Writing POC 101

African American Characters - @ombreshauna

It's hard to find a good book with a person of color in it as the main character so I'm here to help you all out. These are some tips to help with writing an African American's pov.

● Not all of us are thugs.

Ok some of us are thugs but most of us aren't. We are normal people with normal lives, sure I joke around about drugs, but I don't do them. They are a waste of money and time. Please don't think that the black best friend's brother has to be a thug in order to get reads, because it won't work.

● Not all of us love fried chicken, watermelon, cornbread, kool aid, and waffles

To be completely honest I hate both watermelon and cornbread. Please don't make black people eat stereotypical "black people food". We eat tacos and Chinese food, basically whatever a white person eats we can eat to. I love tamales, and fried beans, can a black person go eat some Italian food every once and awhile. Don't get me wrong I love me some fried chicken but not all of us eat KFC every frickin day and get a five dollar fill up.

● Not all of us have ratchet names.

I'm honestly tired of ratchet ghetto names like Tyrika or Kanija. Why can't a black person have a normal name. My name is Baylor, and that's not ratchet is it. I have never read a story where the black character has a name like Amy or Lilly. I've never read a story where the white girl has a crazy name, so why do black characters have crazy names.

● Family

Family is really important to all black families. Some of us have huge families, while others have tiny families. And yes we call our parents best friends our aunts and uncles, don't judge us. They have been with us since we were born, so why can't we call them our family.

● Laziness

Everyone gets lazy from time to time, not just black people. Sure some of us stay lazy, but most of us aren't.

● Religion

Most black people are Christians, that doesn't mean that we can't be Catholic or Atheists. We are free to choose whatever religion we feel like just like anyone else. Sure the people who go to church might have been baptized as babies or get turnt up before and after church and sleep with whoever they feel like but at least we go to church.

● The word Black

Some people hate being called black others love it, it really depends on how we were raised.

● Beatings

Most black parent discipline their children. It's not like we are beaten senseless with a belt or a flip-flop. We just had standards that we are expected to follow just like any other kids.

● Hair

I'm about to go off y'all, hold me back. Our hair is extremely important, some of us have weaves and some of us are natural. If your character has a weave, don't make them the type of person who doesn't brush their hair or doesn't tie it up in a headscarf. Think about your own hair when it comes to people touching it, if you don't like people touching your hair then please don't let other characters touch anyone's hair.

If y'all still want help writing from a poc pov you can PM me