My favorite LGBTQ+ characters!

I am so sorry! This title is a bit misleading. It’s vague and someone might be coming to this list expecting to see me talk about Benoit Blanc or Rosa Diaz. But I am not going to be covering representation in media right now.

I have a lot of characters who fit under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, both in published works and non-published works. Some of them I talk a lot about, some I even have art of! Others are just concepts for now. And since I love lists so much, I figured I’d give you all a list of just a few of my LGBTQIA+ characters and tell you a bit about them.

1. Razor Channing – Phantom Janitor – Gay
   Back in 2016-17, I was in my late teens and working on my first book. Phantom Janitor. I was inexperienced at writing and just did what seemed right. Razor was originally written as an… well, he was an asshole with a rough home life. Arguing and judgmental parents. But my young mind was also like, “But he’s also gay! And probably in love with Derrick.” Yeah. The first one turned into canon rather quickly. But in my mind, I thought I needed to be sly about it and disguise it a little so it was just subtext. Yeah. Don’t know why I did that. I just wrote that he was a fan of a certain boy band and left it at that. (I really need to rewrite Phantom Janitor. Like half the main cast is some flavour of queer now.) My point is, his is a character where (Unlike with Derrick or Cassidy) the story can really go anywhere. Post-graduation, he’s a young gay tiger looking to find himself and love. And yes, he goes to therapy too.
   
2. Kamryn Scott – Forbidden Project (And other various projects) – Bisexual
   My first serious project I ever started as a middle schooler was for a series I originally called the revelation project. It was a series that kind of mashed a lot of different concepts together. Superpowered teens, furries, Doctor Who, Hunger Games, and a little BBC show called The Sparticle Mystery. The idea doesn’t matter as much as the character. Kamryn Scott is a teenager who ran away from home to try and avoid coming out to her family as bisexual. She was experimented on by an evil scientist looking to create true power. She was one of the first characters I made. A badass, rude girl with super strength. A real leader amongst the other subjects. No matter how much I rework the story, she always stayed the same. Resilient, but a little self-conscious when it came to who she was. Sounds pretty wicked right? And yeah, she was.
   
3. Avery Winchester and Hank Wintergreen – Nightmare at Elmwood College – Gay and Bisexual
   For my first anthology story, I wanted something unique as far as slasher main characters go. Enter Avery and Hank. A border collie and his arctic fox ex-boyfriend/roommate. Not a lot of movies have a final guy. And I can count on my hands how many movies have a gay male as it’s final guy. (Watch Death Drop Gorgeous!) I put these two together for a very good reason. Each time I have written them, I can never tell who I meant to be the main character. Sometimes I feel like it’s Avery because he’s the one involved with the killer the most, but Hank has a prominent role in driving the story forward. Even though I made them exes, I still had them have a close relationship where they both care a lot for one another. And sure, there’s definitely some kind of tension there between them. But I never quite pinned down what kind, and maybe I never will. (Though, I am not opposed to people shipping them together.) I committed a really bad writing sin when I wrote the original story though. A sin which has been kind of corrected in the rewrite I did recently! (Oops >:3 Guess you’ll have to wait and see!)
   
4. Marissa Carmody – Zombies Hate To See You Cry – Lesbian?
   Marissa is based on your typical Christian/Catholic raised girl, whose whole life has been spent in the church. Marissa is very reminiscent of how I felt when I first realized I was queer. Her story just happens to also be set against the backdrop of a world that is amidst the zombie apocolypse. We see her start at almost rock bottom. Her family has cut her out into an even more dangerous world, but she still wants to cling to her faith. It’s a battle I fought in my late teens, and she held on better than I did. She’s a young woman who, like Razor, has a lot of work to do when it comes to finding herself and accepting what she finds. Also, I gave her the last name of Carmody, because I hadn’t given her a last name (till 5/27) and the Steven King character is who I kinda based Marissa’s mother on. (Coming Soon >:3)
   
5. Epithumia – Downward Dog – Genderfluid and Pansexual (Any pronouns)
   Epithumia is an incubus who loves pleasuring those that summon him forth. He can mirror their fantasies within reason and change himself accordingly. Of course his grasp on gender is fluid. He is comfortable in any form, and if his body happens to change to suit a feminine or androgynous form, then their pronouns reflect as such. I have to be honest, for my first nsfw story, this was a really fun character to create. Sensual, flirty, but also incredibly awkward and silly. (Link is under Online Stories! Check it out!)
   
6. Lila and Vivian Dusk – The Spirit of Christmas – Lesbians
   I am putting these two together because they’re wives. Now, this story is being published soon, so I can’t share any plot details. But what I can tell you, is that these are the first two lesbians I ever wrote. Their story is about five or so years old, and it has been revised so much and I am so excited to share the story. Other parts that I didn’t include in the story, is that they met and fell in love in college. (I kinda want to write the story of how they got together. Just for funsies.)
   
7. Shane Sheppard – Hauntings of Sunnydale – Trans-masc and Pansexual
   Shane is one of my most favorite characters that I have ever made! Sunnydale has always been the passion project I always have trouble piecing together. But Shane Sheppard is the best G-Shep boyo! I have been working on his story and trying to figure out how this sweet high school/college student (I don’t know for sure anymore. I am thinking about rewriting it as a college setting again.) He’s a nerd who’s eagerly looking for a new start. He wants to be known for him and his identity, and not for what people remember him for. He has a good support system with his mom, step-dad, and younger brother. (I have quite a bit of Shane art.)
   
8. Dr. Martha Rashida – Werewolf Therapy – Lesbian
   She’s a therapist with a doctorate, can you believe it? Martha was a character I made based on a concept of a werewolf making a therapy appointment because he was harrassed by a woman with a possibly sexual werewolf fantasy. Martha was the character I made to be the therapist who has to listen to the werewolf share his experience while also being subtly threatened by a creature who could easily and willingly kill her. I am looking forward to possibly having her character show up again in a future story. (Her story is also coming soon! >:3)
   
9. Joseph Kravitz – Tip Your Damn Delivery Drivers – Asexual
   I love my customer service stories that feature zombies, don’t I? Joseph is my first test of a character who is immune during the ongoing apocolypse, which is both a blessing and a curse for him. A curse, because his job loves taking advantage of his immune state to work him to the bone for sometimes lousy tips. A blessing, because he’s got a very bitey werewolf girlfriend and sometimes he’s into that. (She affectionately calls him her chew toy) But, yeah. He’s ace. And he brings home free food at the end of almost every work day, so that’s pretty cool.
   
10. Tinsel Holiday – Tinsel’s Town – Gay and Trans Masc
    Tinsel is the most Hallmark character I have ever written. I mean, a reindeer who owns a bakery and makes cookies, cakes, and bagels? And the themed holiday name? He’s a young, single (for now) dad with a two year old son. He does his best to split his time between his business and his child, but he is kind of a workaholic. (Yet another Hallmark quality!) If you get a chance, check out the story in the Happy Howlidays flash fiction anthology.

So, I know this is more than ten characters, but I really felt like certain characters couldn’t stand alone. I hope that I can work with these characters more in the future, and explore their identities even more.