How do you go about choosing the gender identity/ethnicity/sexuality of your characters?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Rewrite The Ending, Aug 10, 2017.

  1. The Dapper Hooligan

    The Dapper Hooligan (V) ( ;,,;) (v) Contributor

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    I would, but I'm having a long day and puns Mexico faster.
     
  2. Sclavus

    Sclavus Active Member

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    Well then I'll tell you a joke.

    Why do Swedish battleships have barcodes?

    So when the battleships return to port, they can Scandinavian.
     
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  3. Etheona Frogg

    Etheona Frogg Member

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    I've been thinking specifically about this lately, about seeking a diversity in my story and characters. I'm wondering how to do it positively, accurately and respectfully. I hear a lot of people say they write from their own point of view because that's what they know, and clearly that makes sense. I do tend to write many of my own characteristics into my characters, even if we are different in some way. I kind of focus on those characteristics and then fill in the gaps. But how do I avoid tropes and stereotypes when writing characters who aren't white and straight like me?
     
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  4. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    Researching "misconceptions about [x]" tends to get you higher-quality answers than just researching "[x]," and there tons of places (like this website) where you can ask people to look over your work in case they notice something you didn't :)
     
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  5. Sclavus

    Sclavus Active Member

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    I wrote a short story with a character who revealed he is gay. It only came up because it fit the story, and it only came up when it fit the story. I wrote the character as I would any other, based on my experiences with people. Since his sexuality wasn't the focus of the story, it wasn't a major issue for me to write it. I don't write stories where the sexuality, race, social status, etc. of a character is the main story, so I haven't run into anyone who is utterly offended by my work and brave enough to tell me so. On the other hand, my friends who would identify with my characters have enjoyed them.
     
  6. Etheona Frogg

    Etheona Frogg Member

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    Thank you for the direction. I have much to learn ;)

    I found one really promising site so far so I thought I would share it. http://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/Navigation2
     
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  7. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    My take on this is that people are people - they aren't defined by their sexuality or the colour of their skin , and thus within in each gender, sexuality, race etc there is a big variation... so if you can write a character you can write a gay character (or a black character or whatever)

    As I said on the other thread before it gone consigned to the debate room, if we take an example from this forum of @Wreybies and I .... He's gay and Puerto-Rican, whilst I am straight , anglo, and English. But I have more in common with him (both writers, both ex forces, both mid forties , both with a similar outlook on life) than with many of my straight anglo countrymen.
     
  8. Jipset

    Jipset Member

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    It all comes down to who I'm interested in seeing in a specific setting and who would be interesting for them to interact with. Right now, I'm writing a story about a librarian who is female because that felt like a more interesting idea to explore than the character being male. Her ethnicity and sexuality have not been important to come up with yet, though. Another story I'm working on focuses on a straight guy in a certain predicament.

    I do believe it is important to be open to writing any kind of person in any type of story or situation. Diversity is great, but I'm very careful about it.
     
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  9. colabra

    colabra New Member

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    for me personally, i am a guy but my main character is always a woman. because I think as a guy i should be the one to know what a perfect woman looks like and so I write about her
     
  10. colabra

    colabra New Member

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    for me personally, i am a guy but my main character is always a woman. because I think as a guy i should be the one to know what a perfect woman looks like and so I write about her
     
  11. Adam Rimmer

    Adam Rimmer Member

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    I tend to base my choices on my outline. I say to myself, what am i putting this character through overall in my story. If it makes it more interesting i shift things around. Other times i just go with the flow and then look back at my character development and see if what i said at the beginning matches what ive put them through.
     
  12. Tara

    Tara Senior Member

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    My motto is " form follows function". My characters need to follow the story I want to tell without adding unwanted elements, be it different cultures in a story where culture isn't relevant, or unique struggles in a story that isn't about these struggles at all. This was the story will be clear and readable without additional information that might confuse the reader.

    I always come up with a story to tell before I come up with my characters, once I decided what I want to tell my audience I create settings and characters that help me tell my story. Since I don't want to complicate things for no reason I make sure that there's nothing about the characters that might add additional problems to the story. For example: take a story set in modern day Europe, if the main story is not about race in any way I'll make all my characters white (if it's in Northern Europe) or tan with dark hair and dark eyes (Southern Europe), everyone's gender will be the same as their sex and their sexuality depends on how liberal the country is.
     
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  13. Mouthwash

    Mouthwash Senior Member

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    I've never heard of Abdul being an African name (Wikipedia hasn't either), but it's a name component in Arabic rather than a name by itself.
     

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