Yes girl! 
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Writing LGBTQ characters is not difficult if you do your researchā¦ I mean, weāre all more similar than we are different, really. Thatās the beauty of humanity: we can live pretty harmoniously if we focus on the fact that weāre all humans.
But saying that, research is key. Thatās why Iām holding out when it comes to writing a transgender MC until I can sit down with a few people who are trans and ask them all the questions I need to. I find it easier writing trans friends at the moment because I HAVE trans friends, haha.
I guess what Iām saying is itās not that difficult to write diverse side characters if youāre surrounded by diversity. I mean, your side character isnāt going to get the same inner development as the MC. However, to get an MC right, you need to be able to understand a lot more.
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I love seeing well-written transgender MCs. Theyāre so rare, though. Donāt hesitate to DM me with any questions you have, though (but also acknowledge that every trans person has a different story, so it will be good to get multiple perspectives).
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Eh, ever since this post has been created Iāve been stalking it obsessively while patiently waiting for these exciting new ādiverseā stories Episode has been supposedly working on to come out. I really had to refrain myself from commenting so many times mainly because I always find it hard to share my thoughts publicly without offending anyone or Iāll just feel dumb cause there are a shit ton of intelligent people in this community making all these great points and Iāll just end up agreeing and not saying anything lol.
Anyway, I kind of just want to share my thoughts, analysis and experiences about this whole topic ever since Iāve been using the app (and thatās a long ass time). Itāll be a bit of a sappy personal post addressing some things about my own story too as I saw it mentioned several times in this thread. In no way is this like a ānegative responseā or whatever. I just think it serves a good example.
Iād like to start off from the very start, which is at the same time where it all began for me. In late 2013 which is when Episode first launched their app, the writer portal was obviously very primitive and the community was super tiny. There was no Trending Section and in order to get your story visibly on the app for all users to see, youād have to get your story featured (which included a whole process of getting it officially reviewed, receiving feedback from Episode themselves over email etc and they were very picky obviously on what stories to feature). The app was pretty diverse when it first started, featuring stories of a variety of genres like fantasy, adventure, drama, thriller & action and it was just awesome.
Then, the time finally came when I first started writing my own story. Iād like to quickly add that I was, like what, 13/14 years old? Fresh in high school and had very few knowledge about the world as I was literally a fetus. Another fun fact is that Iām Asian, however born and raised in Europe. When it came to culture, I never really felt like I had one of them. It was hard for me to identify myself (too Asian to be white, too foreign in Asia sort of thing) so my cultural knowledge was small back then. America was ānewā to me entirely, but most stories seemed to be set in that part of the world (besides the occasional local books I had to read for school assignments of course) so I more or less just wrote about the same repetitive cultures I read about in other stories. This lack of knowledge clearly showed in my own story, and again, Iām just bringing up my story because it still gets mentioned everywhere up till this day (not mad, just saying).
My point: the reason why a lot of stories on the app arenāt diverse isnāt because we donāt want to, but because some of us havenāt reached a point in our life yet where weāre educated enough (for the record, I have now. this was just a reference/example to a lot of young writers/readers on this app). Episode is an app targeting a more younger audience, generally speaking, so instead of focusing on pointing out everything that is wrong with someoneās story, we should focus on educating each other. Just putting this out here because thereās a lot of negativity and bashing when it comes to sensitive topics like diversity.
a lil backstoryā¦
I started writing my story for fun - it was like a game to me. I had it be about high school + crushes, parties and a typical teenage MC. Did I know anything about professional storytelling? Heck no. Was my story purely created for entertainment with no solid or epic plot line, character development and the list goes on? Hell ya.
The story that I wrote is now very infamously known in the community as Tangled Love. Turned out, back in 2014 my story was somehow liked by a lot of people on the forums (which was your only source of readers back then). It was seen as ārefreshingā and ārelatableā, something Episode didnāt have much of back then because the romance genre was far from their main focus, let alone teen fiction. I want to point out that my story was initially rejected to be featured, but after months of simply letting time pass by and me sharing my story on the forums, doing reads for reads (not for actual reads tho lol but simply because it was fun) with my online friends - Episode eventually reached out to me and asked if they could feature it.
