Character: Wirt

Character: Wirt

From: Over the Garden Wall

Gender: Nonbinary

Why: When the tavern keeper asks who Wirt is, he says “I’m a guy, I guess…” and when he is asked a second time, he says “I don’t know. I don’t really like labels. I’m just sort of, like, myself, you know?”

What to do now that Halo’s come out as nonbinary:

A guide by a genderfluid person for the writers of YJ

1. Have at least one character ask about pronouns. She can still go by she/her. Plenty of nb people, including me, use those pronouns, but the talk needs to happen somewhere.

2. Brion needs to ask Violet if it’s okay he still call her “girlfriend”. He doesn’t need to redefine his sexuality. We don’t need this to be about him. But deciding between girlfriend, boyfriend, enbyfriend, datemate, partner, or something else is a small thing that would go a long way to actually show she’s nonbinary.

3. You know how the show has multiple times had M’gann and Conner yell “we’re not human!” Let Halo have that same energy when she’s called a girl.

4. Happy Harbor High School GSA. Just mention it once.

I went on a rant on twitter because I didnt have my coffee to restrain me

Hi :) I saw your post and I was wondering what are the do's and don'ts of writing a nonbinary character, in my story i currently have someone but I'm a little worried that I'm not doing them justice.

Do’s and don’ts of writing nonbinary characters.

Hey there! The nonbinary identity is a very broad category, made more complex when you try to then fit things into a speculative fiction context with differing worlds and fantastical social constructs, and there are certainly things I can’t add to this list simply because I haven’t seen them done before and so haven’t occurred to me yet.

So, an incomplete list off the top of my head:

Do write nonbinary characters. Not labels or brownie point grabbers, but characters. They should be diverse. They should not be defined by their identities.

Do write nonbinary characters whose identities, presentations, and pronouns vary. Write they/them nonbinary characters and gendered pronoun nonbinary characters and multi-pronoun nonbinary characters. Write them fat and thin and muscly, masculine and feminine and androgynous, wearing dresses and suits and t-shirts. 

Do listen to nonbinary and trans people talk. Listen to how they feel and what they want to see in literature and what tropes hurt them.

Do get nonbinary and trans beta readers.

Don’t write stories about how your nonbinary characters discovered they were nonbinary or their complex emotions regarding their identity. (Unless you have a nonbinary co-writer or a wealth of experience and knowledge regarding the subject.)

Don’t write all your nonbinary characters as non-humans. Also don’t imply your human nonbinary characters are less human or natural for being nonbinary.

Don’t have the genital discussion. Maybe there’s exceptions to this but if you haven’t discussed it with a fair number of nonbinary or trans people just don’t fucking do it.

Also, here is an old ask about writing nonbinary characters, and I have some more info scattered through my LGBT characters advice archive. 

And do have fun! You should love writing the characters you write, so let them be wild and interesting and don’t fret too much in the rough draft stages!

Please Support the Blue Beetle movie!!

Not to be Dramatic™ but this movie is a huge deal for the Hispanic community, especially Mexicans. The Blue Beetle/Jaime Reyes movie has the potential to be the Hispanic communities Black Panther. 

It was recently reported that the movie is in production, you can read about it here basically, this is the first superhero movie headlining a Hispanic. Not only that but Jaime Reyes and his family are amazing and we have the potential to have a wonderful Mexican-American family being shown on the big screen. I know we won’t get a movie that includes everything in his comic run but, the Blue Beetle series did a wonderful job of showing his family and him. There was one issue where they literally showed his extended family and how amazing they all are (BB Vol 8 #26) and can you imagine having people everywhere see a Mexican family reunion as it is? Normal and common. 

Jaime Reyes is exactly the kind of representation we need. Hispanic men would benefit so much from seeing him framed as this all powerful superhero because guess what? Jaime Reyes is such a vulnerable young man, he’s shown crying in the very first issue of Blue Beetle

And again in the second issue when he’s offered clothes, food and help from a random stranger.

Like??? Do you all know how big of an impact it’ll be on young Hispanic boys (and boys in general) to see a superhero openly crying when he’s in danger or when he’s offered help? Jaime Reyes is a huge crybaby momma’s boy and it’s a truly wonderful thing that he’s so open with his emotions. Not only that but he has a minor case of PTSD when he returns to Earth after the Justice League left him behind in space (long story). He takes his family out to the desert where he crash landed and tells them the story of what happened and he literally has flashbacks before having a small break down. And you know what? Nobody mocks him for it, in fact his family runs to his side to comfort him, like? Jaime Reyes is the perfect representation if they do this right.

