I am not a special snowflake; I belong to a blizzard.: seanan

I am not a special snowflake; I belong to a blizzard.

Authors Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith have written a very brave, very straightforward article about being asked to remove homosexual characters from dystopian YA. Check it out. It's a fascinating read, all the more because it's so topical.

I have never been asked to turn a gay character straight; I'm very thankful for that. I have also, as yet, not been working all that extensively in YA (although I hope that will change in the future). So who knows what's going to happen? I have faith in The Agent, however, and I truly believe that she will fight for me, and for the integrity of my work. Both my houses (both adult houses) have been fabulous about my having gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters in my books; I do not yet have any explicitly transgender characters in published work, but I have absolute faith that when those characters appear, both DAW and Orbit will treat them with the same respect that they show to all my other characters.

That being said, I'm noticing one disturbing trend in certain replies/rebuttals* to this entry. Specifically, I've seen several people saying "There are absolutely gay characters in YA. What about ________?" and naming specific examples. Tom and Carl in the Diane Duane books. The protagonists of Annie On My Mind. Pretty much anything by Francesca Lia Block. And, well...

To me, this is the same as saying "Of course there are female leads in the movies! Didn't you see Bridesmaids?" or "Of course there are female protagonists in cartoons! Don't you watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic?"

Yes, those stories exist. But they exist in the context of "chick flick" (how I hate you, rhyming label), or "girl's cartoon." If you omit "chick flicks" and action movies involving Mila Jovavich or Angelina Jolie, both of whom are basically playing video game heroines most of the time, it's really hard to find a female lead. We get romances and we get to fight evil in our skivvies. We don't get to have stories that are essentially gender-neutral. If you take out the cartoons where pink is the primary color of the universe, it's really hard to find a cartoon that has gender balance, much less a female in a leadership role.

When I talk about wanting diversity in my YA, I'm not asking for more specifically "queer YA." I love it, I want to see it keep getting published, I think it's important, and I think it's not the point of this particular sword. What I want is paranormal romance where the lead is in love with the head cheerleader, not the head jock. What I want is heist books and con men where it's Mike and Dan, not Mike and Dawn. I want gay best friends and gay parents and sisters who were born brothers but got that fixed. I want books that are sold as being normal, everyday, perfectly ordinary books, that just happen to have gay people in them, not the next! Big! QUEER ADVENTUUUUUUUUURE! I have plenty of queer adventures. What I want is gay men doing laundry, lesbians chasing werewolves, and transgender superheroes fighting to save Metro City. What I want is books where the story matters more than the sexual orientation of the characters it contains.

Saying "queer YA exists" distracts from the issue at hand: there is very little in the way of YA with queer characters, as opposed to queer YA. And that's something we should be aware of, and something we should be working to fix. My sexual orientation did not somehow change the stories that I was interested in, or the adventures I was able to have as a human being. It was just one factor, amongst a whole lot of other factors. We need explicitly queer YA the way we need sports books and horse books and The Babysitter's Club and every other niche story: to tell us that this is okay, that this is an option. But characters in apocalypse YA ride horses, play sports, and babysit for children. So why can't they date whoever they want, without being changed into something they're not?

It matters.

(*I don't really understand how you can present a rebuttal to something that happened. The surrounding circumstances can be argued, but if a dog bites me, you can't present an argument for why the dog didn't bite me. I'm bleeding, I was bitten. This does not stop people from trying.)

asphaltangel

September 13 2011, 21:23:08 UTC 5 years ago

New comment

I'm pretty optimistic that the next generation of writers will accomplish this (which isn't to say that the real live grown-ups of today shouldn't work on it, too). It seems like sexual orientation is less and less of a "big deal" to them. At least, that's the read I get from my students (and I will grant that I live in a state that encourages this mindset). Bullying and insensitively still exist, but every year I see it less and less. For the most part, the kids don't care how their peers identify, so I have to think that will be reflected in their writing.

seanan_mcguire

September 13 2011, 23:37:54 UTC 5 years ago

I surely do hope so.

manwe_iluvendil

September 13 2011, 21:55:57 UTC 5 years ago

I think, given the nature of this post, when my novel gets published, you'll have something to smile about.

September 13 2011, 23:38:02 UTC 5 years ago

Yay!

5 years ago

lysystratae

September 13 2011, 22:26:26 UTC 5 years ago

Yes! Very few of my friends and acquaintances center their life on their various colors, sexual preferences, or gender identities (among other things)(and yes, there are one or two who are living the NEXT BIG -------- ADVENTURE, and I try not to have to deal with them often because it gets bloody tedious), so I can't see why anyone would expect anything different from people in books. Some characters are going to be straight, some aren't. Same applies for all other variables. I can't understand why anyone wouldn't want to see that.

