Writing queer characters, like writing any character, is a complex process with no one direct route through it. There is no one, particular way to construct and write queer lives into our texts, but there are certainly approaches we can take to put us on the right path, alongside pitfalls to avoid.
When characters are thrown into the books we read or shows we watch for the sake of diversity and nothing else, it is likely that they will fall flat and potentially feed dangerous stereotypes. We have all likely seen queer characters in novels, films or shows that fall flat, that feed stereotypes or feel like they've been tacked on in some weak attempt at diversity.
In this guide, we will examine some of the ways in which you can create rich, varied and nuanced characters, while pointing out some of the places to pause and think in order to be aware of how your characters might play into harmful tropes when writing LGBTQIA+ characters.
LGBTQIA+ representation in writing
It is important that our literary landscape represents and engages with characters of diverse and marginalised identities. The reflection of characters with identities who share elements with our own can be incredibly nourishing, providing queer joy and a feeling of being recognised or legitimised.
For representation to work, it needs to be positive – characters need to be more than two-dimensional caricatures. LGBTQ+ characters are often a source of pride or comfort for many individuals.
This doesn’t mean our characters must be wholly good or only have good experiences. Complexity requires much more than that when it comes to any three-dimensional character that we write.
Representation is not a box ticking exercise. Throwing in queer characters into your story for the sake of it and calling it diversity is going to fall very flat, and most likely feel very obvious. Rather than providing your reader with interesting and nuanced characters that may also represent elements of queer experience, it can reinforce harmful stereotypes. It’s important to avoid your character’s identity becoming a gimmick, in which the queer character is a clichéd charade of a real human being.
Consider why you have chosen a queer character and what specificities may be required in writing them robustly. If you feel like you’ve just thrown them in for the sake of it then this guide may help you think through some of these important questions and help you consider the character more fully.
You do not have to identify as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to write queer characters and to do it well. With research, care and attention, you can render characters that members of said community with sensitivity.
LGBTQIA+ character development and plot
No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.
Your characters, queer or not, need to be thought of as whole individual people with richer inner lives and the potential to change or grow in order to write vivid fiction. Characters need to have needs and desires and often need to experience inner or outer conflict in order to develop plot. Being queer is but one facet of your character and it may not be a defining feature.
When building our characters it is very useful to think about their complex and varied needs and desires, and placing a focus on this aspect of character, as opposed to the character’s gender identity or sexuality. This is very helpful in understanding your character more wholly, and in seeing them as more than just a type.
Needs and desires can also help to drive your plot, particularly if there is a conflict between the two. For example, if a character desires a new and very expensive jacket, as a part of their ongoing desire to feel seen in the way that they want to be seen, but they need to save money and be sensible with their finances for purposes of security and stability, we have conflict that can drive our plot forward while developing a character arc.
When considering the plot of your piece in relation to your character, think about why you are choosing certain narratives. For example, queer characters are often depicted in shame narratives, and so it’s important to interrogate this. Is your character undergoing a shame arc purely because they are queer? Is this playing into harmful stereotypes? Or perhaps we only see this queer character in extreme situations, always at hedonistic parties or intense emotion-laden scenes? Would it add more variance to this representation of a queer life to include something of queer domestic life or quiet moments of contentment, your character reading in a park or babysitting for a friend.
Avoiding stereotypes in LGBTQIA+ characters
The best way to avoid stereotyping your queer characters is to know what those stereotypes are. Reading books and watching shows with queer characters will help you to recognise some of the more common stereotypes. Giving your characters depth and a sense of agency will often help to avoid some of these more cliché character elements, though potentially not all of your queer characters will be centre stage and therefore it’s useful to think too how to avoid stereotypes for LGBTQIA+ characters who will have less development in your story.
You may well have heard the terms ‘flat’ and ‘round’ characters. ‘Round’ refers to more robust and developed characters and ‘flat’ refers to those who are there to serve a purpose that isn’t related to robust character development. Often, flat characters can be necessary and are not a bad thing, though if your protagonist is referred to as flat, that probably isn’t ideal!
So what might this mean regarding queer characters in our texts? If you have a cast of queer characters, then there’s a chance you might need some of these characters to be flat, to serve their purpose which is in service to the wider plot or the development of the other characters. If, however, you have a cast of straight characters and one side, flat character who is also LGBTQIA+, you will want to think seriously about where this flatness might be giving way to stereotyping, and what it might mean that your only queer character is only there as a device to develop other aspects of the text.
Examples of queer clichés
The gay best friend
One example of stereotyping through flat characters is that of the gay best friend. The gay best friend comes up so much in popular culture as a figure that advises the protagonist, usually a woman, in some way. The queer man as gay best friend is not a love interest to the protagonist, nor is he a threat. He becomes a kind of mirror for the main character, a place to see themselves or their issues anew, which occasionally involves some sort of fabulous makeover or re-visioning of the main character. But how much depth do these characters usually get?
