M. KIRIN lol I just started writing a book showed the semi finished copy to my BFFL she was like what is with the girlfriend stuff and not wanting to jump out of the closet yet was like you know I just kinda want to give a little bit of differnce to this book than what I ussaully write 😂
I m a 65 year old straight woman writing my first novel that just happened to have a young gay supporting character. I thought I better do some research and your video popped up. You made me smile, I loved your honesty and advice and although you didn't answer the questions I thought I had, I think you may have answered the questions I didn't know I needed to ask. Thank you! You have a beautiful way about you, I hope life treats you well.
Dumbledore gets better representation as a gay man in AVPM than he does the actual series and if that doesn't show you there's an issue then I don't know what does.
I noticed i tend to downplay sexuality in my characters. Probably because i, personally, have no experience or interest in stuff like relationships. In a response to that realization, i've started to put more focus on it in some places: My lesbian couple are much louder and more confident in their identities than when i first wrote them. Three characters who were trapped in a 'will they, wont they' love triangle finally took the plunge and are now a polyamorous trio. One of my oldest and dearest characters is going through a story arc where they are coming to terms with being non-binary and what that means to them. Hell, as i'm writing this comment i just realized one of my other characters is probably ace. looking forward to ironing that out later. Some of these i can pull from my personal understanding or those i've experienced second hand but others i'm reading up on, making sure i get it right. tangentially related, I recently came up with an idea for a character who lost their arm in an accident. As such, i've been doing research on stuff like amputation and prosthesis. It's important to get the facts straight when you're writing about something that you haven't experienced but other people have.
As a queer and trans person, I'm SO glad you made this video!! This is a way more important topic than people realize. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with fellow writers 💕
This is great, thanks for sharing. I often wondered about this. In my world, people are alien shapeshifters who has magic, can shapeshift into mythical creatures...i did have a way of bringing it into my stories, but from what I seen, I am glad to watch this
This video is a godsend. I wrote an intersex protagonist in a karate novel, and I failed miserably. Readers got offended and I cried because I perceived myself as a bully. I was writing something I didn’t know as well as other people. I wanted a kickass lover hero and the reader’s thought he was the antagonist :(
I gotta disagree about the lone gay friend opinion. As a gay man I do admit I'm likely a part of the minority but most of my friends are actually straight. Most of them I grew up with them, trusted them with my secret going up, had their support when I needed it, and they are some of the people dearest to me. This is likely just a difference of experience because every point you make on it is entirely valid but just felt I had to throw in my two cents.
8:46 You say that, but in high school, and there was one lesbian girl among my friend group of all straight girls (except I was a closeted asexual lesbian). But then again, maybe everyone was closeted, I dunno 🤷♀️
Thank you so much because I'm really excited to write a certain character but I'm not sure what their label would be, but at the same time I don't think its necessary to have one. I know what they like and I'm know what kind of person they are and that's all that needs to come across to the readers. One thing that was at the back of mind that you pointed out was the magical explanation. I will definitely steer clear of that. I was originally going to play it off as a joke for his beauty, but I think others could read too into it and take it seriously, also, that magical element doesn't even really fit in my world, so there is really no need. Thank you again!!! Love you!!!!
I like that you said it can be exhausting to have every lgbt+ character to have their stories be about them learning about their identities. Characters can just be gay or trans or whatever and their role in the story can and should be related to the overarching plot.
I’m gay and I am writing about lgbtq characters , and writing was really therapeutic. Now I do it every day , it helps me through my struggles as well as expressing creativity
I'm so glad I stumbled upon this video. I thought up an idea for a sci fi story a week back about two men from different social classes who come together through a mutual love for their cultural pastime (a competition concerning giant robots). And as I was creating the characters, I suddenly realized they're both gay and I love it! I hope can do justice to the LGBT community with them.
Thank you for making this video, I chose it because I want to represent LGBTQ people well. Thank you for giving me a guide to do that. I swear to represent you well🫡 Thank you🤗
The point about the lone queer friend is absolutely correct. In my personal friend group, almost everyone is LGBTQ+ or questioning, with a few token cis straight people.