It wasnāt the quality. It was the popularity.
Up until this day, although the story isnāt necessarily original (if it was ever lol fk you get the point) nor is it on the home page anymore (I think?) many people still know about it. Not for its quality, but because Episode has held onto it for so long. The reason is, Iām sure, because it did so well among its users. I canāt say this without cringing a bit but Iām gonna spit it out: I think itās safe for me to say that they profited a lot from it, whether that be financially or promotionally. I think a lot of authors that we see these days ranking high in the Trending Section (romance category particularly) have one way or another, indirectly or not, found out why a story like mine is so likeable for the majority of the Episode readers. This includes all users of the app, not just the active ones or āforumersā. Hence, you see those stories flock like 80% of the app and I wouldnāt be surprised if some of the writers do it for the money and fifteen minutes of fame only.
ANYWAY HOW ALL THIS CRAP LINKS BACK TO THE RELEVANCE OF THIS TOPICā¦
is that I hope that it gives you a little bit of an insight on how Episode works. Sure, many people have already mentioned how Episode is a business at the end of the day and needs to make money - duh. But itās not just that. Itās also that so many users are simply asking if not demanding for it that they simply canāt turn their backs on those requests. Itās the type of content the users want, and thatās why Episode has taken such a drastic turn since and started focusing on the type of stories that just do well. Itās what sells, and itās of course what every company selling whatever product does.
HOWEVER by no means am I done yet. This was just an introduction to my point. Apologies for the irrelevant background info. I talk a lot, Iām sorry. Letās just get straight to the point. Iāve jotted all remaining things I wanted to say below:
- For one, Episode definitely needs to expand their range of featured stories. Like back in the days, they should feature stories from all genres. The majority can be romance, thereās no changing that in the way current things stand. It simply gets the most reads and itās not because they promote it so much - the other way around even. They promote is so much because it simply does well. But still, why is romance the only one? Just no. Quick thought, itās not even romance - more like teen fiction. hint hint new category? on a side note tho: the weekly or monthly featured shelves have been a huge step in the right direction. letās keep hoping for more!
- Iāve learned many things the hard way, and now that Iām at a point in my life where I understand most common issues I was told to neglect when I was younger - I realize the value of the journey of a story like Tangled Love and how it puts things into perspective. It was a flawed product but it sold. Therefore, products like that will never be erased. In everyday life not, and on Episode not. I see the most cliche stories having over a million reads, written by someone probably not older than 15 and then I read a completely enthralling story with just over a few K reads. The same way we have Musically kids become super famous in 2 days and then we have that one person out there with a golden voice who receives nowhere near that much recognition in all the years he or she has followed classes etc because of so and so. Itās sad, but itās a sort of mechanism that will never go away. I know we all want it. It just all seems unfair and so easy to solve, but itās not.
- When it comes to diversity though, someone already pointed out that everyone sort of has a different view on what they expect from it. For most, diversity is as simple as seeing everyone as equal - or different in a good way, that we all shine in our own ways. But then thereās the problem of seeing everyone as equal, but not being actually inclusive in a sense. Or the lack of knowledge about other peopleās cultures or sexuality if you count those in too and how it results in stereotyping and offensive portrayal of it. The list could go on and on. Personally, I feel like we shouldnāt put so much emphasis on diversity and put it in the context of it being a whole special kind of thing, but rather try to be as inclusive as possible and in this way ensure that āequalityā results in āinclusivityā so that it becomes a natural habit to create a black character with the possible personality traits of any other white character out there. But then again, diversity has grown into this very term because itās a real burning issue in society and it would feel bad to not put as much emphasis on the word and meaning behind it itself? I guess the first is an ideal, and the latter is reality. Iām struggling with this one myself. Itās hard as there are so many different views and opinions on this, its usage and solutions.
- I know that my fetus-self wasnāt the greatest when it came to diversity. In Tangled Love, I guess the characters look sorta different-ish? I created some characters with the intent of them to be Asian-American, for example. But then I never brought forward their ethnicity or parts of their culture, not in a single dialogue. Characters were mostly one-dimensional and itās one of the many things Iāve worked the hardest on to improve. You donāt need to tell their whole family history or give them a tour through China, but little things like cultural dishes that the characters get served for dinner at home (based on their ethnicity of course) will go a long way.
idk what the point of this post was i just typed it all out and itāll probably be removed by tomorrow lol peace.
