Zariah

16 hours ago, Harvest-Unity said:

I think the times he 'acted' allosexual was more so him just trying to fit into a role, a big part of his arc is his identity being completely tied to relationships and not having anything beyond that, so it makes sense he would try to cling on to anything, including a false sense of allosexuality. I definitely think Ken is ace.

Yeah, that makes sense.

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Probably not. I don't experience romantic or sexual attraction, so getting married for that is off the table. I honestly can't see myself in a QPR, and even if I was, I think that getting married for that would just confuse all my friends and family who don't get the nuance of it. In addition, being married generally implies you're in some way attracted to them person you're married to, and having to correct everyone every time they assumed something incorrect would be really annoying. 

For a similar reason, I probably won't get married for all the legal benefits like healthcare and such. 

I'm somewhere in between. I'm out to my friends, but not my family members.

Very much relatable! My dream companion is a specific breed of dog. And seeing specific types of dogs (small, white, fluffy ones) makes me so much more happy than seeing my friends. Even though I don't know the dogs I'm seeing - (Is it just me, or does this feel weird?)

I am officially like a week and a half ahead of my geometry class. Yay!

2 hours ago, HelloThere said:

Yeah, Barbie seems very intent on not dating and shows no signs of being allo in any way. She's gotta be one of the most aroace characters I've ever seen, and honestly, I really hope that Mattel confirms it or something. Ken is DEFINITELY allo, but seems to be somewhat ace in a lot of ways. He asks barbie if he can stay at her house and she asks "to do what?" Ken literally says "I honestly have no idea." You have no idea how overjoyed I was to hear him and barbie be the most ace couples known to man!

Yeah, I picked up on that bit as well. The only thing that confused me about Ken was a line in that song he was singing, near the end of the movie. I forgot the exact line, though - which probably isn't super helpful for this discussion. Maybe he's oriented ace, or something? Like graysexual, or maybe demi. Who knows. 

And yes, it was absolutely amazing to have an aroace character play such a prominent role in a movie. I never thought I'd feel so represented by a Barbie. There's a first time for everything, I guess!

Alright, I'm going to chime in on this discussion. After seeing the Barbie movie this afternoon, I can one hundred percent day that Barbie is aroace. (Just as a side note, the movie was amazing.)

I'm not sure about Ken, though. He's definitely romantic, but I'm torn on if he's ace or not. There were some times in the movie where he definitely acted ace, but other times where he acted allo. 

2 hours ago, Ghostflower said:

Does anyone have books they enjoy that fit this criteria?  Stories that don't prioritize romance but have compelling characters and realistic dynamics, perhaps spotlighting friendship and family members or personal introspection?  I will read pretty much any genre, and I have no qualms about length. 

Brandon Sanderson is an excellent author, and his books meet practically all of your requirements! There's romance in many of his books, but it's never the main focus, and it's well-written. The focus of his books tends to be more about the actual plot and story. Also, all of his books have really really cool magic systems. He's written a lot of books, but I recommend starting with Mistborn Era 1. Warning, most of his books are fantasy and/or sci-fi, so if you don't like that, it's not for you. 

Hope this was helpful!

9 minutes ago, Neon said:

Margot Robbie confirmed that she's asexual, but didn't say or imply anything about aromanticism if I remember correctly.

Either way, still great! It's nice to see confirmed ace characters in media. 

1 hour ago, HelloThere said:

She has a lot of aroace vibes.

Ooh, fun! Now I really want to go see the movie.

5 hours ago, HelloThere said:

Alastor from Hazbin Hotel (aroace)

Wendy from the new Peter Pan and Wendy (aroace)

Barbie from well… Barbie (aroace)

Ken from Barbie (ace)

Nimona (aroace and gender-fluid)

Saiki K (aroace)

Wait - Barbie's aroace? I haven't seen the movie yet, but... this is interesting. In a good way. 

3 minutes ago, Jot-Aro Kujo said:

In that case definitely check out TAAAP, AUREA, and uh, I assume AVEN? I'm not ace myself so I don't know as much about the ace side of things, but I would assume they've got something. You can always just google like, "aspec 101" or "asexuality guide" or something like that too. Good luck!

Yeah, AVEN has some stuff.

18 minutes ago, HelloThere said:

Oh yeah, I remember grinding through all of the episodes of “Race to the Edge”.

Uh-huh! And then getting mad when there were plot twists that didn't make sense, but loving the show all the same because there were dragons and that was amazing xD

31 minutes ago, HelloThere said:

Oh my gosh, I loved that entire movie series with a BURNING passion.

SAME! It's essentially my childhood. 

Berk from How To Train Your Dragon. I seriously want to live there and get a dragon. 

