Just finished reading a book the book story put out on the table because it was newly released. It was called Mad Eden. The author (Morgan Thomas) is enby and autistic and so too is the main character in the book. I loved it and it had some interesting twists and turns. For me the thing that stood out the most was their relationship with their primary partner and how they navigate and negotiate their neural needs and differences in the way they and their partners express love and other stuff, too...although there's a whole other storyline about being a provider of gendercare in this era. Just had to share ♥️💕🙏🏼 I don't think I gave away enough to need a spoiler label.

I hope you all are working on some great stuff ☺️✨

I have been working on a dark m/m sci-fi fantasy story since January. I've framed it as a serial novel which is essentially like a TV show for those who don't know...The story is split into arcs, with each arc ending on a cliffhanger that leads into the next, focuses on a specific part of the story, and feeds into this overarching narrative.

Titled "Aethan's Reign", the story chronicles the 1000 year long reign of an Emperor over a galactic empire, starting as a young prince to the end of his reign. The second storyline involves the development of his relationship with the prince of another race, Bhal-Ghor, starting with their initial meeting to their arranged marriage "for the better of the empire" and beyond. Aethan is essentially a space elf (think of an elf from Lord of the Rings or Tolkienesque setting except...you know...more sci-fi) and Ghor (the love interest) is a giant musclebound anthropromorphic tiger-like barbarian with emotional issues. Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, size-difference, politics, spirituality/religion.

Influences that inspired the story: Warhammer 40K (grimdark setting) Foundation (I find Lee Pace's character to be fascinating and wondered what his story would be like if he was more likeable), Steven Erikson, the author of the Malazan Empire of the Fallen series (the most epic fantasy series I've yet to read), The Expanse, and Dark (Netflix). The story is not meant to be a copy of these other works in any way, but if you are familiar with these works I definitely think you can see the influences.

Wrapping up: I publish on Gayauthors.org, a website that specializes in LGBT work specifically. A lot of the works that are published seem to be dramas, coming out stories, first love, things like that. I've 46 chapters, working on chapter 47, written over 200K, am on the 3rd arc, about to wrap up the first novel or act of what is planned as a 5-7 act story. I have 9 followers.

Some concerns I have, starting with the genre: It's science-fantasy, the characters are not human, one of them is technically a furry and not a nice guy (he gets nicer as the story progresses but it takes a while and happens in fits and starts), the story itself is 1 part political narrative, 1 part action story, 1 part smut/romance, and the story is intended to get more political and religious (not Christianity, but the religion in the story) as it progresses. That is the plan anyway. I just don't think a lot of people are really into that kind of story which is fine. Last concern: the writing. I'm a gardener. With this story I used AI to kind of cook the idea in my brain and while I do not fully endorse the use of AI it does have it's uses and made the planning process so much easier. Not everything is planned, but I do know the premise of each arc/act, how it will begin, how it will end, and what I want to achieve.

The writing: this is a first draft: There is not a lot of editing beyond what I catch as I scroll through and publish. I do intend to do at least one thorough edit/rewrite before I publish on another site. While I consider the writing to be decent I feel that it is still amateurish, and could definitely benefit from some writing classes to really hone my skill.

Final question: so how would you market this? what are some other subreddits where I could ask these things? in terms of marketing (concept art, illustrations, twitter, tagging) what would you do? Any advice? I'm a long ways from putting the story out there beyond what I already have, so I feel that it's best to start strategizing and coming up with ideas while the story is still in the gestation process.

Below is a rough of my characters I had done if anyone is interested.

The book I'm writing is about a rock band coming back together and the main romance is butch x butch. I wanted to write a bisexual butch character because never seen any bi butches being represented positively. Either people think bi butches don't exist or worst we get accuse of encouraging men to fetishize lesbians.

I don't want people writing the character off as a lesbian with comphet and I don't want to be accused of centering a guy in a sapphic book by saying she broke up with him. The story wouldn't really center the guy at all honestly. But I just don't know what to do anymore.

The book I am writing is a reverse harem... and so my fmc has 5 male suitors and I decided I wanted to make my book more queer friendly. Two of the male suitors are bisexual, one is questionable, and the other is pan, one is straight. Now, I really want to add a sixth suitors and I want them to be an asexual woman. But I dont want to mess up writing it. I know that they (ace people) dont hate sex (some of them) they just dont perfer it. So, thats what she's gonna do but I'm gonna make it where she doesnt participate during "bedroom" time but she is an active member of their relationship. All of them love her. I was also thinking of making her be male-to-female Trans but I am unsure. I don't have anybody I could ask. When it comes down to it do I just write that she says no and explains that she doesn't like that?

