#Like me trying to find Indian wlw stories

[hatchetation]

I love ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga so damn much!!!! I know there’s some valid criticism of it but I can’t help but be pulled in by the story. And I especially love Sweety because her character seems so passive but really she has a steel core. Like when she’s talking to Sahil about her brother berating her for being with Kuhu and then in the next breath she says she started secretly going to Delhi to meet her despite her brother’s rage…what a badass. That’s someone with a backbone, someone who loves herself and who believes in herself and who knows that being gay is natural.

[nolabballgirl]

Eid 2022: Muslim Books Wrap-up and Review Part ii

so in part i here, i focused on recently published contemporary literature/poetry, fantasy, and graphic novels (2017 to present) with muslim main characters i've read over the year. now i'm going to turn to young adult and lgbtq muslim fiction. frankly i was impressed by how many books have come out in the last few years alone in these categories. now i wish the quality of the writing was just as amazing (but that’s another story 🌙)

these books represent a wide spectrum of the muslim experience. from practicing, non-practicing, or questioning one's faith, to spanning cultures, nationalities, and ethnic origins from across the globe. and we're only scratching the surface. without further ado:

ya:

all my rage (2022/sabaa tahir *tw: abuse, addiction) - this book fully wrecked me. it's so heartbreaking and yet hopeful at the same time. a lovely friends to lovers story of two pakistani american kids living in the mojave desert in california, whose respective families are just trying to live out "the american dream." p.s. tahir's "an ember in the ashes" is an awesome fantasy series!

salaam with love (2022/sara sharaf beg*tw: gun violence) - good post ramadan read as it follows a pakistani american teen from a small town who visits relatives in nyc for the entire month of ramadan. it's a coming of age story but also about the main learning more about the religion and ramadan in general. there's an unnecessary subplot involving gun violence that took away from the tone mid-story, and the ending was slightly unbelievable, but otherwise a fun read.

misfits in love (2021/s.k. ali) - this is a sequel to saints and misfits but you don't really need to have read the first one to read this. we follow our egyptian-indian hijabi protagonist at her brother's wedding and like all weddings, there's lots of drama (especially boy drama!) this was light-hearted and fun, but also did a good job in addressing intra-muslim racism (especially anti-black racism) and how to cope when it occurs amongst family members.

all american muslim girl (2019/nadine jolie courtney) - despite the cheesy title, i thought this was a fresh take on the muslim teen experience. it's a coming of age story of a white passing Circassian girl from a non-religious muslim family near atlanta, georgia. in exploring her heritage, racism, and fitting in, she comes to islam and decides to be muslim. so it's all about her finding her faith and making sense of it all, with some really layered intra-faith explorations amongst her friend group too.

love, hate, and other filters (2018/samira ahmed*tw: terrorism) - okay, this book was a mess. ostensibly a coming of age story about an indian muslim girl living in the midwest us. but it was full of cliches (brown girl pining for the white crush; oppressive indian parents, etc.) structurally, the author drops a mass casualty/terrorism event in the middle of the book, but then picks up with the "romance" like nothing happened. very little grappling with the main's cultural and religious identity. and the ending is incomprehensible given the 200 pages that came before it.

a very large expanse of sea (2018/tahereh mafi) - a coming of age story set in 2002 (right after 9/11) of a hijabi persian breakdancing teen. i enjoyed the subversion of stereotypes and the realistic depiction of racism and double standards in that time. i could have done with a little less romance but overall the main's conflicting emotions felt very real.

lgbtq lit (mostly wlw):

note: there aren't too many books with practicing queer muslim rep yet. most have mains that fall into the category of culturally muslim/raised in a muslim household but marginally practicing or not at all. for practicing rep, in addition to one book below, i would highly recommend watching "we are lady parts" on peacock (wlw hijabi who regularly prays!)

the henna wars (2020/adiba jaigirdar) - wlw high school rivals romance between a bengali girl and brazilian irish classmate in ireland (not exactly enemies to lovers but eh, close enough). so this isn't the most well-written book, but it was cute. props to an interracial woc couple and complicated sibling dynamics.

hani and ishu's guide to fake dating (2021/adiba jaigirdar) - fake dating and grumpy/sunshine tropes galore between muslim and hindu (?) bengali high school girls in ireland. kudos for a practicing muslim bisexual co-main! a nice exploration of culture and religion overall with both girls, who are quite well-developed on their own. i just wish we got more of their relationship together which felt the most underdeveloped of the whole novel so i wasn’t as invested in their relationship as i was in them separately. but overall, cute.

the love and lies of rukhsana ali (2019/sabina khan *tw: intense homophobia; sexual assault; death) - okay, i really disliked this book. setting aside the writing style which i did not care for, this book verged on trauma porn for me by taking the kitchen sink of homophobia, misogyny, racism, etc. and throwing it all at this poor bengali girl. yes, life is not all sunshine and roses but this was bleak. and don't get me started on the ending! the book would have benefitted from sticking with 2-3 topics and exploring them well.

zara hossain is here (2021/sabina khan *tw:islamophobia) - so i liked this better than her first book (love lies of rukhsana ali). but this author still has the propensity of putting her queer characters through harrowing situations so be warned. this novel is about a bisexual pakistani teenager in texas and the racism and islamophobia she and her family face. again i think focusing on a few major themes would have helped focus the storyline.

you exist too much (2020/zaina arafat *tw: addiction) this was a hard book, not only for the subject matter but because the main, a bisexual palestinian woman, is pretty unlikeable. but the writing is honest and there's something to be said for rooting for a woman to overcome her addictions, tackle her mental health issues, and stop her self-destructive behavior. i also enjoyed the vignettes of self-discovery from her childhood in palestine/jordan.

honorable mention: darius the great is not okay (2018/adib khorram) - this is cheating because the main isn't muslim; he's a persian, zoroastrian boy. but this book is so good and really deftly tackles the subject of mental illness, loneliness, family pressures and trying to fit in. it mostly takes place in iran with some gorgeous descriptions of the architecture/mosques in yazd too.

