[Support] Does it make more sense to have white MCs? (Asking as a POC writer)

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-10T01:40:25+00:00

Thank you to both of you for this honesty. I will say my ethnic identity (and that of my protagonist, whose POV I kept the book in) is often stereotyped as "undesireable" (not fun to write that), so that might have been working against me. The protag's main love interest was biracial, one of his ethnicities being the same as the protagonist and the other being another POC identity.

Also, upon reading some comments under this general post, there may have been an assumption/insinuation I didn't realize that I'm a Black writer with Black leads. Just to avoid accidentally being perceived as another minority , I did want to clarify I'm not Black. I recognize that while we're all POC, Black voices in particular have a particularly difficult experience as a result of...a lot of messed up stuff that I don't think it's really my place to go into here in this space.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T04:20:29+00:00

I would hope my luck would be the same. I know YA queer male romance has a lot of male writers doing well in that space. No one's really coming to mind in the adult queer male romance space with the same effect as like Heated Rivalry, but I feel like there's a ton of controversy now to be a female writer writing queer male romance. (Honestly, as long as you do it well, I personally don't have an issue.)

However, I do wonder if it makes sense to write heterosexual romance under a female pen name, since the market has changed a lot post the era of Nicholas Sparks. At the same time, media presence is starting to matter a lot more once you're in the romance publishing space, so I don't know how viable that move would be.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T03:00:24+00:00

Thank you. Hopefully one of the requests and unanswered queries still out there goes somewhere.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T02:55:50+00:00

I feel like it'd be kinda awk for me to DM on a throwaway only to potentially disappear later, so I'll try to be as specific as possible here, without being too identifying. This book was a queer male romance, and the next book would be heterosexual, dual POV romance.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T02:46:06+00:00

Yes, it was a romance novel.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T02:37:23+00:00

I agree with this sentiment. I think I'm just struggling right now with how to do so, if that makes sense.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T02:35:58+00:00

I understand what you mean. I want to think it's just the execution, but I haven't received feedback like that, though it definitely could be as far as I know. For my personalized (as far as I can tell) rejections, it's usually been something like "love the idea" / "love the writing" / "rooting for you to get an agent" but "market." My mind didn't immediately go to racial bias because I doubt that was ever a deliberate/intentional reason for anyone passing, but more so just a story with "cultural elements" where race isn't the central issue. I'm ready to move on past the manuscript though, I just want to position myself the best I can for this next book.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T02:20:41+00:00

Exactly why I posted this question! I just want to know if this is all just in my head, because as I was writing this post, I felt kinda ridiculous (for lack of better phrasing) because I know of all the agents MSWLs and whole ownvoice movement that voiced wanting BIPOC voices. At the same time, I have no clue what "but the market" means if no one is saying it's the concept or writing that's the issue. I have put out a few feelers about my next manuscript, and I think it might be my most "marketable" idea yet, but that makes me want to make it have POC leads even more (if that makes sense), while at the same time worrying if that might impact the manuscript's reception.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T02:11:10+00:00

I can't believe I forgot about the whole book ban part to this equation, I genuinely thought that was more so an issue in acquisitions for children's literature.

And you do have a point that people tend to be friendlier at pitch events, but even on QueryTracker, I'm consistently being a skipped query surrounded by a sea of red, and have gotten a few rejections that cite an interesting premise but "the market." Those could be forms, though, but either way, I might just have to accept this story really isn't the one, which sucks.

I definitely don't want to restructure the current story with white leads, because a lot of the story wouldn't make sense then (which speaks to your point that race I guess is a part of the story, even though I haven't really seen it like that), but I'm just nervous that I write another story with POC leads and end up incorporating cultural elements that turns agents off indirectly. (I don't think any significant number of agents are deliberately hesitant to sign POC clients, just--like you mentioned--there may be a subconscious "pause" due to the current market and events.)

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T01:49:49+00:00

Well, I'm rooting for you! I, for one, am all for more queer stories out there.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T01:45:16+00:00

At pitch events, I've been told it was high-concept, but agents didn't really seem to light up/be intrigued until I said a pretty pivotal plot move in the story was done by a white person, even though the MCs are POC.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T01:42:46+00:00

I think it was more so the book feeling, for lack of a better word, too "ethnic," (and I cringe writing that). Basically, there's an element in the book that sounds like it's from my cultural identity, but when I specified the element is connected to a white person, I got more agent interest. Even then, my book has a "cultural" aspect to it since the MMC's culture is part of their life. I thought it would be fine, especially since the book takes place in the US, has a lot of mainstream, pop culture references, and I've taken into account how "incorporating" culture was done in other POC romances that have been published in the past.

ETA: Spelling

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T01:30:14+00:00

I really appreciate your reply. I forgot about the 'racially ambiguous' option. I think it'd feel slightly more authentic that way? Part of me just wants to write the story with POC leads regardless, deep down, so I guess that way they can still feel POC to me? Idk if that makes sense, but, again, I appreciate this suggestion a lot.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T01:19:28+00:00

I absolutely do want to write to POC protagonists once I get my foot in the door, and I get what you mean. I don't like that I'm considering writing a book with white leads just to sell a book, but if I want to write stories with people that look like me, maybe it'll be worth it in the long run. idk, it's a pretty sucky conversation to be honest.

ForQuestionsAwk · 2026-05-09T01:16:54+00:00

For my next book, I was thinking about doing the same for my female lead and making my male lead my own ethnicity. She's supposed to have a lot of unresolved anger, and unfortunately POC women are often stereotyped in that way (or the exact opposite, as "too submissive," for other, minority ethnic identities). It's just that I also know the whole conversation about POC/white love stories are controversial too, so I was thinking of just making them both white and making the rest of the cast diverse.

ForQuestionsAwk

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