A mental illness or a conscious decision to avoid sexual contact.
An asexual person (“ace” for short) is simply someone who does not experience sexual attraction. That’s all there is to it. Aces can be any sex or gender or age or ethnic background or body type, can be rich or poor, can wear any clothing style, and can be any religion or political affiliation. (http://www.whatisasexuality.com/intro/)
Developing an asexual character:
So you want to make or further develop an ace character? Awesome sauce! Here are some questions to ask yourself to delve deeper into your character’s mind and experience:
Decide where on the asexual spectrum your character lies. Does it change/fluctuate? Under what circumstances does it fluctuate? (Keep in mind that this can change over time)
How does your character think/feel about being on the asexual spectrum?
How does your character feel towards sex? Neutral, sex-repulsed, sex-positive? Does it depend on the circumstance/person?
If your character were to find themselves in a sexual situation, what would their reaction be?
How does your character tell people about being asexual (if they tell people at all)?
How do other characters react to your character’s asexuality? How does your character react/respond to these reactions?
How does the society in your story react to asexuality? How does this affect your character? What assumptions do others have about asexuality/your character?
When did/will your character realize that they are on the asexual spectrum? How does/will your character think/feel about this? Is the realization because of a specific event, a gradual understanding/coming to terms, etc?
Writing an asexual character:
Keep in mind that asexual does not mean emotionless. Your character should still have emotional actions and reactions to events in line with their personality.
If the setting allows for it, it might be good to have your character specifically state they are asexual. This will help the reader understand where your character is coming from. Having other characters react and ask questions will help mitigate an info dump.
Be wary of having a plot that calls for the character’s asexuality to be a problem fixed by ‘good’ sex or a sexual relationship. In this instance it might be better to rethink your character’s orientation.
Do let your character have close intimate non-sexual relationships with other characters.
Try to avoid making your character asexual simply as a plot device. It should be an integral part of who they are, not a quirk.
If your asexual character is a minor character it might be best to avoid having them be the comedic relief as this can reinforce stereotypes of asexuals being socially inept or naive.
The Asexuality Spectrum:
When writing an asexual character it is good to keep in mind that asexuality itself is a broad spectrum, not necessarily a simple sliding scale. Your character might fall anywhere on this spectrum. Here is a nifty graphic to help describe this concept:
Sex-repulsed asexuals: those who want nothing to do with sex, period.
Sex-positive asexuals: those who are okay with sex.
Sex-indifferent: those who don’t care but don’t object to engaging in sex.
Circumstantial: those who are only okay with sex under very specific circumstances, such as needing a strong emotional bond (demisexual).
Where your character falls is worth a bit of consideration and many points on the spectrum do have a specific name. As always, sexuality can be fluid and change over time so where your character falls on the asexual spectrum could change.
Tropes to Avoid:
Tropes are tropes for a reason and none of these are bad in and of themselves, however like a lot of tropes they often perpetuate stereotypes and thus should be used cautiously.
Warning: The following link has highly negative content that we do not endorse. It is merely to illustrate the attitude that some have toward asexuality.
Enjoy Karate, BJJ, and almost anything else martial arts...and anything to do with the ocean...BS in marine science..currently HS Bio teacher
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Karate, SPN Demonic Octopus Guardian 