Hello everyone! I'm new here, as you can probably tell, haha. Hopefully I posted this in the right form, I wasn't exactly sure where it should go. Anyways, the title might seem a bit broad, but rest assured I have a much more in-depth query. To make it as brief as possible, I'm a young author - I will be turning 18 in a few months. I have yet to publish anything, but hope to do so in the near future. Specifically, a novel (that, if I'm able to expand on, would become a series). The plot that I'm primarily interested in writing revolves around two boys who completely loathe one another who find themselves in another world / universe, and learn they are reincarnations who were once princes in this fantasy world. Here's the thing- I would like these two to also learn they had some romantic feelings for one another in their past life. Yes, bisexual main characters, everybody. However, I don't want the book to be focused on romance or be considered an LGBT+ book. Why? That's not the point of the story. It's an adventure / fantasy book. The romance would only be a very subtle (and surprise!) element, and may only be brought up later on in the story if it were turned into a series. I guess what my question is..does this hurt my chances of getting published? Will I receive backlash for the sexualities of my characters or will publishing agencies turn away from me? I genuinely do not know much about the standing position of this topic in the writing world. I know there is a genre directed towards LGBT+ youth, but what about other genres? Am I walking on dangerous ice here as someone just starting out in the writing world? I appreciate any and all feed-back!
It's increasingly less of a big deal. And considering that writing a novel and getting it actually ready for publishing takes a long time, by then it'll be even less of an issue. I wouldn't compromise what I want to write because of the current environment - not to be a downer but there's realistically such a slim chance of getting published anyway, why not just go headlong into what you really want to make? (Btw, this probably should've gone in the publishing forum, but no worries.)
It's not a big deal and the classification will depend more on the publisher and on how much focus there is on the romance. If you're writing an actual fantasy, it'll just be a LGBT Fantasy classification and most publishers won't care if the writing is good.
Don't worry about it. Write what you write. Write for yourself first. Besides, you have no idea at this point (as none of us ever do) what final form the story will take.
Don't worry about it - unless you find yourself trying to pitch to a publisher/agency with a religious bent (probably not, I assume) then it absolutely shouldn't make a difference in the slightest. That said, if you're just going to touch on it once and not really make it part of the characters or the story - why is it there at all? Is it just an offhand comment, or is the fact that they are lovers in an alternate universe going to impact on their relationship with each other? (I would assume it would, even if it just makes them hate each other all the more) I think what's more likely to work against you is if it looks like you've just thrown that detail in for kicks, or to look progressive, without it really meaning anything to the story as a whole.
It's going to disadvantage you in some quarters (religious, mostly) and advantage you in others (many agents/publishers actively looking for diversity). In short, no. Some people might see it that way, but I've also seen a bunch of agents asking for "real diversity, not issues disguised as people" so I think they'd like a story where characters are LGBTQ without that being the main focus.
Oh, certainly - but I'd expect the same if it were a heterosexual male and female pair who discovered they were lovers in a parallel universe. It's got to have some bearing on the story and the characters, even if they just grimace at the thought of it from time to time or try not to think about it, otherwise it's a detail that needn't be included in the story at all. To me, the only difference between the two cases is that in one case it would appear to be there just to shout "look! they're bi!", whereas the other would have absolutely no purpose. Neither is good storytelling, really.
There's a long and distinguished history of gay characters in fantasy - not an issue, and possibly a selling point. Carry on.
Thank you to everyone who has responded! It makes me feel much better knowing it isn't as much of an issue as I had thought. Regardless, I will take into consideration that I should focus more on how I want to take the story, and not whether it will effect a lsim chance of getting published. And in response to the matter of the characters; most likely, it would have some impact. They would probably end up falling in love again - but there will be a far larger conflict at hand than their conflicting romance.
I don't think it'll hurt chances of being published at all. That fact might also prove to be a good catalyst in the story's plot as well.
