Relatable characters in fiction.

[Stephanie]

Hi everyone, I am new to GR book clubs.

I had been reading a lot over social media, especially Twitter about #ISupportDiversity, which covers diversity in all of media, but I want to discuss it in terms of literature. I remember when I was younger, they weren't many stories that represented any Asian ethnicity in either a main character role, or anything other than the "nerdy" best friend who was there for emotional support and math homework.

So I want to ask you guys, do any of you feel misrepresented in books that you read these days? Does it bother you? Would it help you become more interested in that book if the main character was someone you can relate to?

[Arbaaz]

Yeah, it does make me more comfortable reading books with characters that i can relate to. In my case, that would be jaime lannister from game of thrones, along with my sister who says she relates to cersei.....






Nope, joking, hahaha. But in honest truth, i like characters who are flawed, and broken but seem strong outside, or characters who are rather strange in nature, or at least considered strange by normal people but they accept their nature. Because i can relate to all that. And in game of thrones, the perfect relative-wise character would be tyrion lannister. He literally have all the traits as me without the coolness and calm-nature.

[Funky Fish]

Hmm... this is a very interesting topic. I definitely think that there are a lot of social groups that are being misrepresented or just not there at all, when it comes to books. The most common protagonist is usually a Caucasian, straight, cisgender male, making it really hard for some people to relate to them.

One group that I feel is usually misrepresented is the LGBT+ community. As an LGBT+ person myself, I find it extremely hard to find good books about gender diverse or sexuality diverse protagonists that I can relate to. There is such a small range of LGBT+ books that even when you find one, it might not even be a genre that you like or it might have a writing style that doesn't engage you in the story.

And there are so many stereotypes in books, it's kind of ridiculous. I have read so many books with a stereotypical sassy gay man, butch lesbian, smart Asian, sporty African, dumb blonde and so many more. Authors shouldn't fit their characters into stereotypes just because that's what society expects. Everyone is different and, in reality, no one fits a label. We all have different interests, we all have different experiences, we all have different personalities, and that diversity should be shown through literature.