There are, of course, times where they are an important character, robust and developed in their own right. But oftentimes they are simply the stereotype that I have described, solely existing as a narrative tool for the protagonist’s development. This has various connotations, not least that as this stereotype continues to be used, it suggests that gay men are a device for the development of cis straight women.
The suffering queer person
Another trope that is commonplace is that of the suffering queer person. Now, experiences of suffering or difficulty are a part of many character’s lives, as they are a part of many character’s lives. However, it has become a particular trope in fiction that queer characters undergo so much trauma, so much suffering, that there is very little else in that character’s experience.
When putting your character through trials and tribulations, take some time to reflect on what these plot points are bringing to the wider text, and whether it is reinforcing the idea that queer folk live exclusively traumatic and difficult lives.
Think too about the community your queer character finds themselves in, are they the only queer character in the world of your text? Is this poignant or a symptom of diversity for diversity’s sake in action? Why does this character have no queer friends? These are important questions to ask of writing.
Other queer clichés you should know
There are particular stereotypes that come up with different identities within the LGTBQIA+ banner, such as the aromantic person who experiences little in the way of emotion, the trans person who hates their body or the bisexual with a voracious sexual appetite. Pay attention to the representation of different identities that you have come across to help you avoid falling into these common clichés.
Do your research
Writing very often requires research, and it becomes an essential when writing characters who have quite different identities to our own. When writing queer characters there are certain elements you will likely need to pay close attention to, unless you have first hand experience in a particular community – and even then, the research is useful!
Read books with queer characters
Part of this research should, of course, include reading books with queer characters! Make notes as you read of elements that are perhaps new to you, playing close attention to dialogue, characterisation and overall themes within the books that you read.
Learn queer vocabulary and language
Language is a very important element to pay close attention to. Not every queer person speaks like a cast member of Ru Paul’s Drag Race! The Human Rights Project has a short working glossary of some of the common terms in the LGBTQIA+ community, alongside further resources on queer identities.
Queer communities have expansive dialects, vocabularies and terminologies that vary between intersecting identities, cultures, places and times. Even if a character doesn’t use particular terminology, they will know what it means, and therefore so should you! It’s also important to know where such language comes from. For example, a lot of the vernacular we see from the aforementioned cast members of Ru Paul’s Drag Race has its root in black culture and African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Knowing the history of certain turns of phrase will be useful in decision-making on the language your characters will use, and will raise important questions about the politics of appropriation and how you want to engage with that in your writing.
Learn queer history
Alongside language there are important questions of time and place. The way in which your character moves through the world will often change depending on when and where they are. For example, the character of a trans man in rural West Yorkshire in the 80’s will likely have a different social experience than in contemporary London.
This also requires you to know your history! Queer history has often been erased, and so even if it isn’t coming directly into play in your writing, it’s important to have a sense of history, as this may influence your character’s life in some way. This might be the history of queerness in a certain geographical context, or if your text is set in a historical period then of course you will need to know what life was like for queer people identifying variously throughout the LGBTQIA+ spectrum in that particular time and place.
Sometimes, research can take over from writing. Don’t expect to become the world’s foremost expert on queer history before you can write a single word – sometimes you do have to start writing - just make sure you are engaging actively with research as you go.
Engage the LGBTQIA+ community
If in doubt, find a reader. We are lucky enough to live in a time where sensitivity reading is far more commonplace. Though it is not recommended that you ask queer people to randomly and for free read your text and tell you if it’s okay, you can certainly employ the skills of a sensitivity reader to give your rigorous feedback on your text.
Of course, there are so many different and intersecting identities on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, and so it’s very important not to conflate people into one homogenous queer group, one queer person may not speak for all queer people. In that vein, think carefully about who your sensitivity reader might be.
Take responsibility
Even if you cover all your bases, people’s experience of a text and a character is always subjective. Someone might not like it, as they might not like how you represent a father character or a doctor character. However, those are not considered marginalised identities, and so are less fraught in terms of representation.
Take responsibility for the characterisation and writing you have done, if you receive feedback from members of the community you are representing in text, particularly if you are not a member of that community, take that feedback on board. You might not agree, but it’s useful to have feedback either way.
You are responsible for your writing and your characterisation, regardless of the community they come from or how they identify. This doesn’t mean you should become frozen with self doubt or avoid writing outside of your own experience! It can be so important to our texts to engage with varied and diverse characters, for the sake of the writing itself as well as ideas around representation, so do your research, develop your character and give them a distinctive life on the page.
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