Follow the Rainbow Book Reviews Blog Hop: What Writing GLBTQ Literature Means to Me

Welcome to my post for the Follow the Rainbow Book Reviews Blog Hop! 

I'm excited to be a part of the celebration!  I'll be chatting a bit about some of my inspiration and why I write what I write.  Also, I'm giving away one free ebook!  You have your choice between my two current titles: Art of Death, and The Dragon Tamer.  To enter the drawing, simply leave a comment on this blog post along with your email address any time before midnight central time on Sunday 8/26.

On Monday, I'll randomly draw the name of the winner from the comments and contact you by email.  If you have a Dreamspinner account, we'll put the book of your choice on your virtual bookshelf.  Otherwise, the book will be delivered as a PDF by email.

Also, make sure to check out the Rainbow Book Reviews Blog!

What Writing GLBTQ Literature Means to Me

I like to write fun, weird, unusual stories.  Stories with action and drama and humor.  Stories that don't take themselves too seriously.  Heck, my most recent release was about undead painters and the people who worship them—and there's a sequel coming out in October.  When I write stuff like that, how can I take myself seriously?  I like to keep things light, and I like to joke around.  But at times like today, when I take the time to sit down and really think about why I write what I write, I realize just how serious I am.

I've had GLBTQ friends for as long as I can remember.  I'm of an ethnic minority, thus I've always empathized with others who felt like they weren't—or couldn't be—one of the "normal" kids.  I'm even a minority within a minority—a rare Indian with a Christian upbringing when all the other Indians I knew were Hindu.  Not Indian enough for most Indians, not Christian enough for most Christians, not girly enough for most girls, and so on.  My GLBTQ friends were the ones who accepted me for all my weirdness—my utter lack of so-called femininity, my refusal to adhere to, promote, or support restrictive traditional gender roles, and more.  They accepted these things without judgment or questions, the same way I accepted and respected them—and I can't even express how much gratitude I have for that acceptance.

I've wanted to be a storyteller for my entire life, but I've always felt frustration as a consumer because I strongly believe that minorities of all types—ethnic, GLBTQ, gender-based, etc.—should have fair, varied, realistic, and significant representation in fiction.  I'm passionate about this for two reasons:

• People who are part of these minority groups deserve to see characters like themselves in primary roles in fiction.
• People who are not part of these minority groups need to be exposed to these characters as a way of cultivating understanding and empathy, especially when they aren't lucky enough to live in a diverse environment.

Mainstream media likes to essentially "neuter" GLBTQ characters and have them be no more than colorful sidekicks for heterosexual heroes (who happen to get far more on-screen action than said sidekicks).  On the flip side, lower budget indie movies and small press GLBTQ books sometimes reduce their characters down to their sexuality and nothing else, with stories that are either focused entirely on sex and romance, or on the Gay Experience (coming out, gay bashing, AIDS, etc.)

The latter is true of most minorities: stories that feature minority leads are almost always about the "minority experience."  While I think those "minority experience" stories absolutely do need to exist, they're not enough.  Minority characters need to be heroes in all kinds of stories, not just minority-themed stories, and at the same time it needs to be done in a way that doesn't ignore their identity, neuter, or whitewash them.

I looked at these mainstream stories with neutered GLBTQ sidekicks, and then at the genre stories of romance, sex, and more sex, and then at the stories of AIDS, gay bashing, self-loathing, and victimhood.  It left me wondering: where is the middle ground?  Where are the stories of GLBTQ characters living not just the gay experience, not just the love-and-sex experience, but the full human experience?

It got to the point where I felt more frustration than joy after consuming a work of fiction.  I was sick of the idea that only straight white men could have high-flying adventures, solve a murder, make a heroic sacrifice, climb the career ladder, conquer paranormal creatures, or tame a dragon.  I was sick of the idea that minorities could only be sidekicks and supporting characters in such stories, but never leads.  I was sick of GLBTQ genre stories that refused to rise past clichés and familiar territory and failed to deliver substance beyond the sex scenes.

Most importantly, I was sick of ranting about these things but not actually doing anything to fix the problem.

So that's where I stand.  That's why I write what I write.  I write in the middle ground, the land of adventure, love, joy, danger, fun, loss, sex, success, missteps, and everything else that's part of the human experience.  I'm by no means the only person who's devoted to this middle ground of GLBTQ literature, and I rejoice every time I find someone else who shares this exciting space with me.  I'm excited by the recent growth of this middle ground, and I hope to see it continue to flourish.

Thanks for reading!  Make sure to leave a comment below to be entered in my giveaway!  And make sure to check out all the other participants of the blog hop!

[EDIT] Congratulations, wulf, for winning the giveaway!  I will be contacting you by email shortly so you can claim your prize!