Hi Vivienne, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I definitely don't thinks authors need to be explicit about the race and ethnicity of every character. Often, the character's background can be understood through the text. I appreciate your comments.

Thanks for commenting, Pamela! I really appreciate everything you said. I'm glad that shows like Grey's have been successful. It's evidence that diversifying your cast of characters doesn't have to be detrimental to your success. An engaging story...

Excellent post, Dee, and great responses in the comments section. I noticed in my own first novel (which I'm currently working on) that not only did I tend to "default" my new characters to white -- I also defaulted them to male! (I guess this comes...

Hi Olga, I appreciate your comments. I did read your blog post and I disagree with it--as you'd probably expect. I do agree with the person who commented on it--that unless it's otherwise stated, we usually assume a character is the "default" or...

I'm not sure I agree with this post. For example, you say: "This proportion does not at all represent the demographics of our society." Perhaps not, but maybe it represents the demographics of published writers? In my city, Vancouver, Canada, the...

Thanks, Lianne! I wholly agree with that statement.We Need Diverse Books is a great campaign. (I discussed it in the full-length post on my site.) I wish it had been around when I was growing up.

And yet, the very things that make you unique give you an edge in authenticity when writing about them. You may wish to look at http://weneeddiversebooks.org/

Thanks again, Kamy!

Hi Dee -- I left this comment on your blog but I would love to have an edited version of this for the She Writes main page blog, if you are interested. It's a bit long as-is but we could work with you on it. You can message me here on SW and let me...