LGBTQIA+ Writers, Characters, and Books

Hey, LGBTQIA+ writer folks!

For the next roundtable, I want to talk to you in particular. I want to know what the independent and small publishing world looks like for you.

Do you feel welcome in the world of independent and small publishing? At cons, in stores, sales? Why or why not?

October Santerelli: I feel welcomed by authors and readers, and given lip service by some small press who claim they want to be more inclusive and don't demonstrate it or big houses. I mention ace or queer characters and people pick up the books just to read about them, so I know I have stories readers want! Cons are good, stores have not been great, I keep getting brushed off. My sales are phenomenal when I get in front of people, but I feel like algorithms and some sales folks and such are just...suppressing LGBTQ+ content or ignoring it.

Inka York: In the online world, I definitely feel welcome. There are some great spaces with excellent support, authors lifting each other up, and readers throwing themselves into ARC and street teams. I can't speak for cons or bookshops because they're not a priority for me. Most of my sales are ebook (like 99% of them), so my most recent releases don't even have print books.

Sarah Marshall Malluck: I feel welcome as an independent author at cons and sales tables. Most people will let you know if they are not interested in a same-gender couple.

I also write MF pairings, so my sapphic/mm romances don’t sell as well to my audience that reads the MF pairs. I find most readers like to read set tropes, couples, etc. Myself included. I’ve read almost exclusively MM romance for about two years now. Of course, some readers will read anything in a genre. It’s about finding the audience.

I’ve had more pushback on writing about witches than homosexuals. I live in GA by the way.

DL Wainright: Cons are my bread and butter, when it comes to book sales, and I typically feel very welcome at them. There's often at least one pride flag on my table at events, and it doesn't seem to deter many, and in fact draws many in who are seeking stories with representation. I can't speak about small publishing or any of that, as I self-publish, but I know many folks who publish through smaller print presses which specifically exist for queer fiction. Because I'm self-pub, I'm print-on-demand, which most stores won't carry without specifically asking them to. A popular local bookstore carries my stuff without any issue. At first, though, they put it in the queer lit section and I had to suggest they either move it to horror or YA, so they moved it to horror. That was the only hiccup. 

What in your mind goes into a book being LGBTQIA+ focused or friendly? Must it be written by an LGBTQIA+ writer?

Emmy Anthony: An author in the community helps. Characters that are more than a stereotype are very important. My female protagonist has a gay male best friend but he is not the rom-com comic relief. He protects her and loves her like a sister when she needs it most, for example.

DL Wainright: It used to be that we basically had two kinds of stories that contained queer characters: mainstream books where a queer character was a villain or comic relief, or "queer lit," which was heavily focused on the queer experience. But nowadays there are very mainstream stories where the protagonists are queer, and it isn't about THAT, it's about the standard hero's adventure. I often bring up She-ra and the Princesses of Power, and I'm going to do it again here. That story has a ton of queer characters, including She-ra herself, but the story is about the conflict between different factions and the threat of Hordak, etc. Stories like that, I don't think need to necessarily be written by queer authors. But if it's something like traditional queer lit, where it's about the EXPERIENCE of being queer, then that's a subject for own voices. Basically: anyone can write about a princess who saves the world and falls in love with a cat girl, but only someone who is bi should write a story about a girl in high school who's struggling with her bi identity. That's not to say the princess can't be struggling with her identity, too, it's just about framing and what the actual focus is of the narrative.

Evan Peterson: While there is definitely the presence of misconceptions and microaggressions within the alphabet towards other parts of the alphabet, I still find myself much more wary of cis-straight writers writing queer characters. I won't avoid them, but I do approach them more guarded and prepared for disappointment. 

Inka York: I don't write LGBTQ+ fiction, by which I mean my books are not about BEING LGBTQ+, so I don't market/categorise them that way. I write queer casts, stories about kicking angel/demon/vampire/whatever butt while being queer, or paranormal pirate adventures but everyone is gay. And I write these queer casts because when I was growing up I didn't have books where everyone was as casually queer as they were casually cishet.

I genuinely don't care what people write, but if I'm reading LGBTQ+ focused books, I favour own voices because authenticity is important to me as a reader. I don't think it's my place to tell other authors what they should and shouldn't be writing.

October Santerelli: It doesn't have to be written by an LGBTQ+ person! One of the best books I ever read was written by a middle-aged cisgender Christian mom in her 40s. The queer character was a side character and helped the main character realize human is human and love outweighs intolerance. What makes a story LGBTQ+ friendly is giving us stories outside the stereotypes and letting us and our existence help tell a tale, any tale. Humanizing us. I feel like LGBTQ+ focused is coming out stories, queer romances, etc. Things that inherently focus on the aspect of queer as a story-driving element. But any story with a developed character who is LGBTQ+ is queer-friendly.

