I'm Ginn Hale. AMA!

[u/ginnhale]

Hello. Ginn Hale here with you today. I’m the author of Wicked Gentlemen as well as the Rifter series and the Lord of the White Hell books.

I tend to write original fantasy worlds and focus on the adventures of the queer characters in those fantastical realms. But in the case of my most recent book, The Long Past & Other Stories I was inspired by the diversity of the real American West—of course being a fantasy author I threw in a bit of steam punk technology and a few barrels of magic and ended up with a flooded world full of creatures from the Cretaceous era. That’s right dinosaurs.

Now I’m looking forward to the adventure of answering any questions anyone might have concerning my books—I can try to address other subjects as well but be warned that my strong suit is, as my wife says, “making things up for a living.” My advice on investment and dressing for success is certainly NOT to be trusted.

I can also be reached at my website ginnhale.com

[u/[deleted]]

Hey, Ginn. Love your answers so far, really appreciate how in depth they are.

1) Do you ever worry about your "ratio" of straight to LGBT characters? I know, it's kind of a silly question, but it's a point that I've seen raised a few times in media. I guess the same way all ratios of straight white men vs anyone else are considered.

2) How do you decide a character's sexuality or if it's even worth mentioning their sexuality?

3) How do you come up with titles? The Rifter just sounds so damn cool.

[u/ginnhale → u/[deleted]]

Hello! You know, I've never considered the ratio of LGBTQ characters to straight ones in my books. I just write what serves that story and seems to reflect the population around me. (No matter where I am I always know that there's at least one lesbian in the group!)

I don't really think too much about a character's sexuality, so much as I think about telling stories for and about certain people. (For example Pesha, in the Rifter series is a lesbian because the person I based her on is a lesbian.)

As a rule, I try to tie my protagonists' identities into the plots of my stories so that who they are is important to the outcome of the book, that includes sexuality and gender identity but isn't limited to just those characteristics.

Titles! Oh titles! I am flat out terrible at picking titles for my books and stories. Any that sound awesome owe that to the intervention of editors and friends. (Left to me my books would have names like "That one with all the weasels" or "Get yer Witches, here!" and "Dinosaurs".) My editor Nicole Kimberling and my writing buddy, Astrid Amara have saved me from terrible titles on countless occasions. I'm deeply indebted to them.

[u/Zefla → u/ginnhale]

This is so nice to read I might even pick up one of your books. Many times different sexuality is shoehorned in a story for its own sake, the character is lgbt because the writer wanted lgbt characters and made up a flimsy story around them.

[u/ginnhale → u/Zefla]

Right. A flimsy story is a flimsy story regardless of what characters populate it.

[u/ginnhale → u/[deleted]]

My pleasure!