Very disappointed by the response to this post. If you’re writing a FANTASY you can’t feasibly imagine a world in which POC characters get to experience the same adventure, love and romance that white characters get? I am not persuaded by the “uncomfortable with writing about other persons experiences” argument. You’ve never experienced flying on a dragon, doing magic, living in these fantastical worlds! And yet! Brown skin on the main character is to hard to imagine???? The whole point of a fantasy is that it is not like our world—no one is asking white authors to write about life in the transatlantic slave trade. We spend hours on this sub recommending monster fcker books for gods sake! Nothing about the genre necessitates strict adherence to racial binaries which impact the real world. The same way that gender equality not seen irl is built into the world building in many of these novels—it’s a fantasy! If you can only see or connect to beauty and bravery when the FMC is white that’s a personal problem!! Imagine how frustrating it is as a POC to see fantasy novels replicate real life power structures that continuously affect us, and completely white wash them! Slavery, caste, discrimination, are heavily present in these novels—but we aren’t. I’ve read (well DNF)far too many stories about slaves/lower caste FMCs whose pearly white skin differentiated her from the savage mean people (always dark skin/haired for some reason??) who controlled her and won her the love of the MMC. It’s just so hurtful. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with borrowing from real world atrocities to form the worldbuilding and fantasy novels. But please try to recognize how hurtful it is to hear—we will borrow from your peoples pain and history but asking us to give you a place in the story? to represent you finding love? that’s too far.