'The Desperate Man' by Gustave Courbet is the best depiction of my horrified reaction when my schoolmates showed me their group's entry on a contest with the theme revolving around LGBTQIA.

Unahin natin kung paano magsulat ng maayos na representation para sa LGBTQIA sa kahit anong larangan man ng literatura; albeit novella, novel, short story, and the likes.

ON WRITING QUEER STORIES

As someone who've been writing mainly queer stories for nearly five years now, imagine my horror when I saw one-dimensional caricatures  of queer people in their work. May gay character na may stereotypical gay voice, though there is a feminine voice common with gay men, not all gay men speak that way. One point for generalization.

Then, there's also a lesbian character. To no suprise, they outright had a (theatrical) dialogue session saying that they preferred masculine clothing. Two points.

Now, there is no problem on feminine gay men or masculine, butch lesbians. Let's be real, that's a big part of the Filipino queer culture and it should be celebrated. 'Yong problema nga lang is the intention and the way it was conveyed. It's lazy, problematic writing.

Now, I'm just ranting, but excuse me. I was just baffled by the fact that they had stereotypical queer characters just to say that "Ito, oh! Queer rep! Enjoy!" and not have them do things as real people. Nakakahiya. May queer characters pero they just serve to fill in your out-of-date pictures of what you think queer people are, rather than actually represent the realities of people in this minority.

Pride month na pride month.

Now, for anyone else reading this na nagbabalak magsulat ng queer stories, this is the part for you. Tama na rants, baka ma-ridicule ako. Anyway, firstly, like I said—never give in to stereotypes. Stereotypes are problematic and lazy. It's also severely annoying. Second, let them feel real. How you'd write a straight character? Write them like that too. Give them depth. Give them a personality.

One queer media I really love and I think did a really great job on this is the film 'Bottoms'. It's comedic genius and amazing lesbian representation all-in-one, which is already bafflingly rare in the industry.

Lastly, 'wag kang maging preachy. Ang uncanny. Nag-yap ka nga sa mga given facts about LGBTQIA but you never included the readers or audience to think for themselves. Have them question. Have them infer. Let them think. Let them be immersed. Kaysa nagsesermon ka lang ng mga life lessons sa katakot-takot na dialogue.

OTHER CRIMES ON WRITING

Kahit anong length pa ng piece na sinusulat mo, characterization and plot should never go overlooked. Kahit two-sentence horror stories nga, may plot. May laman. May meat.

Of course, also there's the show don't tell. Show don't tell is easier said than done, but here are the main pointers. SHOW via the dialogue of your characters. Kahit two sets of dialogue lang dapat ramdam na ang relationship ng dalawang characters na 'yon. Dapat kapag tinanggal ang dialogue tags or names ng characters mo sa script, ramdam pa rin kung sino 'yong nagsasalita—kasi, nagrereflect sa sinasabi no'ng character 'yong kan'yang desire, fear, motive, misbelief, and other characterization basics. Kaysa mag-monologue 'yang character mo because, I don't know—lazy writing or whatever—sana kita nalang natin 'yong personality n'ya sa kan'yang ginagawa or actions.

Always have a conflict and a plot. That's what makes a story, a story. Have the characters interact on the plot and the premise of the narrative on the very first few pages or the very first minutes. It's what we call inciting incident. Plot beats. Midpoints. Plot dips. Rising action. Resolution. Even the shortest flash fictions have some sort of overarching, fluctuating plot.

Of course, make it character-driven at most. Depende na rin naman 'to sa genre and type ng story mo but the more interaction of the character with the plot, the better. Present them choices. Choices that will both redirect their lives and have them tied in a situation without turning back. That's how you create tension and anticipation!

I know, I know, it'll take me ages to yap about everything on writing queer stories properly. There is a lot to learn. But that's the point, we need to learn. Let's leave the stereotypical one-dimensional caricatures of queer people behind and write insightful stories with genuine representation.

Happy pride month!