A Goodreads user asked Roxane Gay:

Just wanted to let you know that your advice to write across race freely, but with credible effort, has emboldened me to make my novel a heck of a lot more diverse. (Previously all white female characters, now with people of Mexican, Indian, African American background). How did you get comfortable writing across race? Or were you ever uncomfortable?

Roxane Gay I suppose I got comfortable writing across race because I live a multicultural life. As a woman of color, as a black woman, as a Haitian American, I have no choice but to interact with people of other backgrounds in my day to day life and so I write worlds that reflect that same reality. I don't think of writing across race in terms of comfort or discomfort. I think about doing it ethically, and with empathy.

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