on behalf of story

It's funny, there's a scene in Supernatural, an outtake really, where Jenson Ackles air-sings Eye of the Tiger out of the old Impala they drive. It comes off a show that takes him completely out of character anyway, he's got Ghost Disease in the show and it makes him scared. It's where you really see his acting chops. Say what you will about the show, the guys can act. Sure, a lot of what they give them is moony eye stares, but they will do whatever it takes to get the job done. I just saw the scene last night, which is odd because I've been thinking a lot about it lately.

I have a friend who's an actor (maybe someone you've seen if you like campy horror films). She will literally do or say anything. I know because I've seen her do it. I like being around her because she has that affect on other people, too.

And it makes me think of writing and how real writers really will write whatever it takes to get the story written the way they need to.

Trin and Cas are gay. Surprisingly, I've only had one person tell me to consider making Castile a female instead (I found that odd--why Castile?), but it wouldn't have mattered if a hundred people had told me. They just are gay. I couldn't write them another way.

Homosexuality isn't much of an issue in the story, in their world. Other characters really could give a shit about their orientation. I thought at first it was because there needed to be a little good in the world. Then I realized, it's also me, as a writer, making a blanket statement: Dude, we're at war. Shit's going down. Who cares who sleeps with who?

But it still nagged at me. I knew there was another reason, something absolutely story related. It wasn't until later revisions that I realized why, lately, in the name of story, it must be so. Castile has spent the better part of his adulthood in prison and just gets out six months before we meet him. He's damaged in a lot of ways, but I've realized how much his being gay and a Witch, lent to that backstory. Because really, which is worse? A straight man who is raped in prison? Or a gay man, who reveres sex with another man as the ultimate act of love, in a physical and spiritual sense? 

It also gives Trinidad the opportunity to heal his best friend that he wouldn't have had if they were straight.

See? Story related. Would have been nice if I'd worked that all out earlier, but then, it's not the way it always comes to us, is it?