[mydude]

Books I’ve Read in 2022

-Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann (I will forever love it. It’s about a black asexual biromantic college student who’s trying to figure out dating as an ace person as well as just regular young adult stuff as well)

-Nevermoor: the trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (a twelve year old girl who is cursed finds out she will be dying earlier until a man comes and takes her back to an unknown land where she can be herself. I absolutely love this book even tho it’s about a younger kid because it gives me Harry Potter vibes just minus the whole transphobic author)

-Wundersmith: the calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (this is the second book in the Morrigan crow series and I love it just as much, but spoilers suck so I won’t say much because of the previous book)

-Hollowpox, the hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (the third book to the previous series and a fourth book is coming out in the future and I can’t wait for that, I won’t say much tho so I don’t give any spoilers to the previous books)

-Love and Other Natural Disasters by Miss Sugiura (the main character is a Japanese American girl who is spending the summer with her gay uncle with the hopes of finding a girlfriend in California. It’s a super gay book with fake dating people, and there’s great representation and I love this book. It also gives off romcom-esk vibes

-Leah in the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (the sequel to Simon vs the homosapiens agenda but I love this book so much more, probably because it focuses on WLW romance and bisexuality but like I love this book so much more than the Simon one so like 10/10 highly recommended)

-She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen (another WLW story with fake dating and finding your place in the world??? Yes and there’s great representation such as the main love interest being Indian American)

-Love, Creekwood by Becky Albertalli (this follows all the characters from Simon and Leah on the off best and we get to see their stories progress thru different emails they send to each other. Don’t let the formatting scare you because it is an incredible book)

-Never Kiss Your Roomate by Philline Harms (I absolutely love this book and the main characters are all where, we have two who are bisexual, one pan sexual, and a lesbian so great lgbtq rep and we get to see a wlw relationship and a mlm relationship as well as there being some mystery and like action stuff so like overall, amazing book)

-Her Royal Higness by Rachel Hawkins (beautifully written book that explores a queer relationship between two girls and when one is quite literally a princess. It is extremely entertaining and while technically it is a second book, I didn’t read the first one and I was not lost in any way)

-You Should See Me In a Crown by Leah Johnson (I love this book for it shows a black girl trying to win prom queen for a scholarship to he able to go to her late Mom’s college. It explores not only the racism in her school, but also the homophobia/transphobia that doesn’t allow her to take her girlfriend to prom, and leads to amazing examples of standing up to authority)

-A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin (I love this book since the first time I read it in 5th grade and continue to do so. It follows the story of a girl who finds out she has an uncle with mental illness and it explores their growing relationship throughout the summer. Also the author is queer so while the story isn’t necessarily lgbtq+, the author is which is always nice)

-The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins (this book 100000% deserves all of the hype they are receiving and I had such a hard time putting down the book to do schoolwork. I love how it shows even the most straight appearing people can in fact be queer and how closeted famous peoples life would have been during the 50’s. it really is such a unique way of telling an old movie stars life story through an interview type set up. It is not based on a real person tho, but this is one of my favorite books right now, which really says something)

-I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver(this is an incredible book of a teenager coming out as non-binary to their parents, getting kicked out, and moving in with an estranged sister. It really looks at them the complexities of finding love too when you don’t fit in with a gender binary, and when you are not out. I love this story so much)

-The Giver by Lois Lowry (this is such a classic book that it doesn’t really need an introduction but In a place where everyone is made to be exactly the same, a child is given the opportunity to learn the truth and then change how things are. I also get some hidden queer context but I also look for that sort of thing so who knows)

-Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical School by Akutami Gege (this is a manga, which isn’t my favorite style but I read it from a recommendation. It’s about a kid that’s cursed by his childhood friend after she died and he goes to this school to learn to take control of it. Along the way, he along with his classmates, have to get rid of different curses around the city)

-Not If I See you First by Eric Lindstrom ( this is one of my favorite comfort books because the way it is written just makes you feel seen by other people.it is about a highschool junior who became blind in second grade in the car accident that killed her nom. Now three months after her dad died, it shows how she goes about life with extended family now living in her house, and her passion for running as well as even her trying to figure out relationships both as just a teen and someone who is disabled.)

-Not My Problem by Ciara Smyth ( another amazing queer romance that is enemies-to-lovers. The main character lives in very low income household and also has to help her mother who is a recovering alcoholic which gets worse when her father who is around, since they are the side family and not the main one. The love interest however comes from a very wealthy family who has to much pressure so when she uses the main character to push her down the stairs to yet out of some extra curricular, their relationship starts to grow)

-The Mirror Season by Anne-Marie McLenore

-Forward March by Skye Quinlan

-One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

-This Poison Heart by Khalynn Bayron

*I’ve already read most of these books multiple times, so I am going to try to make sure that when I update it, I don’t put any repeats but there’s a good chance I will make a mistake, so I apologize in advance*

[pocmuzings]

hello hi , it is g , ur friendly local neighbourhood hindu indian ( as in south asian  ) ! so a few people requested that i just make a guide-esque sorta thing on hindu  indian characters ! im not really good at guides , so instead , these are just little things i’ve noticed or picked up on that could really potentially strengthen the next indian character u ( pretty please ! ) pick up ! 

disclaimer : i am writing this from my perspective and it is NOT definitive , nor do i speak on behalf of all hindu indians  ! i am a 23-year-old bisexual cis female hindu indian , with one older gay brother, and a Train Wreck middle brother . my mother is from new delhi , and my father is from nairobi but has indian heritage ( not sure which part of india bc he’s an Engima ) . i have extended family in india and have visited india about 10-15 times throughout my entire life .

so firstly , im so glad u all are here and want to write more hindu indian characters ! please please do so !  i hope this helps , encourages u , and isnt too confusing !! 

psa : i need everyone to know that this is a very basic ‘ guide ‘ and theres a lot it DOESNT touch on or address bc i didnt want to get too Extensive and Detailed and have people Turn off and not Read it . this is just written in the terms of hopefully helping build  character / be relevant to characters a bit better that ive employed into writing my OWN hindu indian character creations !  but if u have any other questions pls reach out to me or any other indians in the rpc and im sure we’ll try our best to assist u !

