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Espacially keeping editing and writing seperate is a massive help. I relate to that 4 chapter story a bit too much :P

I now see why you are a youtuber and a writer. You have good ideas, and want to share them. Thank you for that :3

I disagree with one point in your video. I don't believe Ben is bi, I think he is gay and only uses girls as a cover

I've got a whole-ass world with languages and everything (fantasy wood building is my passion) without a coherent story lol I'm like Tolkien except the writing talent

I REALLY want someone to make a video comparing Catra and Adoras dynamic to Bakugo and Izuku! There are other characters in the show that are similar too (Scorpia and Kirishima, Glimmer and Ochako, etc)

I'm writing a murder mystery set in 1948 (so you know that you're in for a good time :D). All the characters have some different kind of traumatic backstory, and I talk about different topics, such as misogyny, child a*use, ra*ism... But is it okay to use my (only? Sort of) gay character to talk about homo***bia? He is not stereotyped, I think (he's manly, serious, has a lot of tattoos and scars, which considered the year the book is set in, it gives him some kind of "criminal" vibes). My book is a murder mystery and I wanted him to be like a red herring, lol. We do not know he's gay until halfway through the book. He takes part in other characters subplots (such as his best friend falling back into his d**g addiction and the evolution of their friendship, or his relationship with his "sort-of" adopted sister...). But basically his subplot revolves around him being threatened by the antagonist because he's gay. During the war, he witnessed his boyfriend being k***ed by *𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢*, and he convinced himself that it was his fault and is now tormented by the fact that the rest of his family should grief his (secret) boyfriend death without knowing the reason why he died. There is a really cute scene in which him and another character (who suffers from PTSD due to the war, and is probably gay, I'm not sure yet) talk about their nightmares, and this character tells him that he shouldn't face his traumas alone, and that he is surrounded by people who struggle, just like him, that will care for him no matter what. So in the end he comes out to his found family, and they accept him and everything is fine again :')

I have four main characters in my fantasy stories: Elkar and Rikter, who are the gay characters, and Emisia (Elkar's childhood friend) and Zak, who are both straight. They are students at a school that's kind of like the Jedi Order meets the Aes Sedai (from The Wheel of Time). They are about 11 at the start, but grow up as the story progresses. Elkar is sweet and timid, and he has a flute that he likes to play. He's also a genius, and the only non-human of the group. He toughens up later. Rikter is a prince. He's the third son of the younger brother of the local king, and joined the school when he was 8 because he's unlikely to inherit anything (he's kind of inspired by Aegon the Unlikely in ASOIAF). He's a warrior, and the best swordsman (swordsboy?) in their year. Emisia is a tomboy and very protective of Elkar. I haven't really come up with much of a personality for Zak yet, as I'm still in the planning stages. Well, except that he's slightly (only slightly) uncomfortable with Elkar and Rikter's relationship. I also have a villain, Volkyn, who's the same race as Elkar (they're the Elves/Valyrians of my world), and a mix between Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda and Marchion Ro from Star Wars: The High Republic. There is a third LGBT character I have in my head, a bisexual non-binary eunuch assassin. But before deciding whether or not to include them I'm going to do some research into trans and non-binary people in the middle ages and the ancient world. It's fantasy with a setting inspired by the past, after all. I don't want it to feel too modern.

Catra is easily my second favorite female villain I ever saw.

"the first time I first watched the show [...] I was also like 12" Jaysus that makes me feel old lmao, I feel like She-PoP came out like two years ago

Thanks for the video. But is that an issue if I tend to make all of my lead characters LGBTQ+? It just happens like that. I just think "oh, it would be cool for the plot if she falls in love with her friend, I kinda ship these two". But I don't identify with LGBTQ+ community myself, so I have some fear that I could be unintentionally fetishizing my characters. I mean, I write the premise of the story and then I realize that I ship my character A and character B. I think "okay, I guess it would fit character B to be bi, and A to be gay". But doesn't that mean that the first reason of deciding on their orientation is that I shipped them? (And that feels somewhat wrong) And for character B I also think "hmm, it would fit them well to be non-binary or gender-fluid, since they're a spirit that can take different shapes". It feels natural, but at the same time I kinda feel like I'm overusing LGBTQ+ without thinking deeper into it. And then I end up thinking "alright, maybe I should also add a hetero couple for a change", cause it feels like I'm underrepresenting it xD

In my story I intentionally wrote my LGBT+ characters to seem as normal as possible because not only have I seen a LOT of stereotypes surrounding the ones I’m trying to write, but most of the ones I’m friends with completely normal. The promiscuous bisexual? Nope, the bisexual in my story hates almost everyone 😭🙏🏾 Flamboyant gay best friend who gossips and shops? The main guy in my story is probably as masculine as you’ll get. And this is not because I’m trying to subvert expectations and show people LGBT people are just people (although I am) it’s because that’s the way those characters would logistically end up because of their respective environments. Just thought I’d mention this since this representation is very important to me even though I’m not a part of the community.

