Worstgen

Jew D. Boy

Yo! Well, this probably comes as no surprise, but I absolutely believe in adding LGBTQIA+ characters in my work and have tried to include a few whenever possible. As a straight cis man, I wanna make sure they are as fleshed out as any others; being gay, lesbian, or trans shouldn’t be the only or most important quality they have.

Jew D. Boy

I almost feel embarrassed saying this to you because it’s so fucking obvious, but I just...write them like I would anybody else? I tend to give all my characters my voice, but also qualities that I don’t possess.

Jew D. Boy

Might just need to send you my novel for you to decide for yourself how I’ve done, been dancing around letting you check it out anyway 🥶

Den_Den_Mushi

Yeah I write them like I’d write any other character. For example in Briar’s chapter, she mentions having dabbled in romance so given that she lives in Amazon Lily, it’s pretty obvious that they were with women. But it’s meant to be a passing detail rather than shoehorning her into the tokenistic LBGT woman role.

Den_Den_Mushi

Idk if you watch RWBY but their LGBT romance is absolute garbage and just consumes every facet of both characters. There’s literally a scene where one of the characters ignores her uncle who can’t even walk, is drunk and having a depressive episode to grab her girlfriend’s hand and leave the room while the building is on fire. Can’t get any worse than that.

Den_Den_Mushi

Id love to read your novel if you ever wanted to send it over! How long is it atm? Got any ideas about how it’s going to progress?

Jew D. Boy

Definitely picked up on that when I read it, but it was still subtle and executed perfectly! Never seen RWBY, and by the sound of it, I...don’t really think I will anytime soon. As far as the novel, I’ll tell you a bit more in a minute 😏

Den_Den_Mushi

RWBY used to be decent but their obsession with shipping and their over-reactiveness to any form of social media criticism has caused the writing to go off the rails. This series is one of the very few examples I can think of where diversity (or a terrible attempt at it anyway) actually detracted from the story.

Den_Den_Mushi

There was also a ham-fisted metaphor for racial segregation but it really didn't work since they only told us that this group was oppressed and never showed us anything, the so-called leader of the segregated resistance group went from a vigilante extremist to an obsessed stalker running after his ex girlfriend 24/7. It was a fucking hot mess.

Den_Den_Mushi

There are also hints as to other LGBT characters within the story and there will be a storyline focusing on the Kuja as a small tribe that has yet to open up to the world (think something like Wakanda but minus the vibranium that everyone wants). I also don't want to gloss over Iris's biracial identity since in chapter 4 her Kuja upbringing does come into conflict with Mihawk and Luffy's values.

Jew D. Boy

That’s the problem with trying to write for characters with different lives and experiences than yourself, it’s a fine line between representation and exploitation (or turning them into exaggerated caricatures)...although it sounds like they weren’t really trying that hard in RWBY, God damn...

Jew D. Boy

I can’t wait to meet the ones we haven’t seen yet, but I already dig the queer vibe, you’ve done a terrific job of making it just noticeable enough without crossing that line I just described 😎

Den_Den_Mushi

Yeah honestly RWBY should have just left all those plotlines out completely. The execution was Oden level - they thought people would love it but got the exact opposite reaction. To be fair they also make the same fuckup on plotlines unrelated to diversity as well.

Den_Den_Mushi

Writing characters different from you is a real challenge; I’m asexual for example so any kind of romance with a physical element is a struggle 😆 Writing characters like Briar or Hancock who are open about their sexuality or use sexuality as a weapon are also foreign to me but I enjoy writing them nonetheless.

Den_Den_Mushi

Have you watched BoJack Horseman? Their treatment of the Ace character Todd is superb. He has a character arc exploring and coming to terms with his asexuality, but it’s not the only thing about him and he was never introduced to fill that token role. I try to model my characters on him when writing those who are very different to me.

Jew D. Boy

I was in on BoJack from the very beginning, and I have long been impressed with how well they handled Todd; he was just a goofy dipshit who happened to be asexual, not the other way around, and they even made the distinction between asexuality and aromanticism, which I found extremely interesting. Fuck, now I wanna binge that whole series this weekend...

Jew D. Boy

I can tell you this much - you do an excellent job of writing characters across any type of spectrum, it’s clear that you know how to capture someone’s voice regardless of whether or not you view the world as they do! 👍🙌

Den_Den_Mushi

Thanks man! I’m always inspired by series like BoJack in their ability to portray complex, three dimensional characters that aren’t defined by any single trait. I’ve always tried to give all my characters a unique voice and motivations, I’ve got a couple coming up that I’m excited for you to see!