I'm writing a novel with a colorful cast of characters in race, gender and sexuality. What are some tropes I should avoid ?

[CaptainKashup]

Like I said in the title, I'm currently in the middle of writing my first novel, thanks in part to a thread I made a while ago.
And I tried to make the cast as diverse as possible, in all ways possible. But even when you're trying your best, some things can easily go over your head when you're not part of a specific group. That's why I need your guidance, people from all the corners of Era.
What are some tropes, deemed overused and/or offensive by your subgroup that I should avoid ?

 

[Slayven]

Asian Women with purple hair

 

[CaptainKashup]

Asian Women with purple hair

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I already made sure of that one aha
I honestly don't understand how this weird trope even came to be

 

[Saturday]

Maybe give us some brief summaries of your cast? It's a pretty broad question.

 

[Pororoka]

Latinos have very varied last names and that aren't Ramirez, or that end with "ez" for that matter most of the time.

Signed, a Latino whose second last name ends with "ez".

Edit: Good luck with your novel. 😃

 

[Nappuccino]

I already made sure of that one aha
I honestly don't understand how this weird trope even came to be

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Artists and directors who think black hair is too boring by itself.

 

[Senator Toadstool]

I already made sure of that one aha
I honestly don't understand how this weird trope even came to be

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Fetishization, it made asians even more "exotic" and not, you know, normal people

 

[CaptainKashup]

Maybe give us some brief summaries of your cast? It's a pretty broad question.

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Uh, well..
Lots of latinx, couple of black people and asians. Gay men and women, bi people, trans people.

 

[Senator Toadstool]

this might be a random one but not everyone needs to be romantically linked with another. some people are just friends...

 

[Officer Big Mac]

Don't make your trans characters murderers or psychopaths.

 

[CaptainKashup]

Latinos have very varied last names and that aren't Ramirez, or that end with "ez" for that matter most of the time.

Signed, a Latino whose second last name ends with "ez".

Edit: Good luck with your novel. 😃

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I actually don't have any Latinos with ez in their name so I guess I did something right.
And thanks !

 

[krazen]

Don't over-describe the color of their skin unless it actually helps with the scene. There was a twitter thread going in on people going nuts on the descriptions that while they were trying to be inclusive, kinda felt fetishy. You know, the "Her almond shaped eyes and pale porcelain skin white skin gave her an exotic otherworldly look, and her cheeks were the color of the rising sun" type shit

 

[Seductivpancakes]

Don't kill off your LGBTQ+ characters like TV and movies love to.

 

[ash32121]

Uh, well..
Lots of latinx, couple of black people and asians. Gay men and women, bi people, trans people.

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It is still pretty broad but I'll say this, there is a lot of Asian countries, if your novel took place in a realistic setting, try to use countries that is not name China and Japan

Good luck with your novel, update us when it hit the shelf

 

[BassForever]

My only real thought/suggestion might be to run some scenes/dialogue/descriptions of specific characters with people of that gender/race/sexuality/etc.

 

[Stuntman]

If you have latinx characters, be specific. A shitty trope on media is that every everyone is mexican for some reason (yeah it's racism).

 

[i_am_ben]

If you intend to make bad characters bisexual, you should research that trope a bit more in order to avoid the 'bi villain stereotype'.

 

[CaptainKashup]

Don't make your trans characters murderers or psychopaths.

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That's a very odd one too.
Fortunately, my trans character is a nice person. Is there others trans trope I should be on the lookout ?

 

[Serif]

This resource Writing With Color was posted here some time ago. I haven't had time to read through all of it but I hope it's of use to you.

 

[Gibson]

I hate it when gay characters ogle every other person of the same sex. Just because we are gay doesn't mean we think about sex every waking moment.

 

[Maledict]

Don't have your gay male characters be sex maniacs who hop into bed at the drop of a hat.

EDIT: lol Gibson at the timing on our posts

 

[Ribbon]

If you intend to make bad characters bisexual, you should research that trope a bit more in order to avoid the 'bi villain stereotype'.

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THIS!

