Sunday, April 17, 2011

Straight Chicks Writing Queer

Please welcome guest author Lucy Felthouse!

First I want to say a big thank you to the Naughty Author Chicks for having me on their blog today. As a bit of a naughty girl myself, I feel quite at home! Today I want to talk to you about straight chicks writing queer.

It seems publishers are crying out for lesbian erotica right now. Readers are obviously buying it in droves and the publishers are striving to meet demand. I don't blame them one bit. Observing this trend made me think about who was writing this fiction, though.

I've written lesbian and bisexual fiction and publishers have bought it, which naturally, from my perspective, is awesome. But what's interesting about this is the fact that I'm not lesbian, or bi. I'm a straight chick who's never even kissed a girl in that way.

One of my most recent publications is a story in an anthology from Ravenous Romance, I Kissed A Girl II: More Virgin Lesbian Stories. I've been doing various promo around the release and somebody expressed confusion that I'd been published in a lesbian anthology, knowing that I have a male partner. After me explaining that I am in fact straight, this person went on to ask how I could write about lesbians, then? What did I know?

I told them that it's pretty simple, really. Although I'm straight, I'm certainly not anti-lesbian. I believe that everyone has the right to be happy, no matter what gender they are, or want to be with. Plus there's the fact that women are beautiful. I can quite happily gaze at photographs of women and appreciate their aesthetically pleasing forms and exuding sexiness. I don't salivate over them in the same way that I would a photo of my favourite hunk of the moment, but I can definitely look and praise.

Therefore, writing lesbian fiction is just as easy to me as writing hetero fiction. It just happens to be with two women. I have, after all, got the equipment down below so I know damn well what a woman looks and feels like down there. I simply times that by two and let my imagination run away with me. My publishing successes with lesbian fiction indicate that I must be doing something right—and long may it continue.

So what I really want to know is, am I in the minority here? If you write (or even just read) lesbian fiction, are you lesbian? Bi? Or straight? I'm interested to know your perspectives on this. Let me know in the comments!

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During Lucy’s first year studying Creative Writing at the University of Derby, she was dared to write an erotic story. It went down a storm and she's never looked back. Lucy has had stories published by Cleis Press, Noble Romance, Ravenous Romance and Xcite Books. Find out more on her website. She's also on Facebook and Twitter.

Lucy's most recent release, a story in I Kissed A Girl II: More Virgin Lesbian Stories, is published by Ravenous Romance. It's available direct, and also from all good eBook retailers.

4 comments:

Too Sexy said...

I don't think your situation is strange or unique at all. I am male, and I write a series of stories that centers on bisexual women whose main romantic interests are each other. I think what matters most in erotica is the heart. We all love. A good writer ought to be able to portray loving -- and lustful -- relationships between characters of any orientation.

Evolet Yvaine @ BeefcakeandBabes said...

I don't read those type of stories. Nor do I write them. But I'm all for gay love and find it highly interesting that you're writing these types of stories and you're not gay. It's like saying, "This author is white, but all her characters are black." I'm an aspiring writer who plans to write interracial adult romance/erotica. I happen to love those type of stories and I was in an interracial relationship. But even if I wasn't, I'd still write those kinds of stories. That's what I love about writing. There's a reason why it's called fiction. LOL

Wynter said...

Thanks for hanging with the chicks today! I haven't written or read any lesbian or bi stories, but I know other authors who write it and even female authors who write gay male erotica. As far as I am concerned, desire is desire. BDSM stories, for example, may not turn on some folks, others it does. Good for you that it's selling well!

Dalton Diaz said...

I'm a straight female who has written bi males, and loves to read m/m of all types. Lesbian stories, not so much. I can't get into it, so I know I couldn't write it convincingly. I don't think it's a matter of gay, but a matter of what you find hot.