FCS: 

one thing i’d really like to say is that its great to see fcs like dev patel  , deepika padukone and avan jogia picked up every now and then in rps , but there’s actually a LOT of other indian fcs you could be and should be using ! the main reason people don’t seem to know them is because they’re not ‘ hollywood ‘ stars per se ( it was a super big deal when pr*yanka broke out of bollywood and into bollywood but we don’t talk about her on this Blog ) . they’re usually bollywood stars and i don’t really see bollywood discussed that much in the rpc ! 

if you’re after MORE indian fcs , i have a tag of indian females here , and indian males here . the fcs on my blogs are also not ALL that exist . there are plenty of other blogs out there that post indian fcs , such as sonamhelps &  bollymusings !!! there’s also some really great faceclaim directories out there that include a LOT of indians with resources !

 unfortunately , i do not know of any trans indians or nonbinary indians but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist . indian cultures and beliefs are still quite Old School and not super progressive . india only just had it’s first wlw mainstream bollywood film released last year . lgbtqia+ issues are NOT really spoken about in india or within indian families at ALL , and if they are - they’re usually dismissed or reacted to Very Very Badly . ( again this isnt definitive and im sure and hopeful that some indians have had GREAT coming out stories and been accepted by their families but this has not been a common thing ive seen or witnessed from my cousins my age , indian friends , myself and my brother who are lgbtqia +  ) 

FOOD : 

we do eat with our hands and we eat like PROS with our hands . we can shovel it so easily and quickly . i don’t know how to describe it but you use the first three fingers of your hand to place the Food there , and then use your thumb to kinda scoop it off and into your mouth . this is NOT unhygienic because indians wash their hands very regularly and most of the time we aren’t actually touching our mouths to our hands ! 

indian food is MADE to be eaten with your hands for the most part . it is literally NOT practical to eat food with a knife and fork . here’s a really great article explaining things more in depth re: indian food and using our hands !

cows are seen as Very holy beings in hindu indian culture , and for that reason - there isn’t a lot of beef being eaten or consumed. sure , some indians DO eat beef but i don’t think its super common, but in my personal experience as a non-beef-eater this results in A LOT of me asking ‘ oh ,  sorry what sauce does that pasta come with ? ‘ ‘ oh those are beef sausages ? sorry i can’t eat them ‘ etc etc . beef is in a LOT of things , and this makes me very very careful and almost pedantic about what i do eat and ask about , food wise  !

indian food is seen as stinky by a majority of white people . it has a very very strong smell as im sure u know , and opening ur lunch box as a little kid to a Curry or Dal ur mum has made u ? one way street to being bullied . i also remember a time a real estate agent continuously told my dad nobody was interested in buying our house bc it smelled too much like curry,  despite my mum not having cooked curry in Weeks ( just say what u Really mean ,  bitch ! )

 indian curry exists but so does dal / daal . this is curry-like dish that is usually made out of lentils . so if ur going to talk about indian food and u know curries and samosas . . pls also bring up dals . and sabji ! ( sabji is usually just boiled vegetables plopped together . a lot of potato usually )

desserts are what we call Indian Sweets  . this is stuff that is usually very VERY sugary and a bit of an accustomed taste . theyre very colourful and LOOK beautiful but even i , for one , can not eat many indian sweets bc they are a Lot of Sweet and Sugar    . examples of indian sweets that u can google  : gulab jamun , burfi , rasgulla , jalebi etc . here’s a great link for more !

give me spiced food or give me death . literally . . put some cumin in . . put some garam masala . . put some chillies . . flavour ur Food for my Indian Taste Buds 

FAMILY : 

if you are the oldest son of an Indian Family . . congratulations . you are now the Head of the family and must carry every weight and burden alone . it is extremely isolating and taxing on you ( my dad is the oldest indian son , and also - so is my eldest brother , obvs ) . there is a LOT that is expected of you to do . you are expected to quite literally run the family and be the ‘ man of the house ‘ by yourself . 

if you are a daughter . . . even BIGGER congratulations ! you are basically a maid to every male or guest who EVER comes over to your house . you must be a Hostess , you must be in the kitchen cooking , serving snacks, bringing tea , and then washing up and basically waiting on Hand and Foot . you will not be included into a lot of dialogue or engaged in a lot of conversation and TRUST ME ! THAT WILL GRIND UR GOD DAMN GEARS IN THE 21ST CENTURY ! 

if you are a boys’ boy ( aka straight and Sporty ) , then congrats ! you get it the easiest : you are the favourite of every social event . the uncles and cousins love talking to you and dude-ing it up with you , and the aunts fawn over you and think you’re the Best Thing since sliced bread . sit back , put your feet up , and expect to be treated like a God. you can do absolutely no wrong . ( my middle brother is this to a T and listen . . he’s been in and out of jail for physical violence and ab*se for over 5 years . and family still FROTH over him . my teeth are gritted to dust thinking of this again ) 

indian aunties are lethal . they gossip like teenage girls . they will find out everything . they will bitch behind your back . they can NOT be trusted .

everyone is ur uncle or aunt, sister or brother . literally everyone . ur cousin ? no. thats ur sister . ur dads friend ? no , thats ur uncle . you will call them as such . EVERYONE is family .  

family is in general a VERY BIG THING in indian culture , too . ‘ what will it Look like to everyone else if we don’t all arrive together ? ‘ my dad usually asks dskjdfjn . it’s all about Looking Right and Standing As A United Front  . that being said , indian family has undying and unwavering loyalty for one another , they just show it in a very Weird way .

FASHION: 

female hindu indian formal  clothes are usually really embroidered to hell and back and this makes them very scratchy , uncomfortable, and HEAVY . you aren’t running anywhere anytime soon in a full blown lehenga or saree 

most ‘ modern ‘ hindu indian women do not wear full Indian Clothes all the time . some do , but usually it’s a lot of wearing a kurti tunic with jeans , or just normal everyday clothing . again , this is going to be different based on which parts of india your character is from , though ! 

usually , older women and married women  wear traditiona hindul indian clothing quite often . i know my mum wore a sari AT HOME everyday when i was growing up, until i was like 13 and took her shopping with me to get something Else to wear . 

bindi’s just stick right onto ur forehead but they do fall off a lot , especially when ur wearing makeup or sweating . again , you don’t need to wear a bindi everyday , unless thats ur preference . i usually only wear them for festivals . ( festivals means indian celebrations , not like . . coachella  ((which u should not be wearing a bindi to , if ur not indian fyi )) )

male formal clothes are usually just literally anything Formal and buttoned up for the most part , and u can get away with that , or you can wear a really nice kurta

indians wear white at funerals , not black  ( not sure if this should go in the fashion section but this entire thing is being organised into a Mess by now anyways ) . you CAN wear black to a funeral of course , but its common to wear white !

