Why (Fictional) Lesbians Die
I have a terrible confession to make. In my first draft of The Darwin Solution (my fantasy novel) I nearly killed off a lesbian character. If you’re not entirely sure why that’s such a bad thing then let me teach you about a trope.
“Bury Your Gays” is the name of the trope where gay characters are killed off in fiction. This covers a wide range of media and happens to both male and female characters. More recently, however, there has been a greater focus on lesbian characters and the fact that they keep being killed off.
It’s become a depressing in-joke among lesbians in fandoms that they aren’t allowed a happy ending or that if they become a couple then one of them’s going to die. Lesbian couples don’t get to make it to the end like their straight counterparts.
So why did I nearly write something that would fit in with this bad trope? Well, at first I wasn’t aware it was a trope, so my reasons felt perfectly valid. But that’s the thing, as writers, these things sometimes feel okay at the time. It’s only on reflection or when we gain a new perspective that we see where we went wrong.
For a bit of background, the character was in a relationship with another woman and they were bounty hunters together. Their names were Kris and Alice. They entered the book (and still do) about mid-way in. They aren’t a permanent fixture of the book but play a major role for the short time they are there.
Originally, there was going to be a big battle at the end of the book and that was when Alice would lose her life. But why?
1. Her death would have impact on the reader
Kris and Alice are the only people in the book to be in a committed relationship. Tearing apart that relationship, by killing one of them, would have been incredibly sad. It would have been a signifier of how bad the battle was and raised the stakes for the remaining characters.
Authors don’t kill characters because they dislike them, they do it because it creates a reaction in the reader. Particularly in action and fantasy, when a character loses their life in a fight, it proves that the fight was difficult. If characters win every battle easily, it can create a sense of apathy in the reader. Why should they care about what happens if everything is too easy?
2. Her death would have impact on the remaining characters
Killing Alice would have allowed me as a writer to explore the consequences this would have on the other characters. Kris would be the most important person in this equation. As her girlfriend, the death would hit her the hardest. Would this push her to fight harder or to give up entirely?
It’s important to point out that Kris was the more masculine of the pair. Although both characters are physically capable, Kris is described as being taller and with short hair. I think subconsciously I was creating a another, but similar, trope “fridging”. This is when a female character is killed or injured to compel a male character to do something.
With Alice fridges, Kris and the main heroes would have pushed harder, fought more ferociously and have someone to avenge.
3. Alice wasn’t a main character
I was in the middle of writing my first draft when I decided I wanted to include lesbian characters. This was because I had (and still have) a very close friend who was a lesbian. I thought this was something she would like to see. I saw it as either a way to honour her or make her happy, perhaps a bit of both.
The unfortunate side effect of this, is that because I hadn’t decided to do this before I started writing, these characters were already destined to be side-characters. My main cast was already pretty full of straight-white leads (If there’s one thing I could change about my book it would be that).
As a side character Alice could be killed off without the major implications that come with losing one of the main cast. I’d get the benefits of killing someone off without the negatives.
And this is the major issue. This is the reason why so many lesbians in fiction die. They aren’t conceived as part of the main cast from the beginning and so, become disposable. Add to this the trope of “fridging” and lesbian characters become the most vulnerable to fictional deaths.
So how can this be solved? How do we escape this trope for good? Simple. Have more lesbian and gay characters in your fiction and have them be the main characters. You’ll be less quick to kill them when they’re the most essential part of the story.
