Surprise LGBT characters

[IdiotWithPencil]

'm bisexual, I don't find it weird if a guy dates girls then switches over to guys.

ok I'm guessing I didn't explain this part very well:

it's not that straight is the default, it's that it feels out of place and frankly jarring when you are reading about one thing and the story goes into a 90° tangent about another thing. Like a series about soccer out of nowhere starts showing basketball halfway into the world cup finals.

so let me try again, I'm not talking about the characters sexual oriantation, I'm talking about story, let me give you and example:
you are reading a soccer comic, the captain and his team has been training for the whole run, wining matches and getting trophies. And they are about to go to the finals and out of nowhere the story becomes one about the soccer captain and the manager in a relationship cause they had sex from a drunk party before the game, for about 1 year the only things that is the focus is their romantic banter and their relationship with the childhood friend who also loves the captain, there is less about soccer and the team training to give more room to the romance, the change is jarring and out of place.

it dosen't matter if the manager and captain are straight, gay, bi, trans, or alien cockoroaches from mars. The point is that it's crammed in there and it feels out of place for the soccer story.Romance subplots are ok but it has to have it's place in the story and not just crammed in there like an afterthought

they meant Genre Switching... the argument is that it goes from say, a murder mystery horror and then does a 180 and turns into a romantic comedy

basically this

[NickRowler]

I don't think this is necessarily something that is just exclusive is LGBT romance. I've seen this also happen with straight characters, authors shoehorning a romantic subplot when it is 100% not needed. I think you are upset about the trope over all, I don't think this is LGBT issue.

Also something to note, an author may have been exploring their own identity and my want to add it into the comic even if the series has gone on for like 200 pages already. That does happen.

[IndigoShirtProd]

It's like if you were following a story for a long time and in the 50th chapter you find out the character has a sibling that then becomes a main character that wasn't or even foreshadowed earlier.

[vothnthorvaldson]

If it's coming out of nowhere because it was a late addition to bring in a new reader base, yep, it's meh. (Not more or less than any late, awkward addition for the same reasons, though).

BUT. It is actually a real issue for creators even when they legitimately, from the beginning, have the idea of a non-romance story with some LGBT themes or a romance subplots. One issue that pretty much does not exist with straight couples, even if it's exactly the same, objectively.

I had very little comic background when I started mine and never had even read a webcomic. But one if the first issue I encountered was just that. Do I have to 'warn' (how horrible!) and, for other reasons/public, 'advertise', that there will be strong LGBT themes, in later chapters, in a story that has little to do with romance?

Well, people already writting comics gave me a bit of background and answers, and I understood quickly it was not a small issue, and not one with a easy answer either.

My story could completely look like 'I changed it and added LGBT themes because there is this new LGBT category on Tapas', even if it was planned like that for years.

So yes, there may be people who add these more or less awkwardly because they feel there is a readership for it right now. But there may be other who simply did not feel like warning people there would be such romance, and did not feel the need to advertise it either, because it's not the main subject.

A good test I think, would be to imagine a specific LGBT romance in these comics you read, as a straight romamce. If the romance is awkward because it was shoehorned last minute, it would feel as awkward whatever the genders, in my opinion (but I'm pan, so.. it's difficult to really imagine).

[Inspector_Spinda]

it's not an LGBT issue, but in my specific situation it has been very much. yes in the past i have noticed such things in tv shows but 1 they're really fast paced and you can get to the rest of the story really quick (unlike webcomics) and 2 not in three shows at once. it's just been a recent thing that ive got really mixed feelings over because im really invested in these comics.

authors exploring themselves is totally valid and can be the case. respect that but doesn't make it less strange for me. When an author suddenly changes gears makes me question if the person driving is reliable. i guess the only way to really know is to wait another 3 years and see if it goes anywhere x'D

maybe in three years I'll totally love it because the comic will go places, but atm it's just like ??????

[Inspector_Spinda]

If it's coming out of nowhere because it was a late addition to bring in a new reader base, yep, it's meh. (Not more or less than any late, awkward addition for the same reasons, though).

yeah that's sort of what it's feeling like. no proof, but it makes it feel weird and cheap, even when i sort of like some of the ships.

[IdiotWithPencil]

may be sloppy writing but it's the exact same issue in three comics ive been read which are also ALL the comics i was read until recently x'D

oh, it is definitely sloppy writing, if what you are describing them is accurate. I mean even taking out the LGBTQ aspect the relationships sound phoned in and last minute additions at best.

[Inspector_Spinda]

yes that sounds accurate!

[IdiotWithPencil]

I had very little comic background when I started mine and never had even read a webcomic. But one if the first issue I encountered was just that. Do I have to 'warn' (how horrible!) and, for other reasons/public, 'advertise', that there will be strong LGBT themes, in later chapters, in a story that has little to do with romance?

you warn them by leaving hits inside the story, you foreshadow it, even something as simple as the character looking at the other sex or something else. if readers don't see it coming or can't go back and reread the comic and find hints of it, then you are doing it wrong.Or at least that my writing philosophy

[NickRowler]

But one if the first issue I encountered was just that. Do I have to 'warn' (how horrible!)

Yeah this! I always planned for my MC to be bisexual but it's not even implied until chapter 8. Like do I have to have a warning?

[Inspector_Spinda]

A good test I think, would be to imagine a specific LGBT romance in these comics you read, as a straight romamce. If the romance is awkward because it was shoehorned last minute, it would feel as awkward whatever the genders, in my opinion (but I'm pan, so.. it's difficult to really imagine).

Don't mean to say the romance itself is the issue. as ive said some of the romance is quite good and i do enjoy it. but something about multiple characters being stated to be LGBT suddenly in succession makes it seem cheap. If I take some time to get used to it ill probably get used to it if the romance continues to be good. this is fully possible, but at the moment it feels really dumb even though im not hating it. that sounds really hypocritical i know, but i can't really explain it better.

I'm also planning on introducing an LGBT character late in the game, and part of why I'm trying to think about these things is I want to make how I do it as good as possible, or maybe even drop that detail altogether if that's what would make the most sense.

[vothnthorvaldson]

Well.. there is some foreshadowing, but even that comes late.
It's a story encompassing several generations, so lots of characters and long time frame. The main LGBT character is one out of 12ish over 50 years, so it's not that easy drop hints early.
(I'm not sure, thought, that family saga is very adapted to comics. That may be an issue).

[IdiotWithPencil]

you could start it with already a gay scene, that way people would know there are gonna be gays here, something suttle like two guys flirting in the background or something, one panel and then leave it for a while before introducing another gay thing. you don't have to hint at the specific character but you can hint that the world and story do have gays in it.

thought that's just me spitballing here

[Inspector_Spinda]

not unless you make all your main characters LGBT within 2-3 chapters.

all seriously i have no clue why this is bothering me. maybe because im over sensitive to possible pandering? im not against having a bisexual or whatever other type of character. even a full cast is fine with me. i honestly dont care, but i have to assume there are better ways to handle it.

[IdiotWithPencil]

but something about multiple characters being stated to be LGBT suddenly in succession makes it seem cheap.

like in mortal Kombat when they started to have the rainbow ninja klan(red green purple yellow blue black grey, etc), there's a point when you have to say "ok I think there are too many ninjas here this is getting ridicules"

[Inspector_Spinda]

would that fix it? honestly i don't know. seems like it may to some extent.... idk honestly. maybe i just need to read more gay romance.

just really really desensitize myself until it becomes like the color gray.

[vothnthorvaldson]

I understand, if it feels too artificial, it's difficult to follow. It may even disturb immersion a lot. I actually had a huge des-immersion issue for just that reason when I read La Recherche for the first time. Even being LGBT myself and being extremely happy as a teenager to find such themes... the sudden sexual orientation changes were pretty problematic for me (then I understood the context and I'm fine with them).
But yeah, if you don't like all the characters successively becoming gay out of nowhere, I advise you to stay away from Proust

[Inspector_Spinda]

lmao that is really funny. idk mortal kombat but yeah that seems accurate.

[Inspector_Spinda]

But yeah, if you don't like all the characters successively becoming gay out of nowhere, I advise you to stay away from Proust

He's a frenchman with a freakin mustache. he can do what he wants.

[IdiotWithPencil]

I would go against that since most romance stories (be it gay or otherwise) are horrible depictions of romance
I would say try and see how people you know go about romance, like how did they get started, how do they act with each other, how do they keep it a float, just because they are gay doesn't mean they go about romance wildly differently than straight people.

or at least that's what I have seen with my cousin and her wife (they treat each other the same way my sister and her husband treat each other with mutual understanding and love)