Oversaturation of gays?? Not enough lesbians??

[DestKitAero]

Title.

In the story/novels I'm writing (I'm writing two and they're interconnected via characters being coworkers), there's 3 gay male couples in one book (the main couple is gay, and there is another couple who is minor, and the 3rd one is even minor.) and there are NO lesbians in that book except for a reading of bathroom graffiti calling people slurs. (If you believe that [insert name here] is a [insert slur here] type graffiti would count as rep)

The next book, there is one lesbian. No couple. And 2 gay couples (separate from those in the first one).

So that's 5 gay couples, and a single lesbian

Too many gays?? Should i attempt to add other rep like asexuals and bisexuals to counteract it??

 

[Unimportant]

Write whatever you like! There's no fixed ratio. Heck, there's an awful lot of books out there that don't have any gay characters.

If the book is set in the real world (as opposed to F/SF), then it helps the reader suspend disbelief if the story's world reflects their own, but they also expect the book to focus on the main characters and not introduce every walk-on bit player with a commentary on their sexuality (or anything else). If your two gay characters, the main characters, happen to hang out with two other gay couples, that's pretty believable. The reader can assume that the shop clerk, the bus driver, the woman on the street yelling at her kids, the crowd of people on the Tilt-A-Whirl at the fun fair, and everyone else who peoples the world fill in a normal population across the spectrum.

It's also a good idea to "write what you know", so that readers don't end up hurling the book against the wall when the author has people doing totally unbelievable stuff, or perpetuating ridiculous stereotypes, because the author has no flippin' idea about the lived experiences of (fill in the blank).

 

[Bitterboots]

I was going to say 'write what you know' but its unimportant advice. (my children are always embarrassed when I laugh at my own jokes)
I have one lesbian major character in my MS, one non binary major character and a minor gay couple. I am neither lesbian, non binary, nor gay but I have a trans daughter who is a lesbian so felt I had some experience in that area. Her and her partner also read the book to make sure I didn't overstep.
If it's important to tell your story with gay men then do it. But I would have at least one gay friend read it.

 

[lizmonster]

To state the obvious: nobody ever asks if a book has too many straight people in it.

Write what makes the narrative work.

 

[Norsebard]

So that's 5 gay couples, and a single lesbian (...) Too many gays??

Nah

If you prefer to keep it balanced on a grander scale, you could always write a lesbian-centric story later on - Romance / action adventure / slice-of-life / spy thriller / sports drama / Western / hardboiled P.I. / cozy crime / courtroom drama / sci-fi (or Silly-Fi ) / haunted house / murder mystery... oy, the possibilities are endless!


Norsebard

 

[Paul Lamb]

I have a married gay couple in my two novels (same couple, different novels) and I feel right on the edge of appropriation since I'm not gay. I'd be reluctant to throw in a lesbian character just for some "quota."

That said, for most of my characters, sexuality is secondary, so a female character might be read as lesbian even if I made no specific or overt reference to such an inclination.

I say don't worry about numbers or representation. Just write the story you have.

 

[Sage]

There's no quota for how many different types of sexualities you have in your book. You absolutely can add more if you feel like it, or not. Don't add them just to add them.

Without more information, it's hard to say, but is the reason you have more gay men in your books because you're lacking in female characters in your books overall? That's not necessarily a problem, but you should consider it. There's a long history of female characters being non-existent or regulated to certain types of support roles in fiction.

There's also no quota for including different genders in your books, but if you have that type of bias, it's better to consider and confront it. It may be the same with your gay men. You haven't said why you think you've included lots of gay men but no lesbians. Just examine it. But don't feel you have to include others unless you find a problem.

 

[alexp336]

So much good advice, here. I also like "write what you know" as a general guideline, though I'd add that - to me, anyway - it doesn't mean "don't write what you don't know about," but rather "educate yourself to fill in your own gaps." If you don't feel confident writing about lesbians, I'd say the answer is to talk to lesbians, read books by/about lesbians, etc. so that you can make your own lesbian characters more well-rounded. And, like someone else suggested, have a plurality of beta readers with varied insight to give you in-group feedback.

As a gay guy, I want to read more books with queer people in them. I don't want non-queer writers to feel terrified of including queer characters because they worry they'll be accused of appropriation or being tone-deaf: I want those writers to have done their homework, to make sure the representation is realistic and accurate.

I'll say that, though in my general experience most gay men have some lesbians in their life somewhere, that doesn't always happen to be the case. But it'd be the sort of thing which might seem unrealistic in a story, to me anyway, unless there was a reason for it (whether stated or easy to intuit somehow).

Just my big gay 2c, ignore at will

 

[engmajor2005]

Before I go any further, let me reiterate that I am not gay/trans/non-binary/bi or anything other than a cisgender heterosexual white male. However, from my extremely limited experience (two of my best friends are a married gay couple), I can say that if your novel takes place in larger city, there's a good chance that at least one of your characters would be part of some kind of support or social group for gay people. The couple I know, for example, were part of a gaming group for LGBTQ+ people for years. So it makes sense that, not only would your main characters hang out with other people of a shared sexuality but that also they would probably know a lesbian or two.

If you don't want to go through the trouble of plausibly including yet another character, maybe have them mention a lesbian in dialogue. "I called Carol today. She and Daisy have to cancel dinner on Friday night. They weren't able to find a babysitter." Something like that.