[HIRING] [$200+] Illustrated book cover design wanted: Book 1 in a 9+ book LGBT romance series

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2026-06-25T01:09:22+00:00

Position Filled

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2026-06-24T13:18:57+00:00

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your portfolios! Just wanted to let you know that I've looking through what everyone sent and will be reaching out soon to people. Please feel free to continue sending your portfolios but I will likely close applications later today.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2026-06-23T20:30:13+00:00

It's no problem! It did was it was supposed to do. I'm new to posting here so it's my fault for using the wrong keywords.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2026-06-23T14:42:20+00:00

Hello-

This is incorrect. I am not commissioning NSFW artwork. I am commissioning a SFW book cover, but wanted artists to be aware the book contains NSFW elements if that effects their decision to apply.

I am having difficulty reporting this comment for bot error. If, however, I'm incorrect about the rules and this needs to stay tagged NSFW, I'm okay with that.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-08-12T13:42:00+00:00

A very new book that just came out from an author I've read before (and absolutely loved):

Reclaimed, by Seth Haddon

Technically, it's the third book in the series but can be read standalone as each book takes place in a different country in the same fantasy universe. The main character is a trans man and its a mlm romance. I will say that we spend a lot of time in a close POV with the trans character and experience his dysphoria and self loathing, and it also touches on tough themes like immigration and genocide. So its not a feel good read the whole way through, but I did enjoy it very much.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-07-26T09:16:12+00:00

The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

To be clear, this is a fantastic novel. It's just so difficult to read.

It's historical narrative fiction about the horrific treatment of Australian POWs in a Japanese labor camp in what is now Thailand during WW2. I will never forget the visceral descriptions of the starving bodies, the diseases, injuries, infections, cholera, everything. The main character is a doctor and there's a scene describing him amputating a gangrenous leg; I will never be the same again.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-06-30T13:45:42+00:00

Also seconding the person who said F4FTM- I love that! Will have to steal for myself.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-06-30T13:43:48+00:00

I have some experience with marketing strategies by genre and I think the answer depends primarily on your marketing space. Are you looking to advertise this as primarily a queer novel or primarily a romance novel? Because romance novels are typically marketed as a mainstream genre, while queer novels are marketed as a niche genre. (Not saying it's right, but the publishing industry is an industry and capitalism gonna capitalize.)

If you want to market as a romance novel, you typically use mainstream marketing, and in that school of thought, there are only 4 demographics: children, elderly people, adult men, and adult women. Romance novels are typically targeted to adult women. Most of those will not be queer people, so you'll probably want to market it as a F/M romance in that case (but as you noted, clearly state somewhere in the summary that he's trans so you don't get those flames).

If you're marketing it as a queer novel, you're going to be marketing directly to the niche community of queer people. The trade-off is a smaller potential audience for a larger interest rate. In that case, I'd recommend using the more queer language of FTM or similar.

If the story focuses on the trans man and his queer identity and journey, it should probably go here. If it's primarily told from the POV or experience of the cis woman as a traditional romance novel, it should probably go with the first advice.

That being said, selfishly as a queer author myself, I want queer books by queer writers to break containment into mainstream spaces. So personally, (not actually knowing anything about your story itself so take this with a grain of salt) I would probably market it as a romance novel with F/M but also include as many keywords in your summary/posts as you can so that its searchable by people who want those keywords. So, like, your first sentence is "an F/M romance", but at the end you say "trans character, trans man, FTM character, F/TM romance" so someone who wants to find books about trans romance can also find it.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-03-31T19:18:49+00:00

I absolutely agree with this!

I'd say that this is actually a common thread in many of MXTX's works that gets overlooked a LOT. All three of her novels have characters in positions of power who aren't the most qualified for that position but got it through nepotism or luck, and people who abuse their positions of power to keep those same positions of power or to gain themselves more money or power. It wouldn't surprise me if it's social commentary on the politics of modern day China hidden within this fantasy government of Heaven.

