When authors write about POC, the very last thing they should be worrying about is what word to use to describe a character’s skin color. (or the slant in the eyes, the shape of the nose, etc.) Once an author has elaborated on the exact skin hue … well, exactly what do readers really know then? Think of the antagonist and protagonist in Black Panther; T’Challa and Killmonger have almost exactly the same skin shade. Could any two character be more different?
I know, romance writing classes are big on telling authors to appeal to the five senses. There are in-depth instructions on describing eye-color. Easy to understand why many authors will feel the same about skin color.
Except, those things do not work the same way. Not unless the author has a plan for the hero/heroine to find the exact shade of skin color especially appealing (“I love coffee with extra cream mixed until it is the exact shade as the skin on his forehead”). And even then, well, it’s just not a good idea, or vital enough to make it the author’s most important business.
My advice for white writers crafting characters of color – concentrate on what makes them unique individuals. “The burning determination etched in the brown skin of his jawbone.”
See, the word brown works just fine.
As for describing eyes, look at this description of the character Rydra Wong in Samuel S. Delany’s classic Babel-17:
The General whispered, “My God, she’s beautiful.” She wore copper lipstick, and the pupils of her eyes were like beaten disks of copper. A knitted indigo dress, and her hair like fast water at night spilling over one shoulder.
…he needed another moment to haul himself down from the ledges of her high cheekbones, to retreat from the caves of her eyes.
Her eyes, he thought, slant up like astounded wings.
After that description, the author did not need to add anything about almond-shaped eyes, yellow skin or other racial characteristic. What the author concentrated on showing is that this “General” is falling in love at first sight with Miss Wong. Later, when he sees who she has fallen for, well, we fully understand his rage. And yes, this is one of my favorite books of all time.
White is the default character color, at least in US books. Sometimes it is refreshing to read authors who do not use this default. For example, in the science fiction novel Fool’s War, author Sara Zettel writes of Com Engineer Lipinski’s “pale, exotic good looks” in terms of milk and lobsters, which she contrasts with the more customary copper, bark brown, chestnut, etc. of her main character, a Moslem woman spaceship captain. She never uses references to coffee and chocolate as racial color analogies.
Think what happens when you see a stranger across the proverbial crowded room. You notice height, build, posture, clothing, hair type (if hair is visible), maybe skin color (depending on how crowded or dark the room is, and how much they stand out from the people around them). But, once you know someone well, you see:
- body language instead of posture
- laugh lines instead of skin color
- shadows under their eyes rather than eye shape
- lost or gained fat or muscle instead of build
- a new haircut or style rather than hair type.
These are things you can show your readers to make the character multi-dimensional. Note the racial characteristics of ALL characters in your story, not just the non-white ones. Avoid setting up white as the “norm.” That makes every POC in your story “abnormal.”