Why We Need Editors (AKA Writing While Demi-Sexual)
by Janine A. Southard
My editor gently reminded me that not all my teen characters can be ace. And she’s right.
As someone on the asexual spectrum, it doesn’t occur to me to put sexual tension (or interest) between strangers into my books during the drafting phase. That’s the drafting phase, though. In editing, I can’t assume all the characters will be just like me. Sure, some characters may never have romance plot lines, but many will have sexual thoughts.
For instance, I once wrote a novel where my teenage protagonists find themselves in a brothel. (Hive & Heist) On the third draft, my editor gently mentioned that at least one of my characters would consider the wares on display. Part of me was happy to add that bit of verisimilitude, and part of me felt like a sell-out. But, really, I had plenty of characters left who had better things to do (e.g., learn knife fighting), so it wasn’t all of them.
And that’s the crux of writing while ace or demi (or bi or homo or trans), we can be sure to add characters just like us. But we don’t get to assume the mainstream doesn’t exist in the same way it can forget we do. I mean, we can but it reduces verisimilitude.
I like to think, though, that by adding characters who are ace-spectrum, more readers will see that as a normal state that coexists with the mainstream. I once had a reader tell me that he’d never heard the term “ace” for asexual before reading one of my books. (This one isn’t YA, but does have an explicitly asexual character: Cracked! A Magic iPhone Story.)
That’s a tiny foothold on the path to mainstream acceptance.
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Janine A. Southard is the IPPY award-winning author of Queen & Commander (and other books in The Hive Queen Saga). She lives in Seattle, WA, where she writes speculative fiction novels, novellas, and short stories… and reads them aloud to her cat. You can hang out with Janine online, usually on Twitter and periodically on her website with free fiction and novel inspirations.
Book List: Bisexual Boys in YA
Welcome to our new series of book lists! We get many asks on tumblr for books with a certain identity/genre/etc, and starting now we will be posting our replies on the blog as well as on tumblr. If you are looking for a certain kind of LGBTQIA+ book, send us an ask on tumblr!
Anonymous asked: Do you know of any books with bi male main characters? Six of Crows is the only one I know of and so far that part has been a pretty small section of the book.
Disclaimer: We have not read all of these books, and therefore cannot be sure of the quality of the representation. If you believe one of these books is problematic, let us know in a comment or an email (vee@gayya.org).
Realistic Fiction:
Bi-Normal by M.G. Higgins
Brett Miller is one of the kings of Elkhead High. Everyone knows the kings rule the school. Football stars. Pretty girls. The in-crowd. Brett and his buddies are the tormentors; nobody messes with them. Then Brett meets Zach …”It’s a crush. I’m crushing on a friggin’ guy. That’s sick. And I don’t know what to do about it. … I want these feelings to go away. At the same time, I don’t want them to go away.” And his life is turned inside out. Everything he knows about himself is wrong. And he doesn’t have anywhere to turn for answers. He’s heard the word “bi” before; it has nothing to do with him. But in his gut he knows. And he doesn’t have a clue what to do about it.
Collide by J.R. Lenk
Being bisexual is cool now—unless you’re a boy. Or so it seems to invisible fifteen-year-old Hazard James. But when he falls in with bad apple Jesse Wesley, Hazard is suddenly shoved into the spotlight. Jesse and his friends introduce him to the underworld of teenage life: house parties, hangovers, the advantages of empty homes, and reputation by association. So what if his old friends don’t get it? So what if some people love to hate him? Screw gossip and high school’s secret rules. There’s just something about walking into a room and having all eyes on him when just last year nobody noticed him at all.
For a while Hazard basks in the attention, and before he realizes the depth of the waters he’s wading, he and Jesse strike up a “friends with benefits” routine. It could be something more, but what self-respecting teenage boy would admit it? Not Jesse—and so not Hazard, either. Not until it’s too late. Hazard and Jesse have collided, and Hazard’s life will never be the same.
Lucky by Eddie de Oliveira
A clever debut about love, sex, and everything in between, for anyone who’s ever fallen for a friend (come on, admit it)
Sam is a teen boy who’s attracted to both boys and girls. He doesn’t know what to call himself or where he fits in. Then he meets Toby, another boy who likes both boys and girls. Are they destined to be just friends, more than friends, or less than friends? And what would happen if they were attracted to the same girl?