September 13 2011, 23:38:22 UTC 5 years ago

Some people are silly.

fullcontactmuse

September 13 2011, 23:11:30 UTC 5 years ago

Like a lot of people have said, thank you.

I did want to highlight one thing however in reference to this:

What I want is gay men doing laundry, lesbians chasing werewolves, and transgender superheroes fighting to save Metro City. What I want is books where the story matters more than the sexual orientation of the characters it contains.

Gender identity and sexual orientation are two distinct concepts. Just like a cis men and women--men and women who sense of gender matches their assigned birth sex--may be straight, gay, or bi for example, so may a trans person fall into those or other sexual orientations.

Certainly it's a small point, but it's one that gets glossed over frequently.

Thank you again for having the discussion.

September 13 2011, 23:39:57 UTC 5 years ago

I am aware that gender and orientation are different things. It's treated as all part of the same basket of apples by publishers, and while there are lesbians living in men's bodies and gay men living in women's bodies, those aren't going to get the same pushback. A male character announcing "I am a lesbian" and going down on his wife probably would get laughed off by editorial, sadly.

It's a big, complicated fight.

lots42

tallisdawn

September 14 2011, 00:08:03 UTC 5 years ago

That article just ticked me off. Come on people we don't live in the dark ages anymore! Being gay, bisexual, straight or transexual is perfectly normal. Get over it and put your energy into important and meaningful things that really make a difference. If we could finally focus on the things that really matter what a great world we would have! Naive maybe but that is my opinion.

September 15 2011, 18:46:04 UTC 5 years ago

Give it time. We're getting closer.

September 14 2011, 02:41:32 UTC 5 years ago

They will then say 'You shouldn't have provoked the dog!' as if this somehow relates to the topic at hand, namely the bite happened.

September 14 2011, 14:45:09 UTC 5 years ago

Guh, yes.

amanda_nye

September 14 2011, 03:16:19 UTC 5 years ago

*applause*

I've been spending a lot of time with my good twin the last few years, and watching a lot of gay and LGBTQ movies with him. There are so many good ones where I've thought, "why wasn't this in theatres?" or "why haven't I seen this in stores?" ...then I remember, oh, cause it's got gay people in it.. like the black of our parent's generation. They fought against that discrimination, and we fight against this.

When I read more of this, I caught myself thinking, "there's gay charaters in Seanan's books?" Then I smacked myself and said "duh." I just never really remarked on it, like I didn't with the awesome movies. It never entered my mind as something someone would want you to change, or that would keep it from being published, or read. But, of course, reality intrudes.

I'm glad you have an awesome Agent... and great publishers who took your works as they are, and the characters as who they are. And I'll keep right on supporting authors and publishers and movieland that are willing to show the world as it is, without making the world either all about the differences or magically erasing them from existence.

September 15 2011, 18:47:57 UTC 5 years ago

We're getting there.

kirylyn

September 14 2011, 03:23:35 UTC 5 years ago

not quite the icon you're looking for and sadly, I don't remember who did create it for proper credit but..

and yes, I'm following this thread closely and have been getting SO many excellent recommendations!!

September 14 2011, 14:36:27 UTC 5 years ago

beckyh2112

September 14 2011, 03:54:49 UTC 5 years ago

Yes, those stories exist. But they exist in the context of "chick flick" (how I hate you, rhyming label), or "girl's cartoon."

Don't they ever. You know how excited I was, as a female Transformers fan, to finally get a female lead character in the form of Transformers: Prime Arcee? Or to get the first female Decepticon since Beast Machines who isn't all about the men in her life? /side-issue

September 14 2011, 14:36:10 UTC 5 years ago

I totally follow. I dropped Supernatural when they killed the only non-victim female characters.

gfish

September 14 2011, 03:57:45 UTC 5 years ago

As much as I wish they did, Tom and Carl officially don't count any more than Bert and Ernie do. =\

September 14 2011, 14:30:36 UTC 5 years ago

I tend to agree. :(

kat_merle

September 14 2011, 05:44:46 UTC 5 years ago

Side note but similar topic as female heroines getting stories did you see the recent story about them adding female characters to a NHL hockey game based on letters a young girl wrote about not enjoying the game because she couldn't create herself? She had to be a male hockey player. The things we day and do right now matter they are making changes and I am so lucky to be in a time where little changes I think will grow as time goes on. I sure hope so at least.

