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Published on February 16, 2017 21:11

I have a gay relationships in my novel. I want to make it a non-factor, just a relationship as solid and screwed up as any other. It is not the main characters, and I fear that I am fucking up by making a trope of "gay best friend." The novel is not about

Well, man, as a gay dude, I gotta ask one thing. How the hell do you deal with the straight relationships in your story? How do you fit them in without feeling like you’re making statements on straight culture? If you represent one straight relationship bad, does that mean all straight people are like that?

Okay, on a real note, you’re so afraid of something, you’re forgetting to look at your characters as people. Breathe in. Relax. You’re aware that you’ve probably absorbed stereotypes about “gay culture” (in quotations because, given how myriad and ever-changing that could be based on the individual, I honestly don’t know what you could mean), and that’s good. But you’re letting fear paralyze you before you even start, and I’m betting you don’t even know what you’re afraid of!

There are always things you could do. Write it like any other relationship, remember your characters are people, not stereotypes. Seek out media by LGBT people about LGBT people. Watch Moonlight, if you don’t know where to start.

Write knowing you’ll make mistakes, get second opinions. If your instincts are telling you the relationship feels hollow, trust them. Get third opinions. Mistakes are fixable. Everyone screws up characters at one point or another.

Just give it a shot, man. You can’t fix something if you never try in the first place.

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