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Lack of Diversity in My Stories?

By lack of diversity I mean a lack of sexual diversity. To be more specific all male characters in all of my works are straight. And the reason for that is they are straight in my imagination.
I think that this actually has some advantages. Let me give some examples
- One of the main characters in my main WIP is a member of a persecuted minority religion. His religion is based on a real world religion. If I make him gay I would offend that religious group, which I deeply respect.
- Another character from a different WIP is very eccentric, if I make him gay I would offend a lot of eccentric straight people.
- I think adding a gay character will push away some streith/religios\conserative\female people from my books.
- I think adding sexual diversity limits other more important forms of diversity- mainly cultural diversity. This applies mainly to works set in our real world. Many cultures which exist on earth today aren't as tolerant of people with alternative sexuality as western society.
What do you think? Do you have sexual diversity in your story? Do you think adding sexual diversity will push away some people from your book?

edited- sorry for the typo in the title
 
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Gryphos

Auror
valiant12 said:
- One of the main characters in my main WIP is a member of a persecuted minority religion. His religion is based on a real world religion. If I make him gay I would offend that religious group, which I deeply respect.

1) It wouldn't necessarily offend them. I know a lot of people of various religions who have no problem with homosexuality. 2) Even if you did offend some people by simply adding a gay character, so? Why should you worry about offending bigots? 3) You respect the religious group despite believing they have homophobic views? Not really relevant to the question, just a bit strange.

- Another character from a different WIP is very eccentric, if I make him gay I would offend a lot of eccentric straight people.

Wat? Why would any eccentric straight dude be offended by an eccentric gay dude? Unless they're homophobic and would be offended by the presence of any kind of gay dude. In which case, see point 2 above.

- I think adding a gay character will push away some streith/religios\conserative\female people from my books.

Are you joking? I'm sorry if you aren't, but I am struggling to see your logic throughout this entire post. Why on earth would a gay character push away women from reading? I mean, obviously homophobic women would be pushed away, but, again, see point 2 above.

- I think adding sexual diversity limits other more important forms of diversity- mainly cultural diversity. This applies mainly to works set in our real world. Many cultures which exist on earth today aren't as tolerant of people with alternative sexuality as western society.

True, depending on where the story is set attitudes of certain characters might be different, but that doesn't mean gay characters wouldn't exist. Let's take history for example. Nowadays in western society people are a lot more tolerant of homosexuality than in the past (generally speaking). That doesn't mean, however, that gay people didn't exist in the past. Gay people have always existed just as much as they do today.

What do you think? Do you have sexual diversity in your story? Do you think adding sexual diversity will push away some people from your book?

I try to have some sexual diversity, unless it's a story where the notion of romance isn't really ever touched upon, in which case I don't reveal any character's sexuality. In stories where characters' sexualities are even briefly touched upon, I like to get some variety. Maybe this might push away some homophobic people from my books, but I honestly couldn't care less. See point 2 above.
 
It's up to you what you want. It isn't some cardinal law that you have to have certain demographics in your story. I find this whole needing confirmation of what you are doing is OK type of attitude to be quite troubling.

Believe me, the overwhelming number of readers out there are not going to toss your book aside if you don't have enough sexual diversity.
 

Russ

Istar
By lack of diversity I mean a lack of sexual diversity. To be more specific all male characters in all of my works are straight. And the reason for that is they are straight in my imagination.
I think that this actually has some advantages. Let me give some examples
- One of the main characters in my main WIP is a member of a persecuted minority religion. His religion is based on a real world religion. If I make him gay I would offend that religious group, which I deeply respect.
- Another character from a different WIP is very eccentric, if I make him gay I would offend a lot of eccentric straight people.
- I think adding a gay character will push away some streith/religios\conserative\female people from my books.
- I think adding sexual diversity limits other more important forms of diversity- mainly cultural diversity. This applies mainly to works set in our real world. Many cultures which exist on earth today aren't as tolerant of people with alternative sexuality as western society.
What do you think? Do you have sexual diversity in your story? Do you think adding sexual diversity will push away some people from your book?

edited- sorry for the typo in the title

I have sexual diversity in my writing, because there is sexual diversity in the world and it fits the story quite well.

