I’ve gotten a lot of questions about why, as a white author, I chose to make the two main characters in my debut novel black. Its a question with a hundred answers, but I’d like to focus on two answers in particular.

I never consciously set out to write characters of uncommon skin color, sexual identity, or philosophical belief. My process always starts with a premise, and from there I ask myself which specific human beings would make for the most interesting plot. Fo...