Writing If your protagonist lived in the real world, what nationality might your protagonist be?

Eldoria

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I mean, as an author, you might draw on real-world references for your character's bacground and physical appearance. What nationality would you use as your protagonist's identity?

My protagonist is based on a French noblewoman from the European Enlightenment.
 

LiteraryWho

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Well, two of them are just straight up mixed white Americans, on accounts of the fact their story takes place in the US. Well, technically one of them is just from "the city" which, although intended to be vaguely New Yorkish in nature, is not committed to being any particular place.

From my first novel the MC is half mixed-Asian (mostly Japanese) and half vaguely Italian. Given that the only country on Earth where such a mix is likely to occur is the US, I suppose he'd have to be an American too. I guess he could also be Japanese though? He's kind of an expat in his own story, so maybe he would be a second generation Japanese American?

For the story I'm working on right now, I'm not sure. It's set in the far future, and the ML is from a space colony which intentionally pulled from a wide population in its founding. Culturally, I'd say they're a little "neo-Israelite formed by a group of people only vaguely familiar with Israel," but mostly they have their own culture. I should probably make him a little middle eastern looking, now that I think about it, though I'm still in the planning stages, and I usually worry about character appearances last.

The FL in the story is explicitly a racial mix, but I'd say she's most like a Chinese expat, given where she came from.
 

Daeron

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I mean, as an author, you might draw on real-world references for your character's bacground and physical appearance. What nationality would you use as your protagonist's identity?

My protagonist is based on a French noblewoman from the European Enlightenment.
Mine will be Russian-British.
 

Assurbanipal_II

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I mean, as an author, you might draw on real-world references for your character's bacground and physical appearance. What nationality would you use as your protagonist's identity?

My protagonist is based on a French noblewoman from the European Enlightenment.
:blob_reach: You might mean ethnicity~.
 

Chaos_Sinner777

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Aradain: *One look at this mess* "Nope. I'm gonna find the deepest point in this world's oceans and hang out there."
 

Avarice_Of_The_Seven

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I am currently in the process of developing another story idea that's based on Earth. But I don't like giving real-world references in my story, so I plan to create an Earth that is similar to the real Earth, but location and custom-related things are completely different.

It's basically a reworked version of Earth that uses a different map but preserves the technology and dynamics present on the real Earth, to the point that readers won't feel any difference unless names are mentioned.
 

CharlesEBrown

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In Between Earth and Pyrroth, the initial batch of MCs are one Canadian (who spent 1/3 of her life there before moving to the US, spending two years in the Philippines and then returning to the US), one non-terrestrial from an independent City State on another world (who would probably be from Europe if a real person, possibly Spain, Portugal, Italy or Switzerland). and three Americans, one of whom could pass for Israeli if he tried real hard. The second batch adds a bunch of American yahoos and a guy I haven't quite decided on - some North African place but he hasn't been developed much so far.
In Digital Cowboy Dane all of the MCs are technically American - but their players could be from literally anywhere. Dane himself claims he grew up "crossing the Mason-Dixon line".
In Strange Awakening, one is a Citizen of the Fae Realms, who was raised in New York and would probably be from Chicago if completely tied to the real world. Kelly Pierce is a creature of Boston through and through. The others could probably be from any country really with one exception.
Jack Diamond (Diamond in the Rough, Blood Diamond, Strange Awakening) is an American character, though he could possibly be Canadian or European; his support cast is all American or Italian-American though.
Nathan Daniels (True Blue) doesn't know where he's from. Given that he initially spoke only Russian, that is one strong possibility, but where he was found also makes a Canadian or US origin possible - as well as an extradimensional or extraterrestrial one. As a shapeshifter with no past, just about anything is possible.
 

lizzyrose

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I mean, as an author, you might draw on real-world references for your character's bacground and physical appearance. What nationality would you use as your protagonist's identity?

My protagonist is based on a French noblewoman from the European Enlightenment.



My story is set in America, so all the characters are American as well.
 

MFontana

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I mean, as an author, you might draw on real-world references for your character's bacground and physical appearance. What nationality would you use as your protagonist's identity?

My protagonist is based on a French noblewoman from the European Enlightenment.
Well seeing as how the real world is a part of my shared universe, this is easy.
The protagonists of The Elarian Chronicles are American, of Western-European lineage. I don't go into much deeper detail than this because it isn't relevant to the story.

Since Aestelle Nocte takes place (mostly) on Earth, and specifically in a rural-suburban town in Upstate NY, it is safe to assume most of the human cast members are New Yorkers.
 
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