Oh that’s smart! Sometimes we get too overwhelmed looking at everything at once

I like it! How do you filter for that?

Interesting tip, I hadn't thought of that.

I would actually like to see positive asexual representation in media. I am so incredibly tired and hurt by lack of positive asexual representation if we get any at all. We are either portrayed as hyper intelligent, self-obsessed, narcissistic loners who are too brilliant for sex or love, or infantilized like little children who cannot function in the real word. No, Todd from Bojack is not positive- he is yet another stereotype of the "messy asexual" and "manchild asexual" tropes. I was disgusted by the writing in HOUSE where an asexual couple was magically "fixed" by being forced to have sex- it was so incredibly harmful. The only positive depiction of asexuality that I have seen is Dayo from "Raybearer."

Casual representation is my favorite type of representation, ofc it’s nice to see stories focusing on lgbtqia+ people discovering their own identities and the hardships that come with it (specially for me, since I’m cishet and wouldn’t be able to experience such thing), but for me casual rep is the best way to normalize it

Me overthinking my overthinking

In my opinion the best way to write representation of any community is to base the characters on people you know rather then archetypes. Take Damien from mean girls, yes, he’s too gay to function but he’s also more then that and tina fey even said he’s based on her actual friends

I like it

Wouldn’t it be important to have the new character be introduced as a part of an implementation of another characters plan (useful) or as an aspect of their identity (relationships)? It is the only way to ensure those connections of which you speak and it’s more concrete. 🤷‍♂️

Actually restarted my story for a second time (third rewrite) because, despite what I had feeling somewhat solid, much of it felt merely serviceable, and not actually canon to the daydreams that had been bouncing around my head for over a decade. So hopefully the opposite lol

"Nonbinary people tend to be afab, skinny, white and androgynous or aliens. But just because that's how I look like that's not every nonbinary person" The commenter is an alien confirmed 😄

Wonderful video!!

Thanks so much for posting this. Agree with all your points. Heartstopper inspires so many people because it has both representation and positivity. You're right that most queer material resolves issues in a negative way whereas in HS ithey're resolved in a way that shows growth and maturity for the characters. We need more queer storeis like this on TV.

Great video but like, can’t we have both? we can depict the struggles that lgbt people face in real life and also have both a happy ending and positive message, can’t we?

SheRa was a weak show with unlikable characters (except Scorpia and Entrapta). The fact that they made an abuser × victim ship canon because "lesbians could never be abusive" is sick. If Catra was a dude y'all would sing a different tune here. Catdora is toxic af and the only redemption for Catra should have been her sacrificing herself for the greater good in the end. Catra is no Zuko and the fact that folks compare her failed arc to the genius writing that was Zuko's redemption is downright insulting. If this show wasn't so gay y'all wouldn't dig it as much as you do because SheRa is mid at best if it comes to world building, characters and writing in general.

Hi love this!! Really well thought out and filmed/edited perfectly :) what are your pronouns?

Big brain take is have no straight characters in the story,, bc you worldview just put one, so-- (but lowkey actually tho,, there plenty of cishet rep,, they don't need more, lol)

i love mentally ill villains

I will

I know some stuff about the LGBTQIA because i grew up around gay people who were gay in secret but i am still learning a lot. I first make the character the the story and as i write i often find them a sexuality ir identity (if any outside boy and girl and homosexuality.) that fits them. For example, i have a character based off the Bendy and the ink saga, and she doesnt want a romantic or sexual partner due to the fact the she just doesnt feel like partners are her thing. I gave her that because i wrote her to accidentally be like that, do when i discovered what being AroAce was, i canonically made her AroAce.

I low-key subverted the "promiscuous bisexual" stereotype by giving my protagonist a female childhood crush and a male love interest in adulthood.

Would you say that LGBT is an identity of self? Or an identity of context? That is, if context were different, would it still be a part of identity? Or is it only identity because context forces it to be an identity? E.g. because y’all are “othered”

You absolutely have to do a collab with Astrid Lundberg. You all look like identical twins.

HYPE HYPE HYPE YOU GOT THIS

A fair case made for LBTQIA+ representation.

