#diverse representation

When this demon said "they're just like us", it reminded me of how important representation is, even for communities that are or have been marginalized or demonized in media. I.e, accurate mental health rep, LGBTQ rep, poc rep, disability rep, the list goes on.

and as a writer i really want to try and cover many dynamics and other things

so when i make a character a certain way, i do not want people to create a HC that changes parts of them (race, sexuality, age, fanonize them, gender, body type, etc)

because if i make a character a certain way, theyre meant to be that way

so something ive been thinking about a lot of trans rep, (i will do other rep for other things, dont worry, i already have a very wide variety of characters/dynamics/concepts :3 yippie)

as a trans author i do have a few trans characters but i dont make them a giant focal point or all my characters that way. Not in the sense of something silly but because to me that should not be their main selling point and what makes you interested in them

i flesh my characters out severely

but with that being said, i also have a lot of trans rep i want to show. Trans guys pre-op, POC trans characters, trans men with bottom surgery, trans women with bottom surgery, trans men with larger chests, hairy trans men, trans women who are still more masculine, trans characters who cannot be on hormones for health reasons, trans characters who are GNC and etc.

so far i have a few trans characters and i want to rant about them

but I also want to know what trans rep other trans people would really like to see esp if they lack a lot of representation or hardly see any so any recs?

those projects will also be put on the back burner or worked into future ones i have planned due to the fact i flesh out characters and do a lot of research to portray things accurately to the best of my ability as that matters to me. I currently have *many* projects and one in particular im focused on and want to finish (i absolutely adore them)

Sit down, and look at the pretty water. We need to have a talk.

Anyone of the PPG fandom, who cares, the hate around Bliss is overrated and leaves a more hurtful message than people realize.

By popular demand!

I've seen a lot of people on here complaining about how Queer Book Rec posts aren't really useful. There's a lot of rec posts that say things like "m/m, found family, magical island setting" without saying anything about the characters, plot, tone, or themes.A lot of the discourse has kinda wound up as FANFIC BAD vs. FANFIC GOOD, but I don't think that fanfic is the problem. A lot of fic rec lists use a format that works for fanfic, but doesn't translate well to original fic.

Like I said here, when you're talking about fic, the ship does a lot of heavy lifting. A ship carries a character dynamic, themes, and tone with it. You know a Stucky fic is likely to be about nostalgia and fixing a relationship broken by circumstance. If you're reccing fanfic, you can say "it's a Stucky coffeeshop AU" and people will have an idea of the vibe. But when you're talking about original fic, you can't really do that. "F/F" and "M/M" are poor substitutes for shipnames; they don't get across the same information about tone and theme.

So how can you rec a piece of original fic you liked while getting across the same information? Gentle reader, I'm so glad you asked.

I'm gonna use my short story The Captain's Sphere as an example. If I were going to describe The Captain's Sphere the way I've seen some Tumblr rec lists do it, I'd say something like this:

Steampunk fantasy f/f with a disabled trans lady scientist main

This isn't the worst description of The Captain's Sphere you could write, but it leaves out a lot of the things that make Sphere unique and interesting. So how do we make this work?

First: The hook.

The hook is the one-to-three sentence description on the Amazon page. You don't have to copy it verbatim- tbh you probably shouldn't- but it's what the author thinks makes the book unique.

Here's the hook for The Captain's Sphere:

Lady Ava Loftus is an unusual woman, even by the standards of sky-sailors. As she pursues her passion- the study and dissection of mysterious creatures called angels- she must move between different social spheres and contend with others' ideas of who and what she should be. Can she adhere to the expectations set for a lady of quality without betraying her true self?

If you can find a way to sum up this hook in your own words, that already goes a long way towards making your rec more interesting. It'll get across more of what the book's about.

So you might say something like:

The Captain's Sphere's about a trans steampunk sky captain who hunts eldritch angels, does SCIENCE, and deals with Victorian gender roles.

Second: the tone.

This is something you really need to get across in a rec, and it's hard to do. but it's really important for convincing people to read it. after all, any genre can mean a lot of different things. does fantasy mean The Secret of Platform 13 or A Song of Ice and Fire? does steampunk mean pith helmets and colonialism or critique of the Industrial Revolution?

One way to get this across is just... to mention something you really liked about the setting, or the character interactions, or the plot. So for example, you could say:

I really liked how Ava has to act like a different person in each part of her life- stern ship captain, family black sheep, distinguished scientist, or loving girlfriend. I also liked the 'angels'- they're eldritch and mindbending without being too Lovecraftian.

Finally- you can cheat.

if it's easier for you to describe things in terms of ships, tropes, and fics, you can still do that for original fic. If the main pairing in a book reminds you of a pairing you like from a piece of popular media, you can compare them to that pairing. If the main plot of a book reminds you of a fic that's popular in your favourite fandom, you can compare it to that fic. Don't make it the entire rec- you risk falling into the "F/F Steampunk Lebsian" description again- but if it's the way you can best express yourself then go for it, you funky lil nerd.

For the Captain's Sphere, you could say something like:

The main characters' relationship really reminded me of Jenny and Madame Vastra from Doctor Who- the difference in their social status and their desire to protect each other means that they love each other, but don't always trust each other. It's a really cool dynamic and I wish I could see more of it.

So when you put all this together, you've got a much longer description. But put the two side by side, and...

Steampunk fantasy f/f with a disabled trans lady scientist main

Versus...

The Captain's Sphere's about a trans steampunk sky captain who hunts eldritch angels, does SCIENCE, and deals with Victorian gender roles. I really liked how Ava has to act like a different person in each part of her life- stern ship captain, family black sheep, distinguished scientist, or loving girlfriend. I also loved the 'angels'- they're eldritch and mindbending without being too Lovecraftian. The main characters' relationship really reminded me of Jenny and Madame Vastra from Doctor Who- the difference in their social status and their desire to protect each other means that they love each other, but don't always trust each other. It's a really cool dynamic and I wish I could see more of it.

One of these descriptions doesn't tell you anything about the story other than "there's gays and trans". The other one's much longer, but it also gives you a good idea of what you're getting into. If I was looking for queer fic to pick up, I'd be mildly intrigued by the first description- but I'd know I had to read the second one.