Notebook.ai

An asexual character

@Paperok forum 10 comments schedule
@Paperok

Heres how I handle my asexual character Carissa Kuronas. Carissa is very uncomfortable around others (this has nothing to do with her sexuality) that are not Cameron Moriantes. With Cameron Carissa is generally relaxed, she loves Cameron she enjoys sitting on the couch with him and watching TV. She enjoys walking the streets hand in hand with him adoring the beautiful scenery. The couple have had "the talk" many times; Carissa hates having the talk, sometimes Cameron moves his hand a little closer, Carissa nearly cries when she sees the look on his face when she tells him to stop. She doesnt want him to leaave her, find someone better, find someone who will let him do as he desires; let him do what she cant.

Cameron loves Carissa. Carissa keeps Cameron grounded in reality, she keeps his head on straight. Sometimes Cameron gets carried away, Carissa will stop him, Cameron will apologize. Cameron would never leave Carissa, she means too much to him.

How would you write an asexual character? Or any other sexuality, whichever you wanna talk about.

Zeland

how would I write them? The same way I write any other character, except they're attracted to girls instead of boys, or aren't attracted to anyone at all, or whatever else.

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@evastardust groupRRAAAARRL
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Yo hit me up on the on site email thing for some advice that I don’t have time to write out now.

@doug

@Paperok I think Zeland makes a good point - make sure the character is a person first, and an asexual person second. Do include characters with different sexual orientations, but make sure not to make their sexuality their dominant characteristic. With this character you have a good start - she seems like a sweet person who's a bit shy and uncomfortable, and she has a problem in her relationship because of her sexuality. Make sure to give her time to develop outside her sexuality. What are her hobbies? What is her career? Exploring different aspects to this character will make her more real.

@kat_i_am

As an ace myself, I think def make the character a person first and foremost, an an asexual second. Also keep in mind that we aces get really excited about other things too??? Like I'm very very into the science behind colors and all that jazz, as well as environmental sciences. Just because we don't feel sexual attraction/passion doesn't mean we're not passionate. : D

person_off
Deleted user

@doug and @kat_i_am I second that!

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@Starfast group

I have a few LGBT+ characters, and for the most part their sexualities don't really play huge roles in their story. I write them the same way I would any other character, but usually there's a little more research involved. I'm straight, so I want to make sure that I'm not doing anything that's incorrect or offensive. Mostly, I develop their personalities first so that their sexualities aren't the most defining traits.

With my aro/ace character specifically though, it wasn't really a conscious decision to make him that way. It just kind of happened. He started out "straight" but after I ended up researching asexuality I realized that he actually wasn't.

I'm kind of struggling to come up with a way to address his sexuality in the story though, because he's really reserved and not really open about his personal life. I guess I just can't really see him going around telling people that he's asexual, but I still want it to be addressed. It'll probably end up being revealed in a really offhand way because thats just how he is (it probably wouldn't be a big deal even if he wasn't because it's such a minor detail).

@kat_i_am

Okay hi I'm back. I just finished reading "let's talk about love" by Claire Kann, and if you're looking for a good example of a well written ace character THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. Main character is different enough from the one you're describing that I don't think you'd have a problem with bleedthrough (from her writing to yours), but Claire Kann just handles Alice (protag, ace) very well and deals with the issues and assumptions that come up when people hear you're asexual. Just… ugh so good one of my new favorite books

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@evastardust groupRRAAAARRL
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Oooh I really wanted to read that one!!!

@kirailove

Well… I am ace, and I clicked on this to help but… literally everything I could say has already been said already lol :/