Why you should read my blog and wait for my writing: we have a lot of work to do.
There are a lot of fantasy writers who embrace queer spectrum people as characters. My writing will do that, but I am making characters that could be from any kind of person.
Activism is one goal of my website.
I would also love for you to discover my beautiful characters and the alternate histories they live in. Or may it’s history like it should have been.
I want to reach out to other authors who are equality friendly. I’d like us to become activists together. Not just to write equality into our novels, but to work it into our author sites and public appearances. We may have a lot of great readers who will help us fight for equity in our world. Let’s ask them to help.
Do you want to see something of yourself in important characters? Answer some or all of these questions by commenting on the blog post.If you’d like to see more fantasy characters that reflect the way you experience the world, please, let me know.
- What do GLBTQAI people want?
- What do women want?
- Whites, non-Whites, and multi-racial people?
- What do straight readers want?
- What do men want? Transgender people? Non-binary? Cisgender?
- How about disabled people?
- How about fantasy readers who are non-Western? Non-Christian? Atheists?
- Or people who just don’t fit in any of our boxes at all?
I bet you’ve all spotted that virtually everyone is more than one of these things. I am queer, white, blind, Christian, liberal, and cisgender. I’m also a little wacko, just around the edges. If you are against racial and social justice, or if you prefer life to be full of folks that want conservative or evangelical literature, you are likely to be looking for a different fantasy writer and his blog. If you try to like everybody, hang out here and give input to all my blog posts.
The demographics of Fantasy Readers.
It is really hard to find surveys that target fantasy readers and ask the respondents for more than the most basic demographic information. They also fail to ask enough people to cover all the demographic possibilities.
By looking at two Statista surveys of American (US) readers. The surveys were about the types of books people read. How many people read fantasy based on simple gender, ethnicity, and age? 56% of men and 39% of women polled read fantasy; 37% of blacks read fantasy, 42% of whites, 64% of Hispanics, and 54% of all other identified ethnicities. By age, 59% of 18-29 year-olds, 47% of 30-59 year-olds, and 22% of people 60 and over read fantasy.
I am a new writer. Alternate history mixed with how I think history should have been, created with rich and ribald characters, invidious monsters, and even villains who could have used a second chance. Fantasy in which everyone can be an important character. Heck, even monsters need a voice. Maybe even sentient inanimate objects or politicians.
I hope to see my first novel published in 18 months or so. I’ll write and share some short stories along the way. My novel is called Bards in the Shadow. That could change during the publishing process.
Please join my blog! Find me on Facebook or Twitter. Let’s have brilliant conversations about what you read, like, dislike, and want in our real and fantasy worlds. If you are a writer who wants to make the world better for everyone, come and talk on the blog. Penzey’s Spices says, “Heal the world. Make dinner tonight.” I say, let us write a better world.
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Todd A. Howard, Author 