I'm an atheist white girl. I'm by no means an expert on writing POC characters and I don't want to incorporate them into any stories because I'm afraid of representing them inaccurately and accidentally offending someone. I feel like just writing people who have different skin colors won't be much different than writing a white person but I have no idea how to write Hindu/Muslim/Jewish/Christian or anything else because I don't follow a religion and never have. Help please? Especially if you have tips on writing a Muslim character because I already have an idea for one and I want to incorporate them into a story soon.
Try doing a lot of research. I can't really be much help for the POC part because I'm white but I'm a Unitarian Universalist so I can answer questions about that specific religion.
I'm POC but I'm not a US citizen. I could give you my perspective being Latina, but, after all, I live in Latinoamerica.
But, I was raised by a Catholic family with tendencies to other religions, so I could give my point of view on that onw.
For POC, it's pretty simple. They're people. You give them as much personality/fleshing out as any of your characters. As a black girl, I just appreciate when a black girl is represented as more than just the sassy black friend. Just don't play into stereotypes, and you should be fine.
Research. Lots and lots of research, preferably created by the people in question that you're trying to write. There's no such thing as too much. But it's not enough to do research, you should also go out of your way to try to talk to some of these people. It is not a person of color's responsibility to answer your questions, but there are many other who are willing and able to help. I know that on tumblr, there's actually a resource called "Writing With Color", and I can't recommend it enough as a jumping off point. Also, consuming content that have such characters in them is another good way to get a feel for how you could write them. Don't treat POC like a monolith; that's another important rule. Not all Muslims are the same or believe the same thing; a Muslim from Morrocco would be different from a Muslim from Eqypt, and so on. Also, yes, we are all people, but culture is important. Do no erase the different cultures of your characters to try to fit them into your narrative. All in all, dont be afraid, ask questions, and take responsibility if you mess up. It might seem daunting, but POC are people, and the best service you can do for them is to treat their characters with the same care you would your white characters.
I'm a Christian, so you can ask questions about my religion if you need to. And I agree with @writelikeyourerunningoutoftime, they're just like any other person/character. Sure, some people play into certain stereotypes, but that's less common than a character having a unique personality. For example, (please no one be offended by this) a black person may act like a stereotypical white person, but that doesn't mean it's not okay.
I'm biracial and I can say that some stereotypes are true. Do your research and try not to make everything too stereotypical
Remember Muslims are humans as well and tend to make mistakes. A problem I see often is a Muslim being EXTREMELY religious. Try slip it in through their words, Muslims, and other religions at times tend to have their own slang. If their trying to prove a point they tend to say 'wallahi' and so on.
Also if you happen to put in Ramadhan, check the timings for that country. Also check if its school time, Muslims (at least arabs) tend to sleep in on Ramadhan, waking only to fast.
I’m Catholic and you can ask me stuff if you want to!
I would say don't make any religious characters super abusive and stereotypical traditional. Especially if it's in modern day. And if they are traditional, don't make them 'women-haters' or think that women belong in the kitchen etc. Or if they are abusive or are stereotypical traditional, please don't make their religion the sole reason why. It's just kinda boring and frustrating when I see a lot of characters on here that have abusive, very religious parents and are abusive because they are religious. So just try not to fall into that stereotype of religious people. Unless it would make it historically accurate
