How long should it be.....

Whut! A homosexualist in a novel?!

Someone better tell Alan Hollinghurst before someone gives him a Booker!

Oh. Wait.

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In short, the sexuality of your character has no influence on your book being published. Nor does their age, size, nationality, race, religion, morality, background, family, personality, whether or not they'd kick a puppy or whatever day of the week on which you submit your manuscript.

The only thing that has an impact is writing your story well.

signed,

scarletpeaches, whose NaNo '08 starts off with a smex scene and doesn't care.

Write for yourself first, love what you write, tell a good story, then think about your audience.

Read other books that have similar themes as yours--in the same and dif. genres.

Sex and sexuality read as fiction can often be more accepted than real life situations.

Publishing has hundreds of variables from how well the book is written, does the synopsis do it justice, is the publisher having a bad day at the office, wrong for that pub's audience, etc.

I'm sorry, but sex has no place in literature or anywhere else in the world for that matter. I think we should do away with it completely.

Signed
Sarah Palin

Charlie Horse said:

I'm sorry, but sex has no place in literature or anywhere else in the world for that matter. I think we should do away with it completely.

Signed
Sarah Palin

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But, but, Sarah! It's the key to your success, isn't it? Abstinence schmabstinence.

Gay MCs are fine, except, I suppose, for some religious or straightcentric romance markets.

(Please read whole post since I realize my mistake partway through. )

Truthfully I'd be perplexed if I don't even know the gender of the main character by page 180! Unless the character is disguising themselves or comes across sort of androgynously? I'd understand the other characters not being certain of such things, but how does one get through 180 pages without revealing the main character's gender? How do you refer to this character--he, she, it, they?

If it's simply a matter of referring to the MC as he or she or something when that's not REALLY what they are, then I understand, this can increase reader suspense and uncertainty. But the character has to be referred to in some way, even if it's later shown they're not what the reader thinks they are.

Regarding their sexuality, in truth I'm MORE interested in reading about gay characters, *LOL.* But it depends on the reader. I doubt it'd make most readers put the book down based on that alone. Whether it's publishable depends on the publisher, but gay characters don't seem to really make books unpublishable nowadays.

But I must confess I'm baffled about not revealing the main character's gender until so late in the story, unless, like I said, it's just a matter of subterfuge.

*checks original post, which is good, because--*

OH! 180 words, not pages. Sorry about that! You know, 180 words is really a small amount in regards to a novel. That's no big deal. Sometimes the main character doesn't even show up in the first chapter! But I leave the rest of what I typed up because it's really best to give SOME idea of the MC's gender early on, even if it's misleading information (e. g., saying they're a guy when really they're a woman, and not revealing the truth until later).

Considering there wil be a cover blub, and the sex will very likely be revealed there, don't worry about it. It's 200 words into mine before there's a hint of the sex, and 500 before it's stated clearly. (This novel sold by the way)

The only way a gay MC would impact getting published if it was done solely for shock value and there's opinion preaching involved. Of course, of the book is about the MC being gay and how that affects them then it's probably okay as long as it isn't annoying

Noes don't get teh gays in our litreetshure!

And all those hacks like Le Guin should just stop it now, already.

Sheesh. You guys. Gays are people too.

I think it's an interesting idea to not reveal the sex of the character right away. I can't really say how long you should wait because I know nothing about your story. On the topic of a gay MC, well, the same goes for my book. ^^ It's my favorite thing to write actually.

Clear as mud.

rostaria01 said:

well this story the short version is, alex, has a dream about an american girl, where they are getting married, Alex, filled with greats desire gets in there mind to go america to track her down (they write a poem/prophecy) we discover that Alex was called there for a purpose. However I dont know if to make it a girl or boy, it was my intention to reveal its sexuality at the end

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There are agencies that say they are looking for gay/lesbian novels. No problem.

180 words is what-- a paragraph?

I've got some gay male friends who obsess about weddings. I really don't see any shock value in relvealing Alex's gender because logically, if it is a publisher who takes GLBT type stories, the reader would kind of assume Alex was a homosexual. I personally think that you should write clearly and without obfuscation, state right out what you are doing-- you need to create a contract with the reader, and it involves a certain amount of trust on their part. To try tricks and tactics will make them mistrust you from the start. Plot twists work because the reader trusts you. State outright that (perhaps because I don't know the story) Alex loves Jeff and imagines their beautiful wedding, but the reader should not be unsure about whether Alex is a man or a woman.

Is it written in the first person? If it is it could actually work for a while. There's one book by...*tries to remember the author* Jeanette Winterson called Written on the body where the main character has a lover who's sex remains unknown throughout the book.

At 180 words, you should be worrying about writing the story, not what others think. I kind of get the feeling that this is your first novel (but I could be wrong). If that's the case, it's even more important simply to just write the thing. Get it out on paper, then find the market.

And if you decide it works better differently, once you've written more and found out which gender Alex really is (maybe s/he's transgendered? ), you can go back and put that in.

But write the story first.

scarletpeaches said:

Sheesh. You guys. Gays are people too.

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Never knew that, sp. Most people who know me think I'm an alien...

I learn something new about myself every day.

OH NOEZ!

I might catch teh ghey!