Noise about Diversity

Hi people!

I want to talk about "diverse" characters in fantasy and sci-fi and I'm not going to try not to step on anyone's toes.

You know what turns me off about a book with 'diverse' characters? Here's an example. Let's say this character's diversity is he's LGBT. He's gay like a peacock. That's cool. I like it (understatement!). However... if I read a blurb and it goes something like: 'gay high orc lord Waldwächter...' or 'twenty-six year old Alex Nano is gay. He's also the superstar of the galactic space emporium battle fleet'... I'm not going to pick up the book.

Look.

I don't care Alex Nano is gay and I don't want to be told this as if it/he's some kind of novelty. At least not in that fist-to-eye way. It's like a warning sign.

'WARNING: THIS BOOK CONTAINS GAY CHARACTERS. READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL.'

Understand: I don't buy books because the main character in your sci-fi epic is gay. I buy it because it's a sci-fi epic and because your character sounds cool and I can't think of anyone who reads a book simply because the main character is in some kind of minority (say he's religious as opposed to the many atheists out there or he's not white). Diversity is a requirement if you want to write a good story. The only occasion in which advertising diversity is acceptable is if a character's race/gender/sexuality/religion/etc is in itself a major plot point or ties into the main plot (like a romance sub-plot in which the subtext of Alex drooling over Richard tells me oh! This is something new. This sci-fi hero has a male love interest? I'm intrigued. I'll immediately buy it and read it in one sitting if the rest of the blurb sounds great too.)

On the other hand if you have to advertise it very bluntly (like a fist to my eye) as if Alex Nano's gayness is his only defining characteristic then I'll Alt+F4 the tab and never look at your book/work again.

I want to read a story about a cool character doing cool things and I don't expect a straight-white-male character when I pick up a book. I expect to be entertained. I expect to meet a great protagonist. It doesn't matter whether she is straight or gay or white or brown or, I don't know, violet. Tell me something different that makes her special. Why is it worth reading about this character? Diversity in itself doesn't mean your character will be interesting - never mind sympathetic - and it doesn't need to be advertised. It should be standard and though I might drool if there's a male same sex romance in it I want to meet all kinds of worthwhile characters of different sexes, sexualities, religions, races, et cetera.

Here's an opposite example: Richard K. Morgan's A Land Fit For Heroes. It's good. Two of the three main characters are LGBT (and one of them is a POC) and yet I *strongly disliked* one of them. Why? Not because the character is LGBT. That didn't matter. I *strongly disliked* this character because they were a god-damned bitch... and my favourite character wasn't the other gay character either.

You see what I'm getting at? There is no need to advertise diversity. There is only a need to include it. I want to meet all kinds of people and live as many lives as possible in one life.


I've one more thing to talk about in this post.

Despite being a straight white woman most of my protagonists are LGBT and POC and all other kinds of people.

Why?

In the same way I'm not interested in reading about the same straight/white/male character in every book and I don't want to write about the same straight/white/male character in every story. I want to create as many experiences as possible and live as many lives as is possible in one life.

But! Haven't I been advocating not to put emphasis on the other-ness of characters because it would defeat the point? Indeed! But writing is a lot like reading (if you're a pantser like me). The story tells itself in many ways. My characters aren't deliberately made dark-skinned or LGTB or even 'different' or 'diverse'. I'm not thinking 'why not make this character gay?' I'm thinking 'who does this character check out at the pool? Men or women? The girl his age or the guy who's two decades older than him? And most of the time I don't think at all. I just write and let the characters tell me who they are at their pace instead of forcing a persona and a plot onto them.

Think you should as well? Give it a try. It doesn't need to be a whole book or a whole story. Just lure in a character and ask them who they are. And then listen.

This is it for today's post. Liked it? Want to know more/see how I do it? Check out my short stories! You can read them all for free if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription (which is useful)! :) Next (Wednesday's!) post will focus more on the writing part of diversity and why most protagonists in sci-fi and fantasy are straight/white/male.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great week!
J.M.