If you believe your target market is either very homophobic or very religiously conservative than you might want to avoid having gay characters.

However your post seems to imply that women and eccentric straight people are more homophobic than the average. I simply don't think that is true at all.

In the general marketplace I don't think there is an advantage to having all your male characters being straight. My understanding is that the spec fic reader tends to be well educated and liberal in their thinking.

You also say all your male characters are straight. Does that mean that you have gay female characters?
 

DeathtoTrite

Troubadour
I imply some characters are LGBT. My world really wouldn't allow them to be forthcoming about it. And since none of these happen to be POV characters, it gets even more obscure.

It is absolutely, 100% okay to not have gay characters. LotR didn't. GoT has some implied gay men, none of whom are particularly likable. If your only reason is fear of offense, I would say do it anyway-- someone will always be offended. That is called the internet.
 
By lack of diversity I mean a lack of sexual diversity. To be more specific all male characters in all of my works are straight. And the reason for that is they are straight in my imagination.
I think that this actually has some advantages. Let me give some examples
- One of the main characters in my main WIP is a member of a persecuted minority religion. His religion is based on a real world religion. If I make him gay I would offend that religious group, which I deeply respect.
- Another character from a different WIP is very eccentric, if I make him gay I would offend a lot of eccentric straight people.
- I think adding a gay character will push away some streith/religios\conserative\female people from my books.
- I think adding sexual diversity limits other more important forms of diversity- mainly cultural diversity. This applies mainly to works set in our real world. Many cultures which exist on earth today aren't as tolerant of people with alternative sexuality as western society.
What do you think? Do you have sexual diversity in your story? Do you think adding sexual diversity will push away some people from your book?

edited- sorry for the typo in the title

Let's go through this point by point:

1. Minority Religion: This depends on the religion. If it is based on the Westboro Baptist Church, they'll be offended. If it's based on Mormonism I doubt they'd care (the institution and most of the people wouldn't care either for that matter, only the jerkiest of Mormons would), as one I know I wouldn't.

2. Eccentric: No, well not at above average rates

3. Not including a gay character could push away LGBTQA types. Not having guns will push away an audience. Not making it about Jack Reacher will push away an audience. Not having pandas will push away an audience. No matte what you do you push away an audience. What you should care about is what is best for your story, period. Everything else will fall into place from there.

4. I don't understand why you would think that. Look, I am not gay, I am politically conservative, and am a Mormon. But I recognize that there is sexual diversity. I recognize that some societies will accept it. I also recognize one thing about my stories, I do what is best for my books. Period. If that means I need a gay character I'll put in the gay character. I have a couple of gay characters, one will be betrayed by someone he thought a friend (gets his soul ripped out of him). So I do have some sexual diversity. It will drive away people from my book and that's not necessarily a problem. If I wanted my books to be universally liked I wouldn't try to get them published.
 

X Equestris

Maester
1. I'm going to have to say that it totally depends on the religion. Some people might care, some might not. Additionally, there are without a doubt some gay people who follow religions that one might not think of as welcoming them. Maybe they follow sects or denominations that don't really care about it, or maybe they never have sex. Point is, they very much exist.

2. I doubt you would offend or drive away that many for that reason. I would be more worried about falling into gay stereotypes on that one.

3. Certain things are going to drive away an audience no matter what. But I doubt adding a gay character would drive away that many women. Have you been to a fanfiction website? I rest my case.

4. I don't see how. Plenty of cultures from the past were more tolerant and open than some that exist today. Or they operated on a set of sexual mores that are foreign to us. Like the Romans, where the view of sex varied depending on the power of those involved. I have sexual diversity in my stories. One of the three major characters in the novel I'm working on is a lesbian. A major power player in a novel idea I had is gay. Ultimately, it comes down to what makes the most interesting story, and if it works or not. Personally, if someone can't tolerate the existence of a gay character, or a religious character, or a black character and decides not to buy my work because of that, I won't be too broken up over it. I would prefer to avoid having a fanbase full of bigots.
 

