Does a writer “owe” readers a type of character?

[MK_Wizard]

There is nothing touchier in writing than trying to be open minded and trying to be inclusive in representation. The not so fun truth is though that you can’t include everyone. Making a cast that is too big gets confusing and token or poster child characters are boring. A character should contribute to the story not just be the character who is of a said group.

However, we live in an age where fans have come to expect certain things of writers and character designers. It is only human because we like what we like and trends have a huge impact on our culture. Art is not the exception of the exemption. Very often when we writers create a character fans will draw theories about them like crazy. I personally think drawing theories is a good thing because it shows that readers stop and think about things and they appreciate a character’s symbolism. What is not a good thing though is when fans cry foul when a character doesn’t turn out how they hoped and accuse the writer of being spiteful or teasing them.

Let me just put this to rest with the uttermost love and kindness. I can’t speak for other writers, but I can speak my own behalf when I say I never pull fast ones or lead people on. When I create a character, I know exactly what they will be from the get go, so whatever you’re seeing in the story is not something I pulled at random. It was pre-planned. I’m sorry if you don’t agree with it or like it, but I never lead anyone on. Plus, when it comes to symbolism, things can symbolise all kinds of things. Just look at the colour blue. It can symbolise royalty, snow, wisdom, water, sadness and much more. It does not symbolise one thing. The same can be said for many things like rainbows, wings, horns, a cape, a fashion style and much more. They never represent one thing because fiction is very fast and there is no telling where the writer drew inspiration from until you see it.

In short, please don’t feel cheated when you don’t get it all in a story. Writers are only human and to write well, they need it to feel natural not forced. A writer only owes the audience to put their best foot forward and if they’re doing that, everything else is just extra.

[imiogri]

I'm paranoid my mc who is bi is gonna piss people off by turning out straight and being very straight during the whole story. It's a goddamn stupid thing to be worried about, but when the Tapas community loves bl so much I feel like they're gonna ship him with people that are not intended to be shipped with (he also gets very close to women that he don't have romantic interests with that I'm also afraid people with misinterpret).

I'm lgbt too so I can at least use that as defense, but even if you aren't part of a certain community you should be able to write characters outside it. There are so many expectations these days, and it's so weird that I can't as a lesbian write a regular pretty hetero story without losing certain audience. It's just how the characters turned out to be because it's the most realistic, I never want to cater to anyone.

[Luminosophy]

I can only imagine such a case being true when someone's being hired on to specifically continue a series (not re-imagine it). I think in that case then yeah, the author does owe it to the fans to be true to the series and respect what's come before it because it only became popular in the first place for what it already was.

[joannekwan]

This is why I never like drawing conclusions about characters or plots for things as personal as webcomics until the work is complete. I don't even like predicting plots.

I prefer to sit back and watch the story unfold. As a consumer of a free product, I'm not owed anything.

[rmdooley]

No.

Not every character fits with every story so not every story is going to click with every reader. And if it comes down to it, if you want to see a certain type of character in a tale and you can't find it, write that character and story rather than blame the creator for having a different vision

[Kann]

Writer doesn't owe their readers any type of character, because it's their story, not their readers'. Readers are free to interpret a character any way they want, but they should remember it's someone else's creation and at some point in the story they might do something that doesn't fit in their view of said character.

[DiegoPalacios]

agreed, even with reboots is important to understand what made the story special. Of course a reboot will not neccesarily keep everything exactly the same. But respecting the esentials is vital.

[Geek_Aflame]

I'm paranoid my mc who is bi is gonna piss people off by turning out straight and being very straight during the whole story.

Let me start off by saying, I think you make a good point in your post and I'm not trying to hate. I just think the idea you brought up in this part of you post needs addressing, as an idea in general.

If a character identifies as bisexual, they're bi even if they're in a relationship with the opposite gender. Being bi myself I hate the common idea that a bisexual's sexuality is dependent on the gender of the person they're in a relationship with. As though they're suddenly gay or straight when in a relationship and only bi while single. Being married to a man, doesn't make my bisexual MC any less attracted to women.

[MK_Wizard]

I may not be a bisexual myself (straight here), but... being bisexual isn't something you have to prove by kissing someone of the same gender every now then. People are what they are. It's like saying a woman has to like girly things to prove that she is a woman. Uh. No.

Kudos to you.

[Geek_Aflame]

No, writers don't owe readers a type of character. I say this as a writer and a reader. I read a lot, I've read 84 novels this year plus a lot of web novels/comics and fanfiction.

As a reader, I want a writer to defy my expectations, reading the story I expect would make reading a chore.

As a writer I don't believe, I owe readers a type of character, sometimes my characters might follow a readers expectations but other times they won't.