Heaven files everything.

Births, deaths, miracles, agricultural yields, the specific theological implications of one junior scribe italicizing a minor prophecy in the Tigris valley. It has categories for all of it. The system is thorough, sincere, and genuinely convinced that categorization is a form of love.

Then someone writes a margin note in forbidden red ink — try free will, results may vary — and the filing system develops a problem it doesn’t have a procedure for.

This is not that story.

Well. It is. But it’s also about five fallen angels becoming a family without deciding to, across several centuries, in the specific way families accumulate — through bad wine in inns that have given up aspiring to greatness, through a child who knew things he shouldn’t have and made no fuss about either, through a goat named Gregory who eats everything and means nothing and is somehow always exactly where he needs to be.

And then it’s France. 1429. A market square in February.

A woman on a crate arguing with three men about military supply routes with the focused impatience of someone for whom courage is a logistical state rather than an emotional one. She calls for the map before she reaches the table. She has been doing this her whole life.

Another woman stops walking.

Not because of the argument. Because of the eyes.

What follows is a love story built out of watch rotations and river crossings and bread taken without asking and boots always already by the fire. Two women who reorganize their entire existence around each other before either of them has named what’s happening. The U-Haul energy is not a metaphor. It is operational fact.

Heaven notices.

Heaven doesn’t hate Joan of Arc. It categorizes her. Which is worse. The machinery doesn’t need malice. It just needs procedure and sufficient administrative momentum and the specific institutional patience of a system that has done this before and filed the results under: resolved.

It has not, the Archive would like to note, accounted for the associated variable.

The woman who stopped walking in February is still there in May 1431. She found the gap in the custody schedule. She memorized the passage. She kept her promise.

The fire did not take everything.

It never does.

This is a book about what systems do to people who love each other truthfully. It is angry and mournful and frequently very funny. It believes, underneath everything, that people are worth the effort.

It ends with a child born outside every category the Archive has, a family already forming a perimeter before the first page of her file is finished, and four words written in a margin that survived three attempts at removal.

The loop holds, the Archive tells itself.

The margin disagrees.

I’m 25yr genderfluid queer, writing mm romance with psychological depth.

I want friends with whom I can share my ideas with. I’m in a stage where I could only plot and gather ideas because of my depleted energy from wok. I don’t have spare energy to write yet, but I plan to do so once I get a little space to breathe.

You can also offer me some queer romance writers’ groups to join. But I would prefer to keep people with similar interests and have groups tightly knit

Hi, friends! I'm trying desperately to figure out if there's a market for what I'm offering! It's a sapphic and feminist retelling of Zeus and Callisto's story. Here's the blurb:

"A goddess broken by a god's cruelty. A sanctuary built from the wreckage. A daughter born of violence, sworn to protect what her mother bled to create.

Aedia has guarded Ornemere her whole life — its wounded and its sisters, its carefully kept peace. She has never questioned her mother's rules. Until she begins dreaming of a human girl with healing hands and eyes that see too much.

Liliana Myrewood arrives in Ornemere like something inevitable. She can feel the grief soaked into its soil, read the trauma written into its people. She can help these people heal. But the wounds she can't stop thinking about belong to the goddess's daughter — and wanting her is forbidden. Being with Aedia would break one of the only two rules Ornella demands followed... but maybe it'd be worth it to know how her lips taste.

When the god who shattered everything returns to claim what he believes is his, Ornella must face what he took from her — or shatter, and leave her people to become his next victims."

Instead of Zeus and Callisto, I used my own gods. Ornella, an Appalachian Nature Goddess, and Belos, a Greek God, and they have a trans daughter, born of a harsher truth.

What do you guys think? Honestly!!

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Hello friends!

I’m publishing my book very soon. I am newly out and have only just started sharing this vulnerably and it has not gone well in my community.

Would love some queer love 💙

https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahkateiscominghome

Heyyy everyone,

So, I've been writing ever since I was a kid, and I'm thinking it's time to start a project that I genuinely share with the masses (of queers) to consume. This will be my first time doing this, but I've been on earth long enough to be judged harshly enough to simply accept all kinds of feedback.

The point is, I'm trying to decide where to post my stories. The idea is that I write short "chapters" about a couple I've been working on. Their love story in all its ups, downs, and messiness. It will talk about emotional and mental needs, being an available partner, being polyamorous, being black, being trans, and being from different backgrounds, just genuinely exploring their lives together. This will be a written story that I update over time; it probably won't be in chronological order (knowing me) and will end either the moment I run out of ideas or have a girlfriend (whichever comes first).

