forum What Characters do you wish you saw more of?
Started by @Twitchy
tune

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@Twitchy

What do you wish you saw more of in movies or books? I'm referring to all religions, skin tones, cultures, mannerisms, genders, anything that you don't feel like you see enough, and you want to.

I wish I saw more strong Muslim characters and more fathers that play serious, good roles in their children's lives. Normally we don't see much of the first, and the fathers in movies or books are often either dead or the source of the protagonist's 'strength' because of their faults or abuse. I wanna see good Dads.

@HighPockets group

  • Asexuals who aren’t lonely, pure introverts.
  • Christians who are tolerant and accepting instead of being two dimensional, bigoted villains
  • mentally ill people not being shown as ‘edgy’ or ‘troubled’
  • autistic people who aren’t robots or ‘weird’
  • charming female morally grey characters who are not above using smooth talking to get what they want, but not seducing people
  • toxic relationships shown as bad and not good
  • coming out stories about characters of lesser known sexualities or genders
  • girls who are feminine but still kick butt at sports
  • scientists who aren’t introverted weirdos
  • BOYS! WHO! DO! DRAMA!

@Twitchy

Haha! Looking at that list, I have to admit I'm writing a character who uses his religion as a defence for his bad actions, but besides that, I'm also doing 1, 3, sort of doing 4 (a character with ADHD, which is on the spectrum), 6, and 7. I wanted to do this discussion because a lot of people write the normal characters that we always see but in different situations and it sucks, cause I wanna see more diverse characters, cause it means a better story! Better dialogue, subplots, relationships etc. Thanks @@jynandor

@Twitchy

@@jynandor I'll finish their profiles first, but I'll put em all on here if you want. Gonna make a 'rate my character' type discussion at some point anyway cause I've seen it done before and it looks really helpful.
What type of bad guys do you wish you saw more of?

@alanye

Personally, I would like to see more cheerleaders who aren't bitchy and mean to the "nerdy, quiet" girls. I'm a cheerleader, and most of my squad never acts like that. Also, please, characters who have diabetes. I don't care if it's type one or type two, but usually in a show when someone has diabetes, it's either played off as a joke or they're in the show for one episode. Example: The Walking Dead. Oh, hey, look she has type one diabetes like me and she's gone this far in the apocalypse! Oh wait, she's DEAD. I want diabetic characters who are shown struggling with their disease but are strong because that disease has made them so. I also want to see more characters with physical disabilities who aren't displayed as a burden or weak. They aren't. And, of course, I want more casual LGBT+ representation. Don't make it a big deal if the character isn't straight, especially if your story isn't a coming out story.

@Twitchy

Honestly never thought about having a character with diabetes, it's something I'll definitely think about for sure, cause I thought it was very interesting when they did it in the walking dead, and I wish that she stayed alive. Besides that, I have been thinking about having a character have one leg, but I'm having trouble figuring out how they could travel. LGBTQA+ wise, got loads of representation that's just casually there on the most part.

@alanye

I think it depends on what period of time you're writing in for the character with one leg. Prosthetics have been an option for a long time. One of my characters uses a wheelchair, but in my story, there are also powers. She can fly, but for a short amount of time. And of course, prosthetics cost money, so it depends on the situation. I just don't like seeing those characters as the butt of deprecating jokes or as burdens or weak people.

@Twitchy

Modern dystopia, pretty much the exact same as our world right now when thinking about it this way. I honestly completely forgot about wheelchairs cause I'm an idiot haha. I want to add more diversity to my story, so no the butt of jokes is not my intention, and I agree unless it's to make the 'joker' develop more so that the reader hates them.

@Morosis group

I've been trying to make as many characters from different countries and different backgrounds, I hope I've pleased some people with my efforts xXx

  • A South African who is albino
  • An ADHD character who isn't over-energetic all the time and (hopefully) accurate.
  • Characters from Albania, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Romania, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, Barbados, South Korea, India, China and more I can't think of right now haha
  • Feminine characters that aren't afraid to be boisterous, loud, getting their hands dirty, wearing masculine clothes and drinking/eating lots.
  • LGBTQ+ characters.
  • A Hindi and Christian character who are lovely and kick ass.
  • Several scientists (some who are evil) whilst others are pleasant side characters.
  • Doctors (like the scientists)
  • characters who are short, characters who are tall. Characters who lack curves, characters who are carvy etc…

I'm trying to make it not forced but at the same time, I love seeing how much of a variety of characters I can make xX

@kittycalyx group

nobody:
not a single soul:
me: as a biracial person…
i'd love to see more mixed-race characters! we as a society have gotten better with representation, but it still feels like there are way more single-race(?) characters than mixed ones. this is probably a stupid example, but i often watch cartoons and think, "why do all the couples look exactly alike?"