Why is this woman giving advice on gay people when she has no history with them? She's coming at this from a feminist perspective, which is deeply anti-gay and has nazi like grievances of self victimhood that the gays who take center stage for hyper visibility due to demonization, managed to humanize themselves and build a community out of the need for survival while lesbians were comfortable hiding in the background and laughing at the anti gay homophobia they never had to experience. She's from THAT part of the community. Appropriating and coopting gay people's identity, turning it into an umbrella term to open the gates for anti-gay bi women, and labelling anything gay as LGBTQRS is just weird. Feminists have such such an extreme problem with homophobia against gays and now theyre teaching others how to write about gay people...as if half the internet isnt filled with bi and lesbian women dehumanizing gays for fun in the most horrific ways in yaoi and "mlm" gay stories? Stop calling gays "gay MEN" as if there's such a thing as gay women. If she means lesbians, she can say that.

Wow, this is a bleak comments section. Shorts hits differently than full videos. Don't worry, most people are routing for you. Great job and have a good day

I missed the days when being gay was risque & counterculture, now it's like working for a boring milquetoast HR department. Pride Month is now brought to you by corporate sponsors..Bank of America, Raytheon, Target, etc...wth happened 😂

When did yall add the ia?

Hah...let's see... Jeremy Waterford Creek: Seminole Indigenous, Bear Clan, carpenter in furniture and art, mid-brown skin, sienna eyes, curly black hair, f*ckin' JACKED, about five-foot-seven or so, cisgender, bisexual, hyper-empath, generous to a fault, loyal to a fault, unforgiving ALMOT to a fault, loves ice cream and coffee, hates olives and onions, can't wake up in the morning, but wind that boy up and he WORKS, literary nerd, highly athletic, Anarcho-Communist politically, fears bees, drowning, heights, and losing people. Youngest of three (technically four, but one was stillborn) siblings. Only because he's my protag. But that's not awful for a character profile, no?

When I was younger, I didn't have Queer characters in my stories either, because I went to Catholic school and didn't know it was even a thing. My parents never explained it to me, but we are also not homophobic. It just never came up. I like it a lot better with my niece, who, freaking genius girl, right, she comes into my office here when she's eight years old and sees me watching a music video by my favourite musician, Jeremy Dutcher. He's where I got the name for my protag and I told him so when I met him back in December. He didn't mind. But the conversation between me and my niece, and, again, she was EIGHT: Her; "You were watching him last time I was over, too." Me: "Yep." Her: "Well, if you love him so much, why don't you MAAAAAAAAAAARRY him?" (You know that way kids say it.) Me; "Because he likes guys." Her: "Oh, okay." End of talk! Seriously, that's how "big" of a deal it doesn't have to be. Granted, she's very smart, and I love my girl, but even a year or two later: Her: "Mommy, I just saw two women on TV who were kissing." My sister: "Yeah?" Niece: "And that's okay?" My sister; "Yep. So long as they love each other." The only reason I'm making a slightly bigger deal out of it in my writing is because the aforementioned Austen and Jeremy are also both BIPOC, and where two intersections meet can be a dangerous place. During the climax of the first book, right in the middle, something REALLY BAD has gone down, an you see from my antihero's perspective, right, Jeremy leaning on Austen's shoulder, and Austen all, "Well, we don't know what's happened yet, so calm DOWN, please, and no matter what it was, stop BLAMING YOURSELF, thank you," and he's just a very supportive friend, but Stephen, my antihero, he's only zeroing in on their body language, because he's a nasty little homophobe at this point in the series, and his interior monologue (neither of them know he's spying) is all, "Oh Jesus, why not just shove your tongues down one another's throats while you're at it?" Which isn't even what the scene is about, duh. He's a little shit at the start of the series in ALMOST every respect, but he does clean up his act by the end of book two.

I have a smattering of 2SLGBTQIA+ characters throughout my books, and the way the "conversation" went down with one of them was as follows: Me; "Hey, Austen, you mind being one of the comic reliefs?" Austen: "UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, I'm gay AND I'm Black, so you had better give me substance, too." Me; "Yeah...I just need--" Austen: "NO. Jeremy's bisexual and Indigenous and you don't make him funny all the time, either." Me: "Good point, good point. Sorry." Some authors say that the in-your-head personification of characters doesn't help the writing process, but I find it does help to treat them like real people. Jeremy's my protagonist and resident good-boy, and he's only ever been, to the starting point of the series, with Austen and with a girl named Olivia. Austen's his best friend, and they basically had a thing going from the second Austen hit puberty (Jeremy's a year older), but they were always on-again-off-again without breaking one another's hearts. Jeremy went and dated this girl Olivia up until his dad died when he was sixteen years old, at which point he got really depressed, and they drifted apart. His mom, brothers, and Austen were the only people who were able to get through to him on any level, so he kind of took up with Austen again, but the SECOND Jeremy turned eighteen, and Austen was still seventeen, it was a very strict hands-off, we're just friends territory. This takes place in Florida, where the age of consent is kind of wobbly (you CAN have sex if you are BOTH within the sixteen-to-eighteen range, but neither of them wanted to ride any lines), but by this point, Jeremy was also feeling kind of passionate about Victoria, the new girl in town, and Austen is just like, 'If you MUST." But the two of them have only ever hit the sheets with one another, so I would hardly call Jeremy promiscuous.

