Patrick Scattergood's Blog: Tales to Tell - Posts Tagged "pride"

It's slightly more than half way through Pride Month and it's made me start thinking about my own story. My story about how I came out, how I became more confident in myself and how I identify.

I've always identified and put myself forward as nonbinary and pansexual but I've also been very private about it for years. There's always been a lot of stigma around not being straight. There's always been a lot of stigma around not identifying as the stereotypical man or woman. I hate that.

So recently, I've been putting it out there a lot more often. I've been adding that I am an LGBTQ+ writer to my posts on my social media. I've been talking about how I identify more often on my personal social media too. It has felt like a more confident me and that, that I like.

What I haven't liked is the fresh torrent of homophobia I get. It seems to be the more I talk about it, the more abuse I get. It's an effort, I feel, to get LGBTQ+ creators to stay behind the curtain, so to speak. I'm not going to be doing that. Quite the opposite.

Someone on Twitter described Mother, Dearest and The Man Who Died Twice, as "gay shit with magic" and, at first, I was offended. Then I started thinking more about that. I'm an LGBTQ+ writer. So, yes, I do have LGBTQ+ characters and I am proud of that. I'm also proud of someone thinking that describing my work as "gay shit with magic" was an insult whereas I have turned it around in to being a compliment. I put out an advert with that quote and it brought LGBTQ+ readers and allies to my books. I'm thankful for that. I've had the most supportive of messages, some wonderful reviews and even made some amazing friends from the whole thing.

So, be yourself. Love who you want to love. Identify how you want to. Just be you and be proud.

I was asked a good question yesterday. A person reading Mother, Dearest asked me why I not only included so many LGBTQ+ characters in it but also why I had specifically made the character of Satara nonbinary.

It made me think. It was a good question after all. They meant it in a nice way, as they were enjoying the character a lot. In fact, they even said it was nice to see a nonbinary character in a dark urban fantasy setting. It still left me wondering about something. Why were they so surprised that I had such a character?

Well, my friends, that is a question that can be rather easily answered. It sounds like it's going to be a rant but the answer boils down to one, simple thing. LGBTQ+ representation of any kind, is seen as surprising because it's not put forward as much by authors/publishers as straight representation.

When publishers do put out stories with LGBTQ+ characters in, it can sometimes feel like they are doing it to tick boxes, to give themselves a pat on the back. That, as both a reader and an author, annoys me no end. It makes the LGBTQ+ community seem almost like a gimmick for them to put out to sell books.

Satara, who is a siren in both the Mother, Dearest books, is nonbinary and deliberately presents themselves however they want in the book. In one scene, they're in clothing that would typically be described by writers as being feminine, other scenes in clothes that writers may describe as masculine. I love how the character straddles that line. They are neither, they wear what they want and present how they want. There is no ulterior motive to the way they dress. They chose things that they want to wear. Simple as that. It's the same with their personality. Yes, they can put themselves forward as camp, funny, sometimes feminine/sometimes masculine, sometimes scared, sometimes brave. I wanted them to be a character with multiple layers and I hope that I have achieved that with my writing. I wanted them to be funny and sometimes, at the wrong moments, be rather inappropriate with some of their quips. I deliberately wanted them to put forward that they are this brash, loud character but with a mountain of insecurities.

The selfish reason I did this was the simple fact that I, as someone who identifies as a nonbinary pansexual, I rarely saw anyone like that in books and when I did, the writers wrote them in such a way that that's all they were but with no personality. I hated that. Every person, regardless of their orientation/how they present/race etc have their own personalities. So, Satara's personality is one that is simply a person trying to get on with the world. They have secrets. They have abilities. They have flaws.

It's the same with my other characters. Naz is the complete polar opposite. They're crippled with self doubt, they were forced to hide their sexuality whereas Satara is out and proud of theirs.

I hope, to a selfish degree, that the people that have read my work, enjoy the characters I create as much as I enjoy creating them.

Love you all, keep safe.

Pat