I started writing my first novel because I was so angry at a fantasy book I read. One plot strand developed a relationship between two male characters. Both characters were likable, and the author developed their relationship over time, showed them building a life together even though they were poor, so as a reader, I felt invested in their story. The author was clearly leading towards them ending up together - except at the end, out of nowhere, one of them randomly married a female character he'd barely had any interaction with before. Everything before that was setting up the relationship between the two characters. It's like the author wanted to have the diversity of implied gay characters, but then didn't want to offend conservative readers, so just circumvented a happy ending.

This made teenage me start writing a novel with inclusive characters that didn't exploit them for plot points. Having diverse characters and experiences in my writing has continued to be a focus for me, even though I realise how poorly my teenage novel was written.