My writing lately has been quite experimental. I have been testing the waters and trying to decide what I like best. I really like reading fantasy, and I enjoy writing it too. But I am also interested in different genres. My first novel has been completed and is currently entered in a contest. I doubt that I’ll get very far as this is the first contest that I have entered, but I thought it worth a try. It will take a while before I know how I fared. That novel was a fantasy novel. Now I am working on two short stories that I also intend to submit into a couple of contests. They are both fairly philosophical. One is about falling out of ones faith and one is about gender non-conformity.
One thing that I have learned through my writing is that I like writing gender non-conforming characters. I like characters who do not fit into societal norms in general, but gender non-conformity is my favorite so far. I know that this could limit my target audience, but I am fine with that. I don’t think that there are nearly enough fictional characters out their that are outside of the norm. People like the average Joe because they can relate to that character. But what about the people who can’t relate to the average Joe? I would like to offer characters that those people can relate to. And if I ever become a well-known author I would like to help create a society where those who don’t fit within societal conventions can feel safe and aren’t at greater risk for depression and suicide.
This, however, isn’t just something I want to do for gender non-conforming people. While I think that they tend to be the most likely to be discriminated against, they are not the only group that is not represented in today’s media. I am hoping to write another short story where the main character has autism spectrum disorder. I am intending to write most of my stories with main characters that fit outside of societal norms. It is important to me to work towards a society where finding oneself outside of the societal norm doesn’t make one the ‘other’.
hessianwithteeth 
May 8th, 2014 at 6:57 am
I think part of the trick in stories like this is to make the characters relatable in other ways. If someone can identify with a character’s emotional struggles, or practical situation, or something, they can often make the leap towards understanding the elements that make them non-standard. I think that kind of writing is really important, because it can lead “normal” people to understanding others and help to eliminate otherness.
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May 8th, 2014 at 8:42 am
Exactly. There are aspects of everyone around us that we can’t identify with, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t identify with them as a person. It may be harder to identify with someone who does not conform to the gender binary, but that doesn’t make it impossible. Hopefully we will begin to see more characters that deviate from societal norms that are still relatable to many people.
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