Lively conversation and great questions added rocket fuel to our presentation yesterday on Writing about Characters with LGBT Parents.
The New England SCBWI* Conference is broad and deep– 700 attendees, many workshops on all aspects of the writing life, and powerful keynote addresses. I co-presented with my wife Bonnie Jackman, an LICSW and middle school counselor.
![Can you tell we've been together 29 years? Active listening! :)](http://maryecronin.hillcommajim.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/MB-listen-300x225.jpg)
Here are a few points from our presentation:
**In a diverse country such as ours, with LGBT rights and protections shifting in real time, SETTING is critical to any story with LGBT characters. Setting can be an antagonist, a support, a mix of the two– think about where your character/family lives and consider the political/social climate for LGBT people there.
**LGBT adults have had to make their peace with living outside the margins of dominant culture/mainstream paradigms of relationships. Where are their children in this process? Age is critical here– a kindergartener may love having her two moms come in to the classroom for a celebration; an older kid might ask to be dropped off two blocks from school.
**Kids of LGBT parents have to explain their existence all the time. Who’s your real mom? Where’s your dad? What do you mean you don’t have a dad? Wait, what? There are many dissonant moments our kids just deal with as a matter of course. How does this affect their character, their quest, their relationships, their school experience? This is rich material for character development.
![Famed New Yorker cartoon by Harry Bliss, beloved by lesbian families!](http://maryecronin.hillcommajim.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Screen-Shot-MDL-cartoon-275x300.png)
I’ll post more soon… in the meantime, I’m enjoying the post-conference glow. A few people have asked if we’d consider presenting with workshop elsewhere– the answer is yes!
*SCBWI- The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators