There’s a post or two going around via Twitter where some female authors are saying they write MM because they don’t like to write bitchy heroines. Or they wrote a “difficult” heroine and it didn’t go over well so they changed genres to write only men. It’s okay to have a man curse, but not a woman.
Uhhhh….. (Nobody tell Lilly in The Billionaire Submissive that she’s not allowed to curse!)
That leaves me scratching my head going “HUH?”
Ignore the fact that I’ve read many “bitchy” or “difficult” heroines that I enjoyed a great deal. Or heroines who are “sluts” – I love Lex in the Beyond series, and I hear the authors get a ton of hate mail about her. I don’t LIKE doormat heroines, passive aggressive heroines, or whiny TSTL heroines. Yeah, there are some out there. But there are also tough, kickass heroines that are fabulous. If you don’t like it, don’t read it! But don’t tell me that ALL heroines have to be one kind of thing or people won’t read it!
I don’t write just one thing. I don’t write just contemporary. Or just BDSM. Or just SFF. Why? Because I write PEOPLE. They tell me what kind of story it’s going to be. Oh, I have to set some boundaries as much as possible. If I’m writing contemporary, then I know I won’t have any magic going on…other than in the bedroom. *winks* But in general, I’ve learned NEVER to say that I won’t write XYZ.
Because as soon as I say that…I’ll have a character show up who breaks that rule.
I can’t/won’t say I won’t write MM. (see Cole and Arthur in Her Grace’s Stable.)
I can’t/won’t say I won’t write something without BDSM. (see The Bloodgate Guardian.)
I can’t/won’t say I won’t write POC/non-white characters (unavailable Storms as She Walks or Golden or another project I’m working on). Or FF. Not that I have a story with FF right now… but I won’t say never. One of my dearest friends came out as a lesbian in the past year. Someday I’d love to write a story with her in mind.
Because I write PEOPLE. Whatever that means. The good and the bad, the black and the white and the 50 shades of gray in between. Ugh, okay, maybe not 50 shades. *snort* I guess that means I may not always be able to define my brand, but I have to write the best Story I can the way it unfolds in my mind and heart.
That’s all I can do.
Damn right, Sis. And I don’t think anyone would argue that your characters are well worth the stories you tell about them. Your characters jump off the page, woman. It’s no surprise that they demand what kind of story they want.
Well said. You are the character master, my friend.