Hi all
My WIP has (so far) two gay men and one gay woman as significant characters in the story. The strange thing is, I feel like I can more easily write the womans part than the mens, even though I'm a gay male myself. I guess it's because her attitude towards her sexuality most closely mirrors mine in that she's comfortable with identifying as gay, but she struggles with shrugging off other peoples negative perceptions of homosexuality.
With the men, one of them is sort of in denial about it, which is something that I never experienced myself. I knew I was gay when I was 12 and never questioned it or even tried to have a straight relationship. So I have concerns about making this character feel genuine. He knows that he's different, and that he's not interested in courting women, but he does it anyway because that's what's expected of him. How do you think his thinking should go? Should he be attracted to men but try to ignore it? Should he not even look at men in that way? Or should he be well aware of it but terrified of being noticed?
My third character, the other man, is someone who loves to be in the spotlight. I wouldn't call him flamboyant by modern standards, but for the conservative setting that he lives in he definitely stands out. While he is cautious about letting the 'wrong people' know he's gay, he is very good at shrugging off negative criticism (that good old "fuck you" attitude). I see him as having a little bit of Lafayette from True Blood in his nature, but in a more subtle way. (e.g. No slamming "AIDS burgers" into peoples faces much as I would love to do that). The thing is, though, I have to take into account that this is not earth, and it is not a modern setting, so he can't be going around calling people 'gurl' and all that, but I still want his speech to reflect his nature. Do you have any suggestions for how to write a character like this? Any help would be mucho appreciated.
ui888888888887iuk <-- This interruption brought to you by my cat walking across my keyboard.
I really don't want to portray these guys as stereotypes. The guys will end up in a relationship, which they both choose to keep private, because they'd be putting themselves at risk if it was made common knowledge. I wanted to avoid having the "flamboyant" guy drag the shy guy out of the closet, because I think that's a pretty common scenario in gay fiction.
My WIP has (so far) two gay men and one gay woman as significant characters in the story. The strange thing is, I feel like I can more easily write the womans part than the mens, even though I'm a gay male myself. I guess it's because her attitude towards her sexuality most closely mirrors mine in that she's comfortable with identifying as gay, but she struggles with shrugging off other peoples negative perceptions of homosexuality.
With the men, one of them is sort of in denial about it, which is something that I never experienced myself. I knew I was gay when I was 12 and never questioned it or even tried to have a straight relationship. So I have concerns about making this character feel genuine. He knows that he's different, and that he's not interested in courting women, but he does it anyway because that's what's expected of him. How do you think his thinking should go? Should he be attracted to men but try to ignore it? Should he not even look at men in that way? Or should he be well aware of it but terrified of being noticed?
My third character, the other man, is someone who loves to be in the spotlight. I wouldn't call him flamboyant by modern standards, but for the conservative setting that he lives in he definitely stands out. While he is cautious about letting the 'wrong people' know he's gay, he is very good at shrugging off negative criticism (that good old "fuck you" attitude). I see him as having a little bit of Lafayette from True Blood in his nature, but in a more subtle way. (e.g. No slamming "AIDS burgers" into peoples faces much as I would love to do that). The thing is, though, I have to take into account that this is not earth, and it is not a modern setting, so he can't be going around calling people 'gurl' and all that, but I still want his speech to reflect his nature. Do you have any suggestions for how to write a character like this? Any help would be mucho appreciated.
ui888888888887iuk <-- This interruption brought to you by my cat walking across my keyboard.
I really don't want to portray these guys as stereotypes. The guys will end up in a relationship, which they both choose to keep private, because they'd be putting themselves at risk if it was made common knowledge. I wanted to avoid having the "flamboyant" guy drag the shy guy out of the closet, because I think that's a pretty common scenario in gay fiction.