DATING ( tw’s for islamaphobia ): 

modern day indian / desi fuck boys exist and my god they are Something Else . hasan minhaj did a really good piece about this and explaining them to a T ( starts at 1:43 )

( THIS IS THE POINT THAT WILL MENTION ISLAMAPHOBIA AND HOMOPHOBIA ! ) basically according to Older  indians , ,  ur dating options  in 2020 go like this ( if ur a cis female like me ) : hindu indian men are god tier , white men are Not Okay But I Guess So Bc We Have To Accept They’re Everywhere , females / being lgbtqia+ is not Taken Seriously , and muslims are literally not even close to being an option or Accepted  . again this isn’t definitive but based on a lot of  indian media i’ve consumed and seen how they portray muslims in general as well as Dating Options , as well as talking to other indians  , both who are older / traditional and hold these ideals , whereas Younger gens generally do NOT hold these ideals  / actively are Against these backwards ideals.   i remember when i was in year 6 and had my first boyfriend . . he was a muslim and my dad FLIPPED the FUCK out  . it’s not even that i was dating someone / young / his only daughter . . it was mainly because i was dating a muslim . again , this is a very OLD SCHOOL and traditional way of thinking and it is NOT CORRECT .  pls don’t take this as a note to be islamaphobic if u write an indian character bc . . thats literally the opposite of what im trying to tell u here . 

yeah arranged marriages are definitely still a thing for us , even now in 2020

YES if u are an unmarried / single indian ( ESPECIALLY if ur a woman ) about to enter ur 30s . . ur in DANGER and u are the black sheep and theres probably something Wrong With You bc why are u still single ?

TRADITIONS / BELIEFS / SUPERSTITIONS :

idk if its just me and my family but we are SUPER superstitious . if you say anything like ‘ he hasnt gotten sick in years !’ immediately , everyone knocks on wood or their head . if you were planning on leaving the house and sneeze ? thats bad luck , stand and wait for five minutes then u can leave . we have a strong belief in drishti , or  alternatively : The Evil Eye  , and making sure we don’t invite it into our lives . a lot of our prayers are about warding drishti away .

the evil eye is kinda Complicated but basically its an ill-wishing upon an unsuspecting person . if somebody is jealous of you or angered by you , they may wish upon you or cast upon you the Evil eye ( or even just glare at u whilst ur not looking and thats Big Bad ) . 

a lot of older indians , like older people in general i guess , are not super progressive or Open . this isnt ALWAYS the case but older indians can be very very stubborn in their beliefs in what is Right and Wrong , Normal and Not Normal 

theres a LOT of hindu indian festivals and events ! tbh too many for me to even keep up with . but without fail at least once a year ill say to ONE of my friends ‘ oh sorry i cant make it . i have an indian Thing on that day ‘ and its usually about a festival , so pls be aware that there are a LOT of indian festivals and if ur writing an indian character , its perfectly understandable and Relatable for them to say they can’t make it to a party or hang out with their friends that night , for that very reason !

the main / most popular ( ? ) festivities  that i personally do celebrate every year without fail are : 

diwali ( the festival of lights , celebrating goddess lakshmi roaming the earth . in my household this is usually turning on literally every single light and lighting candles and fireworks / sparklers and saying some prayers , and eating a formal dinner all together !  )  

holi ( the festival of colours . celebrating victory and love . again personally for me , this was usually celebrated at the temple with all of us Kids running around throwing paint on each other ! ) 

rakhi / raksha bandhan ( a day of sisters celebrating their brothers . you tie a rakhi which is usually a bracelet / holy string around your brothers wrist , feed them some food , pray for their wellbeing and in return they gift you something . in my case, i usually get money from them ) .

navratri  / durga puja ( 9 nights and 10 days of celebrations but tbh u don’t have to do all the days . or i mean . . i don’t . i fast one day from morning to night and then i slide on over to boogie and dance dandiya which is literally the MOST FUN dance ever bc its based off some Historical Fight and u go faster and faster and keep going until ur absolutely SPENT bc u dont wanna lose ur place in the circle )  

there are SO MANY HINDU INDIAN GODS too . and so many prayers to all of them and to just general Life Wellness . chances are that ur character will know at least ONE aarti / gazal / prayer off by heart and have sung it at least 30 times in a monotone voice . the ones i know off by heart bc ive had to sing them 3000 times ? om jai jagdish hare , & the gayatri mantra 

GENERAL LIL THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO CATEGORISE ( tw’s for skin whitening , colorism and classism ) :

( THIS IS THE POINT THAT NEEDS A TW FOR SKIN WHITENING AND COLORISM  ) lets hold indians accountable right now : we advertise SKIN LIGHTENING CREAM  . i think they finally stopped that earlier this year / due to BLM ( i’m not entirely sure / could be wrong ) , but thats literally how bad it is , that we would openly advertise and encourage people to literally bleach their skin rather than look darker . 