In terms of “justifying” the presence of minority characters, I think the felt need to do that comes from stories with a very diverse cast that create the perception that the ratio in the population between straight/gay, cis/trans, white/black etc. were 1:1. If that were the case, though, these groups wouldn’t actually be minorities. A 1:1 ratio of various minorities in the main cast is thus usually an *over-representation.* Yes, the tendency for queer people to have mainly or exclusively queer friends is a plausible way to “explain” this over-representation of queer characters in the main cast of a story (say, in Glee). Some people might regard this “queer people only have queer friends” trope as a cliché or stereotype, though - so I’m kind of glad you confirmed that reality of it. 😉 I actually calculated how many of the 500 people in each generation of my spaceship crew would statistically be LGBT. Going with the percentage of 3.5% in the population, that would be 17.5 people. Going through the list of crew member names, I’ve found there are actually a few more than that, but still within that margin. And yes, I do plan to bring that overall statistic up in one scene - just in case the reader might think queer characters were over-represented on the ship, because they are not. That’s a different thing from how many of them are part of the main cast. In short, they become part of the main cast to the extent that their personal conflicts are relevant to the story. Which is the same criterion as for any other character. In fact, all main characters are built around one potential conflict that could arise between an individual and the setting of a generation ship.
Thank you so much for this. Fiction helped me to be open minded and question things even though I grew up in a small town. Now that I'm older, though, I realize how many of the voices that were represented were white, heterosexual, cysgender, monogamous, and even middle or upper class. I want to be sure that I help people connect with more perspectives than those, and as someone who checks a few of those boxes myself, I'm really thankful for your insight. There'd be no point in writing inauthentic or token lgbtqa+ characters, but without having firsthand experience, this video is a great resource to get me thinking. Thank you :).
I never thought the Dumbledore revelation was on fear. It just never came up in the story because he wasn't a primary focus. Harry and his friends are. But, with Fantastic Beasts reaching more into the history, we may see more of his friendship/relationship with Grindelwald. Loved the video, Max. I haven't been watching because I have been looking at other things for my book and missed them.
Hey Max! thank you for the video! I... uh... I want to apologize firsthand because I bring a little bit of a disagreement rant with me I don't agree with the straight friends bit. Most of my closest, dearest friends are straight males and females. Now I'm all about ending the stupid "token gay friend" stereotype and I completely agree with you there, but I don't think just because you're part of the LGTB+ community you only have to have LGTB+ friends, nor I think peeps outside the community should see it that way. It is true that some things are simpler between us, it's true that we understand each other in a level some straight people might not, but that doesn't mean they don't try, or that they don't care, or that they don't love us. friends are friends and that's what's important. In fact, I would LOVE to see more straight and LGTB+ characters having a healthy friendship where they support and respect each other Everything else, as always, perfect, I agree with all of it, specially the Dumbledore bit. I didn't think about it that way... See you soon, Max!
I think saying gay and straight people will always have friction in their relationships is ironically kind of a bit problematic itself. I’m in a DND group where all of us don’t mind who’s what, and it usually just comes out naturally. (the big pride flag on the store window probably helps)
I’ve always had straight, cis friends, I’ve only ever known one lesbian and one trans person in my entire life, and it’s never been a problem for me, but I’ve always been closeted so who knows if they would’ve suddenly hated me or not
With Dumbledore, keep in mind his age. He went to Hogwarts as a student in the late 1800s. Not exactly the most LGBTQ-tolerant times, not even in the UK. Yes, being a powerful wizard helps - but it doesn’t help you as much if everyone around you is also a wizard. I can somewhat imagine Dumbledore having to be “closeted” during his younger years, and only coming out openly when he was older. Even the main Harry Potter plot is only set in the 1990s. Here in Germany, the infamous § 175 was only abolished in 1994 (the last Harry Potter novel is set in 1997). Do I actually believe Rowling intended for Dumbledore to be gay all along? No, I’m pretty sure she made that up in hindsight. But it’s not openly contradicted by the story events themselves. Especially since we only get to see a Dumbledore above the age of 100 in the main books, I guess most readers (and perhaps Rowling herself) simply assumed that, whatever his orientation, his romantic life had simply come to an end a long time ago already. I mean, is Gandalf’s orientation story-relevant in Lord of the Rings? The actor happens to be gay, but Gandalf’s private life has simply never been shown in the movies. Same for Yoda in Star Wars. Same for Brom in Eragon. The mentor archetype as a trope is often asexual, even if the character embodying that trope in a given story may not be. If anything, one could criticise that this trope carries the notion that elderly people no longer had a love life. One of the few mentor characters I am aware of that actively subverts this trope, perhaps surprisingly, is Terry Goodkind’s old wizard Zedd (both in the books and in the TV series “Legend of the Seeker”).
