Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-98.247.168.42-20181122042639/@comment-32987979-20190527232900

Okay, I actually get that, and am guilty of it myself. The three main characters of one of the KOTLC fanfictions in my head are white, and honestly, I didn't even realize until I started to think about it. Granted, there would still be a lot of diverse characters in my story, but the three main characters were white. It was just something I subconsciously did because I am white myself and I guess that's just where my mind went.

Problem is, I really like the designs of my characters, and it would feel wrong to change them after imagining them this way for so long. I couldn't imagine them having a different skin tone, just like I couldn't imagine them being a different height or have a different hair color and length. You get really attached to your own characters the same way you get attached to characters from real books, which is why so many people get angry when their favorite characters are given different appearances in movies, or given redesigns.

So I actually totally get Shannon's problem. She pretty much designed Sophie after herself, and she probably already had all the main character's designs thought out before she started writing. Which could be why the character's of different races (Prentice, Wylie, Tam and Linh) came after the first book, after she realized all the main characters were white, but it was kind of too late because all the characters had been established and everyone cared more about them. And we all know Shannon isn't great at splitting the attention she gives to the characters she already has, so adding more would be pretty much redundant considering she wouldn't even give them time in the spotlight, same as Wylie, Prentice, Tam and Linh never get much spotlight.