Creating characters from the LGBTQ+ spectrum

You already explained in your post that your society, at least with Aveen, is a certain way. So you gave it a reason why. I was not taking shots at anyone.

 

Actually it isn’t at all. People tend to gravitate towards people who are similar to them. I am unusual as a gay man who doesn’t have many gay friends. The vast majority of othe gay people I have met associate mostly with other gay people. So it’s entirely plausible for a story focusing on a gay character to involve mainly, or even exclusively, gay characters.

 

No, you're not alone. It's been embraced as a reclaimed term by a lot of the LGBT community, particularly among the younger generation, but there are plenty of people who reject it for the reason you mention.

I didn't assume your post was targeted at me. I assumed you were referring to stories set in modern-day America, as that's where you got your stats from. It still bothers me. A story that's exclusively about LGBT characters should not have to justify its existence, because stories with exclusively cis straight characters sure as hell don't.

 

Fair enough. Maybe I just haven't been exposed to it enough in my own experience.

 

I could not have worded this better and I love it.

I think, given that so many books feature exclusively or almost-exclusively heterosexual characters, it's at the very least a refreshing change of pace to see a story that has predominantly LGBTQ+ characters. I may be missing the point, but personally I'd find a story where every single character is cis and hetero to be seriously lacking.


P.S. Happy Pride Month everyone!!!

 

You’re not alone.

It seems like a cultural gap (or generational gap) thing.

I’m younger, and grew up in Alabama. When I grew up, people in Alabama called us “homosexuals” (with a crinkled nose, like they’d smelled something bad). I never heard “queer” used as an insult.

I think it’s useful as an umbrella term, but I respect that other LGBT+ people might find it offensive.

 

Then the audience would default to “they’re straight.”

 

Only if something related to sex or relationships happened. Otherwise, the sexuality of the characters probably wouldn’t occur to the reader at all.

 

I feel like this is a straw man. I mean I've never seen someone go "Oh I hate Winnie the Pooh because the sexuality of the characters is never mentioned."

 

I’m with Simpson. A large majority of people will assume any unidentified character is straight/cisgender. It happens with racial minority characters, too.

I have seen fans complain before because they believed a character was straight and later it’s revealed they’re not.

One big example is a character named Anders in the Dragon Age video game series. When he was first introduced, his sexuality wasn’t really identified. He flirted with a woman briefly but otherwise it was left alone.

Later, in another game, it was revealed he’s attracted to both men and women. People threw a fit, bitching about how the creators were “pandering to liberals” by “changing”
Anders’ sexual orientation. I’ll add some links later when I get to my computer. Bioware (the game producer) has open forums. I remember some pretty idiotic comments.

 

Adding:

There was also Rue from the Hunger Games... infamous example. She was assumed white, and fans complained angrily about “forced diversity” and “changing her race”
when the movie portrayed her as black (even though she was explicitly described as black in the book).

Also Kat from Gunnerkrigg Court... another bisexual example. Got criticism from fans, same thing, complaints about changing her sexual orientation.

 

Well, Kanga had a child. In the absence of in vitro fertilization in the Hundred Acre Wood, it sounds to me like she's straight.

 

Deadpool is pansexual, I think?
I don't really know all of your fancy words.
But he is at least bi, cause he does have a
thing for Spiderman.

 

Also when Hermione was played by a black actress in the Harry Potter play, Cursed Child.

Rowling had to state that Hermione's ethnicity was never specified in the books.

 

Who gives a fuck if people complain? If sexuality is relevant, mention it, whatever it is. If it isn’t, let the audience assume whatever they want. If they get upset if their assumption is later proven incorrect, then that’s their problem.

 

Gay and bisexual people can have biological children, so I disagree with that assumption. But more to the point... they're stuffed animals, lol. I was just trying to think of the least sexualized example I could.

 

Yeah. I mean, I don’t necessarily disagree with you, I think it’s just something to be aware of.

One of my favorite podcasts has a character named Lup, a transgender woman. She’s a snarky, overpowered wizard (borderline kind of a jerk, but well-intentioned and lovable). I think it’s interesting how they handled her transgender-ness. They mentioned it briefly when she was introduced... like, they outright said “this character is transgender.” And then it never came up again.

She is somehow a fan favorite. But that’s mostly because she’s a hilarious jerk.

 

Like with the controversy over some of the casting in the movie version of The Martian. While Andy Weir says he's happy with it, I still think they made a mistake casting an Aryan Barbie as "Wendy Park". I read her as Asian immediately, even though the name could go either way. Weir also commented, however, something to the effect of "I never said Mark Watney was white," and there's not, to the best of my recollection, a single physical description except for the height of a character in the book.

 

Yeah, yeah, well I have a dwarf/midget/little person in my story,
which does not include Species that are by default short in stature.

Short lives matter too.

 

Well, that's certainly true. But my point is related to the fact that a child links to sexuality--it causes us to make assumptions about likely sexuality, at least. The fact that Tigger calls Kanga "Mrs. Kanga" links to sexuality. A man having a wife or a woman having a husband links to sexuality.

If a character is married, then we are mentioning that character's sexuality. (Unless the setting is very modern AND we don't mention the spouse's gender.) If a child has a father and a mother who live together, then we are mentioning those characters' sexuality. I would argue that very few books don't mention character sexuality.

 

I was going to say Lord of the Rings but then I remembered everyone's favourite romance, Aragorn and Arwen. In my defence I forgot because book!Arwen does nothing except stay at home and wait to be married.

Tolkien missed an opportunity by not making Legolas x Gimli into a thing, but as ever, the fanfiction community stepped up to the plate.

And as for Boromir, well, I'd blow his Horn of Gondor any day.

 

This. Is all you need.

Alone in our own small perspective of struggles and fears and grinding of life we forget we are NOT the protagonist of reality. We are one of billions of glimmering souls wanting and loving as dearly as the next. Empathy is the key to writing good characters, gay or straight or 1000 years forward or backward in time.

We all want. Give a character want, and they are alive.

 

I think we're having two different conversations. I was just attempting to respond to the notion that some people don't like stories that don't mention sexuality. Which is a notion I find rather silly. That's all.