Do you know how powerful this scene is going to be if they decide to include it in the movie? Khaji Da/The Scarab that gives Jaime his powers was an alien device created to destroy or enslave entire planets. Just one super soldier (Jaime Reyes) is enough to destroy entire planets. Jaime Reyes has the potential to decimate the entire Justice League if he wanted to, the scarab has limitless weapons and limitless power but he still chooses to be such a kind and giving person. Even after gaining such incredible power, his deepest and strongest desire isn’t power, it’s literally to become a dentist. Jaime Reyes, who has a weapon attached to his back that could take down Superman himself…. wants to be a dentist.

I cannot say this enough but, Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle has the potential to be so good for the Hispanic community. In the last issue of Blue Beetle he thought he was going to die but his final thought wasn’t “I’m going to die” it was “I’m loved”

He of course, didn’t die, just broke every bone in his body.

I could literally keep adding amazing and funny and genuinely sweet panels of Jaime with his family and friends but I’d end up just screen capping every single panel. Jaime Reyes is a Mexican-American teenage boy who openly cries when people are nice to him, he has PTSD, he throws up in front of Batman, he’s a wonderful and kind boyfriend to Traci 13. He fights and teases but loves his baby sister, he openly expresses his love and appreciation for not only his mother but also his father. Batman gives him a boat load of money and what does Jaime do? Use it to buy his father’s car garage back. Jaime Reyes is an oblivious dork who once threatened to drop a villain from a couple hundred feet in the air before promptly saying “Kidding, please don’t tell my mom.” he’s also such a kind hearted person who cried because he couldn’t rescue everybody during a villain attack. Jaime Reyes, his family, his friends and his story have such a high potential to be such good representation for the Hispanic community and I genuinely hope they do his character and story justice. 

I’m going to be hyping up this movie the entire way, because Jaime Reyes is my favorite superhero of all time, he made me feel proud to be Hispanic and his comic run brought me so much joy and laughter. I would highly recommend everybody read his comic run from 2006 and I want everybody to get as excited for this movie as I and others have gotten already. I’ve already cried several times upon realizing that we’re really getting a superhero movie where the main character is a Hispanic. So I really hope everybody can come together to support this Hispanic superhero headlined movie like we did with Black Panther. 

How to Write Non-binary Characters: a three part guide.

Disclaimer: While this guide is written by a non-binary person in collaboration with many other non-binary writers and readers, it does not necessarily cover the views of all people within the non-binary community.

PART ONE: the basics.

First off, what is this thing you call non-binary?

Non-binary genders are any gender identity that isn’t covered in the Western idea of woman (girl) and man (boy). This identity has nothing to do with which chromosomes or sexual organs a person has. Some non-binary people also identify as being trans (which is technically an umbrella term containing non-binary), while others only identify as being non-binary. Some commonly use the slang term enbie (which comes from the pronunciation of the initials for non-binary, aka N.B.) while others don’t. Some break down their gender further than simply non-binary, while others choose not to.

Some terms for common non-binary genders:

Agender: having no gender.

Bigender: having both binary genders, or aspects of two different genders, usually simultaneously. (Much like the bi in bisexual, non-binary people may also claim this term if they have any number of genders, especially if they can’t quite tell where one ends and the other begins, or they may claim the term pangender instead.)

Demi-(boy/girl/man/woman): being partially (but not wholly) binary.

Gender-fluid: transitioning between genders, which may include both binary and non-binary genders.

Gender-queer (or just queer): not of a binary gender. May be used when someone does not feel that any other terms fit them quite right, when they’re still trying to determine their gender and don’t yet wish to choose a term, or simply because the person finds it to fit them best.

There are also genders similar to what Western cultures call non-binary in many non-Western cultures, which are wonderfully diverse and all incerdibly valid, but as someone from an exclusively Western cultural heratage, I don’t feel I have the right or the knoweldge to talk about them.

So then, who are these non-binary people in real life?

The only thing that differentiates a non-binary person from a binary person is that they don’t identify as having a binary gender.

Their non-binary-ness could influence their lives in an infinite number of ways:

It could be subtle or life changing.

They could use fashion and vocal training and actions to present themselves in ways outside their society’s binary gender norms, or they could never even mention they’re non-binary to another living soul. 

They could change their pronouns, or their name, or keep one or both the same.

They could spend years re-figuring out who they are and what it means to be non-binary or they could realize it once and never feel the need to dwell on it again.

They could identity as one of the numerous non-binary labels, or they could decide they’re just not binary and don’t care to dig further than that. 

They could accept all gendered terms, or certain gendered terms, or no gendered terms at all.

People assuming they’re binary could frustrate them or sadden them or anger them, or they could not care in the slightest. 

They may feel they exhibit (or wish to exhibit) many of the traits their society designates to a certain binary gender, or they many not.

They could feel the same way about their identity all the time, or differently every day.

Each non-binary person (and character) is unique, and their non-binary-ness is just one tiny part of who they are.

The basic do’s and don’ts for writing non-binary characters respectfully if you’re a binary person…

Keep reading