#writingPride 6/10. Free space for queer characters.

Being bi myself, writing bi characters has always been my easy way out. And because I write female presenting characters almost exclusively, that means women with women is the culturally "non-standard" option. (Language is stupidly awkward at times.)

So deciding to write a lesbian MC was a very deliberate decision, which is how Miralees from the "Dragons of the Wounded Land" series, came about. It's also why I decided to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid so had the books read by a lesbian writer friend (not here on Mastodon).

Her only comment was "moooaar romance!".

So yeah, Miralees knows she's different but not why until she falls for Daria in a big way very suddenly. And is somewhat horrified by what happens. (She gets over the shock quickly, and over Daria eventually.)

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#writingPride 6/9. Favourite queer historical figure?

I don't have one. Less than 100 years ago queerness wasn't seen as an identity, so none of them would have thought of themselves in the terms we do today - and inflicting current viewpoints on the past is never a good look.

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#WritingPride 6. How do you portray your characters' queerness?

there are many ways that queerness affects people's lives. Lucifer bears the scars from aeons of life in the closet; Eleanor has been blessedly unaffected by phobic shame because lesbian relationships are unimaginable, and people do not fear what does not exist in their imaginations.

for Lucifer, i wanted to explore some more old school dimensions of queer sexuality under persecution, the ways that intimacy ends up damaged when lasting relationships are impossible. i feel like (in younger generations especially) there is a collective desire to deny these struggles and forget them. but elder queers who experienced these things are still here; we shouldn't just memory-hole what happened to them.

an example: i have a scene where Luce takes care of Eleanor after a domestic assault. she has a strong desire to comfort Eleanor in the aftermath, but:

'Certain as Luce always was about herself and her desires, somewhere along the way this idea had infiltrated her like weeds in the heart: the notion that her love was poison, something she could not expose to someone so unguarded without contaminating and hurting them. Hence the cheapness, the dirt and tawdriness of so many of her past affairs, her choice of lovers who were already tainted, or protected by their cynicism.'

#WritingPride 6. Have you written a character's queer awakening?

Lucifer's coming of age is told in flashbacks throughout the story, and this includes queer and trans awakenings. one section of the book concerns her first mission trip to Earth, which is supposed to be a rite of passage, though Lucifer gets up to some characteristic mischief on the side. after a brief hookup in a bathhouse, Lucifer's clothes are stolen, and she must choose between swiping a set of men's robes (on a clothesline to the right) and a set of women's (to the left), so that she can make it back to camp. she ends up choosing the women's robes, and successfully passes. epiphany ensues.

'Certainly the men’s robes were the obvious choice. And yet, something about the other option niggled. She wavered. ... Finally she returned to the chamber and fetched up her sandals, holding them out evenly in front of her so that one was on the left, the other the right. She then released them both at the same time, and observed that the left shoe hit the ground first. Very well, then—fate had decided. She would go to the left. (Though if one were of a mind to look closely, one might have noticed a small twitch, perhaps, of the left hand as she let down the shoes, which may cast doubt upon the true randomness of the exercise.)'

#WritingPride June 6: have you written a character's queer awakening?

I have yet to do so. And I am sure lots of people would castigate for me for doing so because I am not queer. I do disagree.

#WritingPride⁩ 6/9: Who is your favorite queer historical figure?

Pauli Murray.

https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/invisible-giant-legacy-pauli-murray-jd-44-h-17-trailblazing-civil-rights-lawyer