fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5194 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5194 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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08. [SPOILERS for The Last Book in the Universe]

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09. [SPOILERS for The Penthouse 2]

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10. [WARNING for mention of sexual assault]

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11. [WARNING for mention of dubcon]

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12. [WARNING for mention of rape]

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13. [WARNING for mention of noncon/underage shipping]

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm writing a story set 200 years in the future and I'm a bit stuck as to how to describe characters. The main characters are European and American. I just assume that two centuries in the future everyone from those demographics will pretty much be mixed race? Whaddya think, FS? Does that seem reasonable?

I mean, it's a question of what kind of universe you want to build. I tend to lean towards universes where there's lots of ethnic intermingling, and ethnic origin would only be remarkable if someone *wasn't* from a mixed race background. But there's all kinds of other ways to play it - a lot can happen over 200 years and it's really about what kind of changes fit most in with the vibe of what you're writing.

Not really going much into the racial politics of it, partly because I'm a naive idealist who wants to believe society has moved beyond that, and partly because it's sci-fi trash so I don't want anything too serious in it. Just a broad extrapolation of the general trend was what I was aiming for.

Sure. Especially if people have basically put aside borders and wars and racial tensions..... Um. But people have a hard time with that. SO - yes, most will be, and most won't know or care about where they came from or what their race is, particularly if humanity has moved out into space en masse. *Really* particularly if they're facing some kind of aggression from some outside force.

And you could describe them in a couple of ways. You could say 'X had a full-lipped mouth and a thick knot of glossy braids, and cosmetically-enhanced, bright-blue eyes that tilted up at the corners', subtly putting people in mind of someone with Black and Asian ancestors.

Or you could assume most people would still 'know' about races and whatnot and the POV character could say something like 'X had the high, thin nose and long neck of their Ethiopian great-grandmother, and the epicanthic fold and rule-straight, glossy black hair of their Vietnamese father'.

Really how you want your POV character to think about it, you know?

Those are all excellent ideas, thanks! To be honest it hasn't really crossed my main characters mind lol so I guess I'll just keep on leaving it as vague.

There are still messy human politics though because, well, plot lol.

Heeee!
Sometimes, we can just go along ignoring politics until they smack us in the face.

Good luck!

Thanks! Hoo boy am I going to need it. XD

It is reasonable there would be more mixed race people in the future.

Really though it is going to depend on your POV voice and how much they notice. If the green eyes with medium brown skin doesn't stick out to them, then they aren't going to call much attention to it. (Eyes are tough b/c many people don't notice eyes until they are really close and it's really important. We overuse eyes in fiction.)

Unless you're in 3rd Omni or it's super plot important, stick to what your character knows about and cares about. Because if you mention race, you're drawing attention to it and therefore it is important to the reader. It can be cool to not actually draw attention to race in the story, just their skin color and hair and leave it unidentified.. Like "Oh, this person is mixed race, cool cool."

One of the coolest things about "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" by Heinlein is he never explicitly mentions the character's race until the near end of the book when it becomes plot important. (The Main character is black.) And I've seen other fantasy books where the skin color is mentioned but nothing ever comes of it, "oh it's just a BIPOC person having adventures in a fantasy world where our racism doesn't exist. Woot."

So figure out what is important when and if it is important to the story to show or tell if there is race.(And the word brown is your friend. Tan is good too. Food metaphors are not.)

Yes, obviously?
Honestly, many countries other than the US aren't that homogeneous anymore and Id love to read a sci-fi where humanity has strayed as far as possible from nazism or the apartheid.
Please don't shy away, make me look forward to reading something.

[ SECRET POST #5194 ]

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