Writing Aro-Ace characters

[Flurkin]

I'm writing a book. 50/50 if it ever gets anywhere, but I need something to do right now, and this works. And, heads up, 90% of the characters are queer. I'm not even kidding.

MC 1 - Aro-Ace Girl

MC 2 - Gay-Ace Boy

Supporting Characters:

Gay Couple (Parents of MC 2)

Trans Woman (Detective)

Bi Teacher (Dating Detective)

Lesbian Student (Former BFF of MC 1)

Non-Binary Demon (Who gets killed off in the first chapter)

And that's just who I can remember because I'm too lazy to check. Those are the important ones.

 

And why is it so hard to write aro/ace characters? I mean, it isn't, but I keep having to go back and look over it because 'Is it forced? Am I spending too much time on the aro/ace thing?' and 'What if it's confusing?' and gah, why is life SO DIFFICULT!!!

[ScarfOfSexualPreference]

This is such a writer's mood.

I wrote a book and I started it before I discovered my aro-ness. I definitely had romance in mind, I just never figured out how to write it, so it just faded away, and now my characters are aro-ace.  

I'd say to try and base romance on movies or other books, and write aro-ace-ness from experiences. Maybe have one of the characters ask her out and have her decline. Or maybe put her in a situation where people might normally feel sexual or romantic attraction and have her not feel that? 

Also, research and interviews always help.

Hope this was in any way helpful!

[The Angel of Eternity]

1 hour ago, Flurkin said:

I keep having to go back and look over it because 'Is it forced? Am I spending too much time on the aro/ace thing?' and 'What if it's confusing?'

In my opinion, this doesn't matter, because when you write a story, you should always have your soul's desires and preferences at the forefront. If others don't understand the story and it doesn't become a New York Times bestseller, so what? You put your authenticity into your work and you answered your soul's yearning. As long as you can revisit your story with fondness and the ability to relate to it, that's all that matters, and you've achieved success.

[nonmerci]

6 hours ago, Flurkin said:

And why is it so hard to write aro/ace characters? I mean, it isn't, but I keep having to go back and look over it because 'Is it forced? Am I spending too much time on the aro/ace thing?' and 'What if it's confusing?' and gah, why is life SO DIFFICULT!!!

I think you just wondering all that because that's an important subject for you. So you want to write it well. Things you ware abour are always more difficult to write, that's normal.

About spending to much time on it, I'd say it depends on what you are writing. And what you want to write too. For instance, I started many projects, not always finished them, but I had a few aro characters now. The time I spent on that really depends on the characters and what I do with them. For one, he just says at a point of the story he is aroace; for another, it is implied but I don't know if I will focus on that because the character is in lot of other troubles. And for another, I haven't say she is aro allo because she is 12 and not aware this is a thing, but I am thinking about sequels where she'll grow up and realize what her orientation is. And then, I'll spend time on it, to do it well, to explain things to her and to my reader. So really, "too much time" is only define by what you decided to do, or the importance your characters are giving to this.

For being confusing, yeah, it could be. Because it is something people are not familiar with. But if you explain well, or if it is good writing, there is no reason that this is confusing. It also depends on how deep you go in the details about the orientation. But if I have an advice : trust your reader. I've done  a lot of beta-reading, and yeah sometimes I saw confusing things; but really, most of the time, I see things that are very clear but the writer explain too much because they fear it isn't. So trust yourself. If you make it clear, it will not be confusing.