Representation does not equal good storytelling. This is the reason why disney been flopping lately

Some people even LBGTQ people would be getting excited and start saying "Oh yeah we've got an LBGTQ character"but I do definitely understand the argument that ideally its not something we need to get excited about and that it should just be treated like being straight or like that of a character being in a straight relationship.

I think that when LBGTQ people are being depicted in novels particularly when it comes to LBGTQ men they are typically depicted by default as being weak,extremely effeminant and not very brave.I understand that idea of teaching that not all men having to fit into the catagory of brave,strong,traditionally masculine or even straight but it gets kind of frustrating when I wind up noticing certain types of boxes which LBGTQ male character don't often tend to break out of even while the novels and stuff are being written by LBGTQ people.

There is a particular series I would like to recommend that I think does LGBTQ+ representation perfectly. It is called John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme. Now, if you recognise John Finnemore as a name, that might be because for the second season of Good Omens, Neil Gaiman brought him on to help write it since Terry Pratchet obviously couldn’t help co-write. And I mean, did you see that second season? Representation everywhere. Anyway, John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme is a sketch comedy radio show where 5 actors, including the writer John Finnemore, play every character. The first 8 seasons of the show don’t really follow any specific story, they are just funny to listen to. But the 9th season that I am recommending actually has a proper story to it. You follow a family through sketches showing snapshots of their life, starting in 2020 and working your way all the way back to the 1890’s. You don’t need to listen to the first 8 seasons to appreciate the 9th, but there are a few references to the previous 8 in the 9th, so I would recommend listening in full. Anyway, on to talking about the representation. In the 9th series, there are 5 different LGBTQ+ characters in this family. But I think it’s notable, that for only one of them are we actually told their identity. For only one of them we get a scene where he actually says he’s gay. For another we see his husband later down the line. And we have two women from the early 1900’s (one of whom is a “male impersonator”. Sounds like a drag king to me) who are in a relationship, we aren’t specifically told whether they’re gay or Bi or what; but they’re two women in a relationship. And then there is Uncle Newt, the person who I would argue is the main character, he is (I’m pretty sure given one particular scene) AroAce. And he is played by the author John Finnemore himself. He is an amazing character and, like you say, he is a character that just happens to be AroAce. I feel like if I tell you too much about his character it would ruin the show, and I certainly don’t want that. But I tell you this, being ace myself I have looked for a lot of ace representation in media where I can find it. And I don’t think I have found a better Ace character than Uncle Newt. Also, over the course of the 9 series, every one of the 5 actors plays at least one LGBTQ+ character. There is one sketch in particular I like that uses the fact that most people see straight relationships as a default as a tool to help make the joke land better. Without making LGBTQ+ people the joke. The sketch is showing two men talking, and well, it’s not a very good conversation because one of them is being incredibly annoying despite the other’s attempts to keep the conversation going. The punchline is the one who is trying to keep the conversation going saying, “So do you go on many dates?”, the other replies, “Oh hundred and hundreds!”, “Any second dates?”, “Not one!” The fact that most people think straight relationships are the default makes very few people think this sketch is a date until it’s mentioned. And when it’s revealed as being a date, the joke is enhanced because up until that point we the viewers would mostly assume it’s a general conversation that’s not going well. But it being a date and that fact only being revealed later makes the joke even funnier. It’s one of the little details I like.

I actually have an issue where idk if one of my characters falls into a harmful stereotype or not. I have a non-binary character who can specifically transform into a big cat like creature. And I have heard that there is an issue of too many non-binary characters being shapeshifters and idk if this counts. To add some important context: they aren’t the only character who can do this in fact they aren’t the only one in the main cast who can do this. This ability isn’t abnormal in their world and is limited to one specific transformation per person so they aren’t able to swap to any shape they want. And they aren’t the only Non-binary character in the story ether they are 1 of 4 maybe… I maybe forgetting somebody tbh but the character in question is the one that I’m asking for.