to marginalized minorities. Despite me describing the character as obese I don't recall anyone actually getting upset over it.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Oh no my point was that it’s considered rude to walk up to someone and call them fat.

That would be a mark of a very specific character personality.

However the character might think in their head “this person is fat.”

It does run into internalized biases at times but it’s also a fairly realistic view of a character’s internal monologue.

Most of us can be pretty judgemental in our heads but not necessarily act on those judgements because we know they are rude or unfair in someway.

 

[Jannah]

Oh no my point was that it’s considered rude to walk up to someone and call them fat.

That would be a mark of a very specific character personality.

However the character might think in their head “this person is fat.”

It does run into internalized biases at times but it’s also a fairly realistic view of a character’s internal monologue.

Most of us can be pretty judgemental in our heads but not necessarily act on those judgements because we know they are rude or unfair in someway.

Idk, I'm usually pretty blunt, but I'm not all people.