Love comes in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes all at once. In his brilliant, funny, and heartfelt debut, Eddie de Oliveira shows us there’s more to life than being a wallflower or being knocked out by nunga-nungas.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
This Printz Honor Book is a “tender, honest exploration of identity” (Publishers Weekly) that distills lyrical truths about family and friendship.
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.
NOTE: Neither Ari or Dante identify as bi in the book, but Ari talks about being attracted to girls, and reads as bisexual to many readers (including me!). 🙂
Boyfriends With Girlfriends by Alex Sanchez
Lance has always known he was gay, but he’s never had a real boyfriend. Sergio is bisexual, but his only real relationship was with a girl. When the two of them meet, they have an instant connection–but will it be enough to overcome their differences?
Allie’s been in a relationship with a guy for the last two years–but when she meets Kimiko, she can’t get her out of her mind. Does this mean she’s gay? Does it mean she’s bi? Kimiko, falling hard for Allie, and finding it impossible to believe that a gorgeous girl like Allie would be into her, is willing to stick around and help Allie figure it out.
Boyfriends with Girlfriends is Alex Sanchez at his best, writing with a sensitive hand to portray four very real teens striving to find their places in the world–and with each other.
Rainbow High Trilogy by Alex Sanchez
Jason Carrillo is a jock with a steady girlfriend, but he can’t stop dreaming about sex…with other guys.
Kyle Meeks doesn’t look gay, but he is. And he hopes he never has to tell anyone — especially his parents.
Nelson Glassman is “out” to the entire world, but he can’t tell the boy he loves that he wants to be more than just friends.
Three teenage boys, coming of age and out of the closet. In a revealing debut novel that percolates with passion and wit, Alex Sanchez follows these very different high-school seniors as their struggles with sexuality and intolerance draw them into a triangle of love, betrayal, and ultimately, friendship.
Teenage Rewrite by Brandon Williams
Every year millions of teenagers graduate from high school, embrace adulthood, and go on to lead happy, productive lives. That’s great and all, but Justin Davis thinks this is a complete load.
Withdrawn and perpetually anxious, Justin begins senior year completely overwhelmed by thoughts of life after high school. Up until now he’s been able to coast through life without any complications. He’s managed to pass all his classes, he has just enough friends to not eat alone at lunch and, quite frankly, he’s come to accept things just as they are: dismal. But after seventeen years of coasting, Justin meets two guys determined to ruin everything.
With constant meddling from his nosy new friend Travis, Justin finally has to learn to own his bisexuality, connect with friends he didn’t know he had, and even get closer to his crush, Evan—a shy yet equally meddlesome junior.
In this YA, coming-of-age novel, follow one boy’s struggle to embrace life’s complications and realize that ignoring life is much more difficult than living it. Especially when best friends don’t leave you any other choice.
Speculative Fiction:
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
A heart-stopping story of love, death, technology, and art set amid the tropics of a futuristic Brazil.
The lush city of Palmares Tres shimmers with tech and tradition, with screaming gossip casters and practiced politicians. In the midst of this vibrant metropolis, June Costa creates art that’s sure to make her legendary. But her dreams of fame become something more when she meets Enki, the bold new Summer King. The whole city falls in love with him (including June’s best friend, Gil). But June sees more to Enki than amber eyes and a lethal samba. She sees a fellow artist.
Together, June and Enki will stage explosive, dramatic projects that Palmares Tres will never forget. They will add fuel to a growing rebellion against the government’s strict limits on new tech. And June will fall deeply, unfortunately in love with Enki. Because like all Summer Kings before him, Enki is destined to die.
Pulsing with the beat of futuristic Brazil, burning with the passions of its characters, and overflowing with ideas, this fiery novel will leave you eager for more from Alaya Dawn Johnson.
Read GayYA’s review of The Summer Prince!
