Writing inclusive fantasy

One thing I've decided to do in my NaNo novel is avert some of the stereotypes I don't like, especially when it comes to fantasy and the lack of diversity in a lot of novels. Tamora Pierce, one of my favorite authors, works pretty hard to avert them, and I'm sort of taking a page from her in that sense.

One thing I think are severely lacking in fantasy novels is an LGBT presence, and though Pierce has done a lot to fix this by having openly gay and trans characters it's lacking in many other books. I think a lot of authors fall into the trap of forgetting that it's a fantasy they can create pretty much from whole cloth, and include the biases right along with it. I, on the other hand, decided that it's my world, my rules, so being LGBT is not a big deal and never really has been. I currently have a married lesbian couple, one of whom is one of the country's leaders, two gay guys who eventually get together, and I decided that I'd have a transwoman and a woman who is genderqueer (though whether or not I'll get to mention that the other woman is genderqueer is another question, but at least in my head she is).

I just wrote the first scene with the transwoman, and I really, really like her. Many of my characters sort of pop into my head fully formed, and I only discover things about them as I write them. She's kind and very concerned about others but she's also snarky, and her boss is fairly uptight and stoic so they have great interaction and banter. I wound up basing parts of her on several people I know. One problem I had was that I wanted to introduce her and make it clear who she was but not have it come off as forced. I decided that she talks to another character who just arrived at this place and isn't sure if she'll be accepted, and tells her about how she was able to start her life over and live as herself, which is when the other character understands. I knew I wanted to avert dropping a Bridget since it's cheap, exploitative and lazy writing, not to mention not being true to this character's personality. Now it's possible that it wound up being too subtle, but I'd rather it go over some people's heads than come off as cheap.

And I believe this character will end up in a fairly important role later on, so I'm really excited to see what happens! (Note how I phrased that, since it seems to develop independently much of the time without input from me)

From Twitter 11-11-2010

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Poor Ryu...

The other day I was picking up Ryu to look at her when I noticed that there appeared to be something cloudy in one of her eyes, and today I called a vet at the MSPCA to ask about it. I'm going to come in on the 23rd to get Ryu looked at, and until then I have to give her a bath in warm water once a day, something I'm sure she is not going to like.

It's possible that she's developed cataracts, which isn't entirely unexpected since she's now getting older (I estimate she's about 8, but it's entirely possible she's as old as 10 since I'm not sure how old she was when I got her except that she was full grown and therefore at least 2, and leopard geckos generally live about 15 years), and in fact the first leopard gecko I ever met was owned by a boy down the street and was completely blind due to cataracts, but she still lived a long happy life even though she couldn't see. I remember the boy had to feed her in a slightly different way, but she was otherwise healthy. It's also possible that it's some type of infection, which can also happen for a variety of reasons.

She does react to my finger moving in front of her and to food held out in front of her so I know that she can still see at least a little bit, but that on top of her generally lethargy had me worried enough to call, plus the fact that she looks like she's lost some weight (but I know she has been eating something because I saw her poop - weird thing to say, I know, but that's what us lizard people notice). One thing about leopard geckos is that they're very low energy even when they're healthy, so it's hard to tell the difference between laziness because they're okay or if they're sick. The reason for the water is because she may have not shed completely and might have some old skin stuck in her eyes, which can happen, so I also need to try and drip water into her eyes with an eyedropper, which is not as easy as it sounds, to try and flush it out. The vet also suggested that I buy some baby food and put it on her nose to get her more nutrients on top of what she already eats in case it is an infection.

So until the 23rd it's a bath once a day and an eye dropper full of sterile water in each eye, but besides that just wait and see. And now my stomach is twisted in knots with worry. :(

(Also if people are wondering why it's going to take so long to get her in, the MSPCA basically has the only reptile vet in the Metro Boston area, and the only other person in the city's phone is disconnected. I looked up some others online and the closest one outside the city is in Wellesley, which is so far out that I'd have to change lines on the T multiple times while carrying Ryu, which would do nothing but stress her out, so basically every single reptile owner in Boston relies on this one person, hence why they're booked solid for almost 2 weeks. Not a good state of affairs, but it's how it is, and at least Ryu is hearty enough that she'll be okay in the meantime.)