Since I’ve been really into reading books with queer protagonists, and I myself wrote a novella with an aromantic protagonist, I find it interesting the things that go through my own head when creating a character that isn’t heterosexual and cis-gender.

Because I identify as aromantic and asexual, I can easily speak to my own experiences and use those as springboards when creating a character who is also aromantic or asexual. Though the biggest thing for me, and I think that goes for all queer characters, is to not fall into stereotypes, especially for authors who aren’t queer.

I’ve read one too many stories where the main female as a gay best friend who is just so into shopping and always speaks in that stereotypical “gay voice.” Now, I know people like that exist, but not every homosexual on the planet is like that.

You know, like how all humans happen to be different (weird how that works out that way).

I think the other hurdle is not writing an authentic character, but writing authentic reactions from people around the character. For example, I really want to write a story with a trans protagonist or trans character. My issue is that 1) I don’t want to misrepresent the trans community. Regrettably, they have enough people doing that already. 2) I can’t even begin to understand what trans people go through daily when it comes to prejudice. And not having that context, that psychological understanding of a character makes it harder for me to write an authentic character that I would be proud to represent a community.

This goes for any character with a cultural or sociological background that is very emotional and hard to understand unless you’re part of that community.

I’ve heard it from other people too, that they don’t want to make up stories for communities and groups that they’re not part of. It’s an interesting dynamic.

I wonder if that’s why there are so many fantasy novels with a plethora of queer characters. In a world the author invented, they don’t have to worry about Earth’s rules, they can just invent their own.