Nita Tyndall, a queer YA author, will teach you how to render honest gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters in your fiction—as well as how to avoid common stereotypes and misconceptions.
Your Instructor: Nita Tyndall
Where: Online — Available everywhere!
When: This class is not currently enrolling. To be notified when it is offered again, Click Here
Enrollment: 16 students
Price: $199
Class Description
Diversity is good.
Stereotypes are not good.
You can't write about the world around you if you can't portray it in an open, honest, and realistic fashion.
In Writing the Rainbow, Nita Tyndall, a queer YA author, will teach you how to handle gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters in your fiction.
The class with facilitate a deep discussion on writing queer characters, as well as how to avoid common stereotypes and misconceptions—specifically focusing on cisgender queer characters and writing from a straight perspective.
For authors who are not queer, it will provide a space to explore how to comfortably write queer characters without relying on stereotypes, along with providing a crash course in identities.
*** Class has started but it's not too late to sign up! ***
What This Class Covers
Lecture One: Overview of Identities
Lecture one will center on an overview of common queer identities and acronyms such as LGBTQIA and MOGAI. It will also include broad explanations and sources for lesser-known terms like asexual, pansexual, and those under the trans umbrella, as well as a list of books with those characters.
Assignment: Write from the POV of a character whose identity you are not familiar with. Do research on the identity and write a scene where the character comes out to someone else and explains their identity. Write another where the identity is mentioned in-text, though not by the character.
Lecture Two: Common Stereotypes in LGB YA
Covers common stereotypes in LGB YA:
- The closeted homophobe
- Unaccepting parent
- Tearful coming out scene
- The gay best friend
- Bury Your Gays
Assignment: Take the character you wrote from assignment one and write three short scenes. Scene one will be straightforward utilizing of one of these tropes with your MC. Scene two will be flipping the trope on its head in whatever way you choose, also from the POV of your MC. Scene three will be writing either the flipped or normal trope from the POV of another character in the scene.
Goals Of This Class
- Foster a deeper understanding of queer identity among cishet authors
- Cultivate an understanding of common stereotypes and tropes to avoid in LGBTQIA books
- Focus on moving past the stereotypes and expectations when writing queer characters as a cishet author.
- Get feedback on writing from peers and instructor (who is queer)