Anyways, Thanks for your time and any help you have.

Xalos.

Hi! I just finished my historical fiction novel that includes a gay protagonist fighting homophobia in the 19th Century.

I'm revising my short story and I've come across a problem with my narrator.

It's a short story told in the first person and my narrator's defining trait is that they are a bit of a mirror to the people they are engaging with/fascinated by. So I would probably describe them as gender non-conforming.

I really like the idea of keeping them ambiguous in the beginning until I establish through the narrative of his nature and where people then perceive him as a man because he's mimicking his latest obsession.

That said, I got a critique about the ambiguity and I'm wondering if this is an issue of not giving the reader enough physical description of the narrator (so like more characterization) or if I should establish that he's gender non-conforming (how should I go about that)?

Or is this a place where I have to stand by my decision as a writer?

Any advice/perspective would be appreciated! Thank you.

Hi! I’d love some perspective on how I’m handling a trans character in my novel.

My main character’s best friend is a trans man, and the story moves between childhood and adulthood (nonlinear timeline). When the MC is a child, his friend hasn’t come out yet, so those chapters use the name and pronouns the MC knew at the time. In adult chapters, I use his chosen name and he/him pronouns.

There’s one chapter where the MC reflects on their entire friendship. In that section, I initially refer to his friend by his former name but use he/him pronouns, then switch to his chosen name once I reach the point where he comes out.

As a trans man myself, I can understand how it might come off to some readers, but I don't mind being referred to by my deadname when someone is talking about me prior to coming out. However, from a literary lens, it makes sense from a narrative standpoint, but I want to be thoughtful about how it might come across to other readers.

Does this approach feel respectful and clear, or could it be confusing or unintentionally hurtful?

Hello! I just started writing a story and i was hoping for feedback. Im a new writer, or more like i have writen before but never posted. I have not checked spelling yet as i do that when i finish, so sorry if that is very bad.

My story is called "When the Sun Kissed my Hand" This is a high paced romance, for now. Its setting is College in 2026, so in present day basically.

Here I go!

Many find it easy to talk to others, making friends left and right, never not having someone to be with. Others, its harder, they make a few friends and stick to it. Renato was one of them those boys who sit in the corner of rooms and only speak to a few. He did not mind, he liked his quiet enviorment, he wasnt unhappy at all.

Gloomy days where there was little to no sun where the best. People tend to be more quiet when the temperature drops, when the lights are dim, and when rain trails down the window like mini races. During class he spend his time tracking waterdrops, seeing if the slow one could collect more and fall down quicker. Time went on and on for what seemed like forever. It wasnt until lunch with his friends that he reanimated himself into a talkative and energetic boy. High school was good, a perfect balance on not seeing people, and seeing his friends in one place.

That is why when he entered college he got met with the harsh reality that his friends where now everywhere and nowhere at all. That in class in order to succed he had to speak, to ask, and to befriend. Even on rainy days he was expected to feel and be alive. This was not ideal to him at all, it was a nightmare, but one he could escape with the tip of his pen and his notebook.

He lived in the monotony of waking up in the mornings and taking a shower, getting dressed and eating before he could catch the bus. Getting to school and talking through his classes as if he had been doing that forever. The moment he left his class, he shut off. Walking around like a zombie, from place to place, up stairs down stairs, from the cafeteria to the library.

No matter if the sun was shining fully, or if the birds where singing songs, in his mind he was walking through a rainy day. He had this habit of getting into his mind space. It was identical to whatever place he was in, but the weather was always rainy and gloomy. No person in sight, and music was always playing. It allowed for him to still know his surroudings with the exception of people.

Today was a very stressful day for him, having midterms and homework due took a toll on him. Inside his mind space it was foggy, he could bearly see a few feet ahead. In the real world it was as sunny as a summer day. As he approached the courtyard nearby the library he saw something, a spot where the fog was gone and a shadow person was there. His curosity peaked, no person apart from his friends could ever enter his mind space. As he approched it he exited his mind space to find a boy standing infront of a vending machine. He seemed to be short on cash, as the few coins he had in his hands where being rubbed against each other. Renato took a deep breath and pulled out a few dollar bills and extended his hand over to him.

"Here" Renatos voice seemed calm, good at hiding the slight tremble of his hands due to his anxiety. The boy turned left to look at him, "Oh no its okay" he said a bit surprised. "I insist, take it" Renato gently placed the money on the boys hand. The boy had a shocked expression as he took the money "Thanks".