FYI, Shadowhunters has Alecnus: Alec x Magnus as a gay relationship and I adore it so much because their relationship is so endearing and they eventually get married. The series based off books written by Cassandra Clare, so credit goes to her🤗 Owl House is another one that explores the LGBTQ+ Community in a very endearing way🤗🤗😇
Why Adding Diverse (Original) Chacters to Your Fanfiction Helps Your Writing Gaston Lerouex's "The Phantom of the Opera" has a great basis for positive representation. Erik is deformed and therefore Disabled, the Persian is a person of color, and Christine is a woman. All that was missing was queer people, so it was an easy story to add queer people to. Gorgeous in the original concept was supposed to love drawing and painting, but it practically got cut out in favor of him being Transgender. When I added Missour Gaillard and made him Chief Set Designer, the once-forgotten sketchbook from Chapter One became what makes Goergus more than Transgender, the doll Victoria no longer comes out of nowhere in Chapter Five. It is established that Goergus knows who Police Cimissinor Mifriod is before they meet in "The Trunks Key" Adding more queer characters instead of having Goergus be a token minority made me a better writer.
I always watch videos like this to make sure I am doing things right,cause I am not lgbt+,but it seems like I am doing most these things right,in 2 of my story's the protagonist is lesbain.
Great video! Your best! I can understand why Dumbledore makes you uncomfortable. Hopefully the newer movies will give a more well rounded character. Question/concern for my own novel: I have a character who has Klinefelter syndrome, and he does get killed saving the protagonist. I'm not sure if he counts as "queer" (and if so he isn't the only "queer" character) but I'm now concerned about killing him off. I can't add in a second character with the same syndrome as the mortality rate for people with those kinds of conditions was extremely high. But I don't want a "kill the black sidekick" issue either.
My advice to most people is don't make an lgbt+ character just for represention,when making any character I always decided personality first then as I go along I think what characters do i feel like are lgbt+,because it isn't a personality trait.
Felix Muriki just make her a normal superhero but give her a girlfriend. That's it. Also, don't kill her off in a big crossover story to sell more issues
Would Magical transgender characters be problematic? I’m kinda iffy, but you don’t usually find any surgeons in pure fantasy, so it’s unfortunately the only possible way in that genre from what I know…
I don't think magic for gender affirming care is problematic. My main note in this video was about Queer People that only exist through magical means even though humans don't need magic to be queer. Such as a book having to explain a character being Non-Binary as some mishap of magic rather than... you know, people being non-binary because that's a thing people can be! Hope this helps. Thank you for your question 💚
In recent years, I’ve observed somewhat of a small trend for the “everyman” / “everywoman” protagonist to be bisexual, specifically so that straight and gay people alike can relate to their romantic subplots. I haven’t seen a non-binary “everyperson” protagonist yet, though.
What are your pronouns, Max? Also Your last name is beautiful because a Kirin is a Japanese Spirit that appears in the form of horse that is elusive, incredibly gentle and only appears every 400 years, according to folklore. I l love it and I think that it suits you, you are a kind, sweet person😇😇🤗
Apparently not. There were a few differences mentioned from other characters. There was the point about social circles, which I largely agree with, and there’s the point about being explicit, which I disagree with. Those don’t apply to every other character.
I dont like when they make a character straight but then suddenly attracted to just one other character of the same gender. Not bi but just only attracted to this one character and not both genders. If that makes any sense
Me meo con lo del círculo de amigos. En el mío somos cinco y tres somos del colectivo, a una no le gustan las etiquetas y el otro es muy hetero, y otro de mis amigos los shippea en broma con la excusa de siempre de "anda, pues yo conozco un amigo gay, podeis ser pareja". Últimamente más y más conocidos salen del armario y creo que al final es verdad que no tengo amigos fuera del colectivo excepto por uno 😂😂😂
Step one: write a character just like you would any other Step two: have them be attracted to/have relationships with the same gender instead of the opposite gender Step three: congratulations, that's literally it
@vengeance8298 Now, call me crazy, but I would like it if we could have some queer stories that weren't constantly focused on how terrible and difficult it is to be gay...
@vengeance8298 Yes there is. Good stories get told all the time, you can literally just do that and have the main character be gay, it's not rocket science. It sounds like you just want the story to only be about the fact that they're gay.
You obviously live in a big city. I live in a tiny unincorporated village and am probably the only gay person here. A person finds friends where they are. The two protagonists in my mystery novel are gay. They are just two men who love each other. No excuses needed. Jon in rural BC, Canada
I have a question: so I wrote a story where the main couple is lesbians and they’re pretty well developed and stuff but then I killed one of them to trigger the climax and at the end the other one dies in an epic sacrifice and then they live happily ever after in the afterlife. Would this still be bury your gays trope and is this good representation?