Also, avoid the kill your gays/lesbians/bis/trans/etc. trope.

 

[CaptainKashup]

If you have latinx characters, be specific. A shitty trope on media is that every everyone is mexican for some reason (yeah it's racism).

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One of the protagonist has mexican origins but I think that's it.
Are spain and portuguese ok ?

 

[Senator Toadstool]

I hate it when gay characters ogle every other person of the same sex. Just because we are gay doesn't mean we think about sex every waking moment.

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yeah oversexualizing not straight characters is a common issue. even as a straight guy it just comes across as lazy and uncreative

 

[MrRob]

Don't make the black characters the black friend or magical negro

 

[Senator Toadstool]

One of the protagonist has mexican origins but I think that's it.
Are spain and portuguese ok ?

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I don't think you need to censor yourself, just have a reason for it and not just fall back lazily. that's the thing about tropes. theyre uncreative choices based on sterotypes. there's plenty of room for mexican characters. there's 100 million mexicans! lots of stories to tell. and I live in socal where most latinos have mexican heritage so if I was setting a story here it'd likely be a latino with mexican heritage...

 

[texhnolyze]

MC is white while PoC friends have very little role in the story.

 

[Buckle]

I would say no gay character thats whole arc is being tortured by their sexuality.

But I'm a pasty white straight guy, couldn't say how actual LGBTQ feel about that and I wouldn't want to assume.

Not saying that can't be a story but just seems like something that writers fall into often. That or their gay characters being the hyper horniest human beings alive.

 

[Stuntman]

One of the protagonist has mexican origins but I think that's it.
Are spain and portuguese ok ?

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Spain and Portugal are in Europe, hence not latinx. You could try with Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, etc. I would research if the location you are basing your novel has any big number of people from X country and build it from that, of course Mexican is going to be the majority on the US, but latinx range from Mexico, Central America and South America. It's many countries each of those with different cultures and backgrounds.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Thinking about the broad strokes is fine, but the biggest help would be to get sensitivity readers from the groups you're concerned about, to look over what you wrote.

 

[CaptainKashup]

MC is white while PoC friends have very little role in the story.

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That won't be an issue, the character that would fit the "Main character" role the best is latino

 

[DPT120]

For your Asian characters, use realistic names. Don't just mash together two words that sound cool, or two last names.

edit: adding on to that, avoid common stereotypes for Asians. Like them being good at math, speaking with an accent, or having a long beard and white hair.

 

[Chopchop]

Make sure to have a group of people to run your ideas and tropes past before you write too much. You'll need a pretty diverse pool of reviewers.

Watch out for these things:

Asians being good at math, academia, or being bookwormy in general. Don't associate them with an air of ancient wisdom or mysticism. No animal eating jokes.

No overly slavish work ethic. Don't exaggerate physical traits like shortness. They aren't necessarily shutterbugs or tourists. They don't have to wear glasses. They don't have to know kung fu. They don't have to have an accent.

A lot of these are obvious, but a lot of the smaller ones listed there might be okay if you only use one or two of them, because some of them are fairly common traits among Asians. It's just that if you hit too many stereotypes at once, then they start to look like a caricature, and that's when it gets offensive.

 

[CaptainKashup]

Spain and Portugal are in Europe, hence not latinx. You could try with Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, etc. I would research if the location you are basing your novel has any big number of people from X country and build it from that, of course Mexican is going to be the majority on the US, but latinx range from Mexico, Central America and South America. It's many countries each of those with different cultures and backgrounds.

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Spain and Portugal are considered white ?

 

[Officer Big Mac]

I would say no gay character thats whole arc is being tortured by their sexuality.

But I'm a pasty white straight guy, couldn't say how actual LGBTQ feel about that and I wouldn't want to assume.

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as a gay man I wish more media treated sexuality as a non controversial aspect of a character. Nobody needs to freak out when someone's revealed as trans or a man kisses another man. But there are times when the characters sexuality is pertinent. It's dependent on the world being created and story.

 

[Stuntman]

Spain and Portugal are considered white ?

