Writing Tips and Reviews

Serious Topics: Representation

Why talk about this? Well, it seems to be an issue that's come up again due to Hazbin Hotel being green lit for a tv series. And many people on a discord admitting to only making lgbt characters and with that one trait. Because that's good writing... no it isn't.

What not to do:

A character is not one trait, they're a combination of traits, that's writing 101. But it's not so obvious to the people pandering to the lgbt folks on Twitter. That one trait is the entire character, it defines who they are and makes them a perfect angel because of it. Anyone who doesn't have a trait is automatically the worst human alive and I don't condone this mindset.

I've been writing for years, I put so much effort into my work, and seeing people who think one trait is enough for a character sickens me. It tells people that the audience would rather have a one note character than a well-developed one because of an lgbt trait they have. And that's not okay for any writer. They start to feel pressured into doing the same thing.

Even those who have small amounts of representation are blasted for not having enough. A Japanese game does not need a full cast of lgbt characters because America says that's the only criteria for a successful game. There is no balance because people like that only care about this one trait.

What to do:

Naturally having it in characters is both a rare and professional way of going about it. Characters have so many traits and a lgbt trait is an add on to who they are, not who they are as a person. You don't need a full cast of them to say, "I'm a good writer", you just need to do what feels natural to you.

I want writers to focus on the characters, world, and story before they go into pandering to twitter. When I sit down to watch a movie, my first thought is not "is it representative?" Because that's not what a movie should be trying to do. Birds of Prey and Charlie's Angels are two examples of movies who failed because they were so focused about representation, that they forgot about the story and characters. The things that matter.

Focus on if the story and characters are professionally written before you make the whole cast gay. Then it's an add on to their character and not the only thing that defines them. Tokenism is a problem, stop feeding into it.

Hazbin Hotel:

Hazbin Hotel has been the best I've seen and it's because it doesn't focus on the lgbt traits like they're the only thing that matters. Characters are realistic, they act certain ways that coincide with their personality and have real relationships with others. Those lgbt traits are a fun add on them but not what makes them a good character. Charlie is gay, but that's not all she is, she's the demon princess, she's nice, she's a failure but still tries, those are all things the pilot taught us about her and I think the one I'm focusing on is how she fails but keeps trying.

If it's between a character who is only gay with no other trait and Charlie, I pick Charlie. Charlie is not automatically a good character because she's gay, she's a good character because she's written well and fun to watch.

Conclusion:

Characters who are only one trait and nothing else are the pinnacle of bad writing. They're not fun to watch and they don't have real development because they're not allowed to be anything else. Characters who have it naturally are the ones who are well-written, who are remembered more, who people care about. Sure, they may not go down in history as being lgbt, but that's not an accomplishment and not true to who they were. I would personally not want my gravestone to say "trans male" and only that.

"Be proud of who you are but don't treat it like it's your only accomplishment." That's a quote I heard from YouTube and I think it really works. Characters who are only one trait and automatically are called the best thing to ever exist, aren't going to last long. I can't remember any of the characters names from Birds of Prey, but I can remember the main characters of Hazbin Hotel. You know it's sad when demons are better humans than humans

There's a reason the saying: "go woke, go broke" is a thing. And if you don't want to acknowledge that, you are part of the problem.

(Yeah, controversial topic, I don't really care. As I said, these things are subjective. If you think that all a character needs is a single lgbt trait to be the best thing to ever exist, then you do that. But trust me, twitter and the real world are two different things. I know for a fact YouTube will rip a hole through your writing, so be careful when you venture away from Twitter.)