Characters · Going Over the Rainbow · lgbt · mogai · writing

Going Over the Rainbow: Gay Male Characters

With the end of a tumultuous and tragic Pride month there are more concerns than ever about how gay men are represented in media. So how can you, as a responsible author, help dispel many of the harmful stereotypes that lead people to commit horrible atrocities? By accurately and sensitively writing gay men. Please allow… Continue reading Going Over the Rainbow: Gay Male Characters

Characters · Going Over the Rainbow · lgbt · mogai · writing

Going Over the Rainbow: Lesbians

It's been a rough year for fictional lesbians and not a great one for the rest of the MOGAI population either. I don't have any new words to say about Orlando that haven't already been spoken. I can only move forward and hope this series inspires you to write even more queer characters so that… Continue reading Going Over the Rainbow: Lesbians

Characters · Going Over the Rainbow · lgbt · writing

Going Over the Rainbow: Writing a Character Who is Transgender

Transgender issues have been in the spotlight lately with Target's new policy and North Carolina's anti-LGBT legislation. Neither of these news items tell us much about just what it is like to be a trans person, other than that going to the bathroom in public places can be like playing Russian roulette where all the… Continue reading Going Over the Rainbow: Writing a Character Who is Transgender

Characters · excerpt · Going Over the Rainbow · lgbt · mogai · writing

Going Over the Rainbow: What is Gender Dysphoria?

Yesterday on Tumblr I had an anon ask an excellent question about gender dysphoria and what having an episode feels like. So I thought I would share it with you all here as well. This is one of those things that unless you experience it yourself it can be difficult to comprehend. I did my… Continue reading Going Over the Rainbow: What is Gender Dysphoria?

asexual · Characters · Going Over the Rainbow · lgbt · mogai · writing

Going Over the Rainbow: Writing an Asexual Character Part 2

I apologize for this post being late, but I spent some extra time to make sure I covered as many topics as possible. For the last couple of weeks we've been looking at the asexuality spectrum and how to write asexual characters.  Last week we discussed more about the spectrum and went over some terminology… Continue reading Going Over the Rainbow: Writing an Asexual Character Part 2

asexual · Characters · Going Over the Rainbow · lgbt · mogai · writing

Going Over the Rainbow: Writing an Asexual Character

Last week we discussed what asexuality is and the challenges faced by many asexuals. We really only dipped our toe in the water though, there is a lot more to being asexual than what I can cover in a couple of blog posts, so I very much encourage you to click through the links and… Continue reading Going Over the Rainbow: Writing an Asexual Character

asexual · Characters · Going Over the Rainbow · lgbt · mogai · writing · Writing FUNdamentals

Going Over the Rainbow: The Asexuality Spectrum

For this month's Going Over the Rainbow post we are going to look at one of the more misunderstood orientations—asexuality. I've broken this post up across two weeks because there are a lot of misconceptions as to what being asexual is and I want to address those before getting into actually writing an asexual character. So what… Continue reading Going Over the Rainbow: The Asexuality Spectrum

Fandoms · writing

Press Play: Tips for Making Fan Fiction Work for You

  It's becoming more common for authors to get their start by writing fan fiction. There have been many famous authors who started out writing for fandom before transitioning to original works. Chances are you've heard of Cassandra Claire and E. L. James, I'm not holding either up as a good examples of morally responsible… Continue reading Press Play: Tips for Making Fan Fiction Work for You