I am currently writing this story in which one of the characters is an Indian female character. But I am struggling to describe the colour of her skin in the story when the main character who is a while male first lays eyes on her in bar.
But how would you describe the colour of her skin in a story so that it doesn’t come over as being offensive
Roger, I'm not sure if this would work here, but I've used coffee drink terms such as mocha to describe skin tone.
Chocolate
Dark Chocolate
Mocha
Caramel
Olive
Taupe
Ask the white male in your story/imagination what is right/appropriate. Say she is about the same color as a paper bag... give or take, not the same exact color but very close... does the white male accept her or nah?
Go with whatever will capture your reader's imagination. Or make them giggle.
The golden brown hue of her sun-kissed skin reminded me of the shortcrust pastry of a Melton Mowbray pork pie. She looked delicious.
Don't be a man-gina. Any twattish little freak who's triggered by 'brown' deserves to be offended. Perhaps we should all go around sealed into tight little Tupperware containers so we can't possibly offend anyone.
As long as you tell the truth you've done nothing wrong. 'Brown' is the truth. Colour-words cannot be pejorative.
there used to be a 'flesh' crayola crayon in the box. pretty sure it matched about .001% of people's actual flesh color. sometimes i don't bother with skin color in a story and just sort of let people fill it in as they wish. and sometimes i do it for them. honestly, half the time i read stories i 'rewrite' descriptions so the guys or gals appeal more to my tastes. for example, having a character with boobs the size of a giant tortoise really doesn't appeal to me.
You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.
I once wrote " a full shade darker than a tan would have been on an anglo."
Writing about people of color brings inclusivity to your work. Beauty comes in all colors and it is good that not every character is assumed to be white.
