This is for the op asking about why race matters. Don't want to say this on main so as a reply, here's thoughts from a bipoc: Yes it matters and It shows. With about a 90% accuracy, I can tell you when an author is white just by reading a fic. It doesn't matter if its american white or European white. You can tell because of the way relationships are written and characters are explored. Sometimes, if the research is really well done, it's harder to catch but again: I'm always write when I read something and go "this was written by a white person". Which, its not a bad thing in any way. It's entirely a okay for white person to write things. Race will affect everything though, because it affects our upbringing and worldview, which he inevitably translate into and project onto, the very people we write in fics.