September 14 2011, 14:31:12 UTC 5 years ago

I did! I also saw the assholes whinging about how unrealistic that was. People are still dicks, sadly.

hoppytoad79

September 14 2011, 15:48:30 UTC 5 years ago

The novel I'm writing focuses a lot on professional theatre, so of course there are LGBTQ characters the main character is going to associate and be friends with, and if they're going for drinks with their SO after work and they're asked about their plans, that's what they say they're going to do. The idea I might be asked at some point to 'het up' my novel pisses me off. I'm not going to change a single thing about portraying people being people because what you do on your own time, so long as you're not hurting anyone else, is between you and God. I'm not going to change Dar the female going for drinks with her girlfriend of ten years to Dar the male or Dan's partner George into Dan's partner Georgia. As a straight woman, I'd feel safer in a room full of lesbian women than in a room full of hetero men because I've never been hit on (unless you count the really friendly college-age chick I knew several years ago who wanted to sit on my lap during a meeting one day), harassed, or assaulted by a lesbian. Had some great conversations and good friendship, though.

September 14 2011, 18:07:53 UTC 5 years ago

If you're not doing YA, I think you're less likely to get straightened out. Sad but true. (Sad only because it happens at all.)

obzidian

September 14 2011, 16:00:37 UTC 5 years ago

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for being the author you are and being unafraid to express your opinions so openly and stand by them. Like I said, your works are profound.

September 14 2011, 18:07:09 UTC 5 years ago

You are very welcome, and thank you for being here.

elialshadowpine

September 15 2011, 03:45:14 UTC 5 years ago

Thank you for saying this. <3

One of my rants has been that while there is a fair amount of Queer Issue Books, there are very few books in which the main character justsohappens to be gay. It's always About Her Being Gay. It's never about Gay Character Having Adventures.

(I loved Huntress by Malinda Lo for this. It treated the lesbian relationship between the two primary characters as any other book would a straight relationship. It was part of the story, but Being Gay wasn't the focus of the story.)

I'm currently in the process of finishing an adult book that has plenty of GBL characters. The heroine is bisexual, her romantic interest is bi leaning toward lesbian, her roommate is bi leaning toward gay (ever notice how sexuality in books is never fluid? >_< ), and one of the secondary characters is bi. And the story is not about their sexuality. It's just a facet of who they are.

We'll see how much luck I have getting it published. -_-

September 15 2011, 17:52:17 UTC 5 years ago

Good luck!

galeni

September 15 2011, 04:12:57 UTC 5 years ago

Maybe it's too late in discussion, but my library has, for example, The Steel Remains which uptopic was mentioned as having a gay protagonist. However, the tags for this book don't mention gay. Should it? Or would ghetto-ize it?

September 15 2011, 17:48:08 UTC 5 years ago

I think, sadly, that in this culture, it might stigmatize the book and scare off some people who would be surprised by how much they'd enjoy it.

the_liz666

September 17 2011, 20:51:29 UTC 5 years ago

The sad fact is that when I read your last paragraph, I know people who would quite LITERALLY declare a dog bite never happened.
I think denial is the last shield people cling to when they don't want to open their eyes, and mind to an unpleasant truth. Which all to often is the simple truth "The world is CHANGING. The world has CHANGED. Your petty bigotries are no longer accepted as truth."
So, they say "Oh don't be silly! Poopsie doesn't BITE! You must have been mistaken. Maybe you scratched yourself!"
Because flawed worldviews, like neurotic purse-dogs, can be very hard to give up.
(and this makes me very sad indeed. Though a dry tone may not always be apparent in the text.)

November 8 2011, 16:27:01 UTC 5 years ago

...

Ugh.

Why are people like that?

ironed_orchid

September 18 2011, 01:37:39 UTC 5 years ago

Thank you. This is pretty much my take on things.

I want to find these characters in my genre books, not have them made into a special genre themselves.

September 18 2011, 16:15:47 UTC 5 years ago

Exactly.

rachelmanija

October 14 2011, 01:24:09 UTC 5 years ago

Thank you for your support!

To continue to support YA fiction with LGBTQ characters and non-white characters, I have proposed creating Permanent Floating YA Diversity Book Clubs. If you wish to participate, the link will explain how to begin one, join one, or simply pass on the word.

(If you linked it, it would be great - you have way more readers than I do.)

October 26 2011, 15:17:56 UTC 5 years ago

Kinda hard not to support a group of people I belong to. :)

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