It is no longer tolerated by the masses when a story (on film or on paper) comes out with all-white, all-straight characters. Diversity must be respected, and paid homage to, and it is up to the writer to come to terms with it. This is not to say that history must be reimagined; period pieces should still be true to the time being depicted, and perhaps this is the only time it would be allowable to present a cast of such homogenous characters. But even then, minorities and homosexual have always existed somewhere (they didn't emerge from a vaccuum), and if your story allows, it would be a good idea to touch on them.
And whereas characters of different colors/creeds/countries/religions/cultures SHOULD be presented according to their respective places of origin, writers need to take a different approach when writing characters of homosexual persuasions--the OPPOSITE approach, in fact! Writers should write them as they would write any other characters. That is the secret. For as long as there have been written stories, writers have told tales from the point of view of a member of the opposite sex, so there should be no difficulty based on that fact alone. When a straight male author writes from the perspective of a woman falling in love with a man, it doesn't take much to replace the female character with a male one. To be able to do one should allow for the ability to the other. Unless there is some mental block that must be overcome. And let's face it, writers are people, no different from anyone else, and come with their own sets of hang-ups and deep-rooted prejudices or phobias. It may not be possible for some to put aside these issues in order to write from that mind-set, especially when it takes a strong commitment and desire to walk around inside your main character's psyche, to deliver a persona that is real and true and reaches readers from the page. That doesn't mean such writers should be hated outright, especially when pity and/or understanding may be more called for. Each writer must decide for him- or herself whether they can write homosexual characters and write them in a way that is honest and believable. If unable to, there is the chance that the resulting work will be singled out for its insensitivity and inability to offer a realistic contemporary cast of characters. And no writer would want that. There is enough stacked up against writers to have one more obstacle to a work's success. So unless the character and story calls for a particular stereotypical representation of a homosexual character, the character should be written no differently from any other. I would like to end this with an explanation (and apology) regarding the lack of homosexual characters in my first novel, Canis Sapiens: The Dingo Factor. One of the characters makes a claim that there are no gay Canis sapiens (shapeshifters), implying that such would not fit with their lifestyle of abiding with the laws of nature (which was not really intended to be accepted as fact anyway). If the sequel is ever picked up, we will learn just how true (or rather untrue) this statement actually is. We will also be introduced to a Canis sapien of a different color (in human form I mean, of course). As they try to fit in among humanity, it made perfect sense that they would take the form of those that are the majority, those that they are exposed to the most. This standard is becoming less and less the case, and will be addressed as well. I just wanted to make it clear that I am aware of my own possible indiscretion and have made efforts to prevent repeating it. In bocca al lupo!
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AuthorCreator of the Canis Sapiens series, Anthony Regolino created this blog to discuss his work, upcoming projects, and writing in general. Archives
April 2023
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