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
Unbeknownst to mortals, a power struggle is unfolding in a world of shadows and danger. After centuries of stability, the balance among the Faery Courts has altered, and Irial, ruler of the Dark Court, is battling to hold his rebellious and newly vulnerable fey together. If he fails, bloodshed and brutality will follow.
Seventeen-year-old Leslie knows nothing of faeries or their intrigues. When she is attracted to an eerily beautiful tattoo of eyes and wings, all she knows is that she has to have it, convinced it is a tangible symbol of changes she desperately craves for her own life.
The tattoo does bring changes—not the kind Leslie has dreamed of, but sinister, compelling changes that are more than symbolic. Those changes will bind Leslie and Irial together, drawing Leslie deeper and deeper into the faery world, unable to resist its allures, and helpless to withstand its perils. . . .
Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz
Be careful what you believe in.
Rudy’s life is flipped upside-down when his family moves to a remote island in a last attempt to save his sick younger brother. With nothing to do but worry, Rudy sinks deeper and deeper into loneliness and lies awake at night listening to the screams of the ocean beneath his family’s rickety house.
Then he meets Diana, who makes him wonder what he even knows about love, and Teeth, who makes him question what he knows about anything. Rudy can’t remember the last time he felt so connected to someone, but being friends with Teeth is more than a little bit complicated. He soon learns that Teeth has terrible secrets. Violent secrets. Secrets that will force Rudy to choose between his own happiness and his brother’s life.
Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
Sixteen-year-old Austin Szerba interweaves the story of his Polish legacy with the story of how he and his best friend , Robby, brought about the end of humanity and the rise of an army of unstoppable, six-foot tall praying mantises in small-town Iowa.
To make matters worse, Austin’s hormones are totally oblivious; they don’t care that the world is in utter chaos: Austin is in love with his girlfriend, Shann, but remains confused about his sexual orientation. He’s stewing in a self-professed constant state of maximum horniness, directed at both Robby and Shann. Ultimately, it’s up to Austin to save the world and propagate the species in this sci-fright journey of survival, sex, and the complex realities of the human condition.
Coda by Emma Trevayne
Ever since he was a young boy, music has coursed through the veins of eighteen-year-old Anthem—the Corp has certainly seen to that. By encoding music with addictive and mind-altering elements, the Corp holds control over all citizens, particularly conduits like Anthem, whose life energy feeds the main power in the Grid.
Anthem finds hope and comfort in the twin siblings he cares for, even as he watches the life drain slowly and painfully from his father. Escape is found in his underground rock band, where music sounds free, clear, and unencoded deep in an abandoned basement. But when a band member dies suspiciously from a tracking overdose, Anthem knows that his time has suddenly become limited. Revolution all but sings in the air, and Anthem cannot help but answer the call with the chords of choice and free will. But will the girl he loves help or hinder him?
Graphic Novels:
Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen
Legacy isn’t a dirty word…but it’s an irrelevant one. It’s not important what our parents did. It matters what WE do. Someone has to save the world. You’re someone. Do the math. The critically acclaimed team of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie reinvent the teen super hero comic for the 21st century, uniting Wiccan, Hulkling and Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop with Kid Loki, Marvel Boy and Ms. America. No pressure, right? As a figure from Loki’s past emerges, Wiccan makes a horrible mistake that comes back to bite everyone on their communal posteriors. Fight scenes! Fake IDs! And plentiful feels! (aka “meaningful emotional character beats” for people who aren’t on tumblr.) Young Avengers is as NOW! as the air in your lungs, and twice as vital. Hyperbole is the BEST! THING! EVER!
NOTE: The bisexual guy does not appear until the second volume, Alternative Culture. There are, however, lesbian & gay characters in volume one. 🙂
Do you know of another YA book or graphic novel with a major bisexual guy? Drop your recommendations in the comments below!
On Not Being a Real Teenager
Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 8 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love – Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood – On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA – Discovering Aromanticism – Broken, Villains, or Punishment – On Aromantic Visibility in YA
by Ren Oliveira
If you asked me to summarize what it felt like growing up as an aromantic person, a single memory would come to my mind immediately: my friends talking about boys and crushes and romance while I sat at the edge of our group in complete silence.
