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ANGEL MARTINEZ

Hop For Visibility and Equality! Write Even When You're Scared

5/17/2016

15 Comments

 
Hi all! Today is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, and a whole bunch of us are celebrating with the rainbow umbrella because it includes all of us in the rainbow community. Not just the G, L, B and T. Originally, I was going to write about bi-phobia, since that affects me directly, but the umbrella image changed my mind.

This is about writing what you are not.

Picture
I've been involved in and listened to a lot of conversations in writers' groups lately where writers are afraid to write parts of the rainbow they feel they don't "know." Backlash from parts of the community lately fuel this, of course. A fear that the writer will get it wrong, and in the best intended scenarios, a fear that the writer will hurt someone with their ill-conceived words.

I get that. Writers want to write the stories living in their heads, but they don't set out, in the vast majority of cases, to cause harm. Harm can come from a lack of information, or bad information, or making assumptions about a group of people. This is all true. From these fears comes the fear of writing the "other," writing a character who is not like the author. It can be daunting. It can make writers afraid.

There's a big however here. Most people writing queer romance these days are women. Most of the women writing are not gay men. Yet they don't hesitate in that case to write about a group of people that doesn't match who they are. They're already doing it. Sometimes quite well and sometimes not so well, but that's true of any genre.

But, you say, I don't know enough about trans* people. I don't understand what genderqueer means. I don't want to write a bi protagonist, since how do you do that without a threesome? I'll get it wrong! I can't do it!

So writers hesitate and do nothing. Here's the thing. We have a resurgence of all kinds of gay literature and we have so many more men now writing gay romance because women were brave and did it, and were successful doing it. It worked because people who were not gay men wrote gay romance. The volume of stories made them VISIBLE. Following me?

If only transgender people write trans stories, if only bi people write bi stories, if only ace people write asexual stories, these parts of the rainbow don't receive the visibility they need. These readers don't get the stories they need. They don't get the chance for people to understand, to clear up the myths and misconceptions through narrative. They don't get the chance to see themselves represented in their stories.

So, how do you do this without fear?
  • Research - tons of information on the internet. Make sure you're using reliable sources.
  • Ask - find readers who belong to the group you're writing about. No, not everyone in a group has the same experiences or thinks about things the same way, but you will get real information from someone who has lived these experiences.
  • Read - read stories from authors whose identity matches the identity you want to write about. Again, experiences and concerns change from person to person, but you'll get a better understanding this way.
The most important thing? It's all right to be scared. Write it anyway. The world is much more complicated than the sameness, the uniformity we tend to see in books and other media. Write everyone. Make our queer lit community a true rainbow with more than one or two colors.
(I do have a present for one lucky comment-leaver - a copy of Kellen's Awakening (epub or pdf) So tell me what you think. :) )
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Make sure to visit all the lovely folks participating in the hop this week!

Hop for Visibility and Equality Blogs!

15 Comments
laurie
5/17/2016 09:56:59 am

thanks for the great post. the reason why i like reading this genre is being able to learn more about what is like be a part of the lgbt community

Reply
Trix
5/17/2016 12:30:51 pm

You're right...we all need to hear more voices!

Reply
Cornelia
5/17/2016 12:31:26 pm

Thanks for informative post. I appreciate reading this genre because it has open my eyes and made me aware of vast discrimination against LGBT community.

Reply
Jen
5/17/2016 06:36:18 pm

Thank you for the great post! I admire authors who take the time to research and take the risk to write outside their comfort zone. I do wish that the discourse that takes place online could be more civil, respectful and constructive than it sometimes is...

Reply
Lou Sylvre link
5/18/2016 03:33:21 pm

Excellent article, practical advice. Thanks!

Reply
H.B.
5/19/2016 12:53:33 am

I love hearing an author does do research. With books if it's not a text book I don't always expect it to be point on in facts. Books (fictional/non-fiction, etc) should be encourage readers to do their own research too.

Reply
Cia Nordwell link
5/19/2016 12:04:57 pm

Spot on! I've been asked so many times how I can write gay male characters when I'm a woman married to a man and straight, and I often set people aback when I point out being married to a man doesn't make me straight. I have experience that others might not, but do I only write bisexual characters? Nope. It's all about exploring new worlds and broadening my horizons as I do with my characters. After all, I'm never going to travel on a spaceship to another world and meet a humming, vampiric alien... but I write about that!

Reply
B. A. Brock link
5/19/2016 01:53:04 pm

*Runs into your castle with sword held high, screaming*
*stops*
*looks around*
*blinks*
*lowers sword*
Oh. Hi.
*waves*
This was a very nice castle. Thank you.

But seriously, nice post! I think authors confuse the "write what you know" adage. But I can't really blame them. Sometimes writing is full of those delicate lines. On one side is fame and fortune, and the other, hell.

Reply
Cherie Noel link
5/19/2016 08:06:54 pm

Angel,
you are among the few who made me cry happy tears in the reading of their Hop posts. I love you so hard. Yes. Write the scary stuffs too.
Cherie Noel, Hop Admin

Reply
susana
5/20/2016 04:20:55 pm

Thank you for your interesting post. I agree completely, transgender people are unknown and not very popular as main characters till recently. My first encounter with a trans character was a secondary character, a trans girl in a LGBTQ shelter, and I loved her to pieces. I wish there were more books featuring transgender people out there.

Reply
JenCW
5/20/2016 10:47:17 pm

Fantastic post! I totally agree. We need diversity in stories because people are diverse. There has been a lot of bashing and lashing out by people and it's hard enough to see as a reader. A few months ago I read a book with an ace MC. There were people bashing it and the author over the blurb. I read it, and it was like a light bulb went off in my brain. I identified with the struggles that MC had, but a lot of other readers didn't believe/understand what that character was going through.

Reply
Lee Todd
5/20/2016 11:21:47 pm

I actually don't "get" the "right what you know" adage....how many authors are murderers? scientists? vampires? etc
A good story does not need to be something you know...that's why authors are given creative license!

leetee2007(at)hotmail(dot)com

Reply
Sherry S.
5/23/2016 12:54:29 am

Loved your post. Thanks for being part of the hop.
sstrode at scrtc dot com

Reply
Emily link
5/24/2016 10:37:53 pm

Loved the post Angel, since I think it touches on a big problem for authors. I've heard from some of the same fears you mentioned from authors or I've been told that I should write ace characters because I'm asexual. I would love to see more authors taking the plunge and write what they're not as familiar with. And don't be afraid to ask others for their perspectives. I know that I personally am open to helping authors writing asexual characters and have already done so. So go ahead, try something new.

tiger-chick-1(at)hotmail(dot)com

Reply
Sebastian link
7/27/2016 12:33:13 pm

Loved your post. Keep going!

Reply



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    About Angel

    Angel writes (mostly) Science Fiction and Fantasy centered around queer heroes. Currently living part time in the hectic sprawl of northern Delaware and full time inside her head, she has one husband, one son, two cats, a love of all things beautiful and a terrible addiction to the consumption of both knowledge and chocolate.

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