Sarah Marshall Malluck: For a LGBTQIA+ focused book, the writer needs to tell the story in an authentic way without villainizing the character because of their sexuality. I mean the character can be the antagonist as long as it’s not tangled into their LGBTQIA+-ness. Anyone can be a dick.

As for friendly, treating characters as you would a cis/straight character is important. Don’t make a big deal about it. Like “This is my friend Bob and his boyfriend Pete. Can you believe they met at the post office?”

I highly suggest hiring a sensitivity reader if you write a character that you do not have a similar lived experience (this includes different cultures and race). I hired a sensitivity reader for my sapphic romance even though I’m pansexual, because I’ve been in a straight passing relationship for 20 years now. I want to be respectful.

Continuing from that previous question, what are some issues you have seen -- both helpful and harmful -- that ally writers who aren't living in the life of an LGBTQIA+ person do well or do poorly? What more can they do to be an ally who is a writer?

Inka York: This may ruffle some feathers, but I think LGBTQ+ authors are just as capable of writing harmful messages as allies. We're not a monolith, and some of the hate is coming from inside the house from folks who, frankly, should know better.

I can't say I've read anything glaringly horrible from an author who's a known ally, and if their sexuality/gender identity isn't known, I'm not gonna go looking. There are enough readers and authors out there trying to gatekeep queer stories by outing authors or forcing them to out themselves, and it's repulsive.

I always recommend authors get a sensitivity reader or two if they're including experiences vastly different from their own. It's easy to say "avoid harmful stereotypes," but you don't know what you don't know. If you're not part of the demographic yourself, you may not be aware of the nuances of microaggressions and dogwhistles, for example. Casual inclusion of side characters is enough if allies want to add representation but would feel out of their depth doing more. Just acknowledgement that we exist and are normal like everyone else. There are online groups to help with that too.

October Santerelli: In my work as a sensitivity editor, a lot of what I see is trying to step into a lived experience they don't have. It's easier to write about a trans person from an outside perspective if you are cis and have met a trans person, it's harder to get in their head and write the genuine experience of it without said experience. I see them want to include representation without knowing how to do do without making a huge deal out of it, too, but some of my favorites have been when characters talk about their two moms or casually mention a boyfriend. I love, as an example, the jock in the movie Paranorman. The whole movie he is a stereotypical dude bro, the cheerleader is flirting with him, at the end she asks if he wants to go see a rom-com sometime...and the jock goes yeah, can my boyfriend come? He's a chick flick nut. No big drums, not even making a scene about it at the start, just letting this character be who he is and letting it come up naturally in the story. The more normal you write us, the more normal we seem!

Sarah Marshall Malluck: If an ally asks questions of the community while writing, they tend to create a better story with realistic characters. You can spot a writer who makes assumptions pretty quickly. Not all non-binary people are androgynous. Don’t write all your LGBTQIA+ characters to stereotypes.

An ally who is a writer should be open about their work, don’t back down when people are openly homophobic/transphobic, do the research, do the work, and accept constructive criticism. Allys need to step up and openly support the community.

Evan Peterson: If you're straight and cisgender, are you intentional in why you want to include queer characters? Do you have a strong circle of queer friends/family/peers who give you firsthand awareness of our lives and struggles and who would feel safe calling you in of you wrote something harmful, stereotyped, or problematic? I question how a cis straight writer can write honest queer depictions without really knowing the queer experience. Utilizing sensitivity readers (I hate that term) could also be helpful. And most important, listening to criticism when it comes without succumbing to the knee-jerk reaction of getting defensive is an important quality for all writers to have, but even more so for those who are writing any marginalized background they haven't themselves experienced.

DL Wainright: I have seen straight authors force a heteronormative perspective onto queer couples in narratives (basically, assigning one person the "male" role and one the "female" role, despite the actual genders of the couple). People also like to demonstrate that the guy is trans by making him short and fae-like, and that the woman is trans by making her really tall. And, like, I'm trans masc and am taller than my cis husband. My point being that cishet authors tend to very obviously be affected by this erroneous perspective that we have been fed in narratives for a very long time that all boys are like A and all girls are like B and that's just how things are. When in truth humans are gloriously diverse. There are cis women who aren't typically effeminate in the way that would fit that box. Likewise, there are cis men who don't like or do the things men are "supposed" to like and do. When we say that gender is a spectrum, that encompasses every aspect of one's gender, including how they present, and how they "perform" gender. I think a great first step for a cishet author, in helping them improve how they write queer characters, would be for them to start breaking out of boxes when it comes to even just writing cishet characters. Look around you at the people you know, not at characters in shows. Look at your family and your friends. Really consider how varied they all are in how they dress, their interests, their relationship dynamics...but also look at the similarities regardless of gender. And I want to note, I'm not asking for "She's not like other girls" kind of stuff, I'm asking for more realistic depictions of human beings. Once you can do that with cishet characters, then you will be better equipped to try your hand at folks who challenge the norms even more. 

