This all started with me being frustrated and saying I can't stand it when people need to identify with a character to like them. Initially in my head it was about the rejection of gay characters by 'straight' people rather than the other way around. It was just, for many posts, poorly written / thought out.
There is an enormous difference between "I'm a trans person, I like seeing myself represented positively in media, so I go out of my way to find material like that while still enjoying material that doesn't." and "I'm a straight guy, I won't read about a gay character because I can't relate to them." and you seem to be comparing them as if they're equally-weighted scenarios.
Okay, so... we're good now? It totally makes sense that queer readers would sometimes like to read about queer characters because it's important for them to see people like themselves represented?
This is an embarrassing hole I've dug, with miscommunication caused by poor writing. I'm stopping. Dig up, stupid. PS: I'm totally, 100% super duper supportive of representation of LGBT etc. characters, believe it's important, and action this belief by creating those characters in almost every script and book Ive ever written.
I'm currently writing a short story where one of the characters is gay but I don't spell it out or center around his sexuality. It's just a part in the plot. He just becomes the best friend (and first friend) of my protagonist. At some point, in a drunken moment he hits on him but nothing happens since the protagonist is straight and in love with another girl, but they remain friends because that's how cool this person is. Of course this somehow affects their relationship in the future but I'm not there yet. I go as I write. Since the story is about human relationships and bonds in general, shown through my teen protagonist's perspective and complicated life, sexuality gains its worth in the story but not in a sense of figuring out which gender attracts him. More likely figuring out how to sustain his relationships or whether he should be severing bonds. I'm also plotting a mystery/crime story, where I've been thinking of leaving my MC's sexual drive unanswered. The thing is that he will do anything, play whichever role he needs to in order to achieve his goal without a second thought or any reservations. He is ruthless with others and himself as well. He lies like a pro and risks a lot. He loves and has weaknesses as well, but since I've been mostly caught up with plotting the mystery around this, I'm not sure about these things yet. I don't see major erotica parts fitting in anyway... just tiny parts. So far, he is the most interesting character I've come up with, since his true intentions and identity is always changing, adapting to the new demands. Some of the characters are gay or by in this, either gender, because seduction is a method used to push the plot forward (but I use it with measure, as a means to earn trust or even black-mail). Whenever I write a character I don't think in a "sex-oriented" way, just like when I meet a new person I don't ask them what they fancy. I think about the mannerisms of my characters that make for an interesting plot drive and then think about their sex orientation and other details. (Yep. For me sex-orientation is a detail). I've never thought about a story that centers around romance before as a main theme. So far the few romantic stories I've read bore me to death. I'm all about the mystery and the adventure... and the psychological thriller... and the tragedy.
(ignoring what looks like possible debate and just comments on thread topic) My drabble collection I'm planning is pretty dang um...not straight. Though I'll admit as someone who identifies as agender and bisexual I feel a bit worried that I'm just delving into self insert fantasy territory, specifically in having a healthy social life as the six main friends are all mostly supportive of each other and their endeavors.
Excuse me? Confused? Where do a few people on this board get the 'nads to make these personal judgements because you don't agree with their view? "Haven't read a real lot"...? At this point, I'm supposed to say I've read a helluva lot more than you (I have). It's highly likely I wouldn't be caught dead reading what you read...left that one out, did you? You can "write" the way you wish. Did I send a goon squad to your place to seize your keyboard (someone should)? Your convoluted idea of how to create literature...or were you just talking about "writing"....leaves much to be desired.
I'd suggest taking it up with the mods or addressing said people directly, rather than being vague about it.
So back to our books: The three lead protagonists of my Urban Fantasy WIP are all straight, but one of the supporting villains is mentioned offhandedly to be gay, and before that, we find out that a badass vampire slayer from the 1920s-1960s had been a lesbian. I also came up with – months before this story – a pair of superheroes who are both lesbians, yet not remotely interested in one another (their parents tried to set them up as teenagers because they got along so well. One of them claims to still have night terrors about how awkward it was finding out that she was on a blind date with her best friend). Neither character fits as well into my WIP as I thought they would, but I'm still bouncing around ideas for a spin-off that takes place in the same universe at basically the same time.
It has nothing to do with "different views" and everything to do with your attitude. You offer your opinion, not as an opinion, but as fact and then belittle anyone who disagrees with you. You get all huffy and insulting, then have the nerve to accuse others of the same thing. Every post you make has an "I know better than you" tone or some kind of slight or back-handed insult at some member or another. Hell, look at your very first post on this forum. Take a look in the mirror before you start insulting people on this forum. Same goes for you. And I know I've told you this before, so stop acting like you're so innocent in all of this. If you come to this forum thinking you're better than everyone here, you will be treated with disdain. And that's not just here -- that's life. You gotta treat people with respect to get it, and so far, neither one of you have done that. So don't act like we're on some mission from God to attack the newbies and send them all packing. We just don't like when pompous people come into this forum and make people feel bad about themselves or the writing they've worked so hard on. And honey, believe, we will call you out on it. Maybe people in your real life don't. But trust that we will. So if you would like us to stop acting "unfriendly," then maybe you should act friendly. If you'd like us to stop acting "clicquey," then maybe you should stop acting like your better than us and we'll start inviting you to play. But if all you would like to do is bitch, then as Izzy said, take it up with the mods or address the people specifically. And be prepared to get called out on your BS. Sorry, Wrey.
