Characters Out of the closet, and on the boards - 'Gay' characters in a GFFA See first post 30 May. 15

Due to the new rules *Halla-freaking-LUJA* It's time for me to fully step away and let the NEW generation of writers take on the mantle of 'Movers and Shakers' and all around rabble-rousers.

With that in consideration, I'm LOCKING this thread so it can be started anew with the fresh and eager folks taking up the reigns.

Kindly don't forget those who came beofre, and those who will come after, and always, write from the heart...

Love,

Breezy

AKA

Paulie







First off, a warning - the title is VERY CLEAR - this thread is about writing OC characters who happen to be attracted to members of the same gender. If this squicks you out - hit the BACK button right now.*

Per the 'rules of the world' (AKA from Lucasfilm and George himself) Luke, Han, Leia, Anakin, Padme, Obi-Wan, Qui-gon and any official characters from the Star Wars Universe (this includes the EU unless they are written that way,) are strictly heterosexual - so says the Maker, so those rules apply here.

Per the rules of the boards - you can have gay OC's - but you must keep it.. in a word, subtle and not the 'blatant' - think Neil Patrick Harris as apposed to Harvey Firestein... Besides, being perfectly frank here, if 'being gay' is the only thing that makes your character who he or she an interesting, good character, and they spend the entire story waving the rainbow flag and trying to get busy - do us all a favor and just take it over to fan fiction.net, or Sith chicks, or a myriad of other places where PWP is completely acceptable. This is about story and believable characters.

Here's the OFFICIAL word on the subject...

As defined by the TFN Archive lexicon, slash fiction is "fanfic featuring people of the same gender romantically involved." The JC does not permit such stories, including fiction of other genres that while not technically slash contain some of the elements that make up a slash fic. As they are used in officially released material, allusions and innuendo are permissible so long as they remain ambiguous and are in reference to original characters.

They say, "Write what you know" but GOOD authors are always trying to explore other worlds, other lives - if we only 'wrote what we knew' the world would be pretty boring - and if you limit that even further - 'write what you are' , then people like me would be even MORE restricted - I'm a over 30 y/o straight woman who's never had kids - talk about getting the shaft... I've written 'gay' characters for 10 years now. At first, it was an attempt to show how being 'gay' had nothing to do with how well a character was written, and could be included in a full story. It was intended to be a 'one time thing'... yeah, well many of my readers will know how that turned out.

There is far more to writing a GOC (gay original character) than just changing pronouns (I found that out the hard way). Like any well born character, they have to have depth and reason, like any other character. Sometimes they will also have to deal with the stigma of being 'different' (just like in our own world - indeed, many believe that the Empire was xenophobic, and non-humans had the worse time of things) and other conflicts - it's up to the writer to make us care about them as people.

I did find the old thread with some wonderous stories that fit the description, but alas, the links (including to works of my own ) are dead - BUT I did chase down one VERY fine example that were once posted here, but is safe on Fanfiction.net:

Thursdays With My Father by Oqidaun

One post, a real killer story about Mas Amedaa and his son.

OK, I've rabbited on enough - Eventually, I'll start an index and challanges, but for now, I'll turn it over to you.

* I mean it - no 'crit' constructive or otherwise will be tolerated. This isn't a thread for debate - if you don't like the subject matter, DO NOT POST.

 

Reserved for future index:

 

this too.

 

Goodwood approves. +10

Expect me to engage in this challenge—even though I'm a straight man with a significant other.

 

I'd like to see some discussion on how to include gay characters without "just changing the pronouns."

 

I second that.

 

Would any of this cover the portrayal of transgender/gender non-compliant characters?

 

I imagine that won't be a problem, but it's probably down to DarthBreezy as to whether or not she wants to include it. LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) as a whole is a pretty united movement in the real world, after all

Consider that statement thirded, however I think I've got a pretty good idea as to how to make a gay relationship as believable as a hetero one.

 

Why not? Of course!
We'll get to a challenge in a bit, but let's have a few intros first...
If you already HAVE GOC's (Note that I'm going to use this abbreviation as a catch all due to emphasis on the "Original Character" aspect, but it's all inclusive here for sake of the thread) Write up a brief, 2 -3 line summery of them, and if they have a story here on the boards, a link to it, or the title if it's elsewhere.

**
Your template to C/P

Name:
First appeared:
Also/Currently Appears in:
Gender/Orientation:
Mini Bio:

Name: Gris Chavell -
First appeared in: Saga era 'Knights and Eros Bound' (which I had forgotten, had won a ff award for 'most original story'!)
This is the one that 'started it all'
Also/Currently Appears in: A couple other fics in the Saga era, including "the Night before Fete" - a post TPM story, and the Poleroid
Gender/Orientation: Female/Only other humanoid women
Mini Bio: Gris was a part of a small circle of fellow 'misfit' Padawans/young Jedi Knights who formed a coterie with Anakin in the Temple. She was in love (and terribly jealous) with...