Russ

Istar
4. I don't see how. Plenty of cultures from the past were more tolerant and open than some that exist today. Or they operated on a set of sexual mores that are foreign to us. Like the Romans, where the view of sex varied depending on the power of those involved. I have sexual diversity in my stories. One of the three major characters in the novel I'm working on is a lesbian. A major power player in a novel idea I had is gay. Ultimately, it comes down to what makes the most interesting story, and if it works or not. Personally, if someone can't tolerate the existence of a gay character, or a religious character, or a black character and decides not to buy my work because of that, I won't be too broken up over it. I would prefer to avoid having a fanbase full of bigots.

This is a very good point. In fact we can say with some certainty that Richard the Lion Heart was likely either gay or at least bisexual. Trying to write a book that offends no one is about as productive as hunting a unicorn.

If you really think about markets, the Spec Fic market is likely not homophobic at all, and I would be surprised if a significant amount of the readership of fantasy were religious fundamentalists as they even eschew writings that show magic in a positive light.

The more I think about it, the more I think the reasoning in the OP is ass backwards.

And great point about fanfic, even when fan fic was just getting going years ago there was already a ton of gay erotic fan fic, it appeared that Kirk and Spock were tireless....
 
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A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
First I just want to leave this here. Dear Guy Who Is Mad Because I Wrote A Gay Character In A Book « terribleminds: chuck wendig It's Chuck Wendig's post from yesterday and curiously appropriate to this thread. Reminder: it's Wendig, kids. Some swearing, probably NSFW.

My partner and I have a great deal of diversity in our series, both sexual and otherwise, and yes, we're expecting to generate some quality hate for it from certain, conservative, corners. But the world is not limited to straight, cis, and white, and our stories reflect that. So yes, there are gay people. There are bisexual people. There are trans people. There are brown people, and there are disabled people. Some have religion, some don't, some are fairly straight-laced and some are mad as hatters.

Thing is, people come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. We write accordingly.
 
It is absolutely, 100% okay to not have gay characters. LotR didn't.

How do you know? Hardly anyone's sexuality was ever made an issue in LotR. Half the Fellowship could have been gay as maypoles and we wouldn't have known. ;)

A lot of excellent points have been raised here, but I would like to reiterate the point that just because history/society/religion doesn't approve of homosexuality, does not mean there haven't been people in that historical milieu / society / religion who are homosexual and struggling with it. Why, even today, in modern, enlightened, secular and relatively supportive Australia, I have gay Catholic friends who have to struggle daily with reconciling their faith and sexuality.

And what is personal struggle when it comes to story and character? Interesting if not outright essential.

As always, I'm never going to say anyone has to do things they don't want to do with their own stories. But I'm also never going to not want to see more diversity - of all kinds, including sexuality - in the fantasy stories that I read.
 
How do you know? Hardly anyone's sexuality was ever made an issue in LotR. Half the Fellowship could have been gay as maypoles and we wouldn't have known. ;)

Have you seen the stuff fans write about Frodo and Sam's relationship? All of the homo, my friends.

Personally, I often don't write my characters as "gay" or "straight." I do have one character who hangs out at gay bars and has been a victim of gay-bashing, because that's important to establishing his character. The guy who dates him hasn't had a boyfriend before and never really gave much thought to it before he fell in love with a guy. Another character in the same story has an intense bond with someone of the same sex, but is most likely asexual and denies any sexual attraction to her. I've written a character who loves someone without knowing if that person is a man or a woman, a character who loves someone without identifying as a man or a woman, a "straight guy" who winds up in a woman's body and starts experimenting . . . People are complicated, so my characters are complicated, too.
 
If I may add in one more comment, I just remembered an article I read a while ago.

