Hey! So im not sure if im in the wrong. Im not comfortable with telling my age, but know im under 18. Im she/they. I write fanfictions about this ship (dont wanna get hate, but lets just say they’re polar opposites), but i try not to make it too creepy or anything. Most recently, i finally published chapter one of a new fic I’d been not having much time to write recently. Around a few hours after i published it, i got a comment saying that they loved the dialogue but was upset that i didnt put any trans characters in it, that it was bad representation and a form of transphobia.
Here’s the exact comment.
"The way you write dialogue is so realistic and engaging but it feels hollow when I realize that not one of these characters is trans. In a story this long and detailed, the absence of trans people is not just a coincidence, it is a sign of a deeper issue with how you view diversity. I am BEGGING you to please add trans representation because I am so hungry for it and I am tired of feeling like an outsider in my own favorite stories. If you don’t add trans characters, it is a form of TRANSPHOBIA and it shows that you are not the inclusive person I thought you were. I am demanding that you fix this lack of representation because it is your job as an author to reflect the real world, which includes trans people. PLEASE don’t dismiss my feelings because they are valid and I am hurting so much right now from this exclusion. I am literally pleading with you to make a change because I want to love this story but I can’t do it if I feel like I am being erased. PLEASE show some empathy and add a trans character because we are here and we deserve to be part of the stories that define our culture."
I was a bit hurt as this was my first comment ever, as i just entered on an actual account only a few days ago. Albeit being hurt & confused, i replied :
"Of course ! Im SO sorry if i seemed transphobic in a way, something people dont know ab me that much is that im also trans. Not typical trans, i go by she/they and i am queer. I really hope I didn’t offend you too much. I might make –name of canon character- trans or smth. I was kind of thinking about it already but not sure if i could visualize it that well. If there are any other suggestions or character you think would likely represent the trans community well, please do tell <333 i appreciate your input and comment and im sorry again that i offended you. I truly didnt mean too."
I didnt want to be rude & irl & on the internet im usually a cheery and extrovert type of person. I didn’t think i needed to add any trans people & not sure if i seemed fake or rude or anything. Im kinda young, so i can be quite oblivious sometimes. Please tell me if i did anything or said anything wrong. I dont really like making G!P fics or anything, as it doesn’t sit right with me rewriting a character and show.
So, reddit.
AITA?
(commenter commented on the fourth. I replied on the fifth. Commenter hasn’t responded.)
NTA
That reader sounds super fucking entitled and if they have an issue with the fact that there’s a lack of trans people in your story then absolutely nothing is stopping them from stepping up and writing a story that ticks all their boxes. The fault here lies not in your fanfic but the sheer absurdity that’s in people’s entitlement when they expect every story to cater to them and their beliefs.
The job of an author is to write stories, PERIOD — and this is coming from an author.
Whether or not that author wants to write stories that reflect the real world is up to them, but they can write whatever they damn well please, how they damn well please.
Not every reader is worth the view.
Thank you for the comment & opinion !! personally, i was scared to offend them, as i hate fights & i overall didn’t know if i was wrong or an asshole. it’s lovely too see another author in the wild 🙂 Again, thank you for your comment. i couldnt appreciate it more 🙂
NTA. You shouldn’t have even apologized. This reads less like a want for a trans character and more like someone is bullying you into putting their headcanon before your own. You don’t owe them that. It is NOT your job as an author to reflect the real world, but the world you experience and what you see in it. If you aren’t seeing trans in the story you write, it’s not your job to intentionally include them, especially not in some guilty nasty little message like that. If you want to write a trans focused fanfic on the side, that’s fine, but you shouldn’t have to alter your work after it’s been done, if anything that is less inclusive and more revisionist than having made a unique work to reflect who you want to include. They are not hurting from exclusion, they are hurting in general and demanding you give them a quick fix by bowing to their wants. I’ve never once heard of someone being this buffoonishly, cartoonishly needy and manipulative.
NTA
This is *your* fanfiction. You write what you want to write. If they want to write fanfic with a trans character nothing is stopping them.
Personally I’d suggest not even responding to this sort of comment.
NTA. I’ve never heard of this kind of comment or feedback on a fanfic before (I’m a fanfic writer myself), and certainly not on the first chapter of a new fic that hasn’t even fully developed its plot yet…. which kinda leads me to believe this commentor is a troll or a bot (or both). Don’t let them bully you into changing your story into something it’s not; diversity needs to be natural and not forced in, and certainly not on the whim of some single reader.
Nta. Check if their account is real – there’s been a spike in hateful bot shit on some fanfic sites
NTA, that person is going through some shit and took it out on you. It’s honestly a bit ridiculous to demand representation in that way and the fact that you took the comment so seriously is a testament to how young you are. Not all feedback needs a response.
NTA. I think they’re just rage bating honestly. It’s your story, you get to decide what to do with it.
NTA- it’s not transphobic to write the stories you want to write with the characters you want to explore. My son is trans and while he appreciates certain books that have trans characters, he also loves many fandoms where there are no trans characters. In the many conversations I’ve had with young trans people as a mom and educator, I’ve never heard this kind of abject entitlement. Most trans people I’ve met are open to May viewpoints. Write what you want to and block people like this.
Here’s what you do: tell them that they’re a bigot for assuming your character’s assigned-at-birth gender. And just pick a random character and say that they transitioned when they were younger. Only say this to the person who complains, you don’t need to make it known. It should shut them up lol.
NTA. Never should have apologized. You are under no obligation to include anything in your work that you don’t want to.
I’m not even going to give judgement because this post is in the wrong sub. If you had posted in r/AO3 or r/fanfiction you would have found out that the comment is from a bot. I’ve read this exact comment on both of those subs and the answer is always the same: that’s a bot comment; delete and ignore.
I didn’t realize what subreddit this was until I realized none of the comments realized what was going on here.
**This is 100% a bot comment.** OP, you can just freeze/delete/report it. It’s not a real person. It’s a known thing. There’s even a bot that can be tagged on the fanfiction and ao3 subreddits to explain the concept because of how frequently it happens.
NTA
This is a bot comment. You can find screenshots of similar ones all over the AO3 subreddit.