Name: Kampher Canaille (Nee Lutador) -
First appeared: 'Knights and Eros Bound'
Also/Currently Appears in: Many, many Saga/Post Saga works
Gender/Orientation: Female/Bisexual/Female
Mini Bio: Jedi (Former) Healer. Kam was a part of Anakin's circle of freinds, at first she was Gris's girlfriend, became Schurke's wife, and mother of two children by him. After Schurke's passing, she met and fell in love with a non Force sensitive woman named Leibé. She is the matriarch of the 'Skywalker/Solo/Canaille' clan.



Name: Schurke Canaille
First appeared: 'Knights and Eros Bound'
Also/Currently Appears in: Many, many Saga/Post Saga works
Gender/Orientation: Male/Yes
Mini Bio: Former Jedi Knight/Correllian Minister/Ambassador. Like the others above, Schurke was born of the 'All gay characters are good for is slash fic and have no place on the boards.' At first he was a tri-sexual (yes, try anything - sexual) He evolved a LOT over the years, becoming involved in Corellian politics (which he loathed as a Jedi) and doting father/grandfather.

Name: Kay'leb Canaille
First appeared: "And Vega Lights my Way"
Also/Currently Appears in: Many other Post Jedi Works
Gender/Orientation: Male/male/bisexual
Mini Bio: Son of Kam and Schurke, Jedi Healer,Kay is my 'bad boy', as even though he is bonded to Toa, he still occasionally seeks out the 'company' of others though fair means or foul.


Name: Toa
First appeared: And Vega Lights my Way
Also/Currently Appears in: Many other Post Jedi Works, including In the Garden and Entract
Gender/Orientation: Male/Male
Mini Bio: Toa (no last name) is a Jedi Healer, bonded to Kay'leb. A former slave, his gentle nature and quiet presence hide a very wise and passionate man.


There are others that primarily appear in 'Dear Tam' which is a 'Dear Diary' story from the point of view of Luke and Aube's first child, Pemberian, including Kam's partner Leibé, her friend Luda (a young twi'lekk) and her (Luda's) eventual human partner 'Kix' who is mentioned a few times in passing.


OK, there's MY list - how about yours?

 

Haven't got anything to add at the moment, but is there any general agreement on what they mean by "fiction of other genres that while not technically slash contain some of the elements that make up a slash fic"? That seems like an awfully broad and vague category. I know the boards have their own sliding scales with regards to a lot of topics, and understand that. But I have to admit that that particular phrasing confuses me for a minute whenever I happen to reread the board rules.

 

They are associating 'slash' fics with 'Porn without Plot' or 'Plot? What plot? (PWP) which is just porn fic, and is usually associated with the canon characters - hence the reason we're not going to use that term here.

 

Seems like that would be well beyond the PG-ish rating, anyway, regardless of who's involved.

 

I don't personally have any LGBT characters at the moment, but a friend of mine and I have discussed the "dalliances" of a younger version of one of my main OCs (mostly in jest). I suppose that'd count for something, but it's not anything that would ever get written, more like the sort of "deep background" stuff that authors keep to themselves.

Recently, however, I have had the nugget of an idea for a character in the Republic Marines (my fanon Republic Military service branch) who is married to another woman and would occasionally say that one soldier or another that she serves with "reminds me of my wife" so to speak.

 

Unfortunately, it kinda has to be vague. We are skirting along the rules set by the owner of the site even allowing vagueness. We've gone to him quite a few times, even after a same-sex couple became cannon in the EU and his answer has always been no, I'm assuming because like Breezy pointed out, he's thinking it will lead to PWP, which as I'm sure we all know is not only found in slash/same-sex parings.



I don't currently have any characters to share, I've had older ones, but none that are still around in my head.

 

I don't have any characters to share, either. Well... somewhat. Because my dirty mind heads to those dark places, one character of mine had a liaison with a character of Goodwood's. But... I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of writing that up. It was just for fun.

 

My story Choices had a gay character. He wasn't a lead character, but he had a big part in the story. He wasn't paired up with anybody until the epilogue. I guess that doesn't count.

 

Oh no! You said it yourself, he had a big part so please DO add him! I only minimized Luda, Kix and Liebe because my list was getting rediculasly long, and I didn't want people to think that my GFFA was only populated by GOC's!

For example, I know Aube' had a terrible time of accepting her mother's relationship at first - I never went into details because the story where it happened was being told from the point of view of her 12 year old daughter, who had grown up with two uncles, so to her it was no big deal.

So that brings me to a CHALLENGE for you brave souls...

How we view other people's life choices can be complex, and often challenges our own perception of what's 'right' - - Sometimes someone who is rabidly against same sex relationships (SSR's) can have a change of heart when they find it's someone close to them, such as a child, or a dear friend. Other times, their feelings intensify against said same, or even somewhere in between.