Consider these questions: Are the characters you mentioned the only LGBTQIA+ characters in your story? How are they treated in the world? Do they face discrimination because of their identity? Are they the only ones who have to be 'sacrificed' for the plot? Do you have straight/cis/het characters who get to have a good ending without all this **suffering**? Deeply consider these questions, because the way you framed the story it certainly raised some possible red flags for me. At the end, you want to think what kind of feeling or message you want the reader to take away. The problem with the "kill your gays" trope is that the underlying message is "gay people don't get to be happy or have happy endings" and, I'll just say this bluntly: that's BS. Here's hoping this helps clear things up. Best of luck, writerly friend 👍
@@mistrekirin ok first it’s awesome that you took the time for to reply to me on a three year old video so thank you. Yes my main couple are the only LGBTQIA+ characters in my story, they really could be replaced with a straight couple and it wouldn’t really effect the plot since I kind of decided to make them a couple after I killed the first one and decided that would be great to trigger the climax. There are two other main characters who die for the plot, both presumably straight white males (I say presumably because I only ever confirm that they are male in the text), and both are the main villains who take part in the murder of the first dead lesbian and are killed by the other lesbian for it, I don’t know if this really counts for what you meant though. There is one other straight couple (MCs parents) in the story, it is arguable which couple gets the better ending. The lesbians definitely have a happy ending in the afterlife and will spend eternity together, the straight couple gets to live to tell the tail but they also lose their daughter who brought them back together after being apart for a long time (it’s this whole thing). I personally thing it would have been worse to leave one of the lesbians alive at the end so that’s why I killed them both and gave them a happy ending in the after life.
Can someone help here? I want to write dark fantasy world and lately every show have to have some woke in it so I try to explain without insulting. I'm making fantasy world which has very little concepts of sexuality and so on but if I were to add one how can I make it not so clear but still signs of it? I don't want my characters to talk about this either and it wouldn't have much straight sexual concept just pure darkness and suffering.
You can awlways go back to the good ol classic show dont tell, maybe show them flirting w someone of the same gender- or just checking someone of the same gender out... You dont gotta have huge conversations in ur story about sexuality inorder to express it. Just write it how you would any other romance or show of love :)
Im currently making a fantasy world and i want non binary people in it to be an accepted and prominent gender and/or s3x like man or woman. also have a few different gender expression things specific to them, male and female's gender expressions in the world is already different than real life... So no double standard. Also theres alot of s3xual dismophism between male and female in the human equvilants ((Females have wings and are more adapted to flight, Men have gills and are more adapted to the water)) ... Thinking about calling them 'Xons' making the 'Xons' Have simular Dismorphism ((Perhaps more adapted to land? or maybe a middle between the two?)) ... Also if i do add a 3rd s3x would that not count as non binary even if they use they/them pronouns???? Or would non binary and the 'xons' be different but conincide???? Would making Non binary representation as a 'fantasy thing' be rude to them? Whether or not non binary people are a s3x or a gender in this world ill still make them prominent btw.
![Writing Trans Characters // Part One: What Not To Write // Christopher Drost [CC]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HapBO2WEhik/mqdefault.jpg)
Bonus point: read stories about queer characters *by* queer authors! Buy their books/games! ♥︎
May I ask which books you recommend?
M. KIRIN lol I just started writing a book showed the semi finished copy to my BFFL she was like what is with the girlfriend stuff and not wanting to jump out of the closet yet was like you know I just kinda want to give a little bit of differnce to this book than what I ussaully write 😂
"You're a writer, figure it out." Why is this uplifting?
I m a 65 year old straight woman writing my first novel that just happened to have a young gay supporting character. I thought I better do some research and your video popped up. You made me smile, I loved your honesty and advice and although you didn't answer the questions I thought I had, I think you may have answered the questions I didn't know I needed to ask. Thank you! You have a beautiful way about you, I hope life treats you well.
Dumbledore gets better representation as a gay man in AVPM than he does the actual series and if that doesn't show you there's an issue then I don't know what does.
Rvlakia true tho 😂😂
I noticed i tend to downplay sexuality in my characters. Probably because i, personally, have no experience or interest in stuff like relationships. In a response to that realization, i've started to put more focus on it in some places:
My lesbian couple are much louder and more confident in their identities than when i first wrote them.
