I started to think about this yesterday when Lyana posed a question in the Writers! thread. A lot of writers, both in and outside the LGBT community, wonder how to write authentic LGBT characters. I'm personally addicted to writing advice books (I've proudly collected all the current entries in the Write Great Fiction series by Writers Digest, among many, many other books) myself and so I had this idea of writing a book that would specifically help writers develop characters who identify as LGBT. I mean, there's writing advice books about everything. A book that gives tips on how to create monsters and fantasy creatures, an emotional thesaurus to help writers write a little more descriptively, a guide on developing villains , and many, many more resources like it (and yes, I own every single one of those books I linked to. I wasn't kidding). But I've never seen one that specifically deals with writing realistic LGBT+ characters. And since LGBT+ characters are starting to become a little more prominent in mainstream fiction, I really think there's never been a better time to give people some tips on writing realistic, nuanced characters who happen to be LGBT. Thoughts?
Hello, I think the best way to write a character, any character, is to write it how you want and then worry about it being realistic enough or not later. All characters start off on paper, before being made realistic in people's imaginations [and then sometimes ruined by film companies]. Maybe that's because I'm a beginner writer so LGBT+ or not, it's not going to be realistic enough - but I'm working on it. I think the best thing you can do, if you want to make it big is by doing interviews with LGBT+ people about how they'd like self to be portrayed and then work from that. If you want mine: Agender: using 'they' pronouns, not trying to 'put' a gender onto them - maybe state they're agender in the character profile. Bisexual: knowing they are bisexual (i.e. not indecisive) And lastly, I'm *not* special, I'm human. [if I wanted to be something special I'd audition to be The Doctor or the companion.]
Well I didn't expect my name to pop up. Hiya. I'm interested. There are a bunch of online resources on the topic, as I'm sure you've noticed. Googling it brings up tons of articles. (And, yes, I have Googled this in the past. I'm bi and reasonably involved in the community, but that doesn't automatically qualify me to write about the LGBT experience.) However, you're right: no book. I actually think a book like that might be hard to market, because the very premise others LGBT people -- while the plain and simple answer to "How do you write LGBT characters?" is exactly the opposite: Write them like you would write anyone else, because hey, turns out we're only human. Look at the examples you gave. Fantasy creatures, LGBT people are not (always). Villains, LGBT people are not (always). Like Yoda, I do not talk (always). However! I actually think a book like you describe could be useful and interesting. Not because LGBT people are unique in their thought processes and all, but because some experiences unite us: the confusion some of us go through, acceptance, the struggles of coming out, experiencing rejection, getting involved in the queer community, militancy. And it is true that for some of us, our LGBTness is very definitely part of our identity. What were you thinking of including in the book, specifically?
So basically, the idea of the book would basically be how to write LGBT characters without Captain Planetizing your book (aka, throwing in characters for the sake of diversity or writing an LGBT character without first acknowledging that they need to be three dimensional human beings). The idea I'm going for is to basically reassure readers that writing characters who are outside of their realm of experience is a little less intimidating than it sounds. It's also going to help writers understand that the LGBT community is a very diverse, nuanced community and successfully writing an LGBT character involves doing your research and understanding the unique struggles LGBT people go through. In other words it's basically a "this is how you write characters from other subcultures" guide. But because more writers are specifically thinking about how to write LGBT characters (look at shows like Orange is the New Black or Transparent), this would help ensure that they're able to avoid stereotypes, create three dimensional characters, and successfully include LGBT representation without alienating LGBT audiences.
This is a great idea, and there should be more books with lgbt people in them. I really want to know the plot.