How is your character accepted or not accepted by friends and family? Does it affect whether people will even work with them?

So here's the deal - write a story featuring a GOC, and their friends and or family, using Oqidaun's story as an example where their sexuality is a secondary concern, but a concern notwithstanding. No time limit, no particular era, just remember the limits of NO CANON Characters swing that way - they can be the UNREQUITED object of desire, but the key word is obvious... AND GO!

 

Not sure if that is meant to be funny but it made me laugh! Also makes me think of Captain Jack Harkness too.

On a serious note, I like this thread very much. I have a few stories on here that feature same sex relationships. I don't think any of them are obvious though. I'm not going to list all my characters just yet as I don't have time right now, and I'll get to the challenge later too. It's a shame that the truncation hasn't been fixed, but as soon as it is I'll be sure to get a list of all my fics with non-straight characters in.

 

Oh yes, it was! Schurke was such a little booger in his day (I doubt his children have ANY idea!) - he'd taken the 'encouraged to love' mantra to heart!

 

krtmd posted this link in the Lit forum discussion thread "Ignorance is Bias" and I think it deserves a repost here:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/03/lg...-my-life-they-should-be-in-the-fiction-i-read

 

Name: Jimi
First appeared: Tender Shadows* (very minor character)
Also/Currently Appears in: Nothing yet
Gender/Orientation: Male/Bi-sexual, though publicly appears heterosexual
Mini Bio: Jimi is a Balosar musician whose mother died when he was a couple months old, and his father was both physically and emotionally abusive to him. When he was five-years old, Jimi was caught sneaking in to the dwelling of his father's landlord's (his father had him go through the vent shaft and the boy was supposed to go open the door to let his father in), he was put in an orphanage, his father declared unfit for parenting. He met and befriended Dink when the other boy came to the orphanage. He is a singer/songwriter and has an uncanny gift of playing just about any stringed instrument. On the outside, Jimi appears to be a light-hearted, outrageous flirt with a flamboyant style of dressing. There is a deeply hidden anger in him towards his father. Though he flirts with and will sleep with many women/fans, the only person he truly feels comfortable with and loves is Dink. Yet, he has commitment issues.


Name: Dink
First appeared: Tender Shadows (even more minor than Jimi)
Also/Currently Appears in: Nothing yet
Gender/Orientation: Male/Male
Mini Bio: Dink is a Human musician who plays the drums and is an aspiring writer/poet. So far as Dink knows, his father is dead. His mother was abandoned by her boyfriend after she told him she was pregnant. Her family turned her out as well, and she was taken under the wings of a pimp who was actually kind to her. Dink lost his mother when she was killed by a 'john' (he actually witnessed the murder). After his mother's family refused to take the boy, he was put in the same orphanage Jimi was in. Dink is very quiet... not shy, just doesn't talk much. He is Jimi's best friend/lover/confidant. He finds himself being jealous whenever Jimi openly flirts with women.

* I wrote "Tender Shadows" with The_Musical_Jedi under the sock, Musical-Wingstar. Jimi dies in this story so any stories with him and Dink will take place before that.

 

And now here's an attempt at a little levity:

Parody

 

George Takei posted that on his Facebook page (and if you're on FB and DON'T Subscribe to him, you're missing out - he's a scream!) - it's classic.

And the link above was interesting - but considering the world we are working in as fan fic writers, here we have to walk the fine line between interesting characters, and keeping things relevant to the GFFA.

 

Name: Meaithe Akam

First appeared: Sleeping and Dreaming (story no longer online)

Also/Currently Appears in: Nothing currently, unless I rewrite some stuff or create new stuff

Gender/Orientation: (Gender) Female in human form, although her true form is not male or female because she's a spirit being who took on a physical body to fulfill a mission (weird stuff, I know).

(Orientation) Bisexual with long stretches of self-imposed celibacy.

Mini Bio: Meaithe was/is an Astralic, a type of spiritual being who is responsible for watching over/recording/archving every event that occurs in the Living World. She chose to take on a physical body (AKA "incarnate") for the purpose of reintroducing the knowledge of the existence of the afterworld and how to retain one's identity after death to the New Jedi Order. (In other words, she has practical knowledge on how to become a Force ghost).

 

I *think* I have my own start for the Challenge already!

I was out and about, running a few errands, and trying to think about whom I would write about, and I kept going back to Kam and Leibe', and out of the blue (as most good lines come from) I had the thought of Kam sitting and meditating about the idea of getting involved with her, and her sighing aloud, "Oh Schurke, what would you do?" and his Force Ghost replying "Well, both of you, if I could..."
And in case you wondered - both his first and last name means 'Scoundrel' ... fits, doesn't it?