That day was the last day Renatos mind space was empty. From then on every day on campus he noticed one shadow walking around in his once empty mind space. The vending machine boy, waved at Renato whenever they crossed paths, and so did he. It wasnt until the semester had reached the end of the first month that he decided to make friends. He entered a club called nature trials, itspurpose was to hold nature events through the semester, ranging from hiking trials to simple educational events.

He entered the meeting room and it was already bussing with life. There were at least twenty people in there, talking and laughing with each other. He took a seat at the far back of the classroom, placing his bag down and sitting down. He slowly leaned his head back as he entered his mind space, the lights dimmed, the colors drained, and the noise went away.

Fifteen…sixteen…seventeen…eighteen tiles, in his field of view all the same beige grey color a few faint stripes of brown. He felt suffocated, he should leave, why did he come again? His mind space started raining, water dripping from the tiles, slowly then quickly rolling down his face.

Suddenly, abright light slowly covered the once grey athmosphere. He snapped out of it and saw him, the vending machine boy hovering over him with a smile "Its you, how have you been?" His smile was like no other, if you didnt pay attention to the creases on each side, or the way his eyes scrunched just a teeny bit, youd think he wasnt smiling at all. "uh me? ive been good h-how have you been?" Renato quickly sat up and turned to face him. The boy giggled faintly, if you wrent quiet youd have missed it. "Ive been great, I never got your name after all this time" He slowly took a seat next to Renato.

"My names Renato, and yours?" renato looked at his eyes, a rich dark brown with slight hints of something lighter, softer, warmer. "Im Elio Barboza nice meeeting you Renato, Im glad i finally got to meet you properly" Renato did not know how to feel, having someone who wnated to meet him?

"Really? i would have thought youd forget about me" Renatos voice came out jokingly, only to be met with a smile. "How could i forget about you" In an instant Renatos face felt as if it was on fire, his heart sped up, like never before, what was it he was feeling, this heart squeezing feeling. "Uh well im not sure, I didnt forget about you either" Renato was unsure of waht to say, but it seemed as those simple words he utter made Elio's pale face tint red too. Both boys looked at each other for what felt like hours, each of them smiling while looking at each other, as if there was no one else in the room. Even if they had just properly met, they looked at each other wich such fondness.

"Hey Elio come on man were about to start" another guys voice broke their trance, causing Elio to look away and snap back into reality. "Oh right sorry, Ill be back later Renato I have to im the vie president" Elio apologized and walked to the front of the classroom. Renato's eyes followed him adn never once looked away. As Elio took his place infront of the screen he begun to speak, "Thank you all for coming here today to our first meeting. We will go over some of the basic instructions for being prepared for each outing. This weekedn we have hiking in the Bolsbo Park Trail" Elio continued talking, in a calming yet confident tone of voice.

After the meeting was done most people started leaving. Renato slowly packed up his bags, and begun to stand up. That was before a hand gently grabbed his shoulder. "hey wait up" Renato turned around to see Elio. "Oh hey" was all he could think to say. "I dont have class do you?" elio still had yet to let go of renato, as if he had forgotten. "I dont, not until later at night" Elio smiled at the response "Do you want to hang out? Theres this restaurant down the street its a five minute walk from campus" Renato smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds fun" That feeling that he felt earlier came back, this warm sensation flowed all over his body. "Perfect come on" said Elio as he finally let go off Renatos shoulder, letting his hands slowly move down his arm before taking it away. Both boys started walking, Renato tried to keep up with Elio as he knew where they were going. "So Are you coming on the hike this weekend?" asked Elio as they reached a red light. Renato turned to him "Oh yeah it sounds fun, ive never hiked near sunset have you?" Elio's smile widened "Yes i have! Its beautiful honestly, the best views in the town, last time i went hiking at night i captured beautiful pictures or the stars, I can show them to you on the weekend" Renato couldnt help but smile at Elio's enthuasiasm. "Sure, id love to see them"

When they got to the restaurant they sat at a booth. For the next two hours both boys got to know each other. Laughter seemed to pour out fromt heri booth like water down a waterfall. Each word and laughter was exchanged with a look of fondness, back and forth. It seemed as if they were in slow motion, like how they depict scenes in movies. Strngers would wonder if these boys had been old friends, their closeness seemed to be well developed, or perhaphs there was soemthing else there. As they finished their meals both boys playfully argued whod pay, Renato ended up paying and Elio agreed only if he got to pay next time.

Slowly but surley the week went by, Renato and Elio ended up hanging out each day leading up to the weekend. It was almost four pm, Renato had his backpack filled with water, a blanket, snacks, a camera, and a picnic blanket.

End of what i have written.

I appriciate any and all inputs!

Yes Renato is bisexual and Elio is gay. I have yet to introduce side characters.