Archive – Page 15

Discovering Aromanticism

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:40:56-05:00February 20th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Bisexual|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 5 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love – Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood - On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA by Alison Hi! I saw GayYA's post on Tumblr about people from the arospec sharing our stories and I thought: "Hey, Alison, you're aromantic. You might as well." So, yeah. Here I am. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alison; I'm a 15 year old cisgendered female. I live in Yorkshire, [...]

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On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:41:09-05:00February 19th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic, Intersectionality, Representation|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 4 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love - Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood by Denali Leone Describing my fictional characters to people is often like coming out again. While discussing my manuscript with a coworker, I mentioned my main character is on the aromantic spectrum. After explaining that aromantic individuals experience little or no romantic attraction, my coworker frowned and said, “I don’t give a damn. Readers want romance.” I struggled with how to [...]

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Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood

By Marilla|2016-05-24T14:49:14-05:00February 18th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 3 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love by Julia W. Looking back on the earlier elementary years, I was incredibly aromantic. I mean, I remember picking a boy to crush on because I thought it was a choice, and I remember thinking specifically "I just want to be his friend." I remember finding common interests with a boy and not understanding why the other girls would tease me about it. I remember others talking about boys in [...]

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Actual Love

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:41:09-05:00February 17th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic, Representation|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 2 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” by Ashley D. Wallis I thought I was broken. These are words I’ve heard time and time again in my inbox or on posts explaining aromanticism. For over a decade, I thought the same thing. Two years ago, I was twenty-nine years old and scrolling through tumblr when I came across a post describing aro people. I’d seen many posts about asexuality, and often thought that the description was how I felt – [...]

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The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone”

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:41:09-05:00February 16th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 1 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series by Sacha My relationship with Young Adult fiction has been one of productive frustration. YA, specifically YA fantasy, is not only my favorite genre but actually the only genre of fiction that can ever hold my attention--I've always had trouble explaining why, but one reason is that in YA, the characters and their relationships are usually the most important element of the story. But right there, in the explanation for why I like this genre best, is the source of frustration: [...]

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Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:09-05:00February 16th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Updates and Announcements|

Welcome to GayYA’s Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week series! In honor of Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week, we’re featuring posts from aromantic and aro-spec contributors on various issues surrounding aromantic representation in YA. We have an AWESOME line up of contributors and posts, and we’re so excited to share them with you all! The Awareness Week series are something we’ve started doing for all of the LGBTQIA+ Awareness Weeks throughout the year. Though we hope to include everyone on our site at all times, we’ve found that dedicating a specific and concentrated space to a community to talk about the different ways their [...]

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Cover Reveal: Screaming Down Splitsville by Kayla Bashe

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:09-05:00February 12th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Cover Reveal|Tags: disability, lesbian, Queer Girls|

Today we are thrilled to host the cover reveal of the upcoming F/F YA Screaming Down Splitsville by Kayla Bashe! Screaming Down Splitsville takes place in an alternate 1950s where two groups of people with magical powers fight for dominance. Flip, a young lesbian, thinks her healing powers are completely useless. After her escape from a lab, she's been grounded to a safe base, and while everyone else is on important missions, she keeps the fridge stocked and fixes the plumbing. However, when a chance coincidence sends her on a solo rescue mission, Flip has a surprising reunion with [...]

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Cover Reveal: THE OLIVE CONSPIRACY by Shira Glassman

By Nita|2020-03-28T13:41:09-05:00January 11th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Cover Reveal, Fun Things|Tags: bisexuality, jewish rep, shira glassman, Trans|

We're fans of Shira Glassman's books here at The Gay YA, and even bigger fans of the work she does promoting diverse LGBTQIA+ lit and her passion for representation. Today, we're revealing the cover for The Olive Conspiracy, the fourth book in the Mangoverse series! Here's some info from Shira about the book: The Olive Conspiracy is due out on July 20, 2016 from Prizm Books. It's part of the Mangoverse series but you don't have to read any of the other books first because I try my best to write my books as standalone adventures about the same family-of-choice. It's [...]

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Clearing Trans Paths in Middle Grade Fiction

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:41:10-05:00November 20th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Middle Grade, Representation, Trans|

Now that my debut middle grade novel, George, has been released into the world (fly, baby, fly!!) I’ve been witnessing and engaging in conversations about “who this book is for”. In other words, “is this age-appropriate?” Now let me be clear. There is no age at which it is inappropriate to appreciate people for who they are. And there is no age before we know ourselves. We may not have fully formed those notions, but each of us is the only person we know inside and out, and each of our challenges includes finding, respecting, and celebrating that [...]

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Knights, Defenders and Double Edged Swords

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:41:10-05:00November 18th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Representation, Trans|

by Sarah Benwell When I was a kid, I wanted to become a knight. To take on chivalry and honour and a bravery that was bigger than I’d ever felt in real life. I wanted to protect, defend, pick up a sword and fight for something good. I wanted to be Lancelot or Gawain or a knight of Gondor or Cair Paravel. And sometimes talking and writing about diversity feels a little bit like picking up that mantle. I’ve talked a lot lately – in schools and cons and AGMs and right across the internet – about how [...]

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