Writing LGBTQ+ Characters

[Noma Galway]

Right now I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing in my own worlds with my own characters after being stuck in the fanfiction sandbox for quite some time developing a style. And I figured out that one of the reasons I stayed in fanfiction for so long was because of the LGBTQ+ representation, which is really important to me. Out in the world of published fiction you don't find a lot of good books featuring non-straight, non-cisgender characters. And now I'm writing an urban fantasy about an agender person who is panromantic but demisexual, and the utter lack of LGBTQ+ characters in popular fantasy is becoming really intimidating. Especially talking about pronouns.

"They", to be specific.

"They" is the pronoun I identify with, so I fully believe it can be used as a singular for my nonbinary character. I'm nervous it will throw readers off, though I'm trying to make it plain that my character uses that pronoun. I will be dealing with social dysphoria, misgendering, and general transphobia throughout the story, too, so I'm not sure how to make it obvious that they're nonbinary without explicitly stating early on.

Basically, I just wanted to open up a *respectful* discussion about writing LGBTQ+ characters and the struggles that can arise therein.

 

[Ireth]

I'm glad you started this thread. I have a WIP involving an intergender protagonist who also uses the "they" pronoun, so I'm hoping this will help me out too.

As far as not throwing readers off, what person is your story written from? It might help if it's written in first person, so your MC uses "I" throughout rather than "they". That's what I did, and it's working well so far. I'm not sure what to do about obviousness, though. Sometimes you have to hit the reader over the head, even multiple times, with something before they'll get it. (*points to most of the comments on her preliminary query/blurb for her WIP, in which misgendering is persistent and rampant*)

I ended up having my MC lead with their pronoun when they meet the main supporting character. "Name's Loren, pronoun's they. What are yours?"

 

[Noma Galway]

I can't write from first person at all, so third person. (So far I'm actually having difficulties with saying "her" instead of "their" but I'm catching it every time). Right now I'm almost worried like it sounds like my MC is being possessed or some such by a cult or something (considering I've dealt with mind control in the past and done something similar, that might just be my own bias). Right now I'm having my first scene be them getting home and changing out of their chest binder, which should make it fairly obvious, I hope.

 

[NerdyCavegirl]

I think it depends on how the society in-story treats sexuality. I deal with a lot of sexual themes, many extremely controversial, in my writing. If I had to label myself with a genre, it'd be something like surreal erotic horror survival science-fantasy; needless to say I don't do genres. One character, a "typical" rogue type, is an intensely masochistic aromantic pansexual, another is a boy who was raised by anthro-wolves and simply had no one else to do, and the only MCs I've named so far are both just young bi chicks with wild oats to sow. All face different struggles for/despite their sexuality based on how they were raised, where they live, and how much they care. I just treat sexuality as I do race, age, eye color, or fashion taste: traits that are inconsequential on their own but may have significance depending on context. I'm a white pansexual female, I'm sure I can't politically correctly relate to a black straight male, but I can easily infer I wouldn't wanna go a KKK meeting or watch gay porn if I was. xD Most struggles are more a problem with the culture than the sexuality.

 

[Noma Galway]

See, what I personally am attempting to do is write a story both about the marginalization my MC, as an agender person, faces and the actual story, in which they are attempting to find someone for their employer (I do intend on that someone to be my MC's love interest). I totally get what you're saying, and I am writing in modern day America, city unspecified. So the culture is fairly mixed in opinion.

 

[Penpilot]

"They" is the pronoun I identify with, so I fully believe it can be used as a singular for my nonbinary character. I'm nervous it will throw readers off, though I'm trying to make it plain that my character uses that pronoun. I will be dealing with social dysphoria, misgendering, and general transphobia throughout the story, too, so I'm not sure how to make it obvious that they're nonbinary without explicitly stating early on.

Personally, I say just do it and let the reader figure it out. If you support the use of the pronoun with some subtle or even some not so subtle cues, your readers should pick up on it, at least the semi-perceptive ones will.