( THIS IS THE POINT THAT NEEDS A TW FOR COLORISM AND CLASSISM ) colorism is a BIG thing in india and usually linked to class . generally speaking , the people who are Darker Skinned are usually people who work outside / labourers or homeless even , and are therefore seen as lower class / bottom class . the lighter skin you have , the more privileged and advantaged you are bc ur seen as working a Good job out of the sun and having a home . it’s incredibly classist as well as just generally Fucked Up . why am i telling u this ? mainly so u understand the importance of using a dark skinned indian fc vs a light skinned indian fc which i know is hard , bc a lot of darker skinned indians arent in hollywood / have resources , but its still something to Think About .  

i have a long Ethnic name . literally my first name is 10+ letters , which i know doesnt seem that long Necessarily but its also a Super Ethnic name with e’s and and j and n . it Flows and Sounds very clearly different from a christian name . it is VERY important to me that my name be said Correctly because i’ve spent so much time having it said incorrectly or Westernised . i also know a lot of indians my age who ( like me ) have had to dramatically shorten their REAL first name ( which is usually also pretty long . not always , but it is Common ) , to fit their name into white people’s mouths better . please put some thought into ur indian characters name !

not all indians speak hindi ! hindi is one of MANY dialects within india . there is also tamil , urdu  , bengali , punjabi , telugu and SO many more , so pls research which part of india ur character / their family  is from bc hindi won’t always be the default language for them !

not every indian is hindu ! of course ur character doesnt have to be religious at all , bc if im being honest IM barely religious but my FAMILY is and this is smth u should think abt bc religion is a pretty big thing for indians . so even if ur character isnt hindu , they were probably raised with SOME religious beliefs . have a think about which religions they would have been brought up with ! there’s a very large percentage of practicing muslims , sikhs and buddhists too ! and even christianity !

WRITING WISE / CREATING AN INDIAN CHARACTER WISE :

the first step should be to consume indian media ! listen to indian music . watch bollywood movies ! theres SO MANY  out there on everyone’s netflix . if u want some recs , let me know and i can try my best to find smth for u ! if u want smth thats Hollywood-indian . . . Hasan Minhaj is great to watch , especially his episodes on indian culture / politics , and Never Have I Ever on netflix was rlly good / relatable for me personally as an indian growing up in a western society !

i would really really love to see more indian rep in general , but i’d also like to discuss the Stereotypes that ive seen indians portrayed as in mainstream hollywood media :

indian women as soft spoken and subservient beings who are abused by their husbands and have no say in anything 

heterosexuality within indian relationships and indian dating 

indian men as sleazy 

indians in general not being seen as Sexy or Sexual beings with any sex drive at all 

Stumbling , Stuttering , Nerdy awkward messes of men who don’t know how to interact with anybody they find sexually appealing

an indian character that everybody ( usually white ) finds Uncomfortable and Weird and is seen as usually the Butt of the joke .

 i think those mentioned above could be helpful in how to plan your next indian character and think about how to SUBVERT a trope theyre often portrayed as , or create an indian thats not stereotypical !

so what and who SHOULD you write ? 

an indian character who is proudly and openly gay , or bi 

a trans or nonbinary indian ( PLEASE ! ) 

an indian character with really super accepting parents and family 

an aromantic indian 

an indian who is focused on their career first and not their dating life 

a fuckboy / fuckgirl ( honestly . . i’d love to see it )

a indian character who is a party animal 

an outspoken indian female who takes no shit and is strong in every sense of the word

a confident , smooth talking indian businessman who is Sexy and Lusted After ( not in a gross christian grey way but just . i’d love to see indian characters seen as Sexy . not in a fetishy way , either , but just because it’d be a nice change in pace ! )

a character who IS traditional / religious but also very progressive and forward thinking in their beliefs 

honestly just any character that isnt whats mentioned above

[hetaces]

@whatsnew-lgbtq​‘s 31 days of pride day 9!! i know I haven’t been doing ‘em all but that’s okay.

day 9: books

so books are my area of expertise honestly so I picked a few favorites to talk about a lil bit here (I’ll put it under a cut).

And feel free to ask me about more books because I’m Like That.

These are all ownvoices in at least one way. Ownvoices rep will be italicized in the list.

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley When you hear what this book is about, it sounds really bad. Like “Girl decides to ‘fix’ agoraphobic gay boy and her boyfriend gets ~close~ with him” is essentially what the synopsis says. It sets it up for every bad trope. And then uses none of them. It’s so good, has great portrayal of good accommodations, healthy friendship, and a bunch of Star Trek references. Representation: Sol is gay and agoraphobic

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston Don’t look up the synopsis yourself, go right to goodreads (i’d link but you know how tumblr is with links), some of the synopses that come up automatically start with a “it’s like [story] in space” and it’s a spoiler. I’ll put the first part of it here bc it’s hard to get the words. Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him. Representation: Ana is written as acespec (not Super clear but it was the intent) Captain Siege is a lesbian. Telle is a lesbian. Robb is gay. Jax is gay.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee So, there’s a lot of hype around Gentleman’s Guide and I was sort of expecting to be let down, but it more than lived up to it. Henry "Monty" Montague is going on his Tour of the continent (travel around Europe and have fun one last time, is the idea). Chaotic disaster bisexual Monty causes trouble, of course. So then on the way to dropping his sister off at finishing school before returning home early, they get attacked. Because Monty is a dumbass (it’s actually his fault). Cue rich kids travelling with no money & trying to avoid a growing number of people. Mackenzi Lee has hit the nail on the head with growth. Not only does she get that sometimes, growth does happen because of one moment of learning, she also writes it well, which is a really difficult thing to write. There’s a lot of heavy stuff in it, but none of it was thrown in for no reason, it’s actually important to the books and to the characters. Representation: Monty is bi, has PTSD, and (at the end of the first book, so spoilers) deaf on one side Percy is mixed, mlm, and (you find out part way through so if you’re picky about it it could be spoilers), epileptic. Felicity is aroace. Many other characters who aren’t white and a wlw character in the second book.

