I'm working on a YA PNR series and in a future book I want to feature 2 men who fall in love. I asked the beta readers who loved my Book 1 whether they would be interested in reading a gay romance in a future book.
Three of them said they don't support gay relationships and thus would not read the book.
Another three of them said though they have nothing against gay relationships, they themselves read only straight romance because that is what interests them.
Another two said they would love to read a gay romance.
It's not a huge sample but I definitely get the impression there's a bigger market for straight romance even in a genre like YA PNR.
After years of being told non-white characters don't sell, I'm now hearing readers clamor for diversity on blogs like this:
http://paperfury.com/2016-ya-genre-trend-predictions/
where they predicted in 2016, books would feature more diversity, people of color, and different sexual orientations.
and there's this book:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25467698-the-love-that-split-the-world
In reviews of the above book, reviewer after reviewer praised the fact it has a dark-skinned protag:
"This book has diversity (for example, the main character is dark-skinned Native American) and feminism, two traits that are incredibly rare in YA literature."
They also liked learning something about Native American myths.
Another quote from another blog:
"We have not achieved diversity in romance, and we will not until the worlds depicted in the books we read look like the world we live in-a melting pot of colors and religions and sexual preferences and differently-abled people. No group should be relegated to a separate shelf in the book store. This is the WORLD of romance. One world, one love-cause in the end, it's all about the LOVE.
"Also, on that diversity thing…not only the characters, but for once, I'd like an author to show me what it means to have a constructive discussion about diversity and race." - See more at:
http://www.scandaliciousbookreviews.com/why-im-taking-a-breather-from-contemporary-romance/?utm_source=Scandalicious+Book+Reviews+Newsletter&utm_campaign=827f748f58-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9ec42af193-827f748f58-91190101#sthash.G6KZAJGd.dpuf
Perhaps the time has finally come when American readers actually want to read of other cultures, at any rate if they're interesting.
Even before I read all the above, I planned to show something of Indian culture in my story.
My 2 gay heroes:
Blaze is a 25 year old self-made American billionaire who is used to people throwing themselves at him for his money.
Ash is a 21 year old Hindu guy from India. He went to college in the US and then went to work for Blaze as a software engineer.
We learn something of him and his beliefs on various occasions such as when his 16 year old sister is rebelling against her culture and wants to become totally Americanized and he tells her:
"You come from the culture that produced the greatest human being the world has ever known. A man who faced down the most powerful nation on earth at the time without a weapon. A man who stood up to the might of the British Empire and won freedom for his people without violence.
"People from all over the world have come to India or studied our beliefs and traditions because they got something from our culture that they know they don't get from their own.
"Be very sure of what you are rejecting before you reject it. At least be aware of of what it actually means to be a Hindu and what India has offered the world before you decide to totally reject your heritage."
You get the idea. Ash is a Hindu who is proud of his Indian heritage. And the more Blaze learns about him, the more he realizes Ash is no gold-digger but someone whose mind he wants to explore and who he can't help falling in love with.
I see these 2 guys and their romance so clearly. I have a ton of stuff to write about them.
But there have been so many posts on this board about writing to market and about how romance is a genre where you need to stick to the tropes in order to sell.
And I think that in order to get the most readers, I would have to make Ash a woman. I would have to change some things about the way the romance goes but a lot can remain, such as Ash's beliefs and world views.
As a [straight] Indian woman, I feel I can write any Indian characters, straight or gay. I just really see these 2 as 2 gay men.
I also wanted to portray gay characters because I thought it would be great to give them as positive role models. I grew up in a Muslim country in the Middle East and I now live in India. All my life I've lived in places where homosexuality is illegal. I've seen what driving it underground does.
But as I said: the market. The fact that a few gay romances have cracked the top 100 doesn't mean much. I feel I'll get more readers if I make these 2 men a straight couple.
So what do you think I should do? make them gay or straight?
I wish I could be sure I'll get as many readers if I feature the gay romance but as people have been saying, its not about what you the writer wants; its about what the reader wants.
Three of them said they don't support gay relationships and thus would not read the book.
