I don't like when critiquers say stuff like "this has to be like this or your story is garbage." Not in a grammar sense, like story elements. Giving advice is one thing, but ordering someone to change a story because you didn't like it is frankly rude. Okeydokey.
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^^^ That’s not even a real critique if that’s the case. Real critiquers will tell you how to improve specific elements. And it’s never okay to tell an author how to write their story. If you want the story to go a certain way, just write the story yourself.
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that when someone who's reading your story says that you have to change a part of it because it's bad/it sucks/it's wrong/etc you can, in most cases, ignore them. On the other hand, when someone says that a part of it doesn't feel right/doesn't seem right/doesn't really make sense/etc you should probably take their advice and clarify/change something
Yeah I agree. It reminds me of the whole 'you need diversity or your story sucks' mentality some sites cough Tumblr cough seem to have. While diversity is a very good thing and I'd like more of it, it's the whole 'I read this character as a lesbian and if the author gives them a male love interest it's homophobic' thing that bugs me. ESPECIALLY since it's the author's choice who a character ends up with?? Not the readers?? And they do stuff like #giveelsaagirlfriend and such. I mean honestly I'd rather have Character X be straight after 5 books of being straight than have Character X dump their SO for a random character from out of nowhere. And I want well-written diversity too, not tokens. Give me normalized diversity. Give me a character who's personality isn't their gender, or sexuality, or race.
So what you're saying is you want The Dragon Prince?
Right? I mean, if you're going to have diversity the diverse characters should still be fully flushed out and stuff. It's the same with people in the real world; their gender, sex, sexuality, religion, race, culture, etc. does not define them
That being said, you really should have diverse characters. Your story won't suck if you don't have them, but the real world is full of diverse people and if your story should reflect that, even if it doesn't take place in the real world. You want your reader to be able to identify with the characters, and if the demographic of people who can identify with the characters expands, more people will want to read
Yes! Not trying to pat myself on the back, but I have a fairly diverse cast and it doesn't dominate the story.