Michael’s answer to “Do any of your books have gay male main characters? Or a gay male supporting characters?” > Likes and Comments
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Dont fall down that rabbit hole, well answered, a difficult question that could be a leading question in order to illicit a response that could see you torn to pieces, but as its from David Im thinking not, while its ok writing about topics you may not be completely comfortable with, why would you include a non heterosexual character unless your imagination or plot required it
What a great answer! As someone who actually reads a lot of books with gay characters in them I absolutely agree that they have to fit in organically - there has to be a reason for the sexuality to even be mentioned and the author has to know what they're doing. There is nothing worse than a story with gay characters that you get the feeling are only in there because the author wants to be inclusive or show diversity at any cost. It's stupid. Some people write books with gay characters in them. Some don't. That's diversity too. :) P.S. I am so looking forward to "Farilane" and the next "Ryria"-book - thank you so much for still coming back to that world for new stories!
Just to counterpoint the other opinions posted here, as a gay man, my sexuality is not the only thing about me so it is completely fine to have characters who are gay but are also something else first. When I am at work, (PhD Candidate) I am a scientist who also happens to be gay. Instead of talking about watching Everything Everywhere All at Once with my wife, I say with my husband.
In saying the above, the fear of getting a gay character wrong is something a lot of authors say. But when It comes to writing us? We are just people. We don't all have common baggage or a specific shared culture that is being exploited. We are just people. Your sibling, your cousin, etc. You can just write a straight character, flip their partner's gender and get rid of tre gender roles and you've got a good gay character. If your world is accepting, then you don't need to worry about the fear of coming out. (I've said this to Michael before actually haha).
Honestly, all it would take for you to write a good gay character is to have a conversation with a gay person. I'd bet most would say the same as me. "We arent fantastical beasts with intricate cultures. We are just people. We grew up on the same playground as you did. If you can write a good, compelling straight character, you can write a good, compelling gay one. The only difference between them is who they are able to love because that is the only difference between us: who we have the capacity to love."
Was not Arion in a relationship with a woman?
Wired to write murderers, women, kings, gods, children, sex workers, elves, dwarves, ghosts, goblins, warriors, and dragons, but a man that loves a man is too far a stretch? Make Farilane male—done.
Ha. I was going to same something to the same effect as bdnchr. Nicholas Sparks had the same argument against writing a gay romance, and it seems a bit dodgy at best. Do you write female characters? Do you write non-white characters? I get that the state of society today is so quick to point fingers in outrage, so worrying that you may not get it right is fine, but it irks me when ostensibly straight people act like being gay IS SO FAR OUT IN LEFT FIELD they could never possibly fathom it.
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Paca
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Jun 12, 2022 10:33PM
Dont fall down that rabbit hole, well answered, a difficult question that could be a leading question in order to illicit a response that could see you torn to pieces, but as its from David Im thinking not, while its ok writing about topics you may not be completely comfortable with, why would you include a non heterosexual character unless your imagination or plot required it
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What a great answer! As someone who actually reads a lot of books with gay characters in them I absolutely agree that they have to fit in organically - there has to be a reason for the sexuality to even be mentioned and the author has to know what they're doing. There is nothing worse than a story with gay characters that you get the feeling are only in there because the author wants to be inclusive or show diversity at any cost. It's stupid. Some people write books with gay characters in them. Some don't. That's diversity too. :) P.S. I am so looking forward to "Farilane" and the next "Ryria"-book - thank you so much for still coming back to that world for new stories!
Just to counterpoint the other opinions posted here, as a gay man, my sexuality is not the only thing about me so it is completely fine to have characters who are gay but are also something else first. When I am at work, (PhD Candidate) I am a scientist who also happens to be gay. Instead of talking about watching Everything Everywhere All at Once with my wife, I say with my husband. In saying the above, the fear of getting a gay character wrong is something a lot of authors say. But when It comes to writing us? We are just people. We don't all have common baggage or a specific shared culture that is being exploited. We are just people. Your sibling, your cousin, etc. You can just write a straight character, flip their partner's gender and get rid of tre gender roles and you've got a good gay character. If your world is accepting, then you don't need to worry about the fear of coming out. (I've said this to Michael before actually haha).
Honestly, all it would take for you to write a good gay character is to have a conversation with a gay person. I'd bet most would say the same as me. "We arent fantastical beasts with intricate cultures. We are just people. We grew up on the same playground as you did. If you can write a good, compelling straight character, you can write a good, compelling gay one. The only difference between them is who they are able to love because that is the only difference between us: who we have the capacity to love."
Was not Arion in a relationship with a woman?
Wired to write murderers, women, kings, gods, children, sex workers, elves, dwarves, ghosts, goblins, warriors, and dragons, but a man that loves a man is too far a stretch? Make Farilane male—done.
Ha. I was going to same something to the same effect as bdnchr. Nicholas Sparks had the same argument against writing a gay romance, and it seems a bit dodgy at best. Do you write female characters? Do you write non-white characters? I get that the state of society today is so quick to point fingers in outrage, so worrying that you may not get it right is fine, but it irks me when ostensibly straight people act like being gay IS SO FAR OUT IN LEFT FIELD they could never possibly fathom it.
