YA LGBT Books discussion

So I got to thinking about specific trends in YA LGBT fiction, what we see a lot of, and what we *don't* see a lot of.

I'm only going to address books put out by mainstream publishers 'cause really they are the only ones I'm familiar with, and also if we're talking about general trends, we have to talk about the regular publishing market.

What we see a lot of....

1) Contemporary stories, for all aspects of LGBT.

2) Paranormal/fantasy stories, for all aspects of LGBT

3) Dystopian/sci fi stories, for most aspects of LGBT

The last two categories are especially true when you are talking about books with minor characters. The LGBT character in a fantasy or sci fi book is rarely the lead, but is usually the MC's friend or family member. However, there are tons of them.

What we *don't* see a lot of....

1) Science fiction where LGBT characters have the *lead* role, lesbians in particular are lacking.

2) Historical fiction, especially with LGBT characters in the *lead* role and especially with gay males in the lead role.

3) Paranormal stories with lesbians in the lead role.

4) Contemporary fiction with LGBT characters that isn't set in Europe or America.

5) Stories with transgender characters in the lead role.

6) Any type of stories with characters who are even more of a minority than LGBT, such as intersex characters and asexual characters, and those elsewhere on the gender spectrum like genderqueer or agender.

So guys, what do you think? What kinds of LGBT topics still need more coverage in the YA world?

I agree with your assessment. Also stories with LGBT MCs where being LGBT isn't a huge focus of the book. Stories where that is allowed to be almost an incidental factor to the underlying other plot factors.

Actually I find the Europe/America setting is in a lot of non LGBT themed books as well. I find it hard to find books in other countries like Australia, Asia etc.
Just a random note...

There are actually several Australia stories - we had a list... let me look.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... - this thread is all non-USA books, I think. So Canadian and European settings are on it too.

Kaje wrote: "I agree with your assessment. Also stories with LGBT MCs where being LGBT isn't a huge focus of the book. Stories where that is allowed to be almost an incidental factor to the underlying other plo..."

I think that's changing! Did you ever read that article about the different stages of LGBT YA fiction? I can't find it right now but it basically talked about how all these new books (post 2010) are a newer generation where being queer is incidental. The story doesn't have to revolve around coming out, homophobia, or gay bashing.

The only thing is that transgender characters are lagging behind their LGB counterparts in that department. There still aren't many stories about transgender teens that aren't focused on the experience of being trans. Even that's changing though. Avery in Two Boys Kissing is trans, but the book isn't about being trans. Similar for the trans characters in the fantasy and sci fi books I've heard of recently.

Gabby wrote: "Actually I find the Europe/America setting is in a lot of non LGBT themed books as well. I find it hard to find books in other countries like Australia, Asia etc.
Just a random note..."

Yeah, that's true. There isn't a whole lot of YA fiction in general set in other countries, especially developing countries. If there is, the book is usually about something horrible, like war or poverty. And LGBT characters are just about invisible in those books.

But I am looking forward to Moon at Nine by Deborah Ellis, which hits on a number of diversity fronts! It's set in '88, so it's historical (kind of). It's set in Iran, and it's got lesbian Muslim girls as the main characters.

Of course, the book *is* about something horrible (being arrested and sentenced to death for homosexuality), but still it's a topic that needs to be explored. If You Could Be Mine has a similar theme, and it has gay male and trans characters in it too.

I have a paranormal novel with a transgender main character...

I agree with a lot of this. As an author, I set my books in the United States because it's where I live, so it's the country I'm familiar with, and I think that may be the case with other authors.

It seems to me--and I could be way off base--that a lot of GLBTQ young adult fiction currently is being written by authors who are transitioning over from writing adult male/male romances, and therefore they're focusing on gay teenage boys as main characters, which may be one reason for the lack of lesbian, transgender, gender fluid, etc. characters.

Also, I've read a few GLBTQ YA stories lately where the language, thought patterns, etc. of the "teen" main characters is very much what I've seen in adult M/M, which to me is unfortunate... teens are not the same as adults, don't think, act, or speak the same generally, and I've DNF'ed a few books where the narrative sounded far too adult. It isn't easy to write a teen who sounds like a teen, and I guess that would be my contribution to what I'd like to see more of, in ALL YA fiction including GLBTQ. Teens who actually sound/act/think like teens, as opposed to coming across like an adult looking back on their teen years *from an adult perspective*.

On the other hand, in some of those cases, I think the book is actually intended to be a teen romance written *for* adults, as opposed to actually being a YA story.

I think that's probably true for small press and self-pubbed books.

But for the industry books, I don't think that's the case. I don't know of any "name" authors who also write adult m/m romance.

What I think we see is a lot of authors who are kind of.... pigeonholed? Maybe that's not the right word. It's like you can count on certain authors to offer up specific themes. Like for example Malinda Lo does lesbian fantasy and sci fi. Everything she writes would be in that category. And Alex Sanchez, everything he writes is about gay Latino boys.

