Representation · 8:38pm Nov 29th, 2020
During a story conference with Scampy, working out the chapter introducing Even Keel and in the process sketching out that character, I made the snap decision they would be nonbinary. To my pleased relief, though not surprise, Scampy immediately endorsed it with enthusiasm. My reasons were many and varied, and not all were clear-cut even in my own mind.
For a while now I’ve been uncomfortably aware nonbinary individuals among others in the LGBTQ+ community are lacking in my stories, and I’ve been on the lookout for opportunities to introduce such characters. That may open me up to a charge of tokenism, and I suppose I can’t deny it categorically. After all, there’s no particular reason to write Even Keel as nonbinary, especially since my stories rarely if ever bring to center stage relationships, sex or gender issues, or indeed anything related to them.
On the other hand, under the same rationale there’s no particular reason not to either, the same way there’s no particular reason for Rose to be a cis woman, or Cook or Lectern to be cis men. All of them including Even Keel are competent, capable people in my oeuvre—what I-A-M to my delight dubbed professional procedurals—and that is what matters most about them for my storytelling purposes.
Moreover, at the moment I don’t plan to delve deeply into Even Keel’s background, though I do have an inkling how it bears on their current occupation and position. Partly that’s because it probably won’t be strongly relevant, and partly it’s because I want to avoid going astray in “writing the other.” It’s a bit of a tightrope walk, but I think worthwhile.
Hmm. I have some thinking to do about casting in my upcoming stories. Most of my nonbinary characters tend to be less gender-queer and more gender-transcendent. Not exactly representational.
This has become my guiding principal vis-a-vis representation.
But I also tend to wimp out because I am white male cishet scum and thus not writing from a place of authenticity. :(
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There certainly are plenty of queer fellow authors you can turn to for guidance.
You’ve got a couple of trans and Enby folk to talk to in the Tearoom. I’m willing to talk stuff out.
On the choice to write in a nonbinary character, I have little to say. What occurred to me from readrng their introductory chapter and then this blog post (and proceeded to sit on, saying nothing), however, was that not only was Keel coded as nonbinary, but that they can express androgyny so thoroughly as to seem incredible -- they present exactly zero gender information, which as I understand it is a towering achievement. It is entirely possible that this is a reflection of the character and their ability and conviction(?) to present themselves to such an ideal extent; yet it could also be easy for a less-competent writer to overlook the work required to express a non-binary identity so thoroughly. It is also entirely possible that I am over-stating the difficulty involved, or misinterpreting the few descriptions given thus far; moreover, for the sake of this story it doesn't matter: they are simply a competent professional who exists and that is cool.
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It’s a combination of Even Keel putting in the work and gender not being a real factor in the story. The lovely voice they started out with.
If I were to focus on Keel more, that would warrant a closer examination, but for their routine interactions, they have it down pretty well.