[ratscout]

A writer absolutely does not owe readers any type of character. There was a whole kerfuffle about the videogame, Persona 5, not having gay options and everyone was in a tizzy over it. The company that makes the Persona franchise, Atlus, probably wasn't even thinking about putting in gay options because most of the staff is most likely straight so it just didn't occur to them. But the fans were so indignant about it like Atlus owed them gay characters which is ridiculous! Forcing a creator to put in a character of a certain sexuality or ethnicity is the height of arrogance and inhibits their creativity and their own vision for their creation. It also happens to make having a gay or ethnic character just a checkmark on a list that a creator has to shoehorn in there rather than making them an organic character.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

They absolutely don't

Ugh, the same thing you see in fandoms when a writer sink a ship or disprove a popular fan theory fans got pissed like they write the story themselves. The entitlement reeking from every pores, I just feel sorry to original author when I see people like that.

The people who think like that usually will end up forcing a headcannon to entire fandom, even with so little backing canon material (Harry Potter is gay trans and POC!1!!) or making such poorly developed wish fulfillment fan character to fill the gap, which they grew delusional Is CaNoN!1!! or making rant how author A suck because don't insert certain kind of character and trashing their work, while ironically they still read it and their blog is called "authorafanblog"

For me even though reader is a king, then writer is a god; a king can pray their wish to the god or even claim they are one, but in the end the real god make rule.

[amortelito]

In my personal opinion, you don't owe the readers anything. This is your story unless they are literally paying you to make their idea and you are just making the art for them. You can include diversity if you feel like it is important but I think is very entitled to demand being represented. It is like saying that there is no way you can relate to ethnicities or preferences other than yours. I do understand the desire to relate to characters but the writing and personality are also important characteristics to define a person, I think.

I also think is very risky nowadays because the same people who demand to be represented are the same that get offended when you do. There was a dude who had a meltdown about Coco, the Disney movie. because "How dare a USA company make money stealing my culture and my race". But was the same person saying "there are not enough Latinos in movies". Not gonna lie, some people are just scary and unreasonable.

[dawgofdawgness]

No a writer does not "owe" anything to anyone - it's their own work and if they want to spew crap, they're free to do so (as long as they don't get pissy when nobody wants to read their story). But yeah, there is the whole deal with representation currently. Do you "owe" your audience at least one LGBT character in every story you write? No..? And chances are, nobody's going call you out for it. Representation is nice because when you see a character sharing the same social identity as you, you're like "Hey that's pretty cool". But it means a lot more to some people more than others.
Did I like Crazy Rich Asians? Not really. I can name so many other movies with all-white casts that I enjoyed so much more.
But at the same time, there was a Chinese girl in my class who went back to the theater and watched it 3 more times.

Personally, I think (as a reader) I'd enjoy stories WAY better if writers weren't expected to throw in certain things. I like nice surprises! If I go into a story labelled "GL" and see a lesbian couple I might go "hey that's pretty cool." but if I'm going into a story not knowing anything and THEN see a lesbian couple, I'll go "HOLY SHIT! MY PEOPLE"

[shazzbaa]

Does a writer owe readers a certain type of character, a certain type of story, a certain type of interaction? In my opinion, no.

Is it irresponsible or foolish for a writer to think that their work exists in a vacuum and should not be interpreted within the context of the world around us and the tropes that came before? In my opinion, yes.

I think it's natural for any creator to be slightly terrified of fan entitlement. THERES A LOT OF IT AT THE MOMENT and it often leans way beyond the line of what's appropriate -- like, regardless of the subject matter, lashing out at real people because their story didn't go the way you wanted is not good to do, whether your criticisms are legitimate or not!! And sometimes they aren't! Sometimes someone just got a headcanon and decided it was true and then feels betrayed if it's contradicted, and this can be an exhausting argument to watch. Or, because they share something in common with a character, they feel some ownership or authority over them, which is equally unnerving.
I believe really strongly in not doing things just because an audience wants it, because your story has to be honest. I think that's the most important thing. If someone has a problem with the part of your story that's True, then there's nothing you could've done about that. I'll definitely admit that in my story, there are choices I've made that some folks might not like, and part of me is a bit nervous -- if some readers became upset about this choice, am I ready to stand strong for my story? If someone takes my work in bad faith, how do I remain kind and still stand by the choices I made?

But I think that things going to extremes in fandom doesn't mean that these things don't matter at all. When I see a character who seemed to have DID or schizophrenia "go crazy" & lose all their morality & become murderous and it's treated as a natural progression, it's always kind of a bummer -- the writers didn't owe me or my friends the representation of a non-violent psychotic character, we weren't entitled to any particular kind of character or any particular sort of ending for that character, they weren't required to thoughtfully represent every single mental illness in a realistic way or anything, this development doesn't mean they hate mentally ill people or think that they're all violent murderers, and doesn't necessarily make their story bad -- but I still wish the writers had thought more about the context that surrounds this choice, and what it means to contribute unthinkingly to the idea that a psychotic person necessarily becomes violent.

