#scriptlgbt

[scriptlgbt]

How would you feel about us opening the ask box?

So... we have a giant backlog of years-old messages. Some of the questions may or may not be relevant anymore to their askers. Some are from deactivated blogs. Some are things we've struggled to answer. Etc.

The backlog of asks has prevented us from opening the ask box.

So we want to ask you as readers and writers what your opinion is. Longer explanation below.

Life happens, and this is all volunteer-run. But I am sorry for all of you who wrote to us over the past few years only for us to not have the capacity to answer at the time.

Something we have done in the past was briefly open asks to help us get the momentum going, while we chipped away at older asks that required more research or reaching out to guest mods with identities we don't have. Or slowly getting to answering questions about our own trauma in order to help someone else write it in a way that respected its gravity.

With opening the ask box then, it also meant that the mountain continued to grow large. In an ideal world, we'd be able to answer every ask quickly.

I realize folks will see this and reply with, "why not just get new mods?"

Taking on new mods requires figuring out what an application looks like, reaching out to demographics besides our own (and knowing where to do this, and the right way, considering this is an unpaid gig), interviewing, and training new mods in how the ScriptFamily group of blogs operates. And generally, even when people go through all that process, very few people are able to maintain activity on the blog. Which is understandable! We are all in that boat! (ALSO. This isn't a sideblog, so it requires logging in and out, or using another browser, pls advise if you know a workaround. ) So the balance of labour put in to bring on new mods, vs. labour saved by it, is a HUGE roll of the dice.

I say all this not to discourage people from asking tough questions. Only to hopefully give some insight into why some asks take so long, and that it's because I've been researching Molly Houses from their heyday for like 5 years and figuring out what a Bavarian asexual man would call himself in 1920 using repatriated texts from the Magnus Hirschfeld Institute, typed manually and auto-translated. And also... someone asked about the omegaverse, AKA the A/B/O trope and transness this one time and... we all have a lot to say, haha. It's a lot to unpack! But we're passionate. And I hope as we work through asks in the future, our archive will help us better be able to help you.

But IDK, what are your thoughts on all this? Should we just go through the backlog very slowly (regardless of the age of the asks)? Or do you want the ask box opened for your current questions?

#mod stuff #mod post #mod nat #writeblr #writing advice #scriptlgbt

[len-the-neverending]

For cis people, on writing trans stories

So, I just spent roughly an hour looking at the trans tag on Goodreads, and hoo boy, the things I saw. Ten books in I'd compiled a list of red flags, and pretty much everything I saw from there on out (except for the ones written by trans people) had at least one. So here's my list of red flags, or, What Not To Do if You're Cis and Writing About Trans People. (For context, I am nonbinary, have a lot of both binary and nonbinary trans friends, and read all the angry reviews by trans people on Goodreads.)

Centralizing your trans story on a cis character. A solid 75% of the stories I saw were stories, primarily about a trans person being trans, centered around their cisgender sibling or love interest. This is problematic because it portrays trans people, simply by virtue of their identity, as a "burden" or "conflict" on the cis people in their life, and trans people don't need that. It's also just really icky to write about a marginalized identity from the point of view of someone who is not of that identity: it's why stories about allistic people "dealing" with having autistic people in their lives, or stories about white people witnessing racial discrimination, are so frowned upon. I don't believe that cis people can't write good trans stories-- generally, I don't believe in gatekeeping who can write about what-- but a good start would be centralizing the actual trans character.

Misgendering the trans character in any way in the title, blurb, or third-person narration. I'm not going to go into full detail on when to misgender your trans characters-- @scriptlgbt has some good posts on that if you want to check it out-- but it should only be done very sparingly and should never be done where you can use the character's chosen name and proper terms instead. This includes all cases of the title, blurb, and narration by a third-person narrator. I should not see any misgendering in the blurb or in the title, and I really don't need to know your character's deadname from reading the back cover. This also includes gender-bendy titles such as "My Brother Is Named Jessica" and "She's My Dad" (both of which are real ones I saw). They misgender the character no matter how you slice it and are a really gross way to talk about trans people (especially considering all of these characters are binary trans-- some people might be okay with any pronouns or terms, but with a few exceptions you should really refer to your binary trans woman as "she", "her", "mother", "sister", etc. with no gender-bending gimmicks). It also includes language such as "boy who wants to be a girl" or "girl who thinks she's a boy", which is incredibly misgender-y and ignorant of the reality of transgender identities.

Cis people pretending to be trans. I can't believe I saw this one three separate times. Just stop. It's still centering cis characters in trans stories, and it creates an unnecessary link between transgender identities and deception, which is already a major issue in society and one that leads to violence against trans people. I don't care what your idea was. Just cut it out.

