For those of you who don’t know, it may be necessary to point out that although I write gay romance, I am not in fact a gay man. I am a 40 year old cis bisexual woman.
Why is this relevant, you may ask? It's relevant because I'm a woman, but I write romance about men who fall in love with men. This is often referred to as MM (male/male) romance. Sometimes it is called gay romance, although this will usually include men of various sexualities.
If you're new to this genre, you may expect the majority of authors to be gay men. I certainly did. When I started reading gay romance I planned to only read books written by gay men, rather than women. I was wary of reading books written by women as I felt that they may be sensational or exploitative. (I imagined men writing good romance about sapphic women and shuddered!)
However, when I learned that the majority of MM romance books are actually written by women, I soon realised that this was going to seriously limit the amount of books I could access. (In my experience, they tend to be women on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, but they are usually, cis women. I have also noticed more nonbinary authors of gay romance compared to authors in other genres, but this anecdotal.)
Gay romance written by gay men is comparatively uncommon, although it seems to be increasing (again this a casual observance, not based on facts or figures). I have to admit, that generally speaking, there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in the style, content or quality between authors that are gay men and those that are not. I do still understand why readers, especially gay men, would prefer to read books written by other gay men. I read every male author I encounter in the romance/HEA genre because I am eager to hear stories about marginilised groups told by members of those groups.
However, the fact remains, that the majority of MM romances are written by women. I’m not exactly sure why to be honest, and I don’t think it’s a question that can be answered simply.
It may be that romance literature in general has been dominated by women in terms of writers and readers, so that extends to gay romance as well.
It may be that gay men have been so oppressed for so long that they don’t want to write happy love stories, but focus on the truth of oppression and struggle. (Gross generalisation of course!)
It may be that gay romance often still adheres to heteronormative plot devices and structures and so is of little interest to actual gay men.
It may be that women who read and write romance got fed up with the obvious power dynamic of heterosexual romantic relationships and so started writing and reading MM romance instead.
It may be that women are more likely to seek out books that end happily for all parties, and therefore more likely to write it too.
It may be that middle-aged women are bored and horny and like to read about hot sexy men, and what’s better than one hot sexy man? Two hot sexy men! (Or more, allow me to introduce you to the realms of MMM+ romance)
It’s probably a combination of all those things.
To get back to my original point, I’m not a gay man but I do write about them, and for some people that’s a problem. I get that, I do, and I have no business being upset or offended by this. To some people I may be seen to be stepping out of my lane, or even profiting from the exploitation of marginalised groups, or that I'm being sensationalist. I really hope that people who read my work don't think this. I really just want to write love stories about men, because I like reading them!
My first book, the one I’m currently writing, and hope to publish by this summer, is set in London and its suburbs, during 1965. It’s about two men from very different social classes, drawn to the blossoming Mod Scene of the 60s, who meet each other and fall in love. Most of the conflict and angst will come from external sources, not their relationship. There will be a “Happily Ever After” for the main characters, including a very frothy monologue set years after the events of the book. It’s basically a fairytale. I know quite a lot about the mod scene due to personal interest, and I live near the area I’ve chosen to set my novel. I’m also a diligent researcher, so I hope that the characters and events in my book will feel authentic to my readers. But when all is said and done, it is a work of pure fiction.
There are baddies that practically swirl their moustaches.
There are friends and families that are far more accepting and tolerant than some people may be willing to believe.
There are contrived events and ridiculously scripted dialogue designed to make you laugh, or cry, or horny.
Because, and I repeat: this is a work of fiction. My characters get their happy endings because I want them to. Everything that happens in this book, happens because I want it to. And I'm a hopeless romantic who happens to know a bit about the 1960s mod scene and the history of East London and Essex.
The ease of self-publishing has really changed the process of writing for a lot of authors, but that’s a bigger conversation for another blog entry...
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