Where are my Black heroes at in fantasy?

Sazh, I love you but your afro has gotta go bro. It's not helping.

When I sit down and write, I already have an image of what my characters are supposed to look like in my head. I don’t think in color unless I’m describing scenery. I am not an established author, so all I do sometimes is sit and gnaw at ideas that I think a publisher would want to sell. I can’t help it; part of writing a book is creating something people want to read, and the publisher is the linchpin in getting that story out to the masses. So when I have to sit down and be frustrated because I feel like a fantasy novel with a black main character won’t sell, and that I have to whitewash the hero, I don’t feel like I’m crazy. I feel justified.

Don’t get me wrong-I’m not living in a pre-civil rights mindstate; I know the fantasy medium is changing, and it really has me excited and hopeful for the future. No longer are we just kicking the tires of fantasy norms-we’re rolling our sleeves up and changing them. ‘Bout time.

Frankly, the lack of minority characters has never really been an issue of racism in my eyes; its just something that has not really been tried that often. Traditionally, your hero just isn’t Asian, Hispanic or Black when you think about characters wielding forbidden magics or forgotten weapons. I grew up with all my literary heroes being white, but that never stopped me from putting myself in their stead as I did it. I had no choice; I had to fathom them out of existence or become one of the people who just can’t get past color.

And here is where I am personally a little apathetic on the subject: All I care about is a good story, period. I don’t care about a character’s skin color or anything of the sort unless it’s absolutely pertinent to the story. Two of the more recent books I’ve read, Spellwright and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms are prime examples of that fact-I was so absorbed in the plot that I found myself flipping back later on, trying to remember what our respective hero/heroine even looked like. And that’s the way it should be. Your locked on to what’s important, and your mind will filter and fill out details where it deems necessary.

But not everyone thinks the same when it comes to what draws you to a novel. A large part of it is certainly composed of identification – feeling that you can somehow relate to the hero. Some novelists are purposefully vague when it comes to describing their hero or heroine because it makes it easier for the reader to place themselves in the story. It’s something I am definitely in support of, but some people will just look at a book and say, “It’s always the same hero… I want something different!”

I know there has been successful fantasy with a minority cast – I’m not at all in denial or being a total moron about this – yet for every pioneer to break up the uniformity of the medium’s storytelling, there is always someone waiting in the wings to stymie it. Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series is legendary to true fantasy fans, and one of the first notable barrier breakers, but that didn’t stop The Sci-Fi Channel (who we will never call Syfy) from making the characters of the miniseries white, almost 40 years after she first wrote it. It also didn’t help that she (as a creative consultant) was phased out of her own work when she complained.

Justine Larbalestier, who wrote the well recieved Magic or Madness trilogy (one with a biracial heroine) had to come out and say she did not like the cover her editor placed on her latest YA book, Liar: the cover had a white girl with straight hair when the novel was about a girl of mixed race. Eventually there was a reprint of the cover done a month (or so) later.

Avatar: The Last Airbender, a great animated series well known for it’s rich and numerous references to Asian culture and a diverse cast of characters, is being made into a film that effectively replaces variety with a mostly white main cast. The backlash from that decision is ongoing, and is sure to never end regardless of how the film performs. On another note, I find the whole situation ironic, given as how Avatar was originally created by two white guys anyway.

Why am I crying about this in the first place? Simply because I love books. More than that, I would say I appreciate books and what goes into that book existing. I appreciate the creativity, the long hours, the writer’s block, the frustration and the editing editing EDITING that goes into making a great novel. It is not a quick or easy thing to accomplish, regardless of how many people just think they can just jump up and put one out. So imagine my ire when I realize that I’m imposing additional mental blocks on a already difficult road.

I guess I’m just looking forward to the day when I only have no worries (or lack of other things to procrastinate about), and then I can focus on my one goal: To finish a novel.