This is the most difficult and
scariest post I've written since I started my blog almost 2 years ago. As a
heterosexual woman with very few queer friends in real life (not to say any)
and a few more online, I see the LGTB community as something distant and
unrelated directly to my life. I read mostly het romances and I've only started
reading more queer romance in past couple of months. All this makes me feel
like I'm taking a plunge into an unfamiliar territory and I worry of making a
major faux-pas and unintentionally offending someone. In order to avoid any of
this, I'll keep this post short and simple.
I heard about QRM through Julio Alexi Genao and Alexis Hall at Goodreads. I was intrigued by this
event and I followed it closely. It was an amazing experience for me where I
learned a lot from the posts of authors and fans of the genre.
In general, I don't treat queer
romance as different from the other romances I read. I look for the same things
I enjoy in het romances - an interesting plot, well developed and authentic
characters, passionate love, authentic characters and a happy end. Sometimes I
need fun and fluffy, other times I look for more angst and drama, I even go for
darker reads from time to time. The gender of the characters doesn't really
matter as long as the author manages to get me to care deeply for them and to
believe in their love. I do realize that obstacles on the road to
happiness can be different for queer characters than for het characters, yet I
believe everybody's romantic challenges can be different regardless of their
gender.
As the motto of QRM says Love is
Love and I loved how this event drew attention to the fact that there are all
kinds of love stories out there and they all deserve to be told and appreciated
for their beauty and uniqueness.
Here are just a few of the posts that
have touched me the most and stayed with me in one way or another.
Personal stories:
Closets by Julio Alexi Genao- a touching
personal story told as one long, beautiful poem
Why we need trans romance by E.E. Ottoman - truly
heart-breaking in its honesty and eloquence
Hair, Holding Hands, Harry & Hope by Kat - a moving personal story
Short stories/fiction:
I Just Knew by Anyta
Sunday - 3 lovely haikus in
prose on love
Under the Bustle by Vanessa North - a cute and fluffy story of a wedding
Shimmer by L.
C. Chase - a snippet of a
love story that made me excited to read the full novel when it's done
General discussion posts:
Finding the universal in the particular by Joanna
Chambers - a
thought-provoking piece on reading (romance)
Make Room for Happily Never After by
Edmond
Sports, the final Frontier by Sarina
Bowen - on writing m/m sports
romance
On happy endings - probably my
favourite topic:
Happily Ever After by Alexis
Hall
Grown-Up Reading: Why Romance and Happy
Endings Matter by KJ
Charles
and everything by these two authors
- it is a must read for me!
You can find links to all QRM posts and related musings HERE.
In principle I don't believe in telling people what they should do or read, for that matter. Instead I'm all for spreading the word and just making others aware that given books, genres and loves stories exist and whoever is curious will find their way to them.
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