Agreed! This is a fun idea :)

12 hours ago, Guest Olli said:

So, here’s my situation:

I’m in my sophomore year of highschool, I’ve known that I’m asexual for years now. All my life, I think that I’ve had romantic crushes. But I’ve just now noticed that the thought of anyone liking me back romantically makes me nauseous, and so does the idea of anyone trying to get me into a romantic little fling. It’s a bit upsetting, because I do want to date people (I think?). I want to go out and be with someone and kiss them, y’know?

I genuinely don’t know if I’m fucked, if it’s my autism causing issues, or if this is actually an aromaticism thing.

So. Is this aromanticism? And if it is, what form even is it?

Like what the person above said, you could be cupioromantic. 

Or, if you've experienced crushes before, you could be lithromantic, which is where you experience romantic attraction roads people, but once that attraction is reciprocated, your attraction to the person fades.

Does this help?

4 minutes ago, nostalgia said:

Not even kidding, I just came back from writing slashfic. As an aromantic. Anyways here's my take on it:

On Arocalypse I've actually talked about the struggles of writing romance as an aro, but the gist is yeah, it's definitely awkward. Sometimes it feels stiff and forced, and if it isn't, you don't really have a way to tell. To help I found a beta reader (who is allo) to read it over and comment on the 'flow'. It's done wonders for my writing and I can't recommend it more. (It also helps if they're a close friend and you trust them not to be condescending!)

I also think it helps to hyper focus on phrases that kind of imply something without going the full length. In some cases this works even better as 1) it's realistic and 2) you give the audience a little bit of what they want at a time and everyone goes home happy.

Additionally if you'd like to insert knowledge your own personal experiences from close friendships - that's a fabulous idea. I personally find it great and really helpful. Sometimes there will be moments where you feel "full" and infinite with love for your friends and family members. That feeling can be compared with romantic love, just slightly different (in the way that it's more exclusive and either party may crave a physical element).

Hope this helps? :)

This was super helpful, thank you! 

Time to go convince my friend to be my beta reader- /hj But seriously, that's a great idea! I'll see if I can persuade one of my friends to help me out. Also, thank you for the tip on what to focus on. You're right, that definitely sort of "meets in the middle" and hopefully makes everyone happy. It also seems more manageable. I'll definitely give it a try!

Again, thanks! 

Can someone please help me with this? 

I have zero idea how to write romance. I've tried to ask some of my friends for advice, but they're all allo and don't really understand what I'm struggling with. It's not that I have writer's block and I don't know what to write, I just don't know how. Whenever I try to add some amount of romance to something I'm writing, it feels awkward, obvious, out of place and weird. It doesn't even have to be a lot of romance! Just something simple like... holding hands or noticing attractiveness, and I'm completely stuck. 

At this point, my problem isn't that I don't know what romance feels like, because I can look at it objectively. I can research, and make lists of what people say romance feels like, how people interact with their crush, and other things. But I cannot turn this objective research into physical writing that doesn't feel odd and out of place. 

Does anyone have advice on what to do about this?

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I sort of have a love-hate relationship with shipping. In general, I'm incredibly "picky" when it comes to ships between characters. In order for me to like it, it needs to make logical sense, there has to be a solid background for their relationship, they have to fall in love not instantly, and many other things. And, of course, if the two characters have a good dynamic or not. I think this is partially because I'm aromantic, so I don't really "get" love on an emotional level. Instead, I evaluate ships based upon logical things, because that's sort of how I understand it. "Understand" probably isn't the best word choice, but that's the one I have. If a ship doesn't meet my logic-based requirements, I just can't ship it. It won't work for me. If it does, however, then I'll totally ship it. Most ships that I'm alright with are just sort of... there. I don't mind it, but I'm not obsessed with it, either. Still, I do have a select list of ships that I'll totally fangirl over because they're great. 

I also agree with what some other people on here have said about being sorta demiromantic when it comes to shipping. In most cases, I need to adjust to the characters & their dynamic before I'm okay with the ship. 

24 minutes ago, Alaska Native Manitou said:

Yes. Perfect logic there!

17 minutes ago, HelloThere said:

I’d suggest either vah rudania or vah rutah, though vah rudania gets you a better overall yield reward so go there next.

Alright, will do! Thanks for the help! 

1 minute ago, HelloThere said:

Yeah the boss there is some weird lightning thing that loves to try and stab anyone at super high speeds. You gotta have stupid good speed and combat to beat it. I’d go with vah medoh (top left of map) first because the reward is far better. I probably just spoiled more than intended but this info is useful. 

Nah it's fine. I don't mind spoilers. I actually already got vah medoh! That's like the only one I managed to do, tho.