ShopDreamUp AI ArtDreamUp
Deviation Actions
Wow, this is a tough topic these days. I just found out about AJ Llewellyn being a woman. Yes, a woman, not the gay man she pretended to be.
We both started out at eXtasy Books writing M/M Romance, though I prefer to write more of the Yaoi variety I've had plenty of banter back and forth with AJ about writing, the M/M genre and the like and I must say I feel a bit... shocked. I know that women have taken male pen names in times past in order to get published and all that. And I know that some female M/M Romance authors have male pen names currently and keep hush about their true identity. I suppose it is no one's business but their own. Or is it?
Here's the deal. If I read a M/M Romance book by a particular author with a male pen name, I assume certain things. The first being, that they have first-hand knowledge of what it's like to be a gay man and maybe I'll learn a few things. Of course, that's the author in me. And if and when I encounter this author in a chat or on some social media site, I speak to them as if they're the gender of their pen name. I take into account their opinions on writing and other topics based on what I think their gender is, right or wrong. I can't help it. We've all been programmed to think a certain way based on our upbringing as a particular gender and have preconceived notions about the opposite gender. I hope that makes sense
As far as author gender and writing M/M Romance or even Yaoi for that matter, my question is this: Should authors be straight up about their genders? I mean, we're writing about gay men for a predominantly straight female audience. M/M Romance is not the same (at least in my eyes) as gay romance - presumably written by gay men with a target audience of gay men. So it seems to me that author gender might matter. Women in general put more emotion into their romances, especially if we're targeting a female audience. Again, my freakin' opinion But women are emotional creatures. Emotion is what we crave, right?
I'm also wondering if the female authors writing under a male pen name are doing the rest of us authors a disservice. It's hard to go about telling people who aren't familiar with this genre that you're a straight woman writing gay romance. I've blogged about my follies with that a few times. You need a thick skin and a hardy sense of humor. Maybe if more of these women writing gay romance for other women were more up front about it, it would normalize the situation a bit more and make it easier for all of us. Stand proud that you're a straight woman writing about gay men, damn it
So now that I've said my piece - chime in here. What do you all think?
We both started out at eXtasy Books writing M/M Romance, though I prefer to write more of the Yaoi variety I've had plenty of banter back and forth with AJ about writing, the M/M genre and the like and I must say I feel a bit... shocked. I know that women have taken male pen names in times past in order to get published and all that. And I know that some female M/M Romance authors have male pen names currently and keep hush about their true identity. I suppose it is no one's business but their own. Or is it?
Here's the deal. If I read a M/M Romance book by a particular author with a male pen name, I assume certain things. The first being, that they have first-hand knowledge of what it's like to be a gay man and maybe I'll learn a few things. Of course, that's the author in me. And if and when I encounter this author in a chat or on some social media site, I speak to them as if they're the gender of their pen name. I take into account their opinions on writing and other topics based on what I think their gender is, right or wrong. I can't help it. We've all been programmed to think a certain way based on our upbringing as a particular gender and have preconceived notions about the opposite gender. I hope that makes sense
As far as author gender and writing M/M Romance or even Yaoi for that matter, my question is this: Should authors be straight up about their genders? I mean, we're writing about gay men for a predominantly straight female audience. M/M Romance is not the same (at least in my eyes) as gay romance - presumably written by gay men with a target audience of gay men. So it seems to me that author gender might matter. Women in general put more emotion into their romances, especially if we're targeting a female audience. Again, my freakin' opinion But women are emotional creatures. Emotion is what we crave, right?
I'm also wondering if the female authors writing under a male pen name are doing the rest of us authors a disservice. It's hard to go about telling people who aren't familiar with this genre that you're a straight woman writing gay romance. I've blogged about my follies with that a few times. You need a thick skin and a hardy sense of humor. Maybe if more of these women writing gay romance for other women were more up front about it, it would normalize the situation a bit more and make it easier for all of us. Stand proud that you're a straight woman writing about gay men, damn it
So now that I've said my piece - chime in here. What do you all think?
Should an Author let on about Their Fanfiction?
I've always been a bit bothered by another M/M Romance author's bit of advice that given to me during a chat. The advice was basically this: Don't tell anyone you wrote fanfiction.
Now, as an M/M Romance author who got started in this business by writing Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction and has used this fact as much as possible to let my fanfiction readers know that - hey, I have some original published stories, too, and they're a lot better than the fanfiction stories - I can't let myself really believe this is good advice. It seems to me if someone likes your fanfiction stories, then they'd probably like your original published stories, w
Why do the Men in Yaoi not Want Sex?
I'm watching this yaoi anime on Crunchyroll (finally, Yaoi on Crunchyroll!), Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi - World's Greatest First Love, and I realized that in so many Yaoi anime and manga, the guys don't seem to actually want to have sex, at least the ukes don't. Why is that? Don't all men want to have sex all the time? If so, shouldn't it hold true that in our gay male stories, there's lots of man sex and they're loving it?
So, I was putting dishes away, because God knows I have nothing better to do on a Sunday morning;) and I'm thinking to myself about why we as straight women like this sort of thing. I mean, we must, right? Or why would the Yaoi
Writing the Perfect M/M Romance Hero
Hot guys come in all flavors and sizes. So as a writer of M/M romance books, I'm always striving to make the perfect hero. Of course, this means the perfect hero as I see the perfect hero, because, after all, I only have my own perception to rely on. And what is the perfect hero in my view? Usually a hero that's not so perfect, if that makes any sense:)
To me, the perfect hero is a dichotomy - a man that's strong and protective and yet flawed, sensitive and vulnerable. Yep, I said all those things in one sentence. It seems I'm always drawn to heroes I see in anime - Vincent Law of Ergo Proxy (do I talk enough about this dude, or what?), Kira
Why can\'t JRockers come here?
Okay, so I live in the desert and it's like, 115 degrees today. I get it. It's hot. But so what? We have air conditioning. Yoshiki's hair will not go limp.
So everytime I see that one of my favorite JRock groups are on a "World Tour" it seems they never make it to the center of the USA. Sure, they make stops in New York and Los Angeles (lucky bastards), but never come to Phoenix, Arizona or God forbid, Nebraska. We interior folks like our JRock, too. Right? I mean, when X Japan played Chicago at the Lollapalooza last year all the headlines were that X Japan stunned and awed the fans. Think of how many new fans they'd make if they simply went
© 2011 - 2024 animegeik
Comments0
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In