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I just want to say this post sent me on a huge nostalgia trip 
Made me want to look up old stories like āThe Betā, āThe Dareā, and āDripping Mascaraā which were all popular when I joined the app.
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@Mei, I was not going to contribute any longer to this thread, but, wow, I honestly have so much respect for you since you wrote such a long post. Your work for writing this is appreciated, and I now understand more about why featured stories are featured and points of views. 
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Aw, thank you so much!! Your hours spent into sharing your knowledge and viewpoints on this thread are definitely being appreciated up till this day too (learned so much honestly). Again, thank you!! Didnāt expect such a positive response 
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Haunted: Shroud
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Oh my god donāt start about Dripping Mascara that story is a legendary piece of pure art. But yeah I feel you!! So many OG stories itās funny to think back about those timesā¦ 
I vaguely remember an Amber from the old forums, could it be you?? When did you join Episode? 
not trying to sound creepy heheh.
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I never actually read Dripping Mascara when I joined, but I frickin loved The Bet and itās sequel. I want to read it now though! Itās been on my list for a while.
I doubt Iām that Amber I never used that name on the old forums, but I donāt the exact year I joined, just sometime right be INK was released.
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Really? Iām gonna check it out!
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Waiting for Episodeās diversity āstandardsā like
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You know, Episode, you keep coming up with this: āWe are planning to improve in diversityā, yet you couldnāt even dress a Hijabi women right. Plus, we shouldnāt HAVE to address you on this at ALL! It should have been fixed and done properly! If you canāt do this right, how do you expect us to have so much faith youād do the Jewish community correctly? You already made one of them a villain in Positively Princess. A dumb, messed up stereotype you put upon. How is that improving? How do we expect youāll do a Buddhist right? Hinduism correctly? Sikhism? You canāt even do a Muslim and a Jew good. Nor have you given us much stuff to represent them, just a very small amount of stuff.
Along with Natural and Afro hair for black characters. You gave us a very small amount. Same with Indian clothing. 
I just want to say: Why do we need to ask and point this stuff out when you claimed to be diverse and āa app for everyone?ā You are not improving, you are still in the same position over and over again for years. You just gave us a little strip off the back, thatās it. This was posted last year and 2018 is already about to end, you still havenāt done that much. You keep giving us stereotypes of minority communities, representing us/them wrongly, putting us/them as backgrounders, etc. This shouldnāt be an issue if you are a āOh so Diverseā app. Itās really sad honestly. We shouldnāt be limited. Represent EVERYONE or atleast a decent amount of us/them. We want characters with Mental illnesses, disabilities, skin diseases, many other diseases, different sexualities, etc. The same āsex driven, white, cisgender, straightā Mc is not getting us anywhere to diverse PERIOD! And how is token stereotypical characters close to it?
What did they call him? A GBF? Gay Best Friendā¦
Seriously giving the LGBT+ community labels? As if they are a object to you.
Anyway, token characters do not equal diversity. Just slapping a over-used, offensive stereotype on them isnāt even close. The point is to do it correctly and not for recognition or ājust to be thereā. We are not objects, we are people. If you canāt represent other people, than you clearly are in the wrong and need to have a big improvement. You still in that low position of it and doing very little to fix it.
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honestly when I saw the hijabi like this (Positively Princess right? idk all featured stories are generically the same) i busted out laughing. so absurdā¦
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It was from a sneak peak of the 10th episode for K*ss List. On Episodes Instagram storyā¦ Like they could have pointed that out themselves?! They took the pic!
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To be honest, they donāt even know how tiaras work despite the fact that theyāve done multiple stories about being a princess. Tiaras arenāt worn by unmarried women, princess or not. So Iām really not surprised they canāt fathom the hijab
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I donāt get the logic behind them thinking that women would cover their hair but not their arms.
If hair is seen as beautiful enough to deserve covering, why wouldnāt bare skin be?
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Cause they are idiots and donāt have common sense.
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Episode. What kind of bullshit??
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2018 and they STILL havenāt gotten it rightā¦sighā¦
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