9 votes

The 'Shoulder Check' problem, or when snippets of LGBT life feel out of place to others in fiction

Posted by Kuromantis
Tags: writing, fiction, shoulder check, books, author.nathan burgoine, long read
https://apostrophen.wordpress.com/2021/01/03/the-shoulder-check-problem/

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Title
The Shoulder Check Problem
Authors
'Nathan Burgoine
Published
Jan 3 2021
Word count
4120 words

1 comment

  1. Kuromantis
    (edited )
    Link
    An interesting article about how including doses of realism when it comes to LGBT living is often a bit of a roadbump to straight people who just want to read some wholesome love stories.

    An interesting article about how including doses of realism when it comes to LGBT living is often a bit of a roadbump to straight people who just want to read some wholesome love stories.

    Dino leaned over and kissed the top of his head. Silas glanced around the restaurant, but they were tucked in a corner, mostly out of sight.

    “Careful. This isn’t the Village,” he reminded Dino.

    — from “Faux Ho Ho,” by ‘Nathan Burgoine

    “I don’t like it when you have them check to see if anyone’s looking when they kiss. It’s sad. It kicks me out of the moment.”

    That’s a paraphrase of this most recent comment, obviously, but I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve had some variation of that feedback from women reading my queer romances, or had them bring it up face-to-face at conventions. As a counterpoint, I’ve never had it so much as mentioned negatively by queer men who’ve read my queer romances.

    10 votes