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Well, I figure this is as good a time as any. One of my family members last year noted that my reasons for altering my protagonist from male to female was the beginning of a sort of slippery slope. I had done so because my story failed at the Bechtel Test (a guidelines to inclusion of female characters), and failed miserably so. There were only two females in the original story line, and when they spoke it was about the lead role. So, a few gender swaps later and we ended up with Gwen.

At the same time, Marvel Comics was introducing Spider-Gwen to the world. Like my Gwen, she was blond and with super powers. It suddenly dawned on me that there was already an abundance of blonde, female super heroes. Who's going to notice another one?

Along the way, I've been in and seen discussion concerning civil liberty for blacks and other people of color here in the United States. It's something that is of interest and concern to me. So, I posed a similar question to myself from when I shifted the protagonist's gender from male to female. The original question was: Does the story require a male perspective? My answer at the time was no. The focus of the story was entirely on the question of being open about one's atheism. That does not require a male or female voice. It simply requires a voice. With the abundance of representation for male heroes, I felt a female would delightfully add to the mix.

So the new question became this: Does the story require a white perspective? Again, the answer was no. The only remaining constant that is required is that the hero start off as a closeted atheist. It didn't matter if the character was white, Hispanic, black, Asian, etc. It simply required a voice. So why not a black voice?

I decided to run this by a pair of my friends and associates who are neck deep in the BlackLivesMatter movement and get some input from them. One of their concerns was that I would write a stereotyped angry black woman ("I don't need no man!"). I told them that the change was merely cosmetic. Like the change from male to female, there would be a one to one transfer of lines and actions. It's essentially the same character (in fact, it is the same. The change is only cosmetic). So this version of Gwen is every bit as much an introvert as any other version of her or him. The character is still heavily based off of and influenced by events and actions that have taken place in my own life (albeit, allegorically exaggerated to give it excitement and flavor. I wish I had a suit of armor like Gwen's).

So, with all of that said and done, AraghenXD suggested I do a new transformation sequence for the Heretic. I decided to recreate the one from here:
fav.me/d7lmc9r

That thing has over 40,000 views. I'm hoping this one will do just as well.

Take care, and stay safe!

Description
Well, I figure this is as good a time as any. One of my family members last year noted that my reasons for altering my protagonist from male to female was the beginning of a sort of slippery slope. I had done so because my story failed at the Bechtel Test (a guidelines to inclusion of female characters), and failed miserably so. There were only two females in the original story line, and when they spoke it was about the lead role. So, a few gender swaps later and we ended up with Gwen.

At the same time, Marvel Comics was introducing Spider-Gwen to the world. Like my Gwen, she was blond and with super powers. It suddenly dawned on me that there was already an abundance of blonde, female super heroes. Who's going to notice another one?

Along the way, I've been in and seen discussion concerning civil liberty for blacks and other people of color here in the United States. It's something that is of interest and concern to me. So, I posed a similar question to myself from when I shifted the protagonist's gender from male to female. The original question was: Does the story require a male perspective? My answer at the time was no. The focus of the story was entirely on the question of being open about one's atheism. That does not require a male or female voice. It simply requires a voice. With the abundance of representation for male heroes, I felt a female would delightfully add to the mix.

So the new question became this: Does the story require a white perspective? Again, the answer was no. The only remaining constant that is required is that the hero start off as a closeted atheist. It didn't matter if the character was white, Hispanic, black, Asian, etc. It simply required a voice. So why not a black voice?

I decided to run this by a pair of my friends and associates who are neck deep in the BlackLivesMatter movement and get some input from them. One of their concerns was that I would write a stereotyped angry black woman ("I don't need no man!"). I told them that the change was merely cosmetic. Like the change from male to female, there would be a one to one transfer of lines and actions. It's essentially the same character (in fact, it is the same. The change is only cosmetic). So this version of Gwen is every bit as much an introvert as any other version of her or him. The character is still heavily based off of and influenced by events and actions that have taken place in my own life (albeit, allegorically exaggerated to give it excitement and flavor. I wish I had a suit of armor like Gwen's).

So, with all of that said and done, AraghenXD suggested I do a new transformation sequence for the Heretic. I decided to recreate the one from here:
fav.me/d7lmc9r

That thing has over 40,000 views. I'm hoping this one will do just as well.

Take care, and stay safe!