As a Black woman and a speculative fiction writer, I take Octavia E. Butler’s advice to write myself into my stories seriously. My first series, the Earthsinger Chronicles, takes place in a secondary fantasy world populated by people of all skin tones, much like our own. The themes of the series include racism and prejudice, as well as identity, love, freedom, and community. And like myself, the heroines I write about are Black.
There are many considerations when writing Black cultures and characters in fantasy worlds. Authors can choose whether or not they want race to be an issue in their invented land. Some writers may not want to mirror the same conflicts we experience in reality in favor of creating more fantastical conflicts. This is incredibly valid. But even if racial strife does not appear in your fiction, any culture you create will be based, in part, on a real-world culture. Elements of Black culture can make their way into fantasy fiction in many different and surprising ways. For instance, consider hair.
Black hair comes in as many textures as our skin does, from thin, fine, and straight to nappy, kinky, coiled, curly, and everything in between. Hair is an extremely impactful and sometimes controversial aspect of our culture. Black professionals have been fired from jobs and children kicked out of schools for having what is deemed to be inappropriate hairstyles, specifically ones that don’t conform to the ideals of the dominant culture.
Aside from these conflicts, hair can cause intra-racial divisions. Just as colorism divides us in a gulf between those with light and dark skin, those with natural hair vs. those who choose to chemically straighten their locks often don’t see eye to eye. Spike Lee included the terrific musical number “Good and Bad Hair” in his 1988 film, School Daze, which encompassed both of these sides.
Oppression goes hand in hand with enforced self-hatred. When enslaved people were subjugated in this country, our every feature was criticized and used to differentiate us from those who sought to control our bodies and labor. The size of our lips and noses and other body parts were denigrated, as well as the texture of our hair. The fact that so many Black Americans use terms like “good hair” to refer to straighter textures is indicative of this.
So what does this have to do with fantasy? The culture of hair is something that can and should be considered when creating secondary fantasy worlds, especially with Black characters. But how a writer goes about doing this can be deeply connected to the story they want to tell.
In a secondary world without an analogue to the transatlantic slave trade, how do characters view their natural features? What separates people in this culture or world from one another? Conflict is key in fiction writing, and people (or elves or dwarves or whatever species you’re writing about) always find reasons to hate one another.
I like to world-build in a way that supports my character development and plot progression. And how a given character chooses to wear their hair, especially when Black hair is often so flexible and malleable, says a great deal about their identity and self-view. Without slavery and self-hatred, would there be any reason for Black characters to artificially straighten their hair? Would it ever occur to them to do so? If so, why?
Do characters wear wigs in the way that has become so prevalent with Black women? Are wigs just a form of self-expression, an easy way to quickly change styles, or is the hair that grows out of their heads viewed as difficult to take care of in its natural form? What do these ideas say about the society?
Also, what types of features are valued and considered beautiful? How does your character relate to their own appearance? Are there other practices from real-world cultures, such as shaving your head as a sign of grief for the passing of a loved one, or as a religious exercise? Cornrowing messages or codes into hair using complicated braiding techniques, or allowing coily hair to “dread” as a form of expression? Do hairstyles represent a mindset, philosophy, or other ideal?
There’s so much that the way a character presents themself tells you about how they grew up and where the journey they take in the story can take them emotionally. Even simple descriptors can shed light on the cultural values. Is curly hair considered wild? If so, what would they call tame and why?
When all options are on the table for you, as the creator of this world, then even elements that seem trivial can have great importance if you let them. Is it customary for women to shave their heads, or are they expected to have long hair? What about any other gender you may have included?
Outside of our cultural touchstones in the real world, how could you even describe a style like an Afro or dreadlocks? Do you have to come up with new terminology, like in N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth Trilogy, where she coined the term “ashblown” to describe certain textures of hair?
As a writer, I take a lot of delight in worldbuilding. Thinking deeply about these aspects of story helps me create settings that leap off the page and carry real weight and truth to them. There are many benefits to having a diverse range of authors in the publishing sphere, telling stories from our own unique perspectives, and this is one of them. So consider the hairstyles of the characters you write as more than just decorative. Hair is culture, and culture is world, and what graces the tops of our heads can tell a story of its own.