: Re: Should we avoid having a protagonist of a different ethnicity than ours if we don't know anything about their culture? Let's say I am thinking about making an Indian protagonist who lives in

@Kevin153

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Let's say I am thinking about making an Indian protagonist who lives in India when I've never lived there, don't know anyone who is Indian and don't know anything about Indian culture. Should I even consider it?

No. No you should not.

You're wanting to write about a place you have never been and know nothing about as well as from the perspective of somebody from that culture... If you haven't lived there, don't know anyone from there, and know nothing about the culture, why would you think you'd be capable of writing this? I ask because it seems like you're interested in writing this story, but I can't understand why.

If you do still want to write the story, then you need to analyze as much as you possibly can about Indian culture, manners, religion, language (even if speaking English), and so forth to make your characters and story believable. You can't just write the story as if you are writing a story starring Americans.

It's not that you shouldn't write the story at all. You just shouldn't do so at this time. Study and research the topic so that you can do your best possible job. Otherwise, you're better off with just writing what you know.

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