I'm working on something where the villain starts out as the MC's friend but slowly transitions to the villain and her enemy. This character also happens to be a POC while the MC is Caucasian. How do I write this so that it doesn't seem like she's the villain because she's a POC?
Mmm. I'm not an expert (also not POC so take my words with a grain of salt) but make sure that your villain isn't the only POC in your story. Have other POC characters that are not villains, otherwise it will look like her becoming a villain was because of being POC if she's the only one
For one thing, make sure the villain isn't the only POC. And also don't play into stereotypes of the villain's race.
I'm white, so I can't really say from the same perspective, but I know those are some good starting points.
(As a black/multiethnic would-be writer: I really have nothing to add that others haven't already covered.)
Oh, and if you can, I would go check out writing with color on tumblr. They have some really good advice from mods of a bunch of different racial/ethnic/cultural backgrounds.
just don't bring up the fact that they're a POC too much and for sure you should have the like a decent amount of characters that are also POCs that range from also being bad guys to really nice cinimon roll and also if the POC is a minority and the wold is progressive but also has a dark history with POCs let them make jokes about the past like if someone wants the to do a chore make the say "C'mon you're gonna make the (insert race and then chore here) now that's messed up" or like idk use dark humor and have fun with your shit.