We don't owe readers any specific type of character, any specific sort of representation, any specific plot resolution. We need to tell our stories, as honestly as we can. But at the same time, we do have a responsibility to be thoughtful, to pay attention to the ideas we're contributing to, and decide if those ideas are something we want to reinforce in our stories.

[Jenny-Toons]

We don't owe readers any specific type of character, any specific sort of representation, any specific plot resolution. We need to tell our stories, as honestly as we can. But at the same time, we do have a responsibility to be thoughtful, to pay attention to the ideas we're contributing to, and decide if those ideas are something we want to reinforce in our stories.

This sums it up perfectly.

No -- we don't owe our readers any type of character. But we still owe it to ourselves to actively look at what we write, what messages we could be sending, and deciding how we still stand with those messages (or if we even do).

Interpretations happen all the time, and we can't stop that.

I don't try to represent every story out there because I literally can't tell every story out there. But at the very least, when I write, I write knowing that someone out there will read my stuff and might interpret it differently than me.

Whether or not they get offended or relate to my work is not up to me because I can't control that. But, what I can control is my preparation to acknowledge it when it happens.

I don't have to change my story. I don't have to agree with those headcannons or ideas either. And I can still stand with what I write or explain why I wrote it. But I can't ever pretend like I write in a bubble.

[MariMontoya]

No, no writer ever owes a reader anything other than telling the story, especially when it comes to characters.
I've faced this problem, especially in the comic I write. Readers are already expecting characters to behave a certain way and have a specific part in the story, based on the genre (romance/drama). It makes sense bc of the genre and all and readers are entitled to their opinions/shipping/whatever but I have questioned/worried how they will react to the characters not being what they expect/want them to be.
But, we need to draw a line between telling our story and pleasing everyone, bc we will never please everyone. It's also important that we know our own characters well enough and will properly represent them in the story.
It's hard enough doing it for characters that we've created and want to write, it's even more difficult to write a character you don't want, for the sake of your audience.
At the end of the day, it's our story and characters and our job is to tell it the best way we can.

[racarter]

Nobody owes anyone anything and it’s really just that simple to me.

Besides, readers are ingrates who will never ever be satisfied and will always think they could do your characters better than you. I know cuz I’m like that, so are other creators who are fans of other series. Some just take it further than others. But basically that’s one reason fanfic exists, because they’ll never be satisfied.

Actually that’s why different stories exist in the first place, because no one thing can ever satisfy everyone. So it’s futile to attempt to do so and even if you managed to do so someone would still be offended by it cuz you didn’t do it the way they consider “correct”.

People have varying opinions and no matter what you’ll always end up pissing off someone. So just do what you wanna do. You don’t need to make excuses or try to justify what you do either. Like idk you’re gay and want to create a story with het characters and a het romance? Fine, do it, don’t feel pressured to include LGBT+ people. If you want to, then okay, but you shouldn’t feel pressured or obligated to do so. Same for any given combination of people and type of characters or plot you can think of.

Personally I wanted one of my main characters to be black. Why? No reason, I just did. It’s not cuz I feel the obligation to have diversity for diversity’s sake, I just wanted the character to be black. There’s no reason for it. If I did it cuz I felt like I owed it to people, then it would feel forced, she’d just be a Token, I’d probably grow to resent the character.

So yeah, anyway, people will never be satisfied no matter what you do. So just do what you wanna do, do it cuz you want to do it.

But at the same time you may come across something and go “aw damn, that sounds like a good idea, maybe I should do that”. Like it’s okay to listen to ideas others have, they can inspire you, they consider things you never have before, it can give you some alternative perspective. But do you HAVE to do it? Nope. It’s all up to you.

[imiogri]

Super important. I used to identify as bi, and now pan, so I know exactly what you're talking about.
My wording was really bad but that's exactly the issue I was trying to touch on. Even if he shows only being attracted to girls because that's how his life turned out, it doesn't make him less bi, and he always will be bi. Then the opposite side of the spectrum might be like "hello, he's bi, why isn't he ever together with a man???"

Then again I don't know if people are actually going to ever see this as an issue, but it's something I worry is gonna take up more focus than it's supposed to. It's not a good idea to go shouting "HEY, HES BI" and force him together with the same sex just to prove the point either, I just want to write him living his life lmao

[MK_Wizard]

Goodness. That's like expecting a black character to love basketball, eat friend chicken or do all the other stereotypical things. A person isn't what they are for show and people forget that being a bisexual, pansexual and homosexual doesn't mean you jump on and do anything that moves. You can be one of those three things and still be celibate, reserved and above all else HAVE STANDARDS. So your character's soul mate turned out to be a woman, so what? It doesn't make him less LGBT. It means that's the person he matched with regardless of her gender. I really hate it when LGBT people are stereotyped as sluts! That's degrading to the LGBT community. And I'm a straight feminine female.