There are most definitely more, but these are the three I saw the most on my Goodreads Journey of horrors. I'm a little iffy on cis people writing trans stories, but cis people can and should write about trans people, and I think they can do it well, as long as they avoid the red flags. Stay safe and happy writing! - Lenni

#writing #books #writing advice #what not to do #red flags #tw transphobia #tw misgendering #trans #nonbinary #transgender #goodreads

[writing-if]

Masterlist for IF Writing

Don't mind me, just getting this writing master list ready ahead of time to make it easier to keep this blog organized! I've already got a few ideas on some things I want to share :) Come across something incorrect? Let me know, please! Also, please excuse any typos in this post - I'm a very exhausted human lol

Oh - if you got tagged in this list, just ignore me, and sorry for the bother!

General Writing Advice and Considerations

Strategies for telling writer's block to "Fuck Off" - coming soon :)

Setting goals that won't overwhelm you - coming soon :)

How long does a demo need to be?

Getting Started

Story Structure & Plotting - coming soon :)

My Outline Process + Outline Templates

Because we all make mistakes :)

Tools

Hemingway Editor - the online version is completely free!

Writer - Free Basic Proofreader

Grammarly - Free Basic Proofreading

NaturalReader - text to speech to help catch errors!

Self-Editing

How to Self-Edit Your Work - coming soon :)

Common Dialogue Mistakes - coming soon :)

Showing Not Telling - coming soon :)

Worldbuilding Resources

Food Timeline - history of food across many centuries

Script A World - @script-a-world

Script Myth - @scriptmyth

Inkarnate - can use free or paid to create a map

Developing Your World

Basics for Worldbuilding (AKA Get Started) - coming soon :)

Planning Celebrations (Festivals, Feasts, Holidays) - coming soon :)

Politics and Government in Your World - coming soon :)

Religion in Your World - coming soon :)

Main Character (MC)

Deciding How Much Control to Give Players - coming soon :)

Customization Options to Consider - coming soon :)

Developing Characters

How many characters are too many? - coming soon :)

Basic Character Development Questions - coming soon :)

Choosing Character Names - coming soon :)

Writing Romance: Tropes and Clichés - coming soon :)

Links to Character-Related Resources

ArtBreeder - use AI to create the faces of your characters

The Librarian's Sexuality Masterpost - @linklibrarian

Behind The Name - history and meaning of names

Blogs For Educating Oneself

These are helpful in addition to research!

Writing With Color - @writingwithcolor

A Guide to Writing Disabled Characters - @cripplecharacters

Script LGBT - @scriptlgbt

Rainbow Writing - @rainbowwriting

ScriptAutistic- @scriptautistic

Writing Questions Answered - @writingquestionsanswered

ScriptShrink - @scriptshrink

Writing Blind and Visually Impaired Characters - @mimzy-writing-online

Links to Other Things

WorkFlowy - outlining and list making

#masterlist #interactive fiction #writerblr #if resources #writing-if #writing resources

[lgbtqwriting]

Hello, I'm working on a fantasy story with LGBTQIA+ characters in it, and I was wondering if I could get some advice. One of my main characters is a trans girl, her name is Andie, and I was thinking of writing out her friends and her twin brother being supportive of her in various ways. Like her brother using his allowance to get her vocal training, her friend who works at the potion shop (which in my story is really just a magical pharmacy) getting her estrogen, a giantess who doesn't let anyone dare deadname her, stuff like that.

But, I'm wondering, is that supportive in a good way? Is there a wrong way to show her friends and family supporting her? The story wouldn't just be about Andie transitioning, but since it is part of her character it should come up at points, yes? I'm thinking about doing it subtly, just dropping small hints that she isn't cis, I don't want that "omg she's a guy?!" joke, (cause I hate that) but I don't not want to bring it up, cause it's an important part of who she is, so I'm wondering how to write it right, and show that those around her are supportive an appropriate way. I've watched and read some things on how to write for trans characters, but as far as I know I don't know anyone trans, and I'm not trans, so I'm worried about doing this wrong. Apologies for the ask being so long, and if there's questions about my goals or characters feel free to message me, but any and all advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance ❤

Apologies for the (very) late response, it's been a hectic year.

First and foremost, I'll point you toward some of our older posts addressing the elephant in the room re: navigating transmisogyny while writing transfem characters. (Disclaimer: some of them use outdated and/or provocative language, but this fortunately doesn't take away from the quality of advice.)