Another three of them said though they have nothing against gay relationships, they themselves read only straight romance because that is what interests them.
Another two said they would love to read a gay romance.
It's not a huge sample but I definitely get the impression there's a bigger market for straight romance even in a genre like YA PNR.
After years of being told non-white characters don't sell, I'm now hearing readers clamor for diversity on blogs like this:
http://paperfury.com/2016-ya-genre-trend-predictions/
where they predicted in 2016, books would feature more diversity, people of color, and different sexual orientations.
and there's this book:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25467698-the-love-that-split-the-world
In reviews of the above book, reviewer after reviewer praised the fact it has a dark-skinned protag:
"This book has diversity (for example, the main character is dark-skinned Native American) and feminism, two traits that are incredibly rare in YA literature."
They also liked learning something about Native American myths.
Another quote from another blog:
"We have not achieved diversity in romance, and we will not until the worlds depicted in the books we read look like the world we live in-a melting pot of colors and religions and sexual preferences and differently-abled people. No group should be relegated to a separate shelf in the book store. This is the WORLD of romance. One world, one love-cause in the end, it's all about the LOVE.
"Also, on that diversity thing…not only the characters, but for once, I'd like an author to show me what it means to have a constructive discussion about diversity and race." - See more at:
http://www.scandaliciousbookreviews.com/why-im-taking-a-breather-from-contemporary-romance/?utm_source=Scandalicious+Book+Reviews+Newsletter&utm_campaign=827f748f58-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9ec42af193-827f748f58-91190101#sthash.G6KZAJGd.dpuf
Perhaps the time has finally come when American readers actually want to read of other cultures, at any rate if they're interesting.
Even before I read all the above, I planned to show something of Indian culture in my story.
My 2 gay heroes:
Blaze is a 25 year old self-made American billionaire who is used to people throwing themselves at him for his money.
Ash is a 21 year old Hindu guy from India. He went to college in the US and then went to work for Blaze as a software engineer.
We learn something of him and his beliefs on various occasions such as when his 16 year old sister is rebelling against her culture and wants to become totally Americanized and he tells her:
"You come from the culture that produced the greatest human being the world has ever known. A man who faced down the most powerful nation on earth at the time without a weapon. A man who stood up to the might of the British Empire and won freedom for his people without violence.
"People from all over the world have come to India or studied our beliefs and traditions because they got something from our culture that they know they don't get from their own.
"Be very sure of what you are rejecting before you reject it. At least be aware of of what it actually means to be a Hindu and what India has offered the world before you decide to totally reject your heritage."
You get the idea. Ash is a Hindu who is proud of his Indian heritage. And the more Blaze learns about him, the more he realizes Ash is no gold-digger but someone whose mind he wants to explore and who he can't help falling in love with.
I see these 2 guys and their romance so clearly. I have a ton of stuff to write about them.
But there have been so many posts on this board about writing to market and about how romance is a genre where you need to stick to the tropes in order to sell.
And I think that in order to get the most readers, I would have to make Ash a woman. I would have to change some things about the way the romance goes but a lot can remain, such as Ash's beliefs and world views.
As a [straight] Indian woman, I feel I can write any Indian characters, straight or gay. I just really see these 2 as 2 gay men.
I also wanted to portray gay characters because I thought it would be great to give them as positive role models. I grew up in a Muslim country in the Middle East and I now live in India. All my life I've lived in places where homosexuality is illegal. I've seen what driving it underground does.
But as I said: the market. The fact that a few gay romances have cracked the top 100 doesn't mean much. I feel I'll get more readers if I make these 2 men a straight couple.
So what do you think I should do? make them gay or straight?
I wish I could be sure I'll get as many readers if I feature the gay romance but as people have been saying, its not about what you the writer wants; its about what the reader wants.
That tends to be for teenage-aged characters. It's contemporary romance with a gay romance. And don't feel you need to put sex in it either if you feel uncomfortable writing it, there are sweet gay romances too just as there are lots of subgenres like in straight romance: historical, fantasy, pnr, shifters, you name it.
