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Okay, well, my profession and obsession has always been writing. I was an editor/story writer for an organization up until about a year ago, when I was laid off. I always did need a kick in the pants, so I took that as a big old flashing neon sign stating I best quit whining about a lack of time and energy to devote to my own stuff, and get to writing.

I picked up and old piece I had begun many years ago, something I had always intended to be a novel, but was forgotten in the shuffle of life. I read what I had, which was about 1/3 complete. To my surprise, I liked it and I was inspired. A series was born of that first effort. Two books later, I’ve begun work on the third. I am in my glory.

To keep my hand in and keep up my interviewing skills, I also do volunteer writing of profile pieces for an organization. I have yet to seriously pursue getting my own stuff published, partially because I’m not ready and partially for a lack of reputable resources and support for what I’m doing. I don’t want to get pigeonholed, but everyone dearly loves a label.

A switch to novels was eye opening, as I’d previously mainly written one-offs of boysmut to entertain my friends. I often wrote based on storyline requests from friends, and I loved the challenge to create something beautiful and thought provoking with lots of hot sex driving the plot. So to speak. I still center around gay characters, with less smut and more philosophical leanings.

I came to Dreamwidth to build relationships that are focused primarily on writing. I have other communities elsewhere that serve other purposes, but this piece was lacking. I have always shied away from writer’s communities because of preconceived notions and a lack of focus. I hope that will change as things progress.

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Hiya, pleased to meetcha. Always happy to meet other writers of boysmut!

Just out of curiosity (well, mainly curiosity, but also a desire to avoid pitfalls that others may be aware of) is it the gay aspect of your writing that makes you concerned about reputable resources and pigeonholing?

Hi!

Yeah, the way large publishers label things it's like if there are guys and there is sex, it's gay erotica. That's an over generalization, but I've spoken to people who don't get it. I guess more than anything I want to bust out of stereotypes and just let it be what it is. As for reputable sources, there are lots of publishers of gay fiction that I feel uncertain about, to put it politely.

I'd agree about wanting to burst out of stereotypes. It's my wish to write a sword and sorcery type fantasy novel with a gay relationship in it. Not about sex, specifically, but people. I have a feeling this isn't going to go down well.

I'm not going to ask you to say which publishers, because that would be unsuitable in an open community like this, but what is it about them that makes you feel uncertain?

Yes! Exactly. Certain genres might be a wee bit more open to it, and fantasy might be one, though the industry is always a little behind the trends of the readers.

There are very well-known publishers like Cleis, but there are three times as many lesser knowns that require a lot of research, and I'm bad at research. I used to place orders for a book store several years ago, and I got to know some of the pitfalls, so that makes me extra cautious. And with publishing evolving so quickly into ebooks and all... I'm kind of overwhelmed.

I have a feeling your novel would go over very well. My series has a bit of a metaphysical aspect to it, though I wouldn't call it fantasy. Maybe I just hate labels altogether!

I've been watching Game of Thrones and while I think it's a bit of a laughable crapfest, it's breaking ground and I secretly love it. The relationship between the King's brother and his literal knight in shining armor intrigues me. We definitely need more of that.

Hellooo and welcome! Also, big-up the gay fiction massive *grin*.

I would agree that writing m/m (I term I dislike, but which is a useful shorthand for a particular market sub-section) is tricky. In my experience, at least half the readership (and reviewership) have a sort of mandatory expectation level about the amount of flesh they're going to get to 'see', but there are pubs who are known for a wider genre approach. MLR Press have a strong line in mystery and detective fiction, despite placing an emphasis on erotica, and Dreamspinner are a romance publisher open to and known for a wider range of less explicit work. (I have a thing out there in October, which I believe doesn't actually contain the word 'cock' once. Gasp(!))

Tbh, I think things are open enough now that you can place well-written fiction anywhere, regardless of GLBT content... yet it's also true that, where said title involves sex or romance, gay characters are less bankable for large mainstream publishers, which means many 'mainstream' gay titles get marginalised to small presses, especially when written by new or little-known authors. It's changed a lot in the past fifteen years, but not changed completely, I think.

Also, I agree: research the hell out of anywhere you submit, regardless of the company's size. ;)

Hi, and thank you! Nice to see so many people who support and write gay fiction!

I do write graphic sex scenes, because there's a certain realism with male characters that I think would be missing if I kept it at romance level. I realize this greatly limits my market, but I'm stubborn like that.

There are plenty of mainstream novels that feature very graphic hetero sex, so it's kind of my feeling that I rather fight an uphill battle than try to make my work fit an acceptable mould. I realize that doesn't bode well for my publishing prospects, but I'm an indie supporter, I rather go with a small press that lets me do what I want to do than with a large house that wants pop writing.

Just as a funny aside, my second book turned out to be kind of a romance, because at the time I was watching a lot of films that don't end well for the poor gay characters. A very common thing, but I'm over it - gay men can and do have happy, loving relationships that last, and I'd like to see more of that. So yes, while I'm not generally big on romance, my book ended in a sweet, romantic way. Gave me a sugar rush, but I think it was appropriate for how the story developed.

I agree emphatically about the men/sex thing - won't go off into one about it here, but you may have forced me to post an old blog thingy I wrote about it. *g*

Personally, I think there's a distinction between m/m romance and gay romance, with the former frequently leaning towards the highly specific, yaoi-tinged side of things. Lovely for some people, and I've read wonderful things written that way, but I'm not so much into the men-who-act-like-women-with-penises thing. That said, I find, because there is no homogeneous 'gay culture' - if you take as given that sexuality is as much descriptive of personality as hair colour - there is a wonderful breadth of opportunity that comes with writing GLBT titles. Also, it's a sector of publishing that's seeing massive growth, which is good, even if it is through indie publishers and 'small' presses (some of which are not so small anymore!). Mind you, 'romance' has changed massively as a genre as well. I can't keep up....

I'd love to see your blog. I agree with the chicks-with-dicks thing (well, unless they're REALLY chicks with dicks), it's just not how I work. As I said I started out writing boysmut so the graphic sex is naturally my leaning, although I did try to tone it down a bit with my novels to avoid the erotica stamp. I'm very excited about the huge upswing in the GLBT market, hope that bodes well. I know nothing about romance as a genre, all I can associate with it are those terrible Harlequin romance covers. With apologies to anyone who writes and/or loves Harlequin romances.

That's what I thought re: romance but... whoa. I've now been writing (loosely) in it as a genre for heading onto three years and it's... mad. Really. It's a monster, frankly, and I think there are very odd distinctions between what *is* romance by its actual nature (i.e., strictly a story about a romantic relationship, which ends on a positive note) and what *can be regarded as* romance, i.e., has a romantic relationship in it, but is also a mystery/action thriller/fantasy etc. The whole vampires-and-werewolves thing (with a side nod to shifter fiction) is a case in point. These things go in fashions.

There are sub-sub-genres, different styles... the surge in ebooks has reinvigorated it exponentially. Largely, from my experience, there's no difference between erotica and romance, because romance is increasingly judged on its 'hotness' - viz., the bandying of terms such as 'erotic romance' and 'sensual romance', which still adhere (mainly) to the same rules as Harlequin's formulas. The only major differences are what publishers coyly refer to as the 'use of direct language'.

As you point out, there's been more and more graphic sex in mainstream books in recent years (Wetlands, anyone?), so I see it as much as changing social tastes and expectations as an erosion of boundaries. Publishing has seen some seismic shifts in the past few years, and they're not over yet.

I'll dig out the dixploitation blog, though, and pop it up over the weekend.