general techniques to avoid gross shipping of your characters
have most characters be non-minors, around the same age range. this is mostly to minimize underage nonsense.
while family relationships are important, save them as background elements, explored every now and then. focus mainly on the bonds of non-related characters and how their different backgrounds play off each other.
limit the overly edgy tone, where pain and suffering are near-romanticized. try to emphasize wholesomeness, health, and the various ways characters can have good relationships despite their differences. a lot of nintendo franchises are good examples.
avoid creating significant characters who are utterly irredeemable with harmful ethics. (for me personally, i limit elements such as abuse and discrimination for background conflicts while presenting more interesting, morally gray arguments, where either side is right/flawed) if youâre going to have a villain, either make them team rocket goofy or classic disney fun.
just. try not to have characters + relationships rely on racial tropes. if you overly rely on a tough dark-skinned / dainty light-skinned formula, youâre going to see some racist shipping. mix it up. round âem out.
same goes for gendered tropes. if a dude is downright violent and irresponsible and a level-headed girl has to put up with his flaws without him facing consequence, thatâs a downright unbalanced relationship. and do keep in mind that if two boys utterly despise each other, people will absolutely take that a certain way. again, with #3, try to play off disdain as comedic or with exception rather than constant seething hatred.
obviously these arenât hard and fast rules, and what/how you create will vary. but itâs how i generally approach my work
I am legitimately amazed that tumblrâs weird obsession with Never Have Anything Unwholesome writing advice has now reached the point of:
â Donât have children in your work,
â Donât have families in your work.
â Donât have any themes or ideas darker than Nintendo, because thatâs romanticising suffering.
â Donât have villains unless theyâre in the relatively simplistic, child-friendly mould of Disney or Pokemon, and donât try to deal with any difficult themes.
â Donât have characters dislike each other.
The idea that you should build your work â because these are all fundamental aspects of a story â around preventative measures against âgross shipping,â and that coincidentally all those measures boil down to âHave as little nuance, conflict, or difficult and unpleasant things as possible,â is kind of creepy.
Well, theyâll be getting a big heapinâ helpinâ of that on the 17th....
