That's just what I'm not saying, though: nuance, nuance, nuance. Not that race (sex, etc. etc.) is Not Important, but that the importance isn't necessarily in a simple or obvious way.

The other thing is, I think, recognizing that putting fiction out in the world is putting it open to both critique and criticism. Sometimes people are not going to like the way you handle a character element, and you have to decide whether they have a valid point or not. That's how it goes. There's nothing you can do to make yourself immune to that type of criticism, and frankly I don't think there should be.

I once got an e-mail from a reader complaining that they'd liked a story of mine except for the aliens. That story contained no aliens. That is a reader I am content not to please. If, on the other hand, one of my friends who has Chinese ancestry sits me down with the draft of The True Tale of Carter Hall and says, "Here re some things you really could do better with this," I have good reasons to listen. The rest of the world falls in some spectrum in between; part of being a writer who lets fiction out into the light of day is figuring out where the different commentary falls on your personal importance meter.