This memory would come with an acute feeling of awkwardness, of hey, maybe I should be interested in this followed by a but what should I say? I would steal glances at them, trying to think of something, anything, that would keep the conversation going only to give up seconds later, sighing, and turn my attention to whatever book was in my lap. It happened often.
Back then it felt like everyone was reading the same script, but mine was somehow wrong, with words out of order and phrases that didn’t make much sense. It was still possible to understand it, of course, but it required effort and concentration, and at the end of the day it still confused me. Something was missing, and I didn’t know what it was.
Growing up reading YA felt more or less the same.
At first, I didn’t even know that YA books existed. Here in Brazil they exploded thanks to Twilight when I was 13 or 14, so adult books were all I had for years (I started reading a lot pretty early) and my favorite genre has always been fantasy. In comparison, YA books were much more welcoming, with tons of girls as the protagonists back when I still thought I was girl. I didn’t feel like a complete intruder anymore.
But that awkward feeling was still there, nagging at me as I read about people falling in love over and over again, about how romantic love was so very important. The girls I had started to identify with after years of reading only books about boys and men always distanced themselves from me in end, and I couldn’t see myself in them anymore. I had to squint and to concentrate to understand the script. It left me tired and dissatisfied.
I wasn’t as welcome as I thought I was, in the end.
I can’t remember the first time I heard that teens are really intense, full of hormones, or that teens fall in love all the time and are extremely dramatic about it, but by the time I was a teen myself, that message had already wormed its way into my mind. And it was never true for me; being asexual as well as aromantic, my teenager years were… calm. Quiet. There were no crushes on classmates or teachers, no love triangles (or love interests), and almost no drama. And, somehow, I felt like I was wasting every single moment of them.
I wasn’t enjoying my teenager years (and, you guys, they don’t come back!). I wasn’t living my life. I would regret it later, people told me, because I wasn’t being a real teen. I had no idea of what to do – how does one even become a real teen, anyway? –, and so I waited and hoped something would change. Needless to say, it never did.
Nowadays, though, I see a similar message coming from some people on the YA community when YA is criticized for (supposedly) having too much romance. Teens are like that, they say, love triangles or just falling in love is what it means to be a teenager. And sure, for some it is, but I was a teen too. I turn 20 this month. It wasn’t that long ago. I can still remember it very well and there wasn’t any romance or any crushes. This lack of romantic feelings didn’t make any less of a teen.
And teens like me are everywhere. Some of us will never fall in love, others will do so only under specific circumstances, but every aromantic person’s experiences are different from what is usually seen in mainstream media. I, for one, still love romance. I still have lots of ships and I still read tons of fanfiction, but there is a dissonance. I can’t and won’t ever understand crushes or love at first sight, but give me a demiromantic character falling in love or aromantic character in a queerplatonic relationship and I’ll be the happiest person on the planet. Others dislike romance and don’t want to have anything to do with it, and it’s okay. Our experiences are valid, and they matter.
Sometimes I wonder how different my teen years would have been if I had found a single aromantic character in the books I read. What it would be like to read about a teen who felt just like me, and still saved the world. Maybe I would’ve stopped waiting and hoping something would change. Maybe I wouldn’t have cared when people told me, it will change when you get into high school, and then when I got into high school, it will change when you get into college, as if there was something fundamentally wrong with who I was or how I felt.
Now that I’m in college they kind of don’t know what to do with me or what to tell me, but that’s fine. I know now what was missing. It was just a word, but some words are powerful. Some words change how you see yourself and how you see the world. Some make everything right, or just right enough that the script doesn’t seem as confusing anymore.
Aromantic was one of these words for me. It wasn’t an ending, something that solved all of my problems, but it was a beginning. And, sometimes, just a beginning is enough.
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Ren Oliveira is a nonbinary Brazilian aspiring writer of fantasy who is currently majoring in Psychology. Ze is aromantic and asexual, and a fan of elves, angels and dragons. You can find zir on Twitter at @_renoliveira.