Three characters who were trapped in a 'will they, wont they' love triangle finally took the plunge and are now a polyamorous trio.
One of my oldest and dearest characters is going through a story arc where they are coming to terms with being non-binary and what that means to them.
Hell, as i'm writing this comment i just realized one of my other characters is probably ace. looking forward to ironing that out later.
Some of these i can pull from my personal understanding or those i've experienced second hand but others i'm reading up on, making sure i get it right.
tangentially related, I recently came up with an idea for a character who lost their arm in an accident. As such, i've been doing research on stuff like amputation and prosthesis. It's important to get the facts straight when you're writing about something that you haven't experienced but other people have.
As a queer and trans person, I'm SO glad you made this video!! This is a way more important topic than people realize. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with fellow writers 💕
I'm thinking J.K. Rowling only decided that Dumbledore was gay after the books were finished, probably hoping the decision would boost her brand
Agreed. It seemed to pop up right dead smack in the middle of "Diversity = Good. White, Striaght, or cisgender = bad"
This is great, thanks for sharing. I often wondered about this. In my world, people are alien shapeshifters who has magic, can shapeshift into mythical creatures...i did have a way of bringing it into my stories, but from what I seen, I am glad to watch this
This video is a godsend. I wrote an intersex protagonist in a karate novel, and I failed miserably. Readers got offended and I cried because I perceived myself as a bully. I was writing something I didn’t know as well as other people. I wanted a kickass lover hero and the reader’s thought he was the antagonist :(
I gotta disagree about the lone gay friend opinion. As a gay man I do admit I'm likely a part of the minority but most of my friends are actually straight. Most of them I grew up with them, trusted them with my secret going up, had their support when I needed it, and they are some of the people dearest to me. This is likely just a difference of experience because every point you make on it is entirely valid but just felt I had to throw in my two cents.
8:46 You say that, but in high school, and there was one lesbian girl among my friend group of all straight girls (except I was a closeted asexual lesbian). But then again, maybe everyone was closeted, I dunno 🤷♀️
i have 90% straight friends and i''m part of the lgbt lol
thanks for your perspective; i appreciate you! also, i really love the cut scene!
Thank you so much because I'm really excited to write a certain character but I'm not sure what their label would be, but at the same time I don't think its necessary to have one. I know what they like and I'm know what kind of person they are and that's all that needs to come across to the readers. One thing that was at the back of mind that you pointed out was the magical explanation. I will definitely steer clear of that. I was originally going to play it off as a joke for his beauty, but I think others could read too into it and take it seriously, also, that magical element doesn't even really fit in my world, so there is really no need. Thank you again!!! Love you!!!!
I like that you said it can be exhausting to have every lgbt+ character to have their stories be about them learning about their identities. Characters can just be gay or trans or whatever and their role in the story can and should be related to the overarching plot.
Ah.. I have watched some Star Trek since watching this and recognize more of these tropes - specifically a Dax one.
I’m gay and I am writing about lgbtq characters , and writing was really therapeutic. Now I do it every day , it helps me through my struggles as well as expressing creativity
ME TOO! i’m writing a book rn about these 2 lesbians that fall in love at a walmart but one has a gf!
I'm so glad I stumbled upon this video. I thought up an idea for a sci fi story a week back about two men from different social classes who come together through a mutual love for their cultural pastime (a competition concerning giant robots). And as I was creating the characters, I suddenly realized they're both gay and I love it! I hope can do justice to the LGBT community with them.
Thank you for enlightening me. This is your best video to date.
Thank you for making this video, I chose it because I want to represent LGBTQ people well.
Thank you for giving me a guide to do that.
I swear to represent you well🫡
Thank you🤗
The point about the lone queer friend is absolutely correct.
In my personal friend group, almost everyone is LGBTQ+ or questioning, with a few token cis straight people.
In terms of “justifying” the presence of minority characters, I think the felt need to do that comes from stories with a very diverse cast that create the perception that the ratio in the population between straight/gay, cis/trans, white/black etc. were 1:1. If that were the case, though, these groups wouldn’t actually be minorities. A 1:1 ratio of various minorities in the main cast is thus usually an *over-representation.*
Yes, the tendency for queer people to have mainly or exclusively queer friends is a plausible way to “explain” this over-representation of queer characters in the main cast of a story (say, in Glee). Some people might regard this “queer people only have queer friends” trope as a cliché or stereotype, though - so I’m kind of glad you confirmed that reality of it. 😉
I actually calculated how many of the 500 people in each generation of my spaceship crew would statistically be LGBT. Going with the percentage of 3.5% in the population, that would be 17.5 people. Going through the list of crew member names, I’ve found there are actually a few more than that, but still within that margin. And yes, I do plan to bring that overall statistic up in one scene - just in case the reader might think queer characters were over-represented on the ship, because they are not.