So unless you get new authors in the mix and they become well known enough to get multiple book deals, then you don't get a lot of new subject matter added in. Luckily there is a crop of interesting debut authors this year and next year, so I'm looking forward to what they're going to add to the field.

Hey, I thought of something else we don't see a lot of!

Where are all the butch lesbians in YA fiction?

There was Deliver Us from Evie, but that was like 1994. It seems like almost every lesbian book features femme girls, especially if you're looking at the covers. So many of the covers have girls with long hair, wearing dresses or spaghetti strap tops, and so on.

Slight butchy covers....

(but she still has long hair)

(there's a boot on the cover, and one of the girls is butch)

Are there any butches in YA who don't have femme girlfriends, btw? There are lots of femme/femme couples, not sure about butch/butch ones.

Malinda Lo actually is working on non-speculative fiction for her next YA title; I'm keen to see where she goes with it. It's probably safe to assume there'll still be queer content, although I don't think she has specified that yet.

I can't think of any butch/butch YA fiction couples off the top of my head, only butch/femme, femme/femme, and a few who don't really identify either way.

I cannot recommend Melinda Lo, highly enough! Great work by her! LOVE her stuff.

:)

Rainbowheart wrote: "Hey, I thought of something else we don't see a lot of!

Where are all the butch lesbians in YA fiction?

There was Deliver Us from Evie, but that was like 1994. It seems like almost..."

I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with butch/butch pairings, but not coming up with any.

But for butch main characters at all? I can think of two off the top of my head: main character in Santa Olivia and Daja in Tamora Pierce's Will of the Empress (ensemble cast, she has her own books earlier in the series but doesn't have a sexual identity till this book)

Owen wrote: "The only books with transgender characters that I find are ones that are focused on their gender and how they're trans, and that kind of annoys me. I mean, yes I'm a transgender person and I have h..."

It is a bit tougher in YA books for that to not be a focus, I imagine, because having enough settled confidence in your trans self to not dwell on it probably is hard in the middle of adolescence, although you would know better than I.

I'll be interested to see a book just listed in the freebies: BELOVED PILGRIM by Christopher Hawthorne Moss :YA transgender novel - " Elisabeth has known all her life she is really a man in a woman's body... and now HE is going to don armor and go to the Crusades. In Constantinople he finds a loving woman with honey colored eyes."

Hey, Kim, I didn't know Malinda Lo was working on realistic fiction. That sounds interesting. Like you, I'm assuming it will be queer themed, but it will be neat to see what she ends up doing.

Yeah, as for butch couples, not any. There just seems to be a general lack of lesbian girls who are more on the butch side as far as their dress and mannerisms and interests, and especially so in relationships where they don't have super girly girlfriends.

It's kind of weird because any kind of significant gender transgression tends to mean the character is being portrayed as trans, not gay, which is a little ... disturbing? There are lots of butch women out there who don't identify as male, and where are their stories? I've noticed this a lot on tv shows too.

Hi Ezekiel, I haven't heard of the first one, but that's a good example of the problems with covers! If that's the butch girl, she has long flowing hair!



As for other butch girls, I dunno. There is a character in Alex Sanchez's Boyfriends with Girlfriends, but the girl she starts dating is really girly, and she's one out of four characters in the story, so not really a huge main part.

Hey Owen, you might want to check Beautiful Music for Ugly Children. It has a trans MC, and it's more about music than gender.

Other than that, most trans books are kind of issuey. There are some books with trans characters in smaller roles, and they aren't focused around their gender. Most of them are fantasy or sci fi.

Here's what I know of...

I have a book that will be out late 2014/early 2015 called; Different. It is a multi POV, and one of the main characters is intersex, and working through discovering he is bi, attending public school for the first time, and worrying about his mother; who is constantly worrying about him, his medical expenses, and how she is going to make the surgery he requires a reality before he goes to college. This book is being published by a large press imprint, and once the cover has been approved, and released, it will be posted here on Goodreads. Probably mid-summer.

These are the only intersex books I know of that would be YA appropriate that I would recommend;Golden Boy Annabel

Very cool! I look forward to it. Golden Boy was our Book of the Month last August but it was a crazy month for me and I didn't get to it. I'll move it up the list though (*Note - trigger warnings for rape and gender dysphoria on that book*)

Thanks Tara. We'll put your book on our "intersex" shelf when it's added to Goodreads!

If anyone else is curious, I did start a topic for teen books with intersex characters....

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

As far as I know, there are only four by big publishers, Pantomime, Shadowplay, Above and None Of The Above. Three of those are fantasy, so your book will be a good addition to the realistic side!

I thought of something else we don't see a lot of!

YA horror books with LGBT main characters, or even supporting characters. I can only think of one series that involves MCs....



The horror genre would be different from general fantasy or paranormal because there would be a focus on scaring the reader and presenting a twisted or frightening plot.

Rick Reed has written some adult M/M horror, but you're right, there's not much, especially in YA.