I'm a recently-realized homosexual (damn the developmental delay from Asperger's), and I've been realizing how much of myself I had to hold back, thus creating a whole slew of problems for my writing without it (as I put a lot of myself in all my books, whether its one character, a situation, or whatever).
I didn't even know what this subforum was until I was looking through the forums, trying to figure out where to post a question. Not sure if this is the right place, but I figure its the best place for now.
Because I live in Utah, I've been exposed to shall we say a less tolerant viewpoint on LGBT and its place in entertainment. I've recently finished a novel where it was revealed (near the end of the book) that the detective is gay. His sexuality will play a much larger role in the following books, but for the first book its in the background. I do drop clues throughout the book, so as to stave off any shock, but I have begun to feel nervous as to how acceptable a gay protagonist is in fiction nowadays, especially if its not directly a gay/lesbian novel (which I assume are primarily romantic ones). If this is an error on my part, I would like to know. I would also like to know if its as accepted as homosexuality seems to be in the world today (minus the anti-LGBT zealots).
Of course, if nothing comes of the current slate of queries I sent out, I might rework the book so its more obvious, since the realization of what I was missing came late in the game, so to speak.
By the way, does that happen to anyone else? They come to a realization about some aspect of their book after writing queries? This is a recurring problem for me, and I was wondering how anyone deals with it if they've sent out queries. Do you just hope you don't get replies?
I didn't even know what this subforum was until I was looking through the forums, trying to figure out where to post a question. Not sure if this is the right place, but I figure its the best place for now.
Because I live in Utah, I've been exposed to shall we say a less tolerant viewpoint on LGBT and its place in entertainment. I've recently finished a novel where it was revealed (near the end of the book) that the detective is gay. His sexuality will play a much larger role in the following books, but for the first book its in the background. I do drop clues throughout the book, so as to stave off any shock, but I have begun to feel nervous as to how acceptable a gay protagonist is in fiction nowadays, especially if its not directly a gay/lesbian novel (which I assume are primarily romantic ones). If this is an error on my part, I would like to know. I would also like to know if its as accepted as homosexuality seems to be in the world today (minus the anti-LGBT zealots).
Of course, if nothing comes of the current slate of queries I sent out, I might rework the book so its more obvious, since the realization of what I was missing came late in the game, so to speak.
By the way, does that happen to anyone else? They come to a realization about some aspect of their book after writing queries? This is a recurring problem for me, and I was wondering how anyone deals with it if they've sent out queries. Do you just hope you don't get replies?
