We live in a big world full of lots of different kinds of people - over seven and a half billion as of May 2018. Writing a novel (or short story, or anything, really), requires the author to focus on a much smaller population.
It's super easy for writers in the United States to default to having an all white cast. So how do we overcome this habit?
By taking a look at the world's statistics! I consider using these numbers as a good set of training wheels to help you until you write diverse characters in a more natural, intuitive fashion.
I always start with my geography - where does my story take place? For example, if you set your work in the United States, the racial population estimates for 2018 are:
- 60.7% Caucasian alone
- 13% Black alone
- 18% Hispanic alone
- 5.8% Asian Alone
- 2.7% Biracial
- 1.5% Indigenous, including Hawaiian, Native American, and Pacific Islander
When you are writing a story, take a glance at these numbers and go, "Oh, yeah. Let's not forget the rest of the population!" It's okay if it feels a little weird at first. I know that I'm not very good at things in the beginning. It'll become more relaxed quite quickly.
Is your book going to take place in an international setting? Take a look at the world population.
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| Chart shamelessly stolen from Science Chat Forum |
If you don't write people from Asia (Chinese and subcontinental Indian, especially) wandering your setting, you are really missing a huge portion of the population. For example, when I traveled to Istanbul, I stuck out because I was tall. I was constantly afraid I would run into a petite Asian woman by accident. When I wrote about my characters being in Istanbul, I made sure to comment on how very diverse the city is. If I had pretended that there were no world travelers in the huge city, I would have been doing my readers a disservice.
Relax, observe, and write. You got this!