To continue taking about writing queer characters and @Simpson17866's theme of urban fantasy ... My current project's mc is aro and bi. I didn't plan either - just one of those things that happens, though I did know quite early on that she'd be into women since the inciting incident kind of only comes about due to an attractive lady flirting with her. I also knew she wasn't going to have any romantic entanglements more or less from the beginning, because the plot very much centers on her finding herself (plus, like I said before, I'm just not incredibly interested in writing romance plots), so at a certain point I figured why not just make her officially aromantic? Since aromanticism isn't something remotely well-known of, I have a scene where she and an ace supporting character briefly talk about their differences and similarities - it works as a bonding scene for them, as they hadn't gotten along terribly well before, and it partially informs the ace character's backstory which is fairly plot-important, so my hope is that it doesn't come across as too "and now I, the author, will teach you something" fourth-wall-breaking, but we'll see eh? One of the main characters in my sf project is ace and bi, ending up as an accidental inversion of the uf one (well, actually she'd be an inversion of him, given he came first). Romance still doesn't figure heavily into his story, but his most longstanding romantic relationship is with a nonbinary character. These are characters I've had since I was about eleven, before realizing I was queer myself, so there are older versions of these characters where they were both guys and both sort of presumably straight, but even when I was young it never quite sat right with me. I remember trying to write the now-nonbinary one having a relationship with a woman and being so confused as to why I just wasn't making it feel right. The more you know, apparently. Several revision later over the course of over a decade, I'm much happier with where they both are now.
If you're so concerned with staying focused on writing, then you wouldn't be throwing out your little insults every time people disagree with you. But yes, let's get back on topic.
"You do you, and I'll do me. And we won't do each other probably."-Markiplier- Does it really matter what your MCs and characters identify as? Does it make them any less or more than what you want them to be? Honestly these attributes are more relevant in some genres more than others, but is it really something that makes them special? Not like it hasn't happened 1000+ years ago already. Granted I don't care about such trivial things, as I much rather have characters to read about that are engaging and interesting and have personality. Pretty petty to go out of your way to make them one way or another just because you feel the need to. "I want you to know, I want you to see I want you to look beyond your own eyes Past your afflictions" -Five Finger Death Punch-White Knuckles
Yeah, I figured playing an ace character and aro character off each other would be a good way to sort of subtly explain it. "Oh, you feel that way? See, that's the way I don't feel." "Yeah, but you get the thing that I don't understand, so ..."
That's a bit dismissive of the point. In a story where there is no relevance to romantic or sexual attraction, or social issues, then it's not something that matters either way. The reader can assign any attribute they like, as it's not defined anyway. There's no point making them straight in the same way as there is no point making them gay. Defining either way can, depending on the story, be irrelevant, leaving it open to the reader and allowing them to fill the gap themselves, if they so desire.
Just because a reader might make their own assumptions doesn't mean you shouldn't specify a character's sexuality/gender or any aspect of them anyways. That, and a character might show their sexuality/gender in ways beyond simply announcing it in the story. There are actions they can take that might hint at their preferences.
It's not black and white. Yes, sometimes you do, but you don't always have to. The point is that sometimes there is no occasion or need to define something like that. While other times there is. Sure, their romantic situation will define it. So will their family situation, but not always. Married men (to a woman) can be gay, but one would assume a wife = hetero unless otherwise stated. Etc. But why does it have to be one or the other? Let the story, and how you tell it, decide. It may be relevant, it may not. But forcing it is bad for the story. Forcing anything, really.
It matters to me. I don't care if it doesn't matter to you. It makes them who they are. That's what qualities do. The bi/aro sf mc is also a technophobic cyborg so hellbent on avenging his father that he becomes the exact kind of person he hated, whose mercenary upbringing taught him not to highly value any lives outside of his family's but who struggles with guilt and ptsd after taking part in a war, who spirals into substance abuse both to dull his cognitive dissonance and chronic pain, who painfully wants children but is unable to due to a hereditary disease that killed his mother. He's also trans. These are all just qualities he has. None of them make him 'special'. They just make him who he is. I'm completely confident that my characters are engaging and interesting regardless of whatever 'trivial' traits they may have. I'll go on being petty and making my characters the way I want to make them