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver After Ben comes out to their parents, things don’t exactly go well. They get kicked out, and have to go live with their sister who they haven’t seen in 10 years. They start over at a new school, only out to their sister, her husband, and their therapist (because hey, look how well coming out went last time). This book is so damn cute. And a book with a nonbinary main character! Representation: Ben is nonbinary Nathan is bisexual and black

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire Think Narnia, but with more worlds and less religion and you've got the concept of the doorways. Children have always been disappearing - going through a door that's appeared to them. But magic worlds rarely have use for used up miracle children. So they're sent back. But they don't come back the same. The children at Elanor West's Home for Wayward Children have all tumbled once. And they all want to get back. But with Nancy's arrival, things start going wrong. Representation: Nancy is asexual Jack is pan and has OCD Kade is a trans guy Sumi is bi (Seanan McGuire is a queer cis woman)

You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman Ariel Stone is a perfect student: he’s a community volunteer, first chair violin, and is on track to be valedictorian. And then he fails a calc test. When he finds he can’t fix it himself, he reluctantly gets a tutor. And he may not like calc, but he might like Amir. I started recommending this book to people when I was 5 pages into it. Ariel is so explicitly Jewish that Laura Silverman put her grandmother’s matzo ball soup recipe in the back because it’s not fair to rave about it so much and not provide a recipe. He’s explicitly bisexual by page 8. Amir and Sook’s eyes are both described as “warm” and I honestly think it’s the first time I’ve seen characters of color’s eyes described as anything but “dark”. Representation: Ariel is bisexual and Jewish Amir is a gay Pakistani Muslim Sook is a chubby Korean lesbian

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson Shaun is back with more “so... the world might be ending?” and I absolutely love it. Dino’s ex-best-friend July died suddenly 4 days ago, and his family runs the funeral home. Dino is touching up July’s makeup (he knows how she wore it and everyone was doing it wrong), and she wakes up. But she’s not exactly... alive. She’s just not-dead. And then... other people just stop dying. So they have to figure out what’s happening. How July came back - or at least how to re-kill her when nobody can die. So not only is it a super interesting book, it’s also like... Shaun goes in on topics like “gay people making gay jokes and straight people making gay jokes are different” and “a cis guy might (might) not mind if you call him a girl, but do not call a trans guy a girl” Also I recommend anything by Shaun David Hutchinson. Representation: Dino is gay Rafi is trans, mlm, and mixed (white/Pakistani) Multiple LGBTQ+ minor characters

On The Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis It’s an end-of-the-world type book (via comet strike). Due to strange circumstances, Denise and her mother end up not at their government assigned shelter, but on a generation ship. And Denise has just a few days to find her sister and prove that her skills are worth 3 spots on a ship with limited resources. Representation: Denise is mixed (Surinamese/white) and autistic Iris is mixed (Surinamese/white) and a bi trans woman. Els is wlw. Leyla is wlw. Samira and Nordin are Muslim Some minor characters.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman I’m just gonna give y’all the actual synopsis this time

You probably think that Aled Last and I are going to fall in love or something. Since he is a boy and I am a girl. I just wanted to say—we don’t. Frances Janvier spends most of her time studying. When she’s not studying, she’s up in her room making fan art for her favorite podcast, Universe City. Everyone knows Aled Last as that quiet boy who gets straight As. But no one knows he’s the creator of Universe City, who goes by the name Radio Silence. When Frances gets a message from Radio Silence asking if she’ll collaborate with him, everything changes. Frances and Aled spend an entire summer working together and becoming best friends. They get each other when no one else does. But when Aled’s identity as Radio Silence is revealed, Frances fears that the future of Universe City—and their friendship—is at risk. Aled helped her find her voice. Without him, will she have the courage to show the world who she really is? Or will she be met with radio silence?

This book is so good but fair warning, it gets really heavy. 

Representation: Aled is demisexual (Alice is queer/aroace) Frances is bi and mixed (white/Ethiopian) Daniel is gay and Korean Carys is a lesbian Raine is pan, Indian, and Hindu

Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis Otherbound is set in two worlds - Nolan’s (ours) and Amara’s (the Dunelands, where magic is real). Amara is on the run with the former princess, Cilla, whose family was overthrown by the ministers. Cilla has been cursed and is being hunted, and Amara’s particular type of healing magic is, basically, convenient for redirecting Cilla’s curse. Since they were children, Nolan has been experiencing Amara’s world through her every time he closes his eyes. He sees through her eyes, feels what she feels, smells what she smells. But he’s just a silent observer. She doesn’t even know he’s there. Until now. Representation: Nolan is Mexica and disabled Amara is not white, mute (due to mutilation), and bi Cilla is not white, fat, and a lesbian The majority of other characters are also not white.

[lunaathorne]

The anti Zoya x Nikolai people have gotten louder since it was revealed that Zoya isn't white. Very interesting.

Skskksj this tea though, the tannic acid has bleached my soul😂

So....where do I begin? Ah yeah, the antis. I mean, you know what? They were doomed from day 1 itself! And the reason behind that was this: of the plethora of excuses they used against Zoyalai, not a single fucking one of them was valid enough to give them credibility, okay?

Let's do a rundown shall we?

A- Nikolai is asexual

Hate to break it to these antis but asexual people can also fall in love and believe it or not, some of them have sex or get sexually aroused too. Some aces form sexual relationships vis-a-vis people with whom they share deep emotional connections. Moving on:

B- Zoya is a lesbian?

I'm going to try to be as sensitive as possible here. See, Leigh is not Rowling of the Retroactive Representation. She is not afraid to put in wlw relationships (Tamar/Nadia, Nina/Hanne) or for that matter mlm ones (Jesper/Wylan) and so if Zoya was a lesbian, we would see something. Sure lesbians are not only about their sexuality, but the antis make it seem so?? "she can't date Nikolai, she radiates sapphic energy" WHERE?! Nobody has any problem with lesbian Zoya but the thing is she's already shown attracted to the Darkling and Mal. She could be bi.

C- Bi Erasure

This brings me to another sticky point. So let's assume Zoya did have feelings for women too. That would make her bisexual. But apart from a handful of people literally no body wants to acknowledge that bisexual characters exist. If a character's sexuality is unexplored they are either het or gay. We have a term for that. Anyway.

D- Zoy*lina/Darklina stans

I used to find the idea of Zoya*lina cute (I like Alina a lot, my baby) BUT THE STANS IDGAF. Most of them are like really Dark*lina stans or worse, solo Alina stans who ship Zoya with Alina/any other woman so they can have Nikolai for their fave too. It's a fucked up reason, not just for us, but for LGBT people too. Most of the times they hate Zoya tbh. They make her a bitch in fanfics, the clingy toxic ex, or a complete slut. As for Darklina, they call our ship garbage, when in reality, their ship is nothing but an ao3 fever dream based off toxic/creepy scenes. I know some people in that particular base who trash Zoyalai as "forced", "boring", "heterosexual nonsense" while also shipping their fave with a jerkass abuser in a het ship. I have to laugh.

