Writing gay characters?
May. 1st, 2006 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
la_belle_laideI know I've got a few writers and readers on my f-list, and I know--as much as anyone can know anyone over the internet--that you are cool people. If you had a hint of homophobia, you wouldn't be on my f-list, so that's not even an issue.
Anyway, you've all seen my rambling posts on the fantasy stories I'm writing. Even if you haven't read said ramblings (which, likely, most people haven't,) I guess you must know that they exist. So a few months ago I added a very weird element to the second installment of the fantasy stories, and it's basically the main character going from world to world to meet different versions of the person he loves but can't seem to win over. I've tried to vary her different personnas over different times, cultures and whatnot. Her latest incarnation is a gay man.
When I write, it's usually impulsively. I had this story planned out, like I have all my stories planned out, and then something always happens to throw it off track. It goes its own way. The damned thing writes itself. So I didn't set out going, "Oh, hey, a gay character, what a novelty." I just had this idea for this guy, and he's dying of cancer. I put this man in the scene, and the next thing I knew, he was gay, and hitting on my lead character.
Once I realized that he was gay and this was what was going on, I thought for a second--just a second--about being careful, about avoiding stereotypes and cliches, and about being inoffensive. I quickly shot that idea right the hell out of the sky, and decided to just write. There would be no need to actively avoid cliches, at least not any more than I try to avoid them with writing anyone else. That was so freeing.
I think it worked out. I love this character, the way he talks and functions and gets by. He's open about his life, and then I just left it at that and let him be himself. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I wrote him right, though. I can't lie: I'd like some opinions. I don't want to solicite them, and no one is ever obliged to answer, but I might post this one chapter to my f-list anyway, because you never know if someone will, I don't know, decide to have a look.
Then I started thinking, Imagine if I ever got the nerve to write a query letter? Imagine if I ever got published? Okay, so I think that all the time, yeah. But this time I thought, Imagine if people actually read the damned thing? There'd be a small contingent of slash fans (not all, but some,) for whom this very brief scene would be catnip. There's no subtext to fantasize about: it's all there. And I thought, I'll bet some of them would do exactly what I didn't want done with this character. They would use him to fetishize homosexuality. I've already decided that in my fantasy world wherein my books get published and people actually read them, I am all for fanfiction. I'd totally read them, even the bad ones. I'd even read the MarySues that came along to save Sahrek from his Life Of Crime, and I'd laugh about them. But I'd laugh good-naturedly, because dude, people would be reading my stuff. But if fic writers came along and fetishized homosexuality through a gay character that I'd written, that might bug me out.
Anyway, who knows, I might post that one chapter to my f-list. Now, try not to get too excited or anything. ;D
Anyway, you've all seen my rambling posts on the fantasy stories I'm writing. Even if you haven't read said ramblings (which, likely, most people haven't,) I guess you must know that they exist. So a few months ago I added a very weird element to the second installment of the fantasy stories, and it's basically the main character going from world to world to meet different versions of the person he loves but can't seem to win over. I've tried to vary her different personnas over different times, cultures and whatnot. Her latest incarnation is a gay man.
When I write, it's usually impulsively. I had this story planned out, like I have all my stories planned out, and then something always happens to throw it off track. It goes its own way. The damned thing writes itself. So I didn't set out going, "Oh, hey, a gay character, what a novelty." I just had this idea for this guy, and he's dying of cancer. I put this man in the scene, and the next thing I knew, he was gay, and hitting on my lead character.
Once I realized that he was gay and this was what was going on, I thought for a second--just a second--about being careful, about avoiding stereotypes and cliches, and about being inoffensive. I quickly shot that idea right the hell out of the sky, and decided to just write. There would be no need to actively avoid cliches, at least not any more than I try to avoid them with writing anyone else. That was so freeing.
I think it worked out. I love this character, the way he talks and functions and gets by. He's open about his life, and then I just left it at that and let him be himself. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I wrote him right, though. I can't lie: I'd like some opinions. I don't want to solicite them, and no one is ever obliged to answer, but I might post this one chapter to my f-list anyway, because you never know if someone will, I don't know, decide to have a look.
Then I started thinking, Imagine if I ever got the nerve to write a query letter? Imagine if I ever got published? Okay, so I think that all the time, yeah. But this time I thought, Imagine if people actually read the damned thing? There'd be a small contingent of slash fans (not all, but some,) for whom this very brief scene would be catnip. There's no subtext to fantasize about: it's all there. And I thought, I'll bet some of them would do exactly what I didn't want done with this character. They would use him to fetishize homosexuality. I've already decided that in my fantasy world wherein my books get published and people actually read them, I am all for fanfiction. I'd totally read them, even the bad ones. I'd even read the MarySues that came along to save Sahrek from his Life Of Crime, and I'd laugh about them. But I'd laugh good-naturedly, because dude, people would be reading my stuff. But if fic writers came along and fetishized homosexuality through a gay character that I'd written, that might bug me out.
Anyway, who knows, I might post that one chapter to my f-list. Now, try not to get too excited or anything. ;D
