Why I Write Queer Characters: The Importance of LGBTQ+ Representation in Fiction

When you are part of the LGBT community, it’s very easy to feel isolated and alone. The world is cisheteronormative, and it’s very hard to navigate a world that does not reflect your lived experience. This is why queer and trans books are more important now than ever. As society actively erases the rights of LGBTQ+ people, it’s very easy right now to give into despair. But writing m/m and sapphic romances gives the LGBTQ+ community hope for a better day.

For a world that will accept us, in a world in which we are empowered, respected, and loved. This is why queer and trans books are more important than ever. This is why I decided seven years ago to finally get off the fence and become a romance author.

My Origin Story

I always wanted to write, but I thought with my disabilities (I’m dyslexic and I have ADHD) that I would never be good enough. I grew up reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and I wanted to be Jo March so badly. As a child, I was always making stories in my head, and I used to make up fan fiction in my head where I get to explore the further adventures of the characters from my favorite TV shows and movies.

However, it wasn’t until I took a creative writing class in my senior year of high school that I finally learned what to do with those stories. Off and on for twenty years I wrote fanfiction. Most of that fanfic I didn’t share because I was constantly frustrated with the limitations that come with my dyslexia. But it wasn’t until 2019 that I finally published my first long fanfic.

But I still didn’t think that I was good enough. However, writing that fanfic gave me the tools and the confidence to write more.

Then Kevin Sorbo entered the chat. If you don’t know who Kevin Sorbo is (and fair because he is irrelevant as hell), he played Hercules in the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. This came out way before Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and as a kid that loved Greek mythology? I fell in love with that show and then later Xena: Warrior Princess with all of my heart. Growing up at the time as a weird autistic who had a hard time making friends, those characters were very dear to me.

And then fast forward to me being grown and on social media and watching a man who I once idolized say anti-Black and anti-LGBT rhetoric; it just lit a fire in me. I swore loudly on Twitter that I would write a Black bisexual Hercules and tag him when I dropped that book. And at the same time, as a dedicated m/m romance and sapphic romance reader, I was getting more and more frustrated at the lack of Black representation in this space.

All of that motivated me to start writing romance, and that was the start of a seven-year-long publishing journey that has taken farther than I could ever dream.

The Boom of LGBTQ+ Books

According to BookScan/Nielsen, 6.1 million LGBTQ books have been sold. In 2012, the Author’s Guild found that 12% of all published works were identified as LGBTQ+, but Lee and Lowe’s diversity survey tells us that 68% of publishing is still cishet.

We have come a long way from the days of the Hayes codes, wherein films with queer or gender nonconforming content had to be vague or satirical. I personally got to see the birth of the online m/m romance and sapphic romance community. Those days were when we had Amazon and a few indie presses online that published exclusive work. Now, LGBT+ content is mainstream, and according to LGBTQ+ Amazon categories, it’s booming with new releases every day.

With the rise of self-publishing and the increasing call for LGBTQ+ content across the board, you would think most of our worries over representation and inclusion are over, but the fact is that it is getting harder for LGBTQ+ authors to not only publish but to keep our books on the shelves.

It’s Not All Rainbows and Sparkles.
With the backlash against progressive policies and the rise of fascism due to Trump’s administration. Book banning is on the rise across the nation. And it’s not just public schools. Even the most benign children’s books are inherently sexualized because anti-LGBT bigots do not see LGBTQ+ people as people, and they fear that we are indoctrinating kids instead of normalizing queer and trans people and showing LGBTQ+ kids that they are alone.

Seeing positive LGBTQ+ representation as a child could help lower the suicide rate for LGBTQ+ kids. According to the Trevor Project, 39% of LGBTQ+ youth have struggled with thoughts of suicide. In comparison, 45% to over 60% of queer and trans people died during the AIDS/HIV epidemic that swept the LGBTQ+ community in the 80s and 90s.

And that’s the point: Trump and his fascist regime want LGBTQ+ kids dead. It’s a genocide, plain and simple, and the lowest-hanging fruit for them to pick is to erase LGBT books from libraries and bookshelves all across the country.

The book bans have gotten so bad that the American Library Association reported that 40% to 50% of all books that are published have been challenged across the country. And it’s not just traditional published books that are feeling the pinch.

I don’t have hard data about this, but I know I have been part of many conversations of self-published authors having to fight harder to get books onto the shelves of indie bookstores and big bookstores. I have seen the rise of LGBT authors getting their entire Amazon accounts cancelled with no reason.

Why I Continue to Write LGBTQ+ Books

Straight books are easier to sell. This is a truth that every LGBTQ+ writer knows intimately. Writing diverse fiction takes a toll both mentally and financially. Especially if you are a self-published author who has to pay for editors, book formatters, custom art, and a million other things out of pocket.

But the fire inside of me to write Black m/m romance and sapphic romance has not gone away; it’s only gotten stronger. I want to see more Black queer and trans people on the shelves because Black LGBTQ+ people deserve to have hope, deserve to have books that empower them, and show them what the world can truly be.

This is what motivates me to write even on my lowest day: to make the world brighter for my communities, whom the world is determined to erase. And yes, it might be easier to write straight or cishet romance, but I won’t. Because I believe that Black LGBTQ+ people are worth fighting for.

How Can You Support Queer Authors?

There has never been a better time to support LGBTQ+. The best thing you can do is buy our books, request our books at your local library, and spread the word. Another great way to support us is by signing up for our newsletters. It’s free, and it really helps. And do you have some cash to spend? Consider joining an author’s Patreon, Payhip, or Ream membership.

As I said before, a lot of us (even trad-published authors) are paying for a lot of things out of pocket, and even $5 a month could really help us produce more LGBT books, and that is always a good thing.

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