#arospec characters

[your-blorbos-are-queer]

tighnari from genshin impact is on the aromantic spectrum (headcanon)

submitted by anonymous

[disasterdemi]

I'm only two and a bit pages into Loveless and we've already got "I had a theory that a lot of people's 'celebrity crushes' were faked just to fit in" woop can't wait to be called out even more by this book

[angleofmusings]

Hello there! Sorry to be on anon, but, I was curious if you had any advice for writing stuff like general platonic love, QPRs and how a...Sorta romantic thing would work for an aroflux person? I don't know how else to describe it, sorry if that's rude.

I'm writing a fanfic, and I really wanna include QPRs and other aro stuff since those need appreciation, but I'm a loveless aro so I have no idea how. I just know loveless stuff of course, but that's only one part of aros. So, I'm trying to figure out how to do that before writing that part of the story.

It's fine if you don't have any tips or don't want to answer for any reason by the way! /g

Okay, so disclaimer here that my writing is like usually “romantic if you squint hard enough” but in general the easiest way to create realistic relationships imo is to make a list of activities etc that the characters are comfortable doing and how exclusive they are about it, and then work elements of that into the story.

For instance, if Alice and Bob are in a QPR, you can come up with a list of things they do together— maybe Alice only watches The Voice when Bob is there with them, but they listen to new Taylor Swift albums with someone else. Or Bob is comfortable with hugging all of their friends, but they only cuddle with Alice. Establish a clear dynamic that is distinct from both platonic and romantic relationships between other characters, and you can always throw in a couple lines about how they’ve got a weird relationship that isn’t really romantic or platonic.

A great way to do this in a more fantasy style setting is with overdramatic yet familial declarations of their devotion to each other: something like “I will protect you with my life; you are as the blood of my blood, my sibling in all but name.” If it’s a modern setting, of course, you can have fun with words like squish and zucchini, or find historical terms to use instead. (“Roommates” can be good, though it does often get interpreted as academic erasure of queer romance.)

Basically, it boils down to two main things: establish a strong relationship, and make it specifically not romantic.

Wrt aroflux characters, I guess my advice would be to clearly illustrate when that shift has happened, and that can be using dialogue (“I’m not really up for being a couple right now, let’s be friends for today” contrasted with stuff like “hey everyone, this is my partner Bob”) or with actions (physical affection in different ways/amounts, more terms of endearment being used when more romantic attraction is felt, getting flustered easily).

I will also add that I personally identify with being fully aromantic and it’s just my general opinion of romance that tends to fluctuate, so if any aroflux writers or readers want to weigh in, please do listen to them.

[arospec-zine]

there are some canonly arospec characters in the webcomic rock and riot !! ^^ edd is aromantic, dett is aromantic, and ace is demiromantic !! 💚

that’s cool! I’m demiro, so im really excited about that!

—Mod Thomas

[demisexualnathanvuornos]

I've Never Been in Love with Anyone Before  Chapter 2: Best Girlfriend Ever [Princeless Raven the Pirate Princess Book 7 Date Night; Quinn Ko/Zoe Adelman] 405 words; 38/53 hits; 1 kudos (31.12.2019/19.2.2020)

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/17826626/chapters/52466020

[arocharacteradvice]

I have a character who's aro-spec ace. (where he lies in the spectrum is uncertain to me, I've thought about lithro since he's also romance- repulsed) He's in a qpr and the trope is found family. How can I portray a qpr without alloromantic readers getting the wrong idea? I can't straight up say his orientation because I'm closeted myself and live in a country where if you're not straight it's a bad situation, so I don't want any backlash.(Aka I'm too afraid to, for reasons,I'm aro myself btw.)

First off I want to say I'm sorry to hear that you're in a situation like that. Being closeted is not a fun experience, and less so when serious backlash can come from it.

Next off I'm glad to say this is a topic I can for sure help on! Simply put: you can have the character state that the relationship they have with their QPP is not romantic! If someone teases they're dating, your character could easily laugh it off awkwardly and say that they're very, very close friends, but they're not romantically together. They don't have to state that they're aromantic, or even that they feel however which way about their QPP! That's one of the plus sides to writing things more subtley, I find at least. Having a character push off romance, moan about it, or just say they think it's overrated is one way I've made aro characters textually canon myself.

I hope this is some sort of help, and good luck to you 💚. I hope things get better!

[skylights422]

Arospec OC Portaits Part 1/?

Fiera (left) and Ena (right)

These two are half of the main cast of my main novel wip! I’m really excited to be doing this art project, even if its going to take me Ages since the portraits take loger than other art pieces and my list of arospec characters keeps growing lol. I did these two first since they are some of the most developed. 

[aroworlds]

Wanted to share some expriences in regards to the latest ask: I've seen a webcomic character that has Explicitly stated, about herself, that she does not feel romantic attraction, without using the word aro; and yet I've only seen maybe 2-3 people in this (very big) fandom who ""headcanon"" her as such. This is to say that it is not the author's fault if alloro fans ignore their characters' identity just because the specific word isn't used, bc they will go to incredible lengths to ignore aros

Because it’s been a little while, I’ll link to the referenced ask about indicating aromantic characters.

Yes, anon! Yes! That sort of thing is exactly why I think that throwing ourselves at a wall in trying to make representation unmistakable is perhaps not the best use of our efforts, because many alloromantics will refuse to see the bleeding obvious. I mean, the situation you described really couldn’t be clearer; anyone with even a vague awareness of LGBTQIA+ identities should be able to pick that up, and I’ll hazard an argument that most people who write an aro character the way you’ve described are targeting a readership that will have some slight or passing knowledge, at least, of LGBTQIA+ identities and experiences.

Even using the word “aromantic” in text or in the blurb/authorial discussions will not stop some alloromantic people from shipping a character. We live in a world where a book aro-ace character is made allo-ace in the TV adaptation and this is seen as progressive “because it’s showing that asexuals can still love”. (I’m only slightly paraphrasing posts I’ve seen about Raphael in Shadowhunters.) Placing an aro character in an alloromantic romantic relationship isn’t seen as erasure; it’s perfectly acceptable social justice.

I will mention that in a digital age readers can Google something like doesn’t feel romantic attraction to get results about aromanticism. If they want to learn, there’s a wealth of resources available. A fiction author’s job is to tell a story, not hold the reader’s hand, and I really don’t feel we should prioritise the ignorant and amatonormative over aro readers–to put explanations and definitions above our storytelling. Not when we can write THIS CHARACTER IS ARO in capital letters on every page and it’d still be ignored.

I honestly believe we are better to just write (and enjoy the writing of!) our stories, using language and terminology as the nature of the story demands, than to stress over whether our characters will be visibly aro to alloromantic readers.

(And if we see folks misidentify aro-spec characters, as much as is within our safe ability, we need to talk about it. We need to start discussions; we need to reblog/signal boost posts. This is especially important for alloromantic/ally creators of aro-spec characters. Don’t let audiences interpret an aro character as alloromantic without consequence; be an ally to aro-specs and address it. Just including us in their work is not enough if they won’t defend their character’s aromanticism. I don’t require ally creators to use the word, as I can think of plenty of circumstances where it isn’t in-story appropriate. I do require ally creators to stand up and insist to their audiences that their aro-spec character is aro-spec and should be respected as such in fancontent and meta. If they can’t do that, they have no business creating an aro-spec character and they’re no ally to me.)

So, yes, anon, I am nodding furiously at you. Nodding while shrivelling up inside at the thought of “headcanoning” an aro character as aro, but that’s far from the worst thing I’ve seen when it comes to aro representation.