Switching gears for a moment, I want to point out this amazing email about a Borderlands 2 NPC named Karima, who is a chronic stutterer:

I was playing Borderlands 2 today when I came across the NPC Karima in the medicine man mission. At first I was a bit angry she had a stutter —I was hit in the head with shrapnel from an IED in al-anbar Iraq and have problems talking — because the stereotypes surrounding stutterers are not kind. Communication is one of the defining pieces of humanity and when you cannot communicate to those around you, they tend to view you as lesser. I can’t tell my daughter I love her without struggling through those 3 little words. I quickly realized the mission was written such and clearly illustrated just how evil Hyperion is. She was a very sympathetic character. Whoever wrote this went 180 degrees away from what I thought was going to happen in this case. Thank you. In a game where bat shit craziness is the norm — the writers injected a very subtle bit of humanity. For whatever reason, this really struck me. Thank you for taking the high road here. You skipped over cheap laughs here and in so doing made a big impact. Thank you.

Now, I’ll be completely honest — when writing the character of Karima, I did not intend to get this reaction. Karima stutters purely because, while you never meet her in person, we needed to give the player some sense that Hyperion’s presence had harmed her in some way. Giving her a stutter made her affliction clear, and allowed for an easy way to show the player’s actions had meaning — after the first mission, she no longer stutters. Nobody comments on it or mocks her for it because it honestly never occurred to me . . .

After reading this email, however, I can say with some certainty that if Karima ever shows up again, she will have her stutter back — permanently — and we will continue to write her exactly as we did before. The knowledge that something we did (however unintentionally) touched someone in this kind of personal way is, to say the least, pretty damned great.

And have one more for good measure! Even when representation isn't intended, a sympathetic portrayal of a fictional issue can be a powerful mirror for a real one.
 

Fyle

Inkling
Not every book can be balanced with perfect ethnic, gender, sexual choice, age or any other group that may be left out.

IF the story is about a specific group, it some cases it may be best not to have diversity.

For example : If I set my story in ancient Japan on the farthest northern island of Hokkaido, and I have nobody but Japanese natives, then it would make perfect sense not to have ethnic diversity.

If it happens to be about a group of sumo wrestlers who do not allow women to join their clubs (and still don't to this day), then it would make sense if all the MCs were male.

Diversity is something that some of your stories should have - but that doen't mean every single story every writer ever writes till the end of time has to have diversity or "something is wrong."

I also like to bring up Shawshank Redemption by Steven King which takes place in a male prison. It is an incredible tale, with no diveristy in characters due to the nature of the setting, and there is no reason to take off points for that.

If your world, or the "area" you are writing about happens not to be very diverse in some way, it's fine. Maybe just make a point to let the reader know why through worldbuilding and a well placed info dump or two.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
The vast majority of my characters are straight. Lessee here...(easier for me to think in terms of names)

From 'Labyrinth: Journal'

Titus Maximus - arranged marriage, no real passion. Almost had an affair in the story, mostly though he's too busy.

Casein - No wife, but definitely likes the ladies. On occasion he 'comes on strong' enough to where his actions might be seen as rape in todays society. hard headed ex military guy.

Doctor Isabella Menendez: Old widow. Something like four husbands...but makes the occasional downright filthy sexual comment.

Empire (Country, Capital, Estate, and subsequent)

Tia Samos: Bit of a party girl, straight, but known to experiment (she has a lesbian moment in 'Estate'). Looking to land a noble born husband because that gives her and her family privileges normally restricted to the nobility.

Sir Peter Cortez: The love of his life was Tia's deceased older sister. But Tia looks a lot like her sister, and shares some personality traits...

Kyle: Big ugly peasant turned big ugly soldier turned big ugly magician. For him its a law of nature - he will be married someday, period.

Other characters:

General Marcus Fabius: Arranged marriage. Too busy fighting a protracted war for affairs.

Lysander: Magician. Outcaste. Married to a part elf, wife left him. Too busy hiding and doing magic stuff for affairs.

Could go on, but...
 
For example : If I set my story in ancient Japan on the farthest northern island of Hokkaido, and I have nobody but Japanese natives, then it would make perfect sense not to have ethnic diversity.

A fair number of works created in Japan have characters or societies modeled on the Ainu people native to Hokkaido, e.g. Silver Spoon or Samurai Champloo.
 
Of course you can choose to set your story wherever you like, including in scenarios where diversity is impossible. But that is a choice you are making. And I prefer to read stories there the author has chosen to include diversity.
 
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