 

[Noma Galway]

I would hope people pick up on it. I'll probably post a bit of the beginning later, when I get it a bit more hashed out.

 

[Caged Maiden]

i have to tell you...all the agents I've queried are looking for LBGTQ work, so if you want me to share some links, let me know. It's something agents are hungry for, for sure. I've even considered dusting off my novella, just because of the sudden surge in popularity.

 

[WooHooMan]

an agender person who is panromantic but demisexual, and the utter lack of LGBTQ+ characters in popular fantasy is becoming really intimidating. Especially talking about pronouns.

"They", to be specific.

"They" is the pronoun I identify with, so I fully believe it can be used as a singular for my nonbinary character. I'm nervous it will throw readers off

This may be a controversial thing to say but I honestly believe that the lack of lgbt characters in any form of fiction right now comes from people not knowing what to do for fear of offending people. Not lgbt people specifically, just anyone.
I really don't think it's a good sign if writers are having trouble with pronouns of all things. Not determiners, interrogative adverbs or discursive particles. Just pronouns.

I know a couple of lgbt people and they tend to be mixed in their reaction to pronouns. Some get upset if you don't use the right pronouns, others don't. I'm also sure that one or two of them would role their eyes at the terms agender, demisexual and panromantic.
As with everything, everyone will have different reactions to different things. So, just go for it and see what happens.

 

[Miskatonic]

This may be a controversial thing to say but I honestly believe that the lack of lgbt characters in any form of fiction right now comes from people not knowing what to do for fear of offending people. Not lgbt people specifically, just anyone.
I really don't think it's a good sign if writers are having trouble with pronouns of all things. Not determiners, interrogative adverbs or discursive particles. Just pronouns.

I know a couple of lgbt people and they tend to be mixed in their reaction to pronouns. Some get upset if you don't use the right pronouns, others don't. I'm also sure that one or two of them would role their eyes at the terms agender, demisexual and panromantic.
As with everything, everyone will have different reactions to different things. So, just go for it and see what happens.

Exactly. No matter what you write you are always going to upset somebody, regardless of how sensitively you treat the issues in the story. Don't get paranoid about it.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Yeah, I think go for it is the best answer here, or at least succinct. However you write it, just write it.

 

[MineOwnKing]

I hate to be the odd man out on this topic, but I have to say, regardless of the fact that 'They' is correct, personally I find it too confusing.

If more and more writers are going to tackle this problem, then I think it's time to invent a new word to replace 'They'.

No offense intended, and with all respect.

 

[Ireth]

I hate to be the odd man out on this topic, but I have to say, regardless of the fact that 'They' is correct, personally I find it too confusing.

If more and more writers are going to tackle this problem, then I think it's time to invent a new word to replace 'They'.

No offense intended, and with all respect.

Some do use pronouns like xe/xir, ze/zir and sie/hir, but the first two sound a bit sci-fi for me. I only use xe/xir in one WIP where the main characters (who include both binary and non-binary) are not human. I've seen at least one character who uses sie/hir, but that was in a private RP in my circle of friends, not something widespread. "They" is the one that works best for me personally, as far as characters go.

 

[Devor]

Ireth had a thread about this.

I think they singular works fine in casual conversation, but in lengthy prose I would find it jarring, myself. But I don't have a better solution, and the problem does reflect reality, doesn't it?

Your target audience for a story like this will probably understand the dilemma, but I don't think it would play well with casual readers. And you may want to take the time to figure out how best to set up your use of it instead of jumping right in with your first sentence.

But I think they is fundamentally flawed for this use in prose. If you pick up a book and flip to a page in the middle, and you read "they walked across the street," you've got the wrong visual image of what's going on. I think that's a problem.