Emmy Anthony: We can all work on non-gendered or neutral characters. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros has several bisexual characters and that fact is only acknowledged in terms of which dorm room they happen to be seen sneaking out of. I like that. Sexuality isn’t someone’s whole identity.

Mari Hersh-Tudor: One of the most egregious sins hetero writers commit is the Character Cliche: it’s lazy writing that depends on the reader’s brain to fill in the details by sketching an outdated incorrect empty wrapper instead of writing a fully nuanced actual character. Examples include the power-tool-toting bull-dyke with a buzz cut and a flannel shirt and a red pickup truck. Or the effeminate gay man in pink bunny slippers with a lisp and a muffin bakery.

These are extreme examples but dead giveaways that the author is a cishet without a clue.

LGBTQ characters are just *people,* folks. That kid next to you on the bus. The old lady feeding squirrels in the park.

I don’t believe that LGBTQIA books are required to address certain issues or have a minimum body count of non-cishet characters. While that’s certainly an established genre, there’s plenty of room for good solid fiction that just happens to have a more accurate population.

How is the publishing world changing for you? Is it becoming more or less accepting? Do you find readers to be more or less progressive when it comes to gender identity and sexual identity culture?

Emmy Anthony: I as a romantasy writer feel pinned. I would like to have a gay/lesbian main romance arch but the majority of readers seem to expect heterosexual main characters with LGBT friends.

DL Wainright: The reason I self-published was because back when my first book came out, it was like how I described before, where books with queer protagonists had to be about the queer experience itself. And mine wasn't, it was about monsters that ate people and a group of queer young people dealing with all of that. So back then, no agent was interested because they wouldn't have been able to sell it. Now YA is booming with queer content, and I've had agents express interest in whatever I come out with after this series (as they can't use something already in print). The publishing world is definitely changing, with YA leading the way when it comes to quality queer representation. The market targeted towards adults is getting there at a slower pace, likely because of the differences between generations when it comes to views on queerness. If you go to cons, you can often find indie authors with adult books featuring queer characters, because that's unfortunately still their best option until the publishing world catches up. Talking with customers at cons, I fully believe the market is there, especially considering that Millennials are aging (I'm in my 40s, for example), and we're a generation that's very queer and want to continue reading stories with representation beyond things for teens.

Mari Hersh-Tudor: I find the publishing world has some welcoming established genres for queer characters, and that’s a definite improvement from 50 years ago. I don’t see much that breaks out of those safe lanes, though, like a serious gay James Bond, for instance.

Cons and fairs are much more welcoming than they used to be.

The paradox of having established queer lit genres means that those have become the only acceptable outlets, and god help you if you try to publish a round peg that doesn’t fit in those square holes. So while there are more outlets, they are narrowly defined and can be restrictive.

Sarah Marshall Malluck: Being an indie author, I find that readers are becoming more progressive. There is a higher demand for books with diverse gender identity and sexual identity. I also think these next few years will be difficult for authors who write in that space due to the political climate. But this is not the time to hide. I can pass for a cis straight woman, but I choose not to because there needs to be more voices to push back against the chaos. I want people to know I’m a safe space should they need it.

October Santerelli: Right now, the industry is a weird mix. A lot of places are becoming more hostile, I've seen some small press in solid Red states pulling back from publishing or acquiring these stories. But then there are places like Penguin putting out open, unagented submissions for books by queer authors and more small houses and imprints starting just to lift our voices. There's a push in both directions and it's going to get rough. There's no doubt about that. Readers themselves are just as divided. Videos asking for more queer authors, Trans Readathon, and booksky influencers who love their rainbow flags are just as common as influencers telling people to DNF books as soon as they see queer content, people trying to ban books from libraries and bookstores, and people threatening, harassing, or questioning queer authors. A friend who is a MULTIPLE TIMES NYT bestseller dreads podcasts about their work because 9 times out of 10, they are asked why someone is queer and they hate having to defend our existence in a story by one of us for us about us.

Inka York: I write a lot of romance, and readers lap that shit up. Queer media is doing big numbers all round, so yes, I think the audience is becoming more accepting. I'm not focusing on those who are less accepting because they're not my people. I don't think about them at all. I only care about my readers and those with the potential to become my readers.

The biggest change for me in recent months is that readers are coming around to the idea of buying direct from me. Direct sales for fiction was virtually unheard of a few years ago, but that's not specific to any niche or demographic. It's just an observation. LGBTQ+ folks have a tendency to be more sceptical of big corporations dipping into their pockets than the population at large, though, so I think they're more willing to support creators directly. I think we're going to see big movement in direct sales and subscriptions over the next few years.