Congratulations, young writer, you live in a time unlike any other in modern history. It's a time filled with incredible opportunities not seen since the advent of the printing press.You live in a time where your words can reach millions almost instantaneously. You live in a time where gatekeepers (like traditional publishers) no longer exist, though, honestly for some, a good edit could come in handy. You live in a time where the character reflecting your life no longer need to be veiled. This, perhaps, is most important to you, as a LGBTQ writer. Now, I'm not the [...]

We were alerted to this great project, and we wanted to make sure y'all knew about it! From the press release: "Award-winning author Lyndsey D’Arcangelo announced a national story call-out for her new groundbreaking anthology series, My Story Is Out: High School Years. My Story Is Out: High School Years (MSIO) is intended to be a collection of personal real-life stories about surviving high school as an LGBT teen and coming out on the other side. “In working with LGBT youth through numerous writing workshops, I’ve discovered that they enjoy sharing their personal stories with each other,” said [...]

During a recent #GayYA chat, Lucas and Robin both expressed dissatisfaction with the term “Just Happening to Be LGBTQ”.  We asked them to tell us more about it . This is Part 2 of the  post they wrote for us on “Just Happening to Be Gay”.  Do you agree? Robin: I think there is a tendency to lump "about being LGBT" and "coming out stories" in together. Whereas I don't think either one of those things can ever really stand alone. But whether a character is especially focused right now on coming out or on saving the world [...]

During a recent #GayYA chat, Lucas and Robin both expressed dissatisfaction with the term "Just Happening to Be LGBTQ".  We asked them to tell us more about it . This is Part 1 of a 2 Part post they wrote for us on "Just Happening to Be Gay".  Enjoy! (Update for #BestofGayYA readers: Part 2 is up here!)  Robin Talley: So we discovered in a recent #gayya chat on Twitter that we're both peeved by, and have gone so far as to blog about, the frequently expressed desire by many readers to see more books with characters who [...]

Young adult is a category filled with the documentation of firsts—first love being one of the most common. Any story about a teenager is going to be about self-discovery. So it stands to reason that a lot of books about GLBT (or “queer” to cover the gamut and then some) teens will be in large part about the process of coming out. Personally, I was 28 when I came out and it felt like being 15 again. So if being a teen is about coming out, coming out can sometimes seem an awful lot like being a teen. [...]

When I was a teenager, I faithfully devoured all six or so books I could get my hands on that had lesbian main characters. These were overwhelmingly coming out stories, and most of them left me balling my eyes out because of how depressing they were. The movies weren’t much better. Enter the world of fanfiction. Now that was something I could get behind! Okay, maybe they weren’t always the most well written stories, but at least they were about something besides coming out. I quickly began writing my own, and after many years of that I decided [...]

Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff is a story of friends lost and families found, place sought and love gained, but the book will be remembered for more than a heartbreaking and moving story. But I wish you would stop reading this review now and read the book yourself. Right now. This will be here when you get back. Because what makes this book so remarkable is the way in which Brezenoff takes a fairly typical story of angst and trauma, a story no less powerful despite its archetypal structure, and puts it in a form that forces the [...]

By Karen Kincy I’m not qualified to blog about LGBTQ characters and pairings. This was my first reaction to being asked to write for Gay YA. My second reaction: Why not? Am I more qualified to write about boys, werewolves, men, shapeshifters, and anyone much older than me? Who says I’m able to understand the inner thoughts of a small-town sheriff, or a murderer? Many more people in my life identify themselves as LGBTQ rather than werewolves or serial killers. In all seriousness, I want to know why I still felt like this was something off-limits. In my [...]