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Yes, they have racial minorities but the majority is white on both countries.

 

[CaptainKashup]

Thinking about the broad strokes is fine, but the biggest help would be to get sensitivity readers from the groups you're concerned about, to look over what you wrote.

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I wish I could but most of the people I know inside these groups are english and I'm currently writing the first draft in French

 

[Rendering...]

Gay romances that end in tragedy. That's pretty played out at this point.

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

I would write from personal experience and listen and study the culture of those people. If its too much, then that's okay. Better to not write based on your own stereotypes and bias.

 

[Veelk]

I would say be mindful of general warnings you get in this thread while writing, but the real examination is gonna happen once you actually write it out. At that point, select some sensitivity readers to read it and offer feedback.

 

[kyle mechlachlan]

I'm gonna be real with you, crowd sourcing this info is a terrible idea and you should avoid it. I'm not saying anything said here is wrong but you can't write a novel and source a forum as a way of avoiding certain things.

Write the thing first
Hire a sensitivity consultant to review your work and make adjustments.

 

[loco]

Smart latino or chicano kid raised by gangbanger cousins and brothers because their parents are dead or in prison. Also anything that remotely feels like Sandra Bullock or Emma Stone white savior levels of cringe.

 

[EMT0]

Spain and Portugal are considered white ?

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I wish I could but most of the people I know inside these groups are english and I'm currently writing the first draft in French

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I know you're trying to do right by everyone here and I applaud it but uh...where are you from that you're writing in French, but don't consider Portugal and Spain white?

 

[i_am_ben]

I would also advise to not over worry about stereotypes too much.

If you want to write about a flamboyant homosexual obsessed with reality TV then you can, particularly if they're well rounded in other respects. And especially if you're careful with stereotypes elsewhere in the story.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

Don't over-describe the color of their skin unless it actually helps with the scene. There was a twitter thread going in on people going nuts on the descriptions that while they were trying to be inclusive, kinda felt fetishy. You know, the "Her almond shaped eyes and pale porcelain skin white skin gave her an exotic otherworldly look, and her cheeks were the color of the rising sun" type shit

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I think Dune is a good example here, in a recent re-read, I was struck by how little time he spent on describing people's physical characteristics.

I hate it when gay characters ogle every other person of the same sex. Just because we are gay doesn't mean we think about sex every waking moment.

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And as a counter example, don't do what Hank Green (a presumably progressive author) did in An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, where his female bisexual protagonist sexualizes virtually every other character remotely in her age range, including one about 30 minutes after she becomes his employer.

 

[Feign]

That's a very odd one too.
Fortunately, my trans character is a nice person. Is there others trans trope I should be on the lookout ?

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This goes for any queer character, but don't make them say it to every person they meet. You don't really need to bring it up at all for the cis queer characters or really even anyone trans if you play it smart. Just have people infer either by relationships, talking past relationships, or how they interact with others.

The big thing to remember if you aren't queer yourself is how isolating it can be. So found family is a really big theme for us. When you don't know if your own family will kick you out growing up, you start to internalize fear or distrust. It takes us a while to open up, and sometimes asking someone you want to trust questions about others who are out in order to gauge what a person might think in response to us revealing it to them. There's a lot of subtext and testing the water. Have characters do that and you won't need to outright say what they are. We'll know.

 

[CaptainKashup]

Gay romances that end in tragedy. That's pretty played out at this point.

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What is considered tragedy, other then the obvious "gay partner dies"

 

[hwarang]

if there are asian characters, don't exclusively limit them to the ones that have "accents". it's annoying. media tends to forget the existence of Asian Americans. always gotta have speek engrish stereotype shit

 

[Annubis]

I know you're trying to do right by everyone here and I applaud it but uh...where are you from that you're writing in French, but don't consider Portugal and Spain white?

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Canada? I'm white and French =P

 

[CaptainKashup]

I know you're trying to do right by everyone here and I applaud it but uh...where are you from that you're writing in French, but don't consider Portugal and Spain white?

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Because everyone I've met say that I'm a latino because I have Italian and Spanish heritage