Nationality & Ethnicity of the characters

[Kumquatqueen]

I'm a white Brit, but one of the main characters in my story Gas Station Guy is a British Bangladeshi man - the story is subverting racial and sexual stereotypes. Seemed to work. I've had minor characters from various cultures just because it wouldn't look like London otherwise, but it would be difficult to do a major character where I don't have enough depth of knowledge. My range of exes only goes so far...

 

[Rustyoznail]

First - thanks to Alex for highlighting my India vs Australia stories. They are a challenge to write to make sure you get the details of both characters correct and not jam local flavour into the story just to make it more "authentic".

I edit stories for two Indian ladies. Sweetdreamssss and Bdrew86. They both write stories full of Indian references and have a pretty good following. Sweetdreamssss has 163 followers and Bdrew86 has 566. Solid numbers. I was asked by Sweetdeamssss to also read the story to see if it would be understood by someone outside of India without losing the authenticity. It needed some work, like referencing an apartment as 2 BHK. I had no idea what that was.

Looking at your "Divine touch of the Yakshini" story, I could follow the plot with no knowledge of the lore behind it. It has enough supporting information to allow me to understand who the Yakshini is and why they are important. Keep it up. It was a good read.

Apparently, there are new Indian sites that have attracted both writers and readers but there is still a devoted readership here. Write what you know and what you like. You'll find an audience here.

Good luck!

 

[ChloeTzang]

Keep your audience in mind. Are you writing for Indian readers, or are you writing for a wider "international" audience, a large percentage of which are North American or British/Australian (english-speaking, anyhow).

There's a huge audience for anything Indian, and there's any number of best-selling novels and movies that have proved that - many of them set in the days of the Raj, but as many afterwards, as well. "Heat and Dust." "The Far Pavilions" which I love, personally. "Bhowani Junction". VS Naipul, and a whole raft of other western and Indian authors. I've read a number of erotic novels set in India, the earliest of which was written pre-WW1 ("Venus in India"), and then of course there's Kipling, who proved that novels with an Indian setting could be popular internationally right from the start.

For myself, I write stories where the protagonist is almost invariably Chinese, and I almost always write them in a North American setting. That inter-cultural factor adds all sorts of opportunities, which I actually see as a plus. I like to approach it with a sense of humor, and look at the funny side of it a lot of the time, ("I look Chinese, but really, I'm an American with little slanty eyes, and if you fuck me around, I'll kick your balls through your skull...." ) but really, a lot of readers are interested in other cultures, as long as you don't lecture.

It's fun so by all means write about Indians in an Indian setting, but if you're looking for a wider audience, think of ways to draw your author in.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have one series that is kinda about cultural differences, in the future. Most of the characters are of Irish descent, while the primary characters are of American descent.

One comment from a read was - "Celts in space."

I had a good chuckle at that as most of the names are Irish or Scottish depending on how you look at them.

The series is - Warrior One Fleet Action.

I don't write dialog with an Irish accent, but I do mention the heavy Irish brogue they have speaking.

As to the OP's question... How the hell would I know? No one really mentioned in the comments if it did or didn't.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Certainly, the nationality or ethnicity of characters can influence the choice to read a story. The same with any other story element. I'm not heading to Gay Male if I'm waiting to read about lesbians.

If you feel like your stories are strongly centered within your country, consider labeling them as such. Promote the concept instead of running from it. It will attract readers who long to read material from someone who understands their home while attracting the curious, too. Additionally, it should deter those readers who aren't interesting in being swept away to another culture or society.

More than most Westerners, you can write with authority on the ins and outs of your culture. Go for it!

 

[SamScribble]

About 20 years ago, a British diversity promotion organisation conducted some research to see if commissioning a group of authors to write fiction with ‘diverse characters’ might help to make diversity more ‘normal’. The findings were mixed. Readers who already enjoyed reading about diverse characters enjoyed the diversely-charactered fiction. Those who didn’t, tended to feel that they were being preached at.

So, in answer to the question: ‘Does nationality and ethnicity of characters affect readers' enjoyment of a story?’ the research suggested yes. But not always in a good way.

 

[Jake_Raazor]

As all my stories are based in the UK it was natural to reflect its ethnic diversity. I also think it gives the stories a more ‘rounded’ feel. Whether I capture the cultural nuances and differences is more debatable and that’s being generous.

I have no idea whether readers like it or not, nor am I interested whether they do or not.

 

[TheSupervillain]

I've been debating whether to include these details in one of the two stories I'm writing currently (my first). In my head, there's a specific visual and match up that I'm thinking of for the three characters. There's three reasons why I've hesitated to get into specifics. I haven't wanted to specify much about the protag male as I've written in POV and it's intended to be like anyone can imagine it's them. So, specifying them to be like me seems counter-intuitive considering not everyone's going to be like me. Despite the fact that it's more or less a personal fantasy. But that's fine, I don't think this is crucial.

Second reason being surrounding the one female of the piece. I haven't dived into writing this sort of thing before, so I have no experience in terms of, what's appropriate. In my head it's interracial, but that's not a factor in driving the story or why anybody is involved. I've debated whether it's more detail I can add to the story, to be more specific, and provide some visualisation fuel, or if it's something ultimately unnecessary. Perhaps it'd be better to direct the reader in a less specific direction and let them fill in the blanks. That's how it is currently.

The third part is touched on by some other posts here. The dynamic is wife and husband inviting another male for fun with her only. But it's not framed like a stereotype, I've tried to make it clear/evident that it's just simply a matter of attraction. There's no racial motivation behind the grouping. And it's made clear that the husband also has fun with guests of his choosing. But, considering the genre it's in, it makes me want to avoid racial aspects due to a lot of the surrounding stereotypes. Despite the fact that they would actually be a reversal of the common grouping people seem to focus on with this area. And it's not even a conscious decision to subvert anything, that's just how the scenario is as a personal fantasy.

Overall, it's just one aspect of the story I've not been confident committing to specifics. On one hand I feel I should just take the same view as the rest of it all and write what and how I want to write. I could specify the wife and husband's details without invading on the protag's roleplay element. I'd just need to then not include anything about the couple finding they enjoy the variation introduced by the protag. If I did, it'd be in the context of, that wasn't the motivation, but it's something fresh and exciting, and it is part of the reality of it, so they notice. But I'm also wary of if it would come across like fetishising race, which isn't my intention.