The thing is though, sometimes it is relevant to talk about race or The Issues Of Being Gay.
If I'm writing a book where my protagonist is race A and everyone they interact with is race B, then I should mention how they feel about their race, and whether it's a problem, because they're different from everyone else, and being different is usually relevant. Otherwise why make one character a different race?
On the other hand, if all the characters are race A and the author is race B, then the race of the characters isn't relevant. Or if all of the characters are of different races, and the world is very diverse, probably no one cares, so you don't need to make a big deal about how the protagonist Feels About Their Race.
Similarily, if my gay character lives in a world where it isn't acceptable to be gay, I want to mention how people react to them being gay and how they feel about how people react, and how they feel about it. It doesn't have to be the focus of the story, but if the character's sexual orientation is at all relevant to the story, these things should be mentioned at least in passing.
If my gay character is from a world where bisexuality is the norm, I probably don't need to mention how they feel about being gay, unless people think they're weird for not liking members of the opposite sex as well.
Does that make sense? It's not that having a character of another race or sexual orientation means you need to talk about race or sexual orientation; it's that if their race or sexual orientation in their world is important, you should talk about how.
If I was writing a story about telling my parents I had a girlfriend and how their reaction was pretty much, "okay, so what is she like?"
If I was writing fiction, if I don't say any more than that, people will assume that this is a standard reaction parents have to finding out their daughters have girlfriends in the world where my story takes place. If I want to convey the impression that this isn't the standard reaction, because other people's parents flip out to varying degrees, I mention that this was the reaction I expected from my parents, and that they're kind of weird and liberal and openminded. Because that's part of the story behind their reaction.
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If I'm writing a book where my protagonist is race A and everyone they interact with is race B, then I should mention how they feel about their race, and whether it's a problem, because they're different from everyone else, and being different is usually relevant. Otherwise why make one character a different race?
On the other hand, if all the characters are race A and the author is race B, then the race of the characters isn't relevant. Or if all of the characters are of different races, and the world is very diverse, probably no one cares, so you don't need to make a big deal about how the protagonist Feels About Their Race.
Similarily, if my gay character lives in a world where it isn't acceptable to be gay, I want to mention how people react to them being gay and how they feel about how people react, and how they feel about it. It doesn't have to be the focus of the story, but if the character's sexual orientation is at all relevant to the story, these things should be mentioned at least in passing.
If my gay character is from a world where bisexuality is the norm, I probably don't need to mention how they feel about being gay, unless people think they're weird for not liking members of the opposite sex as well.
Does that make sense? It's not that having a character of another race or sexual orientation means you need to talk about race or sexual orientation; it's that if their race or sexual orientation in their world is important, you should talk about how.
If I was writing a story about telling my parents I had a girlfriend and how their reaction was pretty much, "okay, so what is she like?"
If I was writing fiction, if I don't say any more than that, people will assume that this is a standard reaction parents have to finding out their daughters have girlfriends in the world where my story takes place. If I want to convey the impression that this isn't the standard reaction, because other people's parents flip out to varying degrees, I mention that this was the reaction I expected from my parents, and that they're kind of weird and liberal and openminded. Because that's part of the story behind their reaction.