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We all have read a lot of fanfictions regarding this book turned TV show: The Vampire Diaries. And most of us are familiar with how the story of Elena Gilbert and the Salvatore brothers go.
But the undeniable point is that th...
Point to be noted: I am not against the whole concept of LGBTQ+. I strongly believe that people should get recognized for what they are and no sort of discrimination (neither racial nor sexual) should exist in the world. All that I write in this chapter and others is not intended to target someone or to cause offence.
I know this is quite a sensitive topic to talk on. And that is why I have included the important point at the start of the chapter. Nevertheless it is not something which I could ignore easily as the main point of this book is writing on what should be done in fanfics and what should not.
It's perfectly fine if you are depicting characters from LGBTQ+ and showing your support through your literary works, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with that.
But there rises a problem when it comes to representing the concept in fanfics. And that problem is exactly what we are going to talk about today.
Recently, there has been a giant influx of stories centered on the LGBTQ+ concept such that there has been formed a separate community for it on Wattpad too. Most of these stories are a breakthrough and nothing short of marvellous but as always, on this book we are discussing the don'ts of such fanfics so I will proceed as such.
What to do when writing LGBTQ+ Fanfics:
1. Say goodbye to poor representation. This is one of the major conflict here with authors. They think they can represent people of different sexualities with ease but in reality they can't. I agree with the quote which says Write What You Know.
If you know a lot about this concept and if you have someone like a close friend or relative who is a les/gay/bi/trans/queer etc and is willing to help you write about your characters, then go ahead.
But if not, then you might have to strongly reconsider the options of you writing such a fic.
2. Stop treating this as a disorder.
It is not a f*cking disorder for people to be different, so deal with it.
I know and I understand that many of you support this concept while a lot others of you feel uncomfortable about LGBT and think it's just a phase in someone's life.
To be honest, this is not a phase. Accept people for what they are because they do want to get recognized in an affirmative way.
So if you are writing a fanfic as such and deciding to show a character who is, say, a lesbian but then ending the story with her coming out of her sexuality phase and getting straight again after meeting the right man and so on and so on, then please... Don't do that. You have no idea how many human feelings you might be damaging.
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3. Stop categorizing everyone into stereotypes.
Fine, I admit, at times you will agree that stereotypes exist and are fairly common but that doesn't mean that you will have to portray said character as a certain stereotype always.