 

[Noma Galway]

Thank you guys for all your responses! I will say I am not concerned about upsetting people...once I jumped in with a very LGBTQ+ story I figured I was probably already upsetting people and I didn't much care. But on the confusion...I definitely hear you, Devor. "They" is so clumsy in prose and at this point I'm thinking of switching to different pronouns, although I'm not nearly as comfortable with their usage. There are so many different pronoun sets (I went through quite a few trying to figure out which ones I was comfortable with), and "they" is just easier, since it is already an accepted word with a dictionary singular definition.

 

[Ireth]

But I think they is fundamentally flawed for this use in prose. If you pick up a book and flip to a page in the middle, and you read "they walked across the street," you've got the wrong visual image of what's going on. I think that's a problem.

Do people typically do that, though? Why would they, rather than starting from the beginning where they'll get the setup needed to establish the character's non-binary-ness?

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

In Cantonese, he and she are both pronounced "kui" but written as 他 (he) and 她 (she). Knowing that, and of masculine/feminine versions of all pronouns in French, I can see that there is a linguistic challenge in all languages. "They is" would take getting used to for me, and I would assume "they" is plural unless I was given the info that the MC thinks of themself as a "them" not a "her."

That's simply my lack of understanding (prior to reading this thread), and not lack of willingness to understand.

So I guess my advice would be to go with what you understand from your own experience. If you prefer "they" over "she," then it's the right pronoun. Now educate your clueless readers with an early scene (or a few).

For a frame of reference, here's how clueless I am: This site is the only place I've known of people calling themselves asexual and nonbinary, and I actually don't know if asexual = nonbinary, or can you be one but not the other. Are all nonbinary people biologically female? Is that a stupid question? I think getting into this character's head would be interesting because I would learn something new.

I think you're the right person to represent nonbinary characters for the same reason I'm the right person to represent biracial characters--personal experience means you get it. The representation will be appreciated by those who can identify, as well as the clueless.

 

[Ireth]

In Cantonese, he and she are both pronounced "kui" but written as 他 (he) and 她 (she). Knowing that, and of masculine/feminine versions of all pronouns in French, I can see that there is a linguistic challenge in all languages. "They is" would take getting used to for me, and I would assume "they" is plural unless I was given the info that the MC thinks of themself as a "them" not a "her."

That's simply my lack of understanding (prior to reading this thread), and not lack of willingness to understand.

So I guess my advice would be to go with what you understand from your own experience. If you prefer "they" over "she," then it's the right pronoun. Now educate your clueless readers with an early scene (or a few).

For a frame of reference, here's how clueless I am: This site is the only place I've known of people calling themselves asexual and nonbinary, and I actually don't know if asexual = nonbinary, or can you be one but not the other. Are all nonbinary people biologically female? Is that a stupid question? I think getting into this character's head would be interesting because I would learn something new.

I think you're the right person to represent nonbinary characters for the same reason I'm the right person to represent biracial characters--personal experience means you get it. The representation will be appreciated by those who can identify, as well as the clueless.

It's "they are", not "they is", just like in normal grammar. You use "is" when mentioning the person by name, though.

Asexual =/= nonbinary, though I'm sure there is some overlap. I'm a cisgender binary female, who also identifies as asexual. Non-binary people can be biologically male, female, or intersex.

 

[WooHooMan]

Hey, quick question: can I write a trans character without them being a representation?

I hate to be the odd man out on this topic, but I have to say, regardless of the fact that 'They' is correct, personally I find it too confusing.

If more and more writers are going to tackle this problem, then I think it's time to invent a new word to replace 'They'.

English did originally have a gender neutral pronoun: it. But around the 1400's "it" became used to refer to inanimate objects so people used "he" as the default when referring to people.
Now most people would say it's deeply offensive to refer to a trans person as "it".

If I'm not mistaken, the term "man" was also, at one point, considered gender neutral.

This is not terribly useful information but it's sort of interesting.

 

[Noma Galway]

Hey, quick question: can I write a trans character without them being a representation?

What do you mean?