ECCE CORINNA VENIT

I’ve been following the recent (and let’s face it, not just recent) mediafail regarding asexual and aromantic characters in fiction, adding my two cents here and there. Sometimes I feel like I’m side-eyeing the popular media so hard that my eyes are just going to get stuck that way.

One thing, however, is heartening. As I’ve read through the posts on my dash, I’ve noticed a lot of people alluding to aro/ace characters in their original works. This makes me both excited and curious.

Why? Because I want to hear more about your original characters who are asexual and/or aromantic!

And so I’d like to propose an event of sorts:

Tumblr Show and Tell: Asexual and/or Aromantic Original Characters

The idea behind this would be that during the week of Jan 30-Feb 6, creative types on tumblr could post a little bit about their original characters who are either ace or aro or both. It wouldn’t matter if you’re a published author or just drawing a comic for fun. Not only would this be a great way to showcase the variety of aro/ace characters out there and combat stereotypes, but it’d be a great way to share our work with each other.

What should I include in my post?

Tell us about your character(s)! However you want to tell us about your character is okay, actually. You can post simple stats, or full-blown excerpts from a work in progress. I do recommend that you include the following pieces of information about your character:

• Their name and how they identify: just to start with the basics.
• An overview of their personality and character arc: you don’t have to tell us the entire plot of your story or webcomic, but give us a sense of who your character is and where their story is going.
• Significant relationships in this character’s life: Tell me about some important people in your character’s life. Let’s fight this notion that a lack of sexual or romantic relationships means a lack of significant relationships, period.
• About this character’s asexuality/aromanticism: how much does your character’s orientation play a role in the story? It doesn’t have to at all, of course! They may just happen to be asexual or happen to be aromantic. On the other hand, if someone’s writing an asexual “coming out” story for YA audiences, it’d be cool to hear about that too.
• A picture if you can manage it! Because visuals are fun. Of course, I can’t draw, so I’ll probably be using an online doll creator to post about a character from my own head. Yay, laziness.

How should I share it?

Tag your post with “ace/aro show and tell” and I’ll track it down. Then I’ll be adding these posts to a masterpost when the week is done. And if I somehow miss your post, leave me an ask so I can add you to the masterpost anyway. I work full-time and can occasionally be a bit of a flake when I come home, so there’s a chance I might miss something.

Can I share more than one character?

Yes please!

Does my character need to be both asexual and aromantic?

Not at all! The two don’t always go hand in hand, after all. As long as your character fits one of these categories, they’re fair game.

Will demisexuality, grey ace, greyromantic, etc. characters count?

As I tend to identify more in the grey ace/greyromantic zone myself, I’m not going to rule these particular labels out. That said, use your judgment about how much their ace side is played up in their character arc.

What about characters from my fandoms who I’ve interpreted as ace/aro in fanworks?

For the moment, I’m going to have to say no on this one, simply because I’d like this to be for original characters only. However, if someone would like to take this on, go for it! I am all for more discussions of ace/aro characters.

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Remember, we’ll be posting things next week: Jan 30-Feb 6.

If you think you’ll be posting something, like this post or leave me an ask or whatever! You can also ask me questions. In addition, please reblog this post around if you have followers you think might be interested in participating.

Thanks, all!