DISCLAIMER: As I write this, I am disorganized and tired. And sick. So this is opinion, and it might not be totally coherent.

Dragonseye is pretty good. It's full of fun stuff. Like trials for heinous crimes. And songs. And rocks. And a telekinetic bear, a dentist who harvests brains- wait, no, that's something else.

But really, it's got an engaging plot, likeable good guys, hateable bad guys, a decent pace, only a little creepy romance, cool paintings... y'know. Everything that makes a novel good.

Unfortunately for you all, a minor plot element overshadows all of that. For you see, Dragonseye is the first Pern novel to devote a meaningful amount of time to portraying a homosexual relationship (Between bluerider P'tero and greenrider M'leng). And I will take any excuse to discuss homosexual relationships in fiction. So here's a discussion of that thing.

Now, traditionally, Anne McCaffrey writes romance... badly. Not always awfully, but often badly. Strangely, it seems to be better here. Maybe that's because this is one of those relationships where she decided not to be creepy (there's other creepy romance to make up for it in this book). Maybe because the relationship is between two men (and as a side note... for how readily accepting Pern is of gay men being a thing, there sure aren't any lesbians. What's with that?) and as a result McCaffrey couldn't put in creepy gender role stereotypes (not that this has ever stopped other authors...). Maybe it's because despite my objections to the way she writes romance, she is genuinely competent, I read a lot of badfic, and the standards for homosexual romance, in my book, are just that low.

Regardless of the reason, it stands to note: Fic authors, numerous professional writers, and other people of that sort just got slaughtered in terms of romance by Anne freaking McCaffrey, in a book released in 1997. Not just romance, gay romance.

So, let's look at some common pitfalls in writing romance (some specific to homosexual romance, most... not so much), and maybe a bit about how Dragonseye avoids them, if I feel like it. Well... how Dragonseye avoids them here anyways. But that's a discussion for another time.

Make no mistake, this is self-indulgent nonsense. But maybe you'll derive some enjoyment from it.

1. Representation! Yaaay!: In a lot of professional works, there's been an urge of late to add representation for minority groups. This includes the LGBTQ people. And you know what? That's great. Talking more about people who aren't talked about is good. It can lead to interesting stories, and it can send powerful messages of acceptance. However, for the love of god, never write a character that blatantly exists solely for the purpose of representation. Firstly, you will get complaints from someone (and we'll get to why in a moment), but secondly... it just results in bland, boring, bad characters. If all we can remember about your character is that they're "the gay one", then that isn't a well conceived character. Nobody's gonna say, "Hmm... of all the interesting characters in this work, my favorite is the gay one I can't remember much about!" Speaking of which...



2. Being gay is not a personality trait: So. You've got a gay character. Actually, presumably you've got two. So how are you going to characterize them? A lot of people think this is more or less complicated than it really is. In order to do it properly, you have to make an actual character. You know, just like you normally do. Consider how them being gay effects their experience (depending on your setting and their personality, the answer might even be "not very much." If you're writing in a modern or semi-modern setting, however, it will probably have some impact and may be hanging over them like the Doom of Damocles, depending), sure, but as it turns out, gay people come in all shapes and sizes. All of them. Really.
   
   Also, this is just my thing, but... personally, please, don't give your gay character some kind of "stereotypical gay" personality, or at least have a good reason for doing so. This is partly because I feel like it proliferates the idea that gay people are fundamentally alike and that there is a "gay" personality... but mostly because I find all of these stereotypes to be incredibly annoying characters. But hey. If you've got
   
   Dragonseye deals with this part very very well. This might be a consequence of Anne McCaffrey's... fun... ideas about gender and sexuality (all greenriders are gay or female, no exceptions): On Pern, being gay just isn't special, so characters can't use it as a differentiator. And while McCaffrey isn't the greatest writer in the world, she can at least write reasonably distinct and memorable characters. And while the characters aren't the focus, and we don't see a lot of them, they do at least have defined personalities, which counts for a lot.


3. On Romance: A lot of people seem uncertain about how to write gay romance. I dunno why. It's a lot like straight romance, seemingly (although maybe don't ask the man who's never dated anyone ever...). So... yeah. There are dates. And affection. And people liking one another. Sometimes people argue. Y'know. normal relationship stuff. Except that the people involved are both men. Or women, because this applies to lesbians as well, I assume.
   
   So here's the cardinal rule: thou shalt not compromise a character's personality for romance. Seriously. Even i a character is dating, they are still that character. They should still be IC. No radical personality shifts, woobifying, or so on (unless there's story/character justification, obviously). They date the way they'd date a person. That means that the dynamic might be a bit different between two guys than between a guy and girl (or maybe not), but not so different as you might think. But speaking of radical personality shifts...



4. Relationship dynamics Oh jeez. I could devote an awful lot of time to this one.
   
   Okay, so I want you to help me conduct a simple experiment. Draw a pie chart. Fill in the percentage of time a couple spends doing things in bed. Now fill in he percentage of time a couple spends doing things not in bed. As you may notice, the second percentage is vastly higher than the first. Now, when one takes up so much more time than the other, kindly endeavor to justify why the one that takes up less time is the part that defines all aspects of how the couple interacts and relates to one another. Spoiler alert: you can't, because that's BS.
   
   Yes, it's the old "who wears the pants" nonsense. And it truly is nonsense. What happens in the bedroom does not define a relationship, much less the sum total of everything about a human being. Oddly, the perception that it does seems to have largely vanished when discussing straight people. Because if you start writing it, most people's kneejerk reaction is "that's sexist and utterly insane". Which it is!
   
   Real relationships are built on a variety of things. Good ones are probably built on trust and mutual respect. I've never been in one: who am I to talk? But what I do know is that most of it doesn't happen in the bedroom.

Menolly really spoke to me as a kid, moreso than Lessa or Jaxom or any of the dragonriders. She was musical (like me!) didn't get along with her parents (like me!) and had an injury that made it hard for her to do the things she loved (like... okay, you get the point). The characters in the Harper Hall trilogy just felt the most alive to me, and I read and re-read those books so often that my mom's poor, ancient copies are now held together with tape on the spines.

...But let's be totally honest, if I had the option, I'd want to be a dragonrider.

(If you really liked Harper Hall, though, I suggest you check out Robinton's focus book, called—what else?—The Masterharper of Pern. It delves into more of his backstory as a young man training to be a harper and the journey that led him to becoming Masterharper.)

I don't have too much to add right now, because I'm coming off a week of having company in which, due to already having taken a week off work this month, I didn't even get to do any of the fun stuff, and I'm drained. Plus, if I get talking about Pern, I will not stop, so this is probably for the best. ^^

For those who don't know, Pern is in my Top 5 Fandoms, and might even come out at #1 in terms of how involved I was, having run a Pern RP on Neopets for a few years. My knowledge, while not quite encyclopedic, is extensive when it comes to in-universe stuff. I am also practiced at explaining and working around (but not excusing) the problematic crap so all the good stuff can still be enjoyed. And there's a lot of good stuff! The world-building is absolutely phenomenal, and like Thoth says, there's music in its soul. <3

And Masterharper Robinton is my idol, maybe my favorite fictional character of all time. I don't wanna be him, and I don't lust after him, but I would very much like to sit at his feet and listen to him for an hour or five, please.

I'd be sporking in Pern, but it's pretty hard to find sporkable badfic. Pern fanfic wasn't allowed for many years, and I guess most of the fandom is aged past the peak badfic phase? I dunno. If anyone does happen across any real quality Sueage, do send it my way. I have agents to torment. ^^

~Neshomeh