On Aromantic Visibility in YA
Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 7 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love – Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood – On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA – Discovering Aromanticism – Broken, Villains, or Punishment
by Laya
It seems these days that almost every single YA book needs to have a romantic subplot, and it’s rather exhausting. Especially when so many of them are straight/white/cis. I’m not saying romance in fiction is bad – portrayals of all kinds of romantic relationships and experiences are definitely important – I just wish it wasn’t seen as necessary in every single narrative. When it makes sense in the story, romance can be a great addition, but so many stories would be just as good without it. There are so many other things that can happen in people’s lives that create conflict and character development! But ‘happily ever after’ seems to mean ‘happily in a romantic relationship’.
It’s not just representation of aro characters that is important, it’s also showing that romantic love itself isn’t more valuable than any other kind of love. Books that focus on platonic relationships, showing that romantic love isn’t needed for everyone, is so important for all readers, not just those on the aromantic spectrum. Little things like saying ‘oh no, we’re just friends’ (as if friendship is a lesser kind of relationship than romance), equating love with humanity (sure, it might be referring to all kinds of love, but usually that’s not specified), or having every single character ‘end up with someone’ at the end of a book are all things that a lot of people don’t even notice – but to an aromantic (and many asexuals), these things stand out. Including aromantic characters in your writing is great (and desperately, desperately needed) but that’s only one step – it’s just as important to be aware of the amatonormativity in other aspects of storytelling. A great example of being aware of this is in Kayla Bashe’s To Stand in the Light:
She had to make them realize that even though she was small and funny, she was truly grown up. That she had a woman’s feelings- and a woman’s desires. Well, the type of feelings and desire that happened to an allosexual, alloromantic woman, at least.
Obviously adding that kind of thing isn’t going to work every time, but it’s so much nicer to read than if it had been lacking that third sentence.
Another example of a book that doesn’t have an (explicitly stated) aromantic character, but still has some relevant discussion of amatonormativity (and heteronormativity) is Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell. This is a Cinderella storytelling, and although there is some romance between her and the prince, she ultimately realises they would be better as friends, and that the love she had from other characters was just as (if not more) important.
All the things I’d learned from novels, from Faerie tales
[…] had taught me that the love I’d thought I’d found in Fin was the best kind to be had. That the reason behind all of life and all of love in the first place was to find someone, love him, and let that love become the foundation for the rest if your life. […] But what was I without that ending? No less me, no less myself. No less loved than I had ever been, not really.But of course, representation of actual aromantic characters is a much more direct contribution to aromantic visibility. Aromantic characters are almost unheard of in YA (or any) fiction. The few that exist are almost all either done unintentionally, or it’s as a part of asexuality. Neither of these are necessarily bad, but the word ‘aromantic’ and explicit discussion of aromanticism are almost unheard of in fiction.
Some books, such as Clariel or The Fire’s Stone, have aromantic characters that seem to be unintentional – as if the author thought ‘it suits this character’s story to have them not interested in romance’ rather than them actually knowing about aromanticism (and asexuality)*. I do love both these books, but their aromanticism does read as a little too tied to other character traits. Because there’s so little other representation, this could be misleading. Other characters are explicitly asexual, but their aromanticism is implied. Again, this can be a case of the authors not being educated enough, or just wanting to keep it simple, but it can imply they’re the same thing. Which they’re not.
The problem is that there’s almost no intentional aromantic representation in YA – or any books at all. In fact, the only aromantic spectrum characters I can think of written by an aromantic author are Isis and Alex from the Shape Shifter Chronicles by Lauren Jankowski. The only one I know using the word aromantic is Make Much of Me by Kayla Bashe. There are so many characters who are almost aromantic-spectrum. Characters who seem aro but then they find ‘the one’ (which could mean they’re demiromantic or grey-a, but it usually just reads like it was inevitable, and therefore is for all aromantics), characters who just don’t have any romantic subplot or mention of it around them, and of course the robots/aliens/demons who are ‘aromantic’ because of their species (which is not always bad, but in many cases implies – or outright states – that romantic love = humanity). With just a little bit of discussion of the aromantic spectrum in-text, so many of these characters could count as proper aromantic representation! But because there isn’t, we’re only left with ‘almost’s and ‘maybe’s. Saying ‘we need more aromantic characters like x’ is almost pointless, because we need representation of pretty much every kind – as long as it’s not harmful.
There’s been more and more representation of asexuality in YA recently – I hope aromantic representation follows suit.
Some aromantic characters in YA (and NA):
Aromantic: Niavin from The Fae Feast series, Kevin from Guardian of the Dead, Eshvat, Gershom and Stella from the Mangoverse series, Jo from Make Much of Me, Clariel.
Demiromantic: Regan from Chameleon Moon (Wren and Lisette are also aro), Darcy from Afterworlds.
Could be read as aro-spectrum: Katsa from Graceling, Mia from The Change series, Lirael, Liraz from Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Katniss from the Hunger Games.
*I don’t actually know if these authors know much about aromanticism and asexuality, this is just the way it seems. Apologies if I’m wrong.
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Laya is an aro-ace spectrum artist from New Zealand. She loves reading – especially LGBTQIAP+ speculative fiction – tv shows (of the same genre) and drawing fanart of those things. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Design. You can find her on Twitter and Tumblr (art blog | book blog). Her aroace book (and webcomic) rec list is here.
Broken, Villains, or Punishment
Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 6 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love – Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood – On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA – Discovering Aromanticism
by Fox Salazar
I remember being a young teen and a voracious reader. I read almost anything. Old classics like Lovecraft, modern realistic fiction authors like Julie Anne Peters, and too many books with dragons to name. But I hated the romance genre.
In fact, I didn’t really like reading romances in other genres. I read coming-out-stories to help myself come out and to make sense of a world that wasn’t really kind to trans (later nonbinary) or bi/pansexuals. I was glad that there were queer teens finding romantic love, getting boyfriends or girlfriends that could share queer experiences with them, but those relationships never fully resonated with me.
In most books, most media really, not finding romantic love is seen as a death sentence. Worse than death, even! If you don’t fall in love by the end of the story, you’re unloveable. There was something wrong with you that kept people away. You were too bitter, too snarky, too guarded, and it’s. all. your. fault.
If you aren’t in a romantic relationship by the end of the story, or you haven’t sacrificed yourself in the name of romantic love, you end up the villain.
Because villains can’t love.
That’s kind of an insidious trope in YA especially. One that maybe isn’t obvious unless you’re really looking. Think about it. In a typical young adult book you have the protagonist who crushes on somebody (or even somebodies), and the relationship grows throughout the story. Juxtaposed is the antagonist who’s usually depicted as stone cold, calculated, and never has a romantic partner. Or in realistic fiction, the people who bullied and harassed our protagonist ends up alone. Maybe they get rejected or dumped in direct response to how they treat others. Not being in a relationship is treated as punishment.
It can all be very disheartening when you yourself don’t really see the appeal of a datemate.
It’s very rare to find a YA book or series where romance doesn’t play a role of some sort, especially in regards to books published in the last decade. From dystopian novels like “The Hunger Games” to almost every coming of age story ever written. Now, that’s not to say that these books aren’t good, or are doing something wrong by including romance. But for the vast majority of books to include romance and be treated as the be-all-end-all experience for a person is a bit daunting.
It’s important, of course, especially in gay-as-an-umbrella-term books to show healthy relationships. But to make it seem like a relationship is all there is to a young queer experience is damaging to everyone. And to make it seem like if you’re not in or looking for a relationship there’s something wrong going on with you is sending an incredibly harmful message.
It would be nice to see more YA books focusing on friendships and how those can shape us just as much or even more so than whoever we’re dating. And of course it’d be great to see aro-spectrum characters! Old AND young. After all, it could do some real good for young aro or aro questioning teens to see an older character that was like them, to show that it’s not just something they’ll grow out of once they find “The One”. Or if they do find “The One”, have it clearly explained it’s because they’re demiromantic and not because everyone only has one person they can ever truly love or that true love changed them.
At this point it would be nice if there was even one aromantic character in mainstream YA fiction.
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Fox Salazar is a bi/pansexual genderfluid who became a lot happier when they learned the word “aromantic.” They are a book reviewer and hopeful writer. You can find them on Tumblr; Twitter; and YouTube as Masked Fox Creations.