That’s a different thing from how many of them are part of the main cast. In short, they become part of the main cast to the extent that their personal conflicts are relevant to the story. Which is the same criterion as for any other character. In fact, all main characters are built around one potential conflict that could arise between an individual and the setting of a generation ship.
Thank you so much for this. Fiction helped me to be open minded and question things even though I grew up in a small town. Now that I'm older, though, I realize how many of the voices that were represented were white, heterosexual, cysgender, monogamous, and even middle or upper class. I want to be sure that I help people connect with more perspectives than those, and as someone who checks a few of those boxes myself, I'm really thankful for your insight. There'd be no point in writing inauthentic or token lgbtqa+ characters, but without having firsthand experience, this video is a great resource to get me thinking. Thank you :).
I never thought the Dumbledore revelation was on fear. It just never came up in the story because he wasn't a primary focus. Harry and his friends are. But, with Fantastic Beasts reaching more into the history, we may see more of his friendship/relationship with Grindelwald.
Loved the video, Max. I haven't been watching because I have been looking at other things for my book and missed them.
Hey Max! thank you for the video! I... uh... I want to apologize firsthand because I bring a little bit of a disagreement rant with me
I don't agree with the straight friends bit. Most of my closest, dearest friends are straight males and females. Now I'm all about ending the stupid "token gay friend" stereotype and I completely agree with you there, but I don't think just because you're part of the LGTB+ community you only have to have LGTB+ friends, nor I think peeps outside the community should see it that way. It is true that some things are simpler between us, it's true that we understand each other in a level some straight people might not, but that doesn't mean they don't try, or that they don't care, or that they don't love us. friends are friends and that's what's important. In fact, I would LOVE to see more straight and LGTB+ characters having a healthy friendship where they support and respect each other
Everything else, as always, perfect, I agree with all of it, specially the Dumbledore bit. I didn't think about it that way...
See you soon, Max!
Awesome vid! Helped me through writer's block! Super informative! Lotta heart and insight
I think saying gay and straight people will always have friction in their relationships is ironically kind of a bit problematic itself. I’m in a DND group where all of us don’t mind who’s what, and it usually just comes out naturally. (the big pride flag on the store window probably helps)
I’ve always had straight, cis friends, I’ve only ever known one lesbian and one trans person in my entire life, and it’s never been a problem for me, but I’ve always been closeted so who knows if they would’ve suddenly hated me or not
With Dumbledore, keep in mind his age. He went to Hogwarts as a student in the late 1800s. Not exactly the most LGBTQ-tolerant times, not even in the UK. Yes, being a powerful wizard helps - but it doesn’t help you as much if everyone around you is also a wizard. I can somewhat imagine Dumbledore having to be “closeted” during his younger years, and only coming out openly when he was older. Even the main Harry Potter plot is only set in the 1990s. Here in Germany, the infamous § 175 was only abolished in 1994 (the last Harry Potter novel is set in 1997).
Do I actually believe Rowling intended for Dumbledore to be gay all along? No, I’m pretty sure she made that up in hindsight. But it’s not openly contradicted by the story events themselves. Especially since we only get to see a Dumbledore above the age of 100 in the main books, I guess most readers (and perhaps Rowling herself) simply assumed that, whatever his orientation, his romantic life had simply come to an end a long time ago already.
I mean, is Gandalf’s orientation story-relevant in Lord of the Rings? The actor happens to be gay, but Gandalf’s private life has simply never been shown in the movies. Same for Yoda in Star Wars. Same for Brom in Eragon. The mentor archetype as a trope is often asexual, even if the character embodying that trope in a given story may not be.
If anything, one could criticise that this trope carries the notion that elderly people no longer had a love life. One of the few mentor characters I am aware of that actively subverts this trope, perhaps surprisingly, is Terry Goodkind’s old wizard Zedd (both in the books and in the TV series “Legend of the Seeker”).
FYI, Shadowhunters has Alecnus: Alec x Magnus as a gay relationship and I adore it so much because their relationship is so endearing and they eventually get married.
