7 Tips for Writing Queer Characters

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Article by: L. L. Wright, freelance writer at Globe Soup.

As writers, we often hear the old adage “Write what you Know”, but you’ll find much discussion online as to how best to interpret this advice. 

In my opinion, you should not let it put you off writing a diverse cast of characters in your stories, including members of the LGBT+ community. If every character was essentially a clone of you, it would make for a rather dull story. And if only queer writers write about queer characters, it would make for a sad lack of representation in literature. After all, we all want to see ourselves represented in our favourite novels and TV programs, to find characters we can identify with, and that means that all writers have a responsibility to include a wide range of characters in their stories, and the responsibility shouldn’t always fall on those that come from these particular communities. Of course, this does not mean that writers who do come from marginalized communities do not also need to be elevated and given a voice.

Writing characters who are not like you can be scary, especially if you’re conscious of causing offence somehow. So I’ve assembled some tips to help reassure and encourage those of you who are looking to include some wonderful queer representation in your stories.

Read Stories by Queer Authors

I start with this tip because, despite not being straight or male or cisgender, I have never worried about including characters in my stories who are. It never even occurred to me that it was something I couldn’t do or would struggle with. The reason for that is that the vast majority of the media I’ve consumed — the books I’ve read, the films I’ve watched, the songs I’ve listened to — have been written by or about or from the perspective of those types of characters.

We all know what it is to feel like you’ve stepped into someone's shoes when reading a truly great story, to have seen the world through their eyes. Amassing the knowledge that comes from reading stories outside of my own personal experiences has helped me understand how to write those characters and stories myself. And the same goes for any type of character, not just LGBTQIA+.

So before trying to write your own queer characters, it’s a good idea to see how others have done it (especially queer authors).

You can find any number of lists of LGBT+ books. Penguin Random House has a great list of LGBTQ and Pride books on their website. Good Housekeeping has one also, and so does Pan Macmillan.

Do Your Research

As well as reading fictional stories about queer characters by queer authors, it’s also important to do your own research. And I’m afraid that this single article isn’t enough on its own. The LGBT+ community is diverse, full of complex differing people. We are not a monolith. It is therefore important to seek out stories and opinions and information from many different people who share the sexuality or gender identity of the character you are trying to write. And make sure you’re going to first-hand sources rather than reading articles about LGBT+ people rather than by them.

Community forums are a great place to start. Go to Reddit or Tumblr and search for the community your character is from. You’ll find loads of people sharing their thoughts, their experiences, their hopes, and just generally existing as their authentic selves. But an important caveat to add here is not to be intrusive in your research. It’s not the job of queer people to educate straight people about their lives, especially not for free. Remember, you are a guest in these spaces and should do your best not to make anyone feel uncomfortable.

Another great resource is blog posts. The great thing about the internet is that loads of people share the details of their day-to-day lives for all to read. This will provide a great insight into details that might never have occurred to you about what it’s like to live as a trans man or a pansexual woman or whatever identity you are trying to write.

And remember, draw from multiple sources. No two people are alike so finding multiple insights will allow you to draw on different aspects and elements that are relevant for your characters. It’s also important that you use your research to help understand your characters better. You shouldn’t takes the specific experiences of real people to use in your fiction without permission.

Write Full and Complex Characters

Perhaps this goes without saying, but it’s always worth a reminder. Remember that queer characters in a lot of ways will be just like straight, cis-gendered ones. Their queerness is not their only defining characteristic. Ensure you pay as much attention to building up the other aspects of their personalities and backstories as you would for any character.

Queerness Doesn’t Have to be Central to the Plot

This links to the previous tip. Your characters should have many aspects to their lives and goals. Having queer characters in exciting adventures in sprawling fantasy lands or in futuristic wars set in a post-apocalyptic world is wonderful representation. It lets people see themselves in the heroic characters of their favourite stories.

Only writing queer characters when the story is about their queerness, then forgetting they exist in every other story will always seem a little odd to me. Given queer people exist, why shouldn’t they get to be a part of every kind of story?

In addition, if you are not part of the community you are writing about, writing a story focused solely on coming out or transitioning is going to be very challenging. There are some things (deeply emotional and personal things) where lived experience is just invaluable.

Avoid Tokenism

Just as it’s important to include queer characters whose queerness isn’t the focus of the story, it’s also important not to think of it as a tick-box exercise — including a token queer character whose queerness could easily be lifted out of the plot with no ramifications for their character or the story at all.

One good way to avoid this is to follow the tips here, ensuring any queer characters are fully fleshed out, complex individuals. 

Another way is to include multiple queer characters. This also lets you display the diversity within whichever communities you are drawing from.

Avoid Stereotypes and Harmful Tropes

While stereotypes and tropes can be fun to play with and subvert, it’s important to have an awareness of them and avoid falling into harmful ones.

Most people are probably aware of the “Gay Best Friend” trope. That’s not to say your main character can’t have a best friend who is gay, it just means you have to avoid leaning heavily on stereotypes and ensure he has a full life himself outside of the friendship.

Another common trope is to “Bury Your Gays”, whereby queer characters often meet tragic ends. Again, that’s not to say you can’t ever kill queer characters off, but if the only LGBT+ character in your story is the only one who is dead by the end perhaps consider carefully why it has to be that character that dies, or why you can’t have more LGBT+ characters in general.

And as for stereotypes, simply following the other tips about research should help you avoid falling into that pitfall.

Get Feedback

Perhaps one of the most important tips for writing anything in general. Feedback is an invaluable tool. If you have friends who are from the community you’re trying to represent that wouldn’t mind reading your work, great! If not, finding sensitivity readers or beta readers online could be really helpful.

I hope you find these tips helpful in writing queer characters. If I can just leave you with some parting advice: Don’t be scared to make a mistake. We all learn as we go. And as long as you approach things with an open mind, willing to learn, you can’t go too far wrong.

L. L. Wright is a physicist by day and a freelance writer by night. They came to fiction writing as a way to escape to worlds they could fully control, unlike their plasma physics experiments and simulations. They enjoy playing in different genres and forms of writing, finding something to love in almost all of them, and they're keen to share that love with anyone who'll listen. Their micro horror story "Don't Drink" was published on 101 Words, their short horror story "The Call of the Sea" will be published in Black Hare Press's *YEAR FIVE: Dark Moments and Patreons*, and their romance flash-fiction piece "Love Forty" will soon be available on the Calliope Interactive App. They also regularly post short stories and chapters of ongoing web serials to their subreddit.