A ship does not depend on whether the members are straight or gay. It depends on healthy relationships, on emotional connection, trust, companionship. Zoyalai is all of this and then some. Both of them want love, to be desired, the comfort of somebody else's presence. Why can't it just be platonic?-because THEY DON'T WANT IT TO BE?! They have both got friends aplenty- Genya, David, the twins...but they want something else. So, what we get is this beautiful story of a brave, intelligent man who is both physically and psycho-emotionally scarred, ashamed by the deeds of his father, struggling with keeping up a country, glossing over his pains with a veneer of good humour. And a woman who is as beautiful as she is fierce, ambitious, loyal, hardened by a terrible childhood and a dark past with a heart of ice begging to be thawed. Both see through each other and implicitly trust and respect each other. What's not to love?

Against this we have that gross ass ship which I will not name. Their arguments for their ship is he is the dark, she is the light, they would be iconic.

Finally (after a page full of my incapability to shut up) what you said just attests to their pettiness and narrow mindedness. Zoya being biracial makes me sooo happy. Firstly because people will finally stop using Katie McGrath/any white Pinterest model wearing blue outfits as Zoya (wtf mates), and secondly, half Suli, means half Indian (since the Suli are based off a mix of Romanis and Indians) and I AM INDIAN!!! also my eternal love and perfect Zoya, Katrina Kaif, she is biracial too (half Indian) so YAHOO.

(Zoyalai gonna bang in book 2 I KNOW IT, the meltdown will be too delicious)

[story-told]

Asian woman in her 20s here- I remember when we used to be afraid to indulge in same-sex shipping, when a wlw-leaning movie triggered violent nationwide protests. I remember how, when I first came out to my mum as queer, I was told that it's an illness and that I need to talk to a psychiatrist to "get over my perversion".

Then came the phase where filmmakers stood up and said- what if we make queer Indian stories part of mainstream media? Movies like Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan and Badhaai Do have become outrageously popular- more than my widlest dreams. Now are they still prey to toxic queer stereotyping? Yes. Do we still employ cishet actors to play queer characters? Yep.

But it was one of these movies that finally had my mum hug me, crying her eyes out and apologising- promising to try and learn about who I am and my community; promising to accept my partner, no matter their identity. It was these movies that helped me explain to my younger cousins and nibblings what Queer means and that they're just like them, just like anybody else they know.

Media that we (primarily privileged urban folk) dismiss as being for the fujoshis, or pandering to tropes- have helped people come out, settle in their identities, reconnect with their families and find a voice. It's time we gave them the legitimacy they deserve.

So i was having a lovely conversation with @rythyme about the current rapid evolution of the BL industry, specially in Thailand - looking at the impact KinnPorsche is having, everywhere, at the moment - and it led us to a path where i was able to articulate something i’ve been thinking about or a while in regards to BL as a genre and how it relates to (and is) LGBTQ+ media.

BL might have its roots as a genre made for fangirls as fanservice, but the reality of it is, it is ALSO queer media and as the world at large embraces LGBTQ+ identities(i use the term embrace loosely here, we are all aware of the hurdles we face still), the lines have blurred into what people consider just BL - as fangirl fanservice - and LGBTQ+ content.

That does not mean that there isn't just fanservice for the sake of it out there, not every piece of media has to be nuanced and whatnot (we all like chicken nuggets every once in a while people, don’t lie, five course meals are not always where its at), but it does mean that there is more media that lands in the blended space. I believe BL media is and should be qualified under LGBTQ+ media. Bad buddy is a great example. It is 100 percent a BL, ticks all the boxes, but it is also 100 percent a coming of age, nuanced love story between two boys that tugs at your heartstrings and makes you want to go through the joy and anxieties of falling in love. That has a lot to do with the Director of the show, P’Aof, a very talented director, and an out gay man. Watching his reaction/review videos to the show, along with his peers who are also queer men, specially for the final episode, has been one of the best experiences of my life. It was hard to put into words, but hearing what these older queer/gay men had to say about this show, their lives, their experiences, the differences between their youth and today. It was mind blowing, specially because they are from a whole different culture than mine, and as my older sister who is in their age range said: “you’re watching/learning queer history.” It was both touching and a great learning experience.

BL is a genre that can be multiple things at once (like any other), but what lends itself to the blending I mentioned before is that we are not only seeing the industry as a whole growing with its fanbase, but also the fact that more LGBTQ+ voices are getting involved in the making and distribution of it.

Rythyme made a point in our conversation, “BL as a genre despite its shortcomings has always been, at its core, both queer and transgressive and it's hard to draw those lines between what's made for the ‘BL fangirl’ vs the ‘queer person’ bc those boundaries are super blurred” And i agree with that statement, because many of those BL fangirls the genre was aimed at turned out to be queer people later in life. They mentioned listening to a talk by an older Japanese lesbian who was an OG BL fan from the start of it all, and who discussed how BL helped her discover her own queerness, which was a lightbulb moment for Rythyme as they listened to it.

And that’s the thing. BL culture in the east, and slash culture in the west, they both started labeled as “fanservice for the fangirls”, and their similarities don’t end there, they are both movements that have led a lot of queer people in a journey of self-discovery. My sister @teland has almost 15 years+ on me, and as she put it:

I can't count the number of queer people of all genders and ages and everything else who I've spoken to over the past 20-odd years about slash, bl, and other intersections of queerness, fantasy, and *hope* who have said to me:

"This is where I found myself." "This is how I learned who I was." "This is how I wrote myself into my own body." "This is how I learned how to draw the boundaries of my self." And so on, and so forth.

There is nothing more queer than taking identity/self/sexuality/gender and remaking it in our own images for the sake of learning ourselves.

So yeah. i am in no way making light of, or ignoring, the fact that the fetishizing that has gone on since its inception isn't a thing (i am not a gay man, i can't speak for their struggles or issues with said fetishizing), but i feel it disingenuous to deny the fact that it, and the people it was/is aimed for have evolved.