The series based off books written by Cassandra Clare, so credit goes to her🤗
Owl House is another one that explores the LGBTQ+ Community in a very endearing way🤗🤗😇
I'll be honest - I'd rather have no representation in a piece of media than bad representation.
Why Adding Diverse (Original) Chacters to Your Fanfiction Helps Your Writing
Gaston Lerouex's "The Phantom of the Opera" has a great basis for positive representation. Erik is deformed and therefore Disabled, the Persian is a person of color, and Christine is a woman. All that was missing was queer people, so it was an easy story to add queer people to. Gorgeous in the original concept was supposed to love drawing and painting, but it practically got cut out in favor of him being Transgender. When I added Missour Gaillard and made him Chief Set Designer, the once-forgotten sketchbook from Chapter One became what makes Goergus more than Transgender, the doll Victoria no longer comes out of nowhere in Chapter Five. It is established that Goergus knows who Police Cimissinor Mifriod is before they meet in "The Trunks Key" Adding more queer characters instead of having Goergus be a token minority made me a better writer.
I 100000000% agree that lgbt+ people stick together and have all/mostly gay friends, both in reality and fiction
I always watch videos like this to make sure I am doing things right,cause I am not lgbt+,but it seems like I am doing most these things right,in 2 of my story's the protagonist is lesbain.
GAAAAHH YOUR WINK KILLED MEEE
Yo this is an amazing video :)
Great video! Your best!
I can understand why Dumbledore makes you uncomfortable. Hopefully the newer movies will give a more well rounded character.
Question/concern for my own novel:
I have a character who has Klinefelter syndrome, and he does get killed saving the protagonist. I'm not sure if he counts as "queer" (and if so he isn't the only "queer" character) but I'm now concerned about killing him off. I can't add in a second character with the same syndrome as the mortality rate for people with those kinds of conditions was extremely high. But I don't want a "kill the black sidekick" issue either.
When you said the name elenore at the end it caught my attention because its my name. Also wonderful video
My advice to most people is don't make an lgbt+ character just for represention,when making any character I always decided personality first then as I go along I think what characters do i feel like are lgbt+,because it isn't a personality trait.
Hi.Nice tips.I really wonder how can a person example like me when creating a lesbian superhero.What are some tips in creating lesbian superhero ?
Felix Muriki just make her a normal superhero but give her a girlfriend. That's it. Also, don't kill her off in a big crossover story to sell more issues
Just write a good superhero and make her gay
Would Magical transgender characters be problematic? I’m kinda iffy, but you don’t usually find any surgeons in pure fantasy, so it’s unfortunately the only possible way in that genre from what I know…
I don't think magic for gender affirming care is problematic. My main note in this video was about Queer People that only exist through magical means even though humans don't need magic to be queer. Such as a book having to explain a character being Non-Binary as some mishap of magic rather than... you know, people being non-binary because that's a thing people can be! Hope this helps. Thank you for your question 💚
In recent years, I’ve observed somewhat of a small trend for the “everyman” / “everywoman” protagonist to be bisexual, specifically so that straight and gay people alike can relate to their romantic subplots. I haven’t seen a non-binary “everyperson” protagonist yet, though.
I assumed Frisk in the game Undertale is non-binary.
Hey Max! I know this is kind of weird, but can we have a day in the life kind of video?
What are your pronouns, Max?
Also Your last name is beautiful because a Kirin is a Japanese Spirit that appears in the form of horse that is elusive, incredibly gentle and only appears every 400 years, according to folklore. I l love it and I think that it suits you, you are a kind, sweet person😇😇🤗
My pronouns are they/them!
Thank you! 🤗
Did I say something wrong?
I associate you with the Kirin because they are gentle and good-natured beings, like you🤗🤗
Did we really need a 20+ minute video when "Write them as you would any other character" would be enough?
unforunately so
Because people are stupid
Apparently not. There were a few differences mentioned from other characters. There was the point about social circles, which I largely agree with, and there’s the point about being explicit, which I disagree with. Those don’t apply to every other character.
How is being explicit a positive...I mean, that's like one of my character to go "I'm a sadist"
Mr. Wicked exactly.
I'm creating queer characters so can u give me advice?
I dont like when they make a character straight but then suddenly attracted to just one other character of the same gender. Not bi but just only attracted to this one character and not both genders. If that makes any sense
Me meo con lo del círculo de amigos. En el mío somos cinco y tres somos del colectivo, a una no le gustan las etiquetas y el otro es muy hetero, y otro de mis amigos los shippea en broma con la excusa de siempre de "anda, pues yo conozco un amigo gay, podeis ser pareja".