Avoiding transmisogynistic stereotypes

Addressing the elephant in the room (via @scriptlgbt)

Back to basics: navigating trans terminology

The 'cis savior' trope and how to escape its clutches (via @milf-harrington)

On flashbacks

Writing gender dysphoria & gender questioning as an outsider

Hopefully these resources will help you gain a better baseline understanding of not only how to write trans characters, but what sort of threats they might be up against and how they'd try to deal with them.

Ideally, you ought to write up a rough draft of a scene where your transfem character comes out or discusses elements of her transness, and then pick through it with a proverbial fine tooth comb looking for words and phrases that set off your 'this is stereotypical' alarm bells. This would be the lowest maintenance method of revision, plus it would help you gage just how likely you are to fall into that trap of regurgitating harmful stereotypes.

From what you've described, I think your sense that something is 'off' stems from recognizing that you haven't decided how your character would deal with the transmisogyny she faces, which is a whole new ballpark.

While it's admirable to put effort into exploring the discrimination your characters might face, I think it's important to ask yourself questions like "does my story need to talk about transphobia?" and "how would the plot be affected if this character's identity was respected by everyone, even the antagonists?"

When in doubt, don't hesitate to play around with the building blocks of your story.

#writing trans characters #transfem representation #lgbtq+ writing advice #queer writing advice #how to write trans women #how to write trans girls #answered

[plotlinehotline]

Hi, first of all I love what you're doing with this blog, it's very helpful! The protagonist of the story I'm writing is non-binary but I don't know anyone who identifies that way and was wondering if you had any advice on writing them?

Since we received this question, @scriptlgbt was born, so I’m hoping they’ll see this and reblog with an A+ answer.

However, I do think it’s important to note that while finding someone who identifies as non-binary (or any individual with specific experience in anything) is important, their experience doesn’t necessarily speak to the whole. Because we’re individuals, and one person who identifies as non-binary may have a completely different experience as someone else who is also non-binary. So to wonder if we have advice on writing “them,” makes it seem like we can draft up one true, right way to write about these characters. And I don’t think there is one right way, or even two or three. 

Three non-binary characters may share that in common, but if they grew up in homes with vastly different support systems, or if they were open about it or forced to hide it, or if they faced bullying for even more than just their gender identity (race, sexuality, disability, ect.) then that compounds their ability to embrace their identity as a whole, and depending on the character’s coping mechanisms, they may evolve in various ways. 

However, just because you write a non-binary character does not mean you have to write about non-binary social issues. You can still tell a story that’s independent of the character’s gender identity. I feel like that’s one way we start to show that it’s normal, but I know there are various opinions on this, because ignoring the social issues might minimize how marginalized they are as a group.

I’d love for anyone to chime in, reblog, add comments, especially if you identify as non-binary, so this anon can be setup for success. 

-Rebekah

#lgbtqia #non-binary characters #writing #character #scriptlgbt #ask r #diversity

[dearwriters]

Heya... so I wanted to write a genderfluid character. So I checked a couple of sites but I wasn't satisfied with the answers I got. So, is it possible if you could give me a couple of pointers on it ? Thanks !

Hi! So, similarly to another post I made a while ago, this is the only thing I can tell you:

As a cis woman, I am not qualified, nor is it my place to give advice on this topic. All I can tell you is: DO. YOUR. RESEARCH.

Asking people on tumblr is certainly not the way to go here, unless you find someone who actually is genderfluid and is willing to talk about it with you. And still then you should do more extensive research. Seek out genderfluid content creaters and read/listen to/watch/support their work. There's a lot to learn here! One of the best things about the internet is all the diverse experiences you can read about! Don’t let this discourage you, see it as a challenge to do the best you can!

Maybe check out @scriptlgbt, they share a lot of great posts on LGBTQ+ topics (although I am not sure if they covered genderfluid characters).

I know this is probably not the answer you expected to get, but it’s the only one I can give you.

Have fun writing!

#dearwriters #writing advice #writing help #writing tips

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hi! First of all, I hope you're doing well. Please take a second to drink some water and breathe if you haven't yet today. ❤️

Second of all, I'm writing a story where one of the characters, who is assigned female at birth, is struggling with gender dysphoria. The problem? She lives in a world where men do not exist. She's never actually met one and never will. How do I handle her transition, if she even does transition?

