YA LGBT Books discussion

25 - Does a YA LGBTQ book need a happy ending? Can we have a sad ending without it being one more "kill all the gays" type of stereotype?

Kaje wrote: "25 - Does a YA LGBTQ book need a happy ending? Can we have a sad ending without it being one more "kill all the gays" type of stereotype?"

I don't think a story needs a happy ending, but I don't think we've had enough positive, happy ending portrayals to correct the imbalance of decades of government 'all queer people die horribly' propaganda and centuries of religious demonisation. So, as a writer, particularly as a writer of a lot of pathos, I would never want to feel like I couldn't write an open or melancholy ending, but as a reader, I want more books like Simon and Drag Teen that give that romantic, technicolour, fairy floss ending that cis het people have bucket loads of without ever asking.

I agree with the “shadow” as said above.
Generally, in art there is no should or shouldn’t.. every artist (authors here) are free to create their art as they have imagined it and then it is up to their audience to decide if they like it or not. Most of the books endings leave you with a melancholy, a desire to meet a “happier ending”. Maybe it’s a trick, so readers will repeat reading that story.
As we talk about YA though, I believe that the majority should have a happy ending, they should give hope to younger people for the true love, the perfect match. Because after all, young people is the future of our world and we have to prepare them with the power of love and make them more optimistic.

I am also a fan of happy endings, although I can also go for bittersweet (like Adam Silvera books,) as long as it's not happy for straight characters after an LGBTQ tragedy. I do think we need more positive books, (and particularly those with happy endings that are more incidental to the MCs identity.)