Últimamente más y más conocidos salen del armario y creo que al final es verdad que no tengo amigos fuera del colectivo excepto por uno 😂😂😂
I'm writing a superhero book about a pansexual man and it's based on me , and I just wanted to know if I can share it with u
Just found you! Loved the video!
Step one: write a character just like you would any other
Step two: have them be attracted to/have relationships with the same gender instead of the opposite gender
Step three: congratulations, that's literally it
@vengeance8298 Now, call me crazy, but I would like it if we could have some queer stories that weren't constantly focused on how terrible and difficult it is to be gay...
@vengeance8298 Wow if only there was something in between...
@vengeance8298 Yes there is. Good stories get told all the time, you can literally just do that and have the main character be gay, it's not rocket science. It sounds like you just want the story to only be about the fact that they're gay.
You obviously live in a big city. I live in a tiny unincorporated village and am probably the only gay person here. A person finds friends where they are.
The two protagonists in my mystery novel are gay. They are just two men who love each other. No excuses needed.
Jon in rural BC, Canada
I have a question: so I wrote a story where the main couple is lesbians and they’re pretty well developed and stuff but then I killed one of them to trigger the climax and at the end the other one dies in an epic sacrifice and then they live happily ever after in the afterlife. Would this still be bury your gays trope and is this good representation?
Consider these questions: Are the characters you mentioned the only LGBTQIA+ characters in your story? How are they treated in the world? Do they face discrimination because of their identity? Are they the only ones who have to be 'sacrificed' for the plot? Do you have straight/cis/het characters who get to have a good ending without all this **suffering**?
Deeply consider these questions, because the way you framed the story it certainly raised some possible red flags for me. At the end, you want to think what kind of feeling or message you want the reader to take away. The problem with the "kill your gays" trope is that the underlying message is "gay people don't get to be happy or have happy endings" and, I'll just say this bluntly: that's BS.
Here's hoping this helps clear things up. Best of luck, writerly friend 👍
@@mistrekirin ok first it’s awesome that you took the time for to reply to me on a three year old video so thank you. Yes my main couple are the only LGBTQIA+ characters in my story, they really could be replaced with a straight couple and it wouldn’t really effect the plot since I kind of decided to make them a couple after I killed the first one and decided that would be great to trigger the climax. There are two other main characters who die for the plot, both presumably straight white males (I say presumably because I only ever confirm that they are male in the text), and both are the main villains who take part in the murder of the first dead lesbian and are killed by the other lesbian for it, I don’t know if this really counts for what you meant though. There is one other straight couple (MCs parents) in the story, it is arguable which couple gets the better ending. The lesbians definitely have a happy ending in the afterlife and will spend eternity together, the straight couple gets to live to tell the tail but they also lose their daughter who brought them back together after being apart for a long time (it’s this whole thing). I personally thing it would have been worse to leave one of the lesbians alive at the end so that’s why I killed them both and gave them a happy ending in the after life.
@@hungryhungryhippos1116 no problem, always glad to be able to help people. 👍
Can someone help here? I want to write dark fantasy world and lately every show have to have some woke in it so I try to explain without insulting. I'm making fantasy world which has very little concepts of sexuality and so on but if I were to add one how can I make it not so clear but still signs of it? I don't want my characters to talk about this either and it wouldn't have much straight sexual concept just pure darkness and suffering.
You can awlways go back to the good ol classic show dont tell, maybe show them flirting w someone of the same gender- or just checking someone of the same gender out... You dont gotta have huge conversations in ur story about sexuality inorder to express it. Just write it how you would any other romance or show of love :)
Im currently making a fantasy world and i want non binary people in it to be an accepted and prominent gender and/or s3x like man or woman. also have a few different gender expression things specific to them, male and female's gender expressions in the world is already different than real life... So no double standard.
Also theres alot of s3xual dismophism between male and female in the human equvilants ((Females have wings and are more adapted to flight, Men have gills and are more adapted to the water)) ... Thinking about calling them 'Xons' making the 'Xons' Have simular Dismorphism ((Perhaps more adapted to land? or maybe a middle between the two?)) ...
Also if i do add a 3rd s3x would that not count as non binary even if they use they/them pronouns???? Or would non binary and the 'xons' be different but conincide????
Would making Non binary representation as a 'fantasy thing' be rude to them? Whether or not non binary people are a s3x or a gender in this world ill still make them prominent btw.