Below are a few links to help you get started in writing a character of a different ethnicity or race (meaning skin tone). Please note that the links below will not give you everything you need to write about a character with this particular kind of different background, they are just places online to start. I highly recommend talking to friends who share the same background as the character you’re planning to write about in order to get a better feel for what would make that character realistic.

Nisi Shawl’s Transracial Writing for the Sincere

Mari Naomi’s Writing People of Color (if you happen to be a person of another color)

Springhole’s 7 Offensive Mistakes Well-Intentioned Writers Make

Mitali Perkins Ten Tips On Writing Race in Novels

Disclaimer: I’m Black. And also Italian. I’m also descended from African/African-American slaves. I’m saying not writers who are a different ethnicity or race are entitled to tell the stories of another. We’re not. But since there are writers who want to add accurate representations of this kind of diversity in the human race to fictional literature, we should at least do our best to understand and create the most realistic portrayal.

Please let me know if something in this post is offensive, as that is not the intention.