Say Yes To Gay YA Part 2

This is a continuation of the Publishers Weekly article I was talking about here.

So apparently, despite not having named the agent who telling two authors she would only consider their YA book if the gay character was made straight, the agent has posted a rejoinder stating that wasn't the change she requested.  And the authors have posted a response to the rejoinder sticking with their story as written.  Now, I don't know any of the people involved and I don't know the whole story, so take sides or not as you choose.  What interests me is that this discussion happened.  Getting the idea that we need more GLTBQ friendly fiction (YA or otherwise) is a good message.

I particularly like Andy's comment a decent way down the page on the rejoinder post.  He's replying to the idea that if readers want more books with GLTBQ content, then it's up to them to buy the books already out:

... I think a point that gets missed is the exclusion of LGBT portrayals is a systematic problem. So to say that the solution is in the hands of readers, to prove that there's a market for LGBT books, is short-sighted, and to me, hurtful.

.6% (at best) of all YA books published last year (excluding self-pubbed) had significant LGBT characters. That's not because of one homophobic agent, one homophobic publishing house. That's the way the publishing industry works.

To draw a parallel to other types of inequity, when we talk about the gender wage gap, women making 80 cents on the dollar, we cannot (sensibly) argue that it's the fault of one bad employer, or the fault of women, or the fault of women not demonstrating that they are worthy of earning the same wage as men.

The solution requires change on every level - publishers, marketers, agents, authors, and yes readers. To just toss it back on authors of LGBT YA, or readers of LGBT YA, pretends that there's an equal playing field for all kinds of books. It ignores the inherent heterosexual privilege in the industry.  ...

(Click here to see his entire comment.)

Well said, Andy.  It's up to the industry as a whole to make things more inclusive, for all groups.  And making people aware of the problem is one small step towards change.

And if you want to read more on this, Steven Dos Santos has posted a rejection letter he received from an agency because his protagonist was gay. He also comments on the same thing Andy does, with one addition:

[Agents commenting on the marketability of gay characters in YA] seem to be perpetuating this marketing issue by stating that “gay” books don’t sell as well as “straight” books and people have to buy more “gay” books so that publishers will realize they’re in demand and want them. Uh…if publishers aren’t publishing that many “gay” books to begin with, just which and where are these “gay” books that readers are supposed to buy to prove the demand for them?

Scott Tracey has also posted about her difficulties getting published.

(Thanks to Grasping for the Wind for the links to most of these posts.)

Genre News

I've come across a few new posts dealing with YesGayYA that I think it's worth passing along.  Malinda Lo has done a great post on authenticity - and the fact that one person's experience doesn't necessarily match that of others:

• The concept of one authentic identity/representation is problematic because cultures and traditions are not tightly bounded; they are fluid and many times hybrid. One Asian American’s experience of growing up in the US is not the same as every other’s.
• When we think about writing fiction, the idea of authenticity is often entangled with the idea of experience. “Write what you know,” etc. However, nobody expects a writer to go out and kill people before she writes murder mysteries.

She linked to a post by Brent Hartinger that deals with diversity.  Among his points are these:

• Talk is cheap. Everyone says, "I'm all for diversity!" But being in favor of diversity in theory is literally pointless. In today's world, the only way it happens is if you consciously make it happen. We all need to be aware of this issue -- in our own works and in the works of others. If the characters you're writing (and reading) are exactly like you, it's worth asking yourself, "Why might that be?"
• ...
• Along those lines, there is no one minority experience of anyone -- not of blacks, not of gays, not of the disabled. What we're talking about are the experiences of individuals -- individual characters, in fact. I really do get why minorities are protective of the way they're portrayed -- they've often been oppressed, ridiculed, and/or stereotyped, usually for centuries. But again, when we're talking about a book or movie, we're talking about individual characters, not entire groups. No one is "representative" of anything. And besides, art is about making connections and finding the emotional heart in a character and situation anyway; it's not about literal "truth."

Both posts make some other excellent points, so go and read them if you're interested.

In other news, Sea Lion Books' graphic novel, Pariah, now has a series of trailers.  My favourites are Sam's because he's created some interesting tech, and Barclay's, because he's angry and sarcastic and he has a plan.  His video is embedded here as it gives more plot details than the others.




And last but not least, 360 Sound and Vision Entertainment is currently filming Cybornetics:

a futuristic science fiction feature film about a group of scientists, working for the United States government, who transform Charles Benjamin,  a small time hustler, into a cyborg. The film stars Raw Leiba, of Conan The Barbarian, and Justiin A. Davis of HBO's Boardwalk Empire.