#underimaginarystars

[arotaro]

Hi! I've been thinking about this blog and allo-aro and aro representation a lot lately because a writing community I'm in has been having a huge problem with this, and I was wondering if you had any tips I could pass on regarding properly writing and portraying allo-aro characters? Thank you so much in advance!

Well, what kind of allo aro characters? Are you writing fantasy novels? Historical? Realistic fiction? Sci-fi with a cast of aliens? Romance novels? Bodice rippers? I really can’t give especially good advice if I don’t know the specifics. If you’ve got anything you want specific advice on, let me know.

In general, I’m going to say what I would hope would be extremely obvious things, but apparently people still need them to be spelled out for them! Love the lack of compassion for y’all’s fellow human beings I see from writers sometimes. Anyway.

Say the word out loud. Don’t ever just leave it at “ohhhh they had sex but they do not get married in the end! Wow!!! Alright gang it’s been a good run but that’s enough representation for the day, let’s pack it up.” If at all possible, never just imply representation; Say it out loud. In the actual text, not on Twitter. And I’m not saying you have to open up your novel with “Sheila was allosexual aromantic”- There’s a lot of different ways you can “say” it without just filling out a profile. You could do something like:“Hey, Sheila, you’re a lesbian, right?” John asked. “Nah, actually, I’m bisexual aromantic,” Sheila replied.Or:Sheila glanced up at the aromantic flag that hung on her wall, trying to mix the right shade of green for the painting.Etc.

I cannot emphasize this enough: Don’t, don’t, DON’T apply “predator” or “player” stereotypes to your allo aro characters. Yes, there is room for nuance, but you should never be like “Yeah here’s Fuckboy Steve, he hates women and likes to go out to bars and get women super drunk before having sex with them and then leave them without a word in the morning because he doesn’t care about them and is incapable of forming real human connections, but he’s aromantic! Yay I’m winning representation!”

In general, if you’re writing an allo aro character, ask yourself: Why? Why am I writing them in the way that I am? Have I talked to actual allo aros? What are they like? Am I writing this character the way I am just because, or am I writing them this way based on assumptions about what I think allo aros must be like?

Write your allo aro characters as characters first, allo aros second. This obviously is something that should be followed any time someone sets out to write a character of x identity.

Make them main characters! It’s always disappointing to hear about representation that turns out to be like, a minor character in a novel with a big romantic plot. We want to see ourselves, not catch a brief glimpse of a sliver of hair before some couple blocks the view by making out right in front of the mirror.

Allo aros should not exist soley in tangent with romance and sex. A lot of us are uncomfortable with romance, and frankly, like... We have lives outside of hookups. 

By all means write diverse allo aros, but also be careful of intersectionality and how negative stereotypes about different identities come into play. Is your Hispanic allo aro falling into the “spicy Latina lover” stereotype? Is your pansexual aro falling into the “fucks anything that moves” stereotype? Allo aros are diverse and everyone deserves to have our identities represented, but please do so carefully.

[paranovigilance]

Drew my friends ocs! They’re called Smolleaf and Boxx respectively. They’re part of our collective project to do with our Coronasonas. It’s kind of complicated so I’d suggest checking out our wiki if you’re interested. The link to it and my friend’s socials will be under the image description.

[Image Description:

Slide 1: A picture of a traditional art drawing of two humanoid people standing near each other. The person on the left is pale skinned, with long green hair tied into a low ponytail that falls over their shoulder, a small sprout growing out of their head, green eyes, and a bored expression on their face. The person is wearing a dark blue turtleneck, black ripped jeans, a green jacket with a fur lined hood, and green converses. The second person is very tall, with dark skin and a very colorful appearance. They have one large purple eye, two large zig zagged horns sticking out of their head, a few scars on their torso, and shaved purple hair that’s been dyed blue and fades to pink at the bottom. The person is wearing a sleeveless bright blue crop top with a music note on it, bright green jeans with brown suspenders hanging by their knees, and orange sneakers. The background is the yellowish white of paper.

Slide 2: A close up of the shorter, plant person. It shows them from the ankles upward.

Slide 3: A close up of the taller, horned one from the knees up.

End of Image description]

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[xraylovers]

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[sigmaverseproductions]

[Image Description:

Slide 1: A picture of a traditional sketchbook page, with a pair of converses at the top, and the words “The Omen aka Sorrel Grey” written in scrawling print.

Slide 2: A picture of a sketchbook page with a rough pencil sketch of an awkwardly proportioned humanoid. They have short curly hair, an oval shaped face, and a worried expression on their face. They are part dragon, with a pair of large wings and a tail, as well as two pairs of decorative frills for ears. They’re wearing a long sleeved tunic and leggings with a short cloak, gloves, and a pair of converses. One of the person’s hands is by their side while the other is reaching up to adjust their cloak.

Slide 3: A close up of the previous slide, showing the head and torso of the person

Slide 4: a close up of the second slide showing one of the wings.

End of Image description]

Drew some concepty art of my oc! It’s based off of one of my favorite species of dragons in the game flight rising: the fae dragon. They are very pogly designed dragons. And yes, I am aware the proportions are off. That’s why this is a sketch, not a fully completed piece yet.

Also I owe my friend fluff because of this so keep an eye out for that soon…..

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[arotaro]

Heckkk I'm sorry it's taken me a few days to reply to this... Thank you so much for the general tips! As for what genre I'm writing, that kinda varies? I tend to jump from one writing idea to another faster than a chocolate frog. The two I'm currently working on that have Alloaro characters are very different. One is a sort of urban fantasy with lots of ghosts and faeries and stuff that takes place in the late 90s early 2000s. The other is a sort of space opera with aliens and half-humans mostly

Nice! All fun things. In that case, though, you need to be careful with the issue of stereotyping allo aros as being monsters or aliens. If you choose to make allo aro characters who are not human, you should try to establish that this has nothing to do with their orientation- Maybe have them mention that it’s not the norm for their species?

Be careful not to fall into the stereotypes of “I am an alien and I do not understand romance because romance is strange and illogical. How quaint and bizarre. You can tell I am an alien because I do not understand the Romance, which is inherent to human nature” or “I am a vampire and I must FUCK but I do not have FEELINGS because FEELINGS are for HUMANS”