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Diverse Character Help
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Diverse Character Help
Diverse Character Help
Hey everyone! Before I start this post I'd like to apologize in advance if anything sounds strange or is spelled wrong; my autocorrect is acting up today but I will edit as best I can!
Anyway, I created this thread because I'm writing some characters who have important traits that I don't have and I was hoping I could get some help from people who are like them. I figure plenty of people have this issue sometimes and thought it'd be good to have a thread where you can ask questions about writing diverse characters.
Right now, I'm trying to write an AroAce character as a person who isn't AroAce. She's the main character of the story, and although there's much more to her than her being AroAce, it's still really important to the story that she is.
If you're aro, ace, or both I'd appreciate if you'd answer any or all of these questions:
- Do you enjoy love songs and romance in stories despite being unable to relate to them? If not, do you think it's believable for another aro and/or ace person to?
- How did you realize you were aro and/or ace? Do you think it'd be believable for a character to not realize they were even as a teenager who has dated before? Do you think it'd be believable for an AroAce character to date someone before discovering their identity?
- Have you ever convinced yourself you had a crush and/or lied to others about having a crush to feel normal?
- What are some stereotypes to avoid? What are things you'd like to see in an AroAce character?
Feel free to ask for help here with your own diverse characters!
submitted by Periwinkle, age 14, Somewhere in the stars
(August 4, 2024 - 5:29 pm)
(August 4, 2024 - 5:29 pm)
yesssss that doesn't help either. and they don't always work together well, like good silhouette but bad seams and then i can't wear it >:(
(August 9, 2024 - 9:34 pm)
Thank you for the answers! The two characters are in separate books. The math skills of the one who likes statistics (name Coralie) haven't actually come into the book (summer camp). She likes to keep lists--some are about people's personalities, when she's waiting in a line she counts things that she notices (due to boredom, I think), and the things include children with stuffed toys, parents in the line, etc. Coralie also likes probability (she has this notebook in which she writes lists, where she probably collects interesting facts), like the odds of certain things happening. She's fairly scared of doing things "wrong" socially, like asking strange questions--the story doesn't so far say much about her background but I think that maybe something happened with used-to-be-school-friends that led to them falling apart. The summer camp is for neurodivergent children; Coralie is part of a pilot program where she has a conversation with a perfect stranger every day, and runs away a bit when a perfect stranger is condescending to her. She also doesn't like loud noises, or spicy food.
I will think of a special interest for the other character (swimming?). (Her traits are somewhat similar, though the boarding school is for spy training so she tries not to be too scared of people, and she worries more--she definitely hates uncertainty.)
(August 10, 2024 - 7:33 pm)