So, writing advice is needed. How do I describe an asian person?
Saying directly, "He is an asian" sounds clunky, and I've been told that describing someone's skin as "yellow", "ricy", "narrow-eyed" etc. that I have seen in a lot of books (cough cough FanFictions) is apparently not good writing.
I've watched a million videos on what not to do but not a single one has told me what to do.
I want my writing not to suck. Please and thank you.
(Please get the reference)
“China man” or “oriental”
China man is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian American, please.
We’re not talking about a guy who built the railroads here, man.
THANK YOU!
But what if the Asian is from England?
You still say Asian-American. Most books are sold in America, and readers don't like stories about foreigners. Just localize the story to be in America instead of England, and call any philosophers in the story sorcerers instead.
English Asian American, obviously
The character is in a very Chinese time in his life
You should describe his carriage in kung fu terms but also use some broken English to add authenticity.
For example:
"He walk with grace like tiger, but aura of dragon."
"With great speed he dance, like cunning rabbit."
Also, make sure the character is extremely polite and constantly refers to honour and ancestors.
Also, if he screws up, make sure he makes at least one suicide attempt to regain his honour.
/uj I remember the OG post back on r/writers. I cannot take that sub seriously...
i’m sorry what
https://preview.redd.it/vv1x2du7kn9g1.png?width=1008&format=png&auto=webp&s=6950f2bd633e017a19b6551cb74215ceb5933c6c
Didn't survive r/writers but still up on r/writingadvice.
"Herro"
And then you follow it up with the trusty "Ching chong ying yang tai chi karate"
Whoa, that's lacist - it's actuarry "hibachi Benihana teriyaki"
Edit: I forgot to add "here"/teriyaki
"banzai Toshiba kama-sutra".
"Math centered"
Just say "His name was Ching Chong Ding Dong," and let people use their imaginations. JK Rowling style.
Man. You know the answer. Ian Fleming covered this. South Asian or East Asian, use the appropriate colour. North Asian call them squat and monolided. West Asian are just Arab or Turk.
His penis was small, but graceful, like the youngest branch of the peach tree in the spring.
His nipples were brown, small in diameter but quite long, vibrating in the breeze like cherry flowers.
The hair on his armpits was black, but fluffy, and faintily smelled of spices unknown to me, a normal, white, heterosexual male.
The white version of this was taken way too seriously. This one is attracting the appropriate amount of trolling.
Just make every other character an empath that has to squint when relating to them
"He opened his eyes wide. Unfortunately, Google Photos couldn't sense that, and berated him for squinting"
On a food scale of yellowish things, like banana, banana creme, papaya, twinkie... etc.
"His people probably lived for thousands of years in a climate where you have to squint a lot, whether from wind or reflected sun."
(I tried to think of something that would work in non-realistic-Earth settings, but I maybe fell into some weird rabbit holes)
“You could blind him with dental floss.”
If we take the description of black characters as reference, the only valid way to describe their skin tone is “his skin was like milk with a TONNN of honey”
Make them inscrutable math geniuses, obvs.
Maybe you should just mention where they are from in Asia. Or if they were born in your country, where their family heritage is from.
/uj this is the cj.
/rj how the hell do you want people to know what OP's character looks like if you just say they're from China? (and we all know China and Japan are the only asian countries around.) Also, how would they know OP's character is a kung-fu master, rich, or good at math?
I have an Asian character in the novel I’m writing. His name is Ren and he went to STEM camp and those are the only “clues” I give that he’s Asian. I tend not to do a whole lot of physical description of any character.
I’m not 100% confident that’s the right way to do it, but it feels right to me.
"Got another character named Ching-Chong who loves to play ping-pong. Write that up" - Tracy Jordan
Like any cosplaying community, your best bet is going by the original source material:
"The Asians have their own labours and their own sorrows, and they are little concerned with the ways of robots, or of any other creatures upon earth. Our paths cross theirs seldom, by chance or purpose. In this meeting there may be more than chance; but the purpose is not clear to me, and I fear to say too much."
-- JRR Tolkien
He was a recent immigrant from Karatestan should be fire.
You can try adding "Of fury" after any piece of his anatomy you mention.
If you refer to them as "high yellow" a different group will get angry at you, so you may want to avoid that one.
You can also mention that their mouth movements never match up with their words.
Just write!
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/uj Who downvoted the automod?
/rj it seems to me "just write" is excellent advice here. OP, don't worry, if people say your writing is "racist" that just means they're jealous. The more "racist!" comments you get, the better your writing!