There's surely someone out there better qualified, and with more energy than me, to address the other, more problematic side of this whole thing, where it lacks and where it fails, and I wish them all the luck. I'm genuinely just. So happy to see the growth and evolution of it as a whole. It brings me untold joy, and when there are just so many things in the world that aim to take the joy away from our lives, I want to embrace all the things that give it to me.

Now give me more GL stuff lol.

[lcmawson]

Books With Autistic Protagonists That I Have Coming Out This Year

Because fuck it, I need a list at this point.

Freya Snow: Books 6 to 9

(Heh... 6 to 9...)

Freya Snow is my urban fantasy series that goes from YA up to NA and then just, you know, regular fiction (I hate calling it adult fiction because then people think I mean erotica...).

The main character is a bisexual, autistic angel who fights demons.

Books 6 and 7 already came out and feature Freya falling in love with a woman who was genetically engineered to kill magical beings because Freya is bad at picking dates.

Books 8 and 9 will be out in July and October respectively and the ninth book will kick off the beginning of the endgame for the series.

The first book is available from all ebook stores for free if you want to give it a try.

The Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone Chronicles

This was a steampunk trilogy about an ace/aro, autistic inventor who builds herself a robot husband to avoid getting married. All three books came out in January and the first is available for free on all ebook stores.

I also released a follow-up short story set in the 1920s with an autistic, Jewish lesbian as the protagonist and according to the poll I had on my website, people want me to expand that out into a sequel series. I plan to, but I can’t guarantee that it’ll see the light of day until 2019 unless I break my “no more than one book release (unless they’re sequential in a series) a month” rule...

The Almosts

The Almosts will be a trilogy of urban fantasy heist novellas that I’m going to release in August. They’re set in the same universe as Freya Snow.

The main character is a pansexual, aromantic, autistic programmer who finds out that she has weak magical powers and then gets roped into joining a group of women who all also have weak magical powers that they use for crime. Because why not...

My only way to describe this series is that it’s like Saint’s Row meets Breaking Bad which will make no sense until you read it.

The Royal Cleaner - Book One: Target

Anyone who has read Freya Snow will be familiar with Lady Caroline, the bisexual, autistic Demon who is in charge of making sure that the Demons don’t expose magic to Humans.

This book will be a paranormal romance following her and a Human cop as they have to work together on a case and then, well... It’s a wlw romance book, you know where this goes...

It’s going to be released in September and takes place alongside the last Almosts book.

The Aspects

Another YA series, The Aspects is like Sailor Moon meets RWBY meets [insert magical girl anime here].

The Aspects are emotion-based superheroes/magical girls who defend the remaining human cities from the alien monsters that were dumped onto Earth centuries ago.

The main character, Claire, is an autistic, bisexual girl from an Indian family (she lives in Paris) who is saved by the Aspect of Hate when the monsters attack, and then they start dating, but then Claire is chosen to be the next aspect of Love.

This isn’t supposed to come out until December, but the first book is all written so I could be bullied into releasing it before then.

I also have a series about pansexual mermaids coming out next month and another Freya Snow spin-off about a poc wlw that I can’t announce until Book Eight is out for spoilers, but they don’t have autistic protagonists.

[wherestoriescomefrom]

you know what @yinx1 and @hellomynameisdevi are right and they should say it. since i have the time and i also miss ssc, im gonna do it, im gonna go off.

when i made this post i didn't want to unfairly compare two different shows, but its really upsetting that no one remembers that ssc existed. but i maintain that still star crossed was ahead of its time. it was melodramatic and had plot contrivances, but that was just true to shakespearean form. sure the costuming wasn't historically accurate, but anyone who saw the form fitting bodice and 50s neckline of mrs featherington paired with a regency era empire waistline shouldn't have anything to complain about. still star crossed was filled with a diverse and interesting cast, all of whom had distinct character arcs. it was also a show that was very sincere while not necessarily taking itself too seriously - it hadn't set out to address the injustices of racial inequality, and i appreciated that about it. it told you the story of two characters thrown together by happenstance, and how they changed from enemies to friends to lovers.

br/dgerton sort of sets out in a similar way. you begin with seeing this world lush with colour and diversity and FABULOUS hairstyles and set pieces, but then you find out that the main characters all come from the same eight sibling white family. the other family, the featheringtons, are also white. the two main characters that are close to the marriage mart are light-skinned actors (no shade to them, they did a good job with what they had). but you don't need to hear about colourism from me, other people have done a better job.

but im honestly willing to ignore all that because i thought the show was there to have fun and not take itself too seriously. and then they included included a nonconsensual sex scene and the show didn't treat it with any sense of consequence??? not to mention the fact that i was genuinely really put off with daphnes all important quest for babies.

and then it commits, in my opinion, the cardinal mistake. it decides to address why people of colour are noblemen. i understand that they were trying to do some sort of worldbuilding, but to be clear - its a show set in england. im indian, and they're going to try to sell me the idea of an indian gentlewoman. to be clear im not against an indian gentlewoman, its just that if you want to go,,,, acknowledge racial inequality,,,, and say that it stopped because of a marriage,,,,, are y'all going to address what england did to my country?? like is that on the cards??? i fucking hope it isn't, because i do NOT trust them to do a nuanced job of it. just don't take yourself so seriously!!!! if i am here for woc in lush regency dresses, im not actually looking to address historical accuracy!!!

in contrast what i do feel is really cool about ssc is that it gives you a world with nobility from different races, gives all of them backstories and arcs, and makes all of them likeable in different ways and didn't bother telling you why. it didn't have a colourism problem, everyone looked gorgeous!!! it also actually committed to writing a lgbtq character, filmed the scenes with a wlw romance and got cancelled. it was ahead of its time, and it was done WRONG.

lastly, the relationship between rosaline and benvolio is honestly,,,,, like a masterclass of relationship writing. when they can see that they are being manipulated by more powerful players than themselves, they look to each other and change from being enemies to adversaries, thrown together by circumstances. and then from adversaries to friends!!!! they're FRIENDS first, and only in the seventh episode do they kiss.

,,,,, i miss still star crossed,,,,,,,, im never gonna forget the fact that the world turned their backs on it

every single one of u hailed bridgerton when it came and i watched silently, a monument to your sins against still star crossed