Gender Dysphoria in a Society with No Men

I'm just going to say right up front that this is outside of my wheelhouse, but I want to throw out some thoughts to get conversation going within the WQA community, because I know there are non-binary and trans folks out there who can answer this question with authority.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that you're attempting to explore binary and non-binary issues in a world where there is no binary. Typically, we define "female/feminine" in contrast to the attributes of "male/masculine" and vice versa. When female is the only gender, what defines "female"? You could also have a gender or genders that are neither male or female, but how do you define "neither female or male" when male doesn't exist? I feel like this is probably possible, maybe? But you would need to identify those other genders and how they differ from the definition of female in your story's world. Then your character's dysphoria comes from identifying with one of the non-binary genders rather than from identifying as male rather than female. But, I'm genuinely not sure if they can identify as male when that gender literally doesn't exist in their world.

Can anyone shed some light on this conundrum, and offer advice as to how the character's transition could be portrayed in this situation? Thanks in advance for anyone who is able to jump in on this!!! ♥

@scriptlgbt

@yourbookcouldbegayer

@ask-lgbt-writers

Edited to add:

mothwriter said: I'm ransacking my brains to try and think of a way OP could make this work and I'm coming up empty. I don't think gender dysphoria would exist in a world where, in essence, neither gender nor sexual dimorphism exist, and I'm speaking as a dysphoric non-binary person. I do find it troubling that OP implies binary masc/fem dysphoria is the only kind--all due respect, are you sure you're the right person to write this story, OP? I think we would need much more information about the society the character lives in (is it monogender? Is there only one sex?) in order to really get into what a transition would look like in that world, but just working from "AFAB with dysphoria in a world without men", I got nothing.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

Visit my FAQ

See my Master List of Top Posts

Go to ko-fi.com/wqa to buy me coffee or see my commissions!

#tw gender dysphoria #writing #writing tips #writing help #writing advice #wqaadvice

[tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors]

Hey petal, the bandeau link on the new chipped tea sets leads to a writing advice blog. Also I love you and your writing I also cried about wearing a binder janus is so valid I love him.

yes i know! @scriptlgbt​ was where i got the information on bandeau style undergarments in the first place. does the link not lead directly to the page on bandeaus? that was what i was trying to do

#pieces verse #anonymous #ask

[scriptshrink]

What would be some ways to write a character with gender dysphoria without being offensive or cliche?

This is a question for @scriptlgbt !

#referral to scriptlgbt #Anonymous #asks #shrink can't answer

[city-of-all-tunas]

Writeblrs for Writers

Disclaimer: This is by no means a complete list. These are writeblrs I follow and I’d love to hear about other writeblrs :)

@scriptlgbt

@scripttorture

@scriptshrink

@scriptlibrarian

@scripthistory

@scriptchemist

@scripthacker

@scriptmyth

@script-a-world

any of the scriptX family lol

@writing-prompt-s

@writingwithcolor

@cripplecharacters

@needabeta

@develop-your-oc

@write-yourself-a-river

@ao3commentoftheday

@writingquestionsanswered

Feel free to add on with more writeblrs.

#writeblr #writers #writeblr community #writeblr masterlist #writblr #tunathetuba #tuna's writeblr

[fandomshatelgbtqpeople]

In my story there is a prophecy that only someone that is born of no woman can kill the evil overlord. This supposed hero's is actually born of someone that is transgender but before their transition.

I feel like this would be problematic. Is it?

We’re not a writing advice blog, but maybe @scriptlgbt can answer your question.

#anonymous #mod T

[scriptlgbt]

We’re looking for mods (again) and this time our application will stay up as a permanent-ish thing so that people can apply on a rolling basis. This particular application also has some quiz questions based on what we need areas of expertise in, rather than solely asking about identities like in previous applications.

If you’ve applied in the past, please feel free to apply again!

We received over 80 applications last time and a lot of the vetting process has been refined since, so it will be easier for us to sort through the applications.

If you’re unfamiliar with ScriptLGBT:

We answer questions for writers, character creators, storytellers of all kinds on how to represent LGBT+ identities and experiences. This branches out into atypical relationship formats sometimes and even some specific subcultures and so on. 

As a mod, you would be expected to be able to answer questions on a regular basis. When the ask is open, we receive anywhere from 1-50 asks per day. We close the ask box based on how overwhelmed the mod team is feeling and have open communication with each other about these things. You definitely would not need to answer at that rate, as you would not be the only mod. Ideally, 1 a week is a good minimum to aim for.

We’re not yet sure how many new moderators we are taking on, and this will be determined based on the applications that come in. The mod position is a volunteer one, but mods are welcome to link voluntary payment methods in their bios and signatures of the asks they answer. Most of the benefit, however, is having a really supportive community of peers who have shared interests.

Please signal boost!

#scriptlgbt #writeblr #representation #lgbt representation #writing #writing advice #own voices #ownvoices

[pocmuzings]

hi! i'm a cis female and i've created a trans female who i'd love to use more, but i don't know enough information to portray her properly. do you or any of your followers have a guide with helpful information on transitioning? tysm xx

i couldn’t find anything SPECIFIC on n how to write JUST a trans female . here are some overall great guides i found from people who know what theyre talking about with the overall trans community and rep ! 

