yaoi anyone?

Yaoi is cool.

There are so many on the market. I've not actually read many since I can't stand their storylines. Heheheh. However, the graphics are amazing, sometimes better than the rest of the manga lining the shelves.

The gammit may be run but it is very hard to find especially in the limited English language range. Most of what is on the shelf at borders is pretty cliched IMHO and sometimes borderline un-PC-- you need to dig around the internet to get diversity.

I'm with Veinglory on this one. Except, my access in Chinese. And even though the selection is huge, the variation of storylines is limited and many of them cliche. If I'm cringing at the first panel, that's not a good thing. Hehehe.

I would love recommendations for stories where one partner doesn't always have to be reluctant. I know it's part of the classic dynamic but I'm a "no means no" grrl.

I've seen some good stuff through there online groups. I'm not fond of some of the art though. Even though the characters are "supposed" to be 19+ they look like 13 year olds *squick*

Ah yaoi, a topic I can jump into with both feet. I'll admit a lot of yaoi manga is crap. I can't tell you how many I've read with the same plot: sweet, gentle kid with one or no parents gets into elite private school despite being poor. He meets an obnoxious brat, a BMOC, and learns the BMOC has a heart of gold when he does something noble for the kid. A friendship starts, someone makes the startling confession of "I like you" (which in Japan is apparently a romantic revelation) and they kiss. They start on the path to a relationship, everything goes fine until there's A Misunderstanding. Eventually they get past that, jump into bed and always, always, the tough guy pitches whilst the kid cries, goes "Ah....uh..." and bears a striking resemblence to a pre-teen. The end.

There are only a handful of yaoi stories I like because too many are extremely derrivative and overly soppy. The only people I've seen do a really good, realistic job conveying gay relationships are Kaori Yuki (Boys Next Door is as far from the scenerio above as one can get), Youko Kawaii (CUT) someone or other Bohma (who had awesome sex scenes, BTW), and a handful of others.

I generally prefer general manga with characters who happen to be gay. Then they have better things to worry about than "Gee, he's cute! Does he like me?" For instance Higari Yuu has some fabulous plots, and with the exception of Ludwig and that one about the cross-dressing rock singer, none are based around a relationship. I grab anything I can find by her.

Back to the original topic (which I actually forgot until I rechecked the OP's post), I'm sure your manga will be good, so long as you make sure not to let it become too cliched. And thank you for actually trying to work out a way to make mpreg semi plauable! It seems no one bothers. I find the concept squicky in general (since my first thought is inevitable "Where's the baby going to come out?"), but if there's some effort made to portray it with realism I wouldn't mind it as much. Just don't make the pregnant person act too campy and melodramatic.

I agree about Mpreg, I used to think it did nothing for me--then I re-watched the 80s TV show 'Alien Nation' on DVD and remembered what a compelling idea it can be in a context that actually makes sense.

Boy, am I glad I searched for the phrase "yaoi" under Yahoo! Images.

Scratch that. What I meant was, "boy am I glad that the wife who was standing behind me is a sane and level-headed woman."

Next try "mpreg" - I challenge anyone to find a wife *that* sane.

I write yaoi fanfiction. there's a LOT of bad stuff out there. When I began writing it, I had trouble and my stories were akward and jerky. Then I realized what the problem was....the character were too young. So I skipped up five years and BANG! problem solved. my characters now have more depth and the plots and sub-plots are more complex.

There's nothing I hate worse than the underage thing. it's almost as bad as the brother falls deeply in love with his brother/sister and can't live without him/here junk. Just MO, tho.

Maybe I should age up characters. Instead I write them as teens and occassionally they'll come across a bit too pulled together for their ages. Of course they often do in canon (Prince Chid (?) from Escaflowne comes to mind, though he has nothing to do with yaoi) which makes me feel a little better. I make sure to leave in a touch of obnoxiousness and thickheadedness which hopefully means they come across as teenagers instead of thirtysomethings, at least most of the time. Knock on wood!

I'll agree with the soulmate siblings thing. That never rang true to me in Angel Sanctuary. I mean at the start they never even seemed to get along that well or have any hint of anything beyond sibling affection. Then bam, suddenly they're Romeo and Juliet, running off to together and wanting to die for each other. I hate that, and not just with siblings but in general. If we're to buy that their actually soulmates, the author needs to put an awful lot of work into making it plausable or it just seems silly.