THETROLLIESTCRITIC (character guide + character building + lots of links at the bottom abt what to avoid and what to think about ! ) 

ACTIVISTHELPS ( guides masterpost ) 

SEBLAINERPH ( 101 guide on how to write a transgender character ) 

FIXYOURWRITINGHABITS ( ‘ so you want to write a trans character , but you’re cis ‘ ) 

SCRIPTLGBT ( corrections + common mistakes when writing trans muses ) 

ASK-TRANS-FELICIANO (  ‘ you’re a well-intentioned cis author trying to write a trans muse  ‘ ) 

#rph #rpc #writing help #how to #writing guide #Anonymous #trans character guide #trans character help

[discountalien-pancake]

Hello! Do you know if there are any blogs similar to writingwithcolor but for LGBT= questions?

Mmm i’m not sure how active @scriptlgbt is at the moment but they’ve answered tons of asks about queer writing topics. You can take a look and chances are they’ve probably answered some variation of your question before.

If anyone has other suggestions feel free to add on.

#pancake answers

[lgbtqwriting]

Hi! In my story, there's a trans woman. It's a fantasy story but the setting is based on the 1940s. How do I write a trans woman character correctly? Are there stereotypes to avoid? Things you'd like to see more represented in characters like her? What are some problematic tropes/cliches to avoid? Thanks, and have a nice day!

Hello! If you’d like to continue discussing the unique issues related to your character, we’ll happily walk you through a couple of harmful stereotypes surrounding trans people (and especially, specifically trans women), as well as positive tropes and good representation. However, please know that while all of the current mods are trans, we’re not transfeminine, let alone authorities on what is or isn’t transmisogynistic. At the end of the day, it’s important to listen to the voices of trans people who are and have been intentionally and directly targeted by transmisogyny.

The most effective approach to your question that we know of is to respectfully turn our platform over to any transfeminine content creators (artists, writers, etc.) who would like to offer their input and/or answer your questions, as well as take this opportunity to signal boost as much of the amazing content created by transfeminine people as possible. 

TL:DR; We’re not qualified to fully assist you. That being said, any trans women, transfeminine nonbinary, and/or TMA (transmisogyny-affected) content creator is welcome to reblog and/or comment on this post, as well as tag us in their own post(s) about how best to write characters that represent them efficiently. We’ll graciously reblog them with relevant tags that assist advice-seeking writers in the future. 

Unfortunately, we were unable to find any advice-oriented writing blogs run by and for trans women and transfeminine nonbinary people, so we cannot give you any recommendations at the moment. (That being said--if people express they want us to, we’ll make a post reaching out to transfem creators who write/reblog posts on the topic of writing accurate and respectful transfem characters.) Hopefully we’ll have some solid blog recommendations for you in the near future! 

In the meantime, it may benefit you (and your character!) to familiarize yourself with existing resources on writing trans characters, as well as the original content produced by transfem creators. Here’s a list of our personal recommendations:

Transfeminine Creators (Blog Recs)

@orquidia 

@fakegamergirlcomics

@velocityvsreality

@lady-feral

@upandoutcomic

@rox-and-prose

Resources

Some Notes on How Not to Write Trans People (via @cameronmcbaird) 

Writing Trans Characters: Corrections of Common Mistakes (via @scriptlgbt)

So You Want To Write a Trans Character (via @fixyourwritinghabits)

Writing Trans Characters Masterpost (via @realtransfacts) 

Writing Trans Characters: Names (via @owlsofstarlight)

WRITING A TRANS CHARACTER - AS EXPERIENCED BY A TRANS MAN (via @transrph)

#writing advice #writing tips #lgbtq writing #trans writing #queer writing #writblr #transfem #transfeminine #trans women #trans woman #trans character #trans fiction #queer fiction #blog recommendations #resources #references #prose

[writeanapocalae]

Do you know where I can find the rest of that post about writing trans characters? The read more link is broken

Oh I’m so sorry, I don’t! It looks like they remade their blog and didn’t use the old one as an archive, I should have checked first. Here are some other posts on how to write trans characters though!

https://towardsmorning.tumblr.com/post/149125548949/so-you-want-to-write-trans-characters

https://writeanapocalae.tumblr.com/post/632225524255752192 

https://writeanapocalae.tumblr.com/post/628506009885949953/a-guide-for-writing-trans-people

You may also want to check out @scriptlgbt!

#answer #Anonymous