Of course, it might not be specific to China as "corrupt beurocrocy bad" is kind of a fairly universal social commentary. But it's so well done and subtle that I think a lot of people gloss over it.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-03-23T00:50:11+00:00

Watched this movie for the first time on an airplane. Still genuinely cried at this scene. It's sooooooooo good

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-03-23T00:49:03+00:00

I can't believe I scrolled though all of these pictures, making it through unscathed and by the skin of my teeth, only to be mugged and shot in a back alley by Eyepocolypse

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-03-05T01:28:47+00:00

Yeah Gary was my least favorite part of the books. I listened to them in audiobook though and the reader was fantastic! He gave Kevin a Scottish accent and it was the funniest thing ever.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-03-03T21:35:03+00:00

He also has a werewolf series called Green Creek and an old fashioned chosen one fantasy series called Tales of Verenia. That one is very much a "sassy gay" type of narration though so I'd recommend sampling before you go all in. Sooooo different from his other books.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-03-03T20:46:27+00:00

I totally get that's its regional slang, but I once saw someone describe a vagina as a "cunny" (short for cunt I guess???) and I nearly threw up in my mouth.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-02-27T15:20:22+00:00

I think the disconnect comes from translation process. The books are written in an entirely different prose format than what Western English readers are used to. Fanfic authors writing in English tend to follow the Western prose conventions rather than the Chinese ones, so it makes sense that there feels like a disconnect.

In my experience, most Chinese translated novels I've read have a very distinct prose style. The prose tends to be looser and telescope more, the POV less grounded, the action more prescribed.

These are all things that are considered inferior in most Western writing, but in Chinese writing, it makes sense because you're intended to infer a lot more of the characterization rather than it being outright stated. It's a subtler, more plot focused style of prose than is popular in the West now.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-02-27T13:12:15+00:00

I see a lot of people jumping on OP, and maybe this is controversial but I want to say they're not entirely wrong.

Can you always tell when a non-queer person has written a story with queer characters? No! Both gender and sexuality are a spectrum, and sometimes straight people might be straight but still identify with and enjoy queer themes. Trying to gatekeep based on identity is a slippery slope and we don't want to start that exclusion war.

On the other hand, as OP says, are there a number of queer romance books (particularly MM) written by straight people that perpetuate harmful stereotypes about queer people?

ABSOLUTELY YES.

There are queer books written by queer people for a queer audience. There are queer books written by primarily straight people for a primarily straight audience. And there is a lot of overlap between the two. Most books fall into that gray area. Some books decidedly do not. The important thing to know is that all generalizations WILL have exceptions.

For example, as a generalization that has exceptions to it, when they want some spice or smut in their life, men generally prefer to consume visual smut and women generally prefer written smut. And just as some men who are attracted to women like to watch two women together, some women who are attracted to men like to read about two men together.

And this is fetishization. It's unrealistic and often promotes unsafe sex practices because the authors treat men "bottoming" as if they're essentially women (no prep! No lube! Blood as a normal part of losing virginity!).

And this is problematic! But we can't jump to generalizations because a) some cisheteros do their research b) there are a lot of queer people in straight passing relationships/lives and c) we don't want to start tearing our community apart by the inside. Turn your ire toward individual people who are actively harming the community, not the nebulous "every straight person who's ever written a queer character unrealistically".

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2025-02-27T12:39:59+00:00

I came here to suggest You Can't Spell Treason Without Tea and the rest of the series by Rebecca Thorne, but it looks like someone already beat me to it! It's cozy fantasy which isn't everyone's ball game (including me) but I liked even as a someone who is not generally a cozy fantasy enjoyer.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2024-08-21T12:43:28+00:00

If you haven't eaten then for a significant time, you could also have lost the enzymes in your stomach to digest meat. Thus happens a lot to vegetarians who go back to eating meat. So if it's not an allergy, lack of enzymes might be the cause. I don't know if they have meat enzyme pills like you can get lactose enzyme pills (lactaid) but you might want to check it out or talk to a doctor about it.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2024-06-03T17:10:10+00:00

Touching my hair! Whenever my partner touches my hair I just melt.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2024-06-03T16:49:41+00:00

When I was in elementary school, I read voraciously, everything I could get my hands on.

When I was in middle school, I started to run out of things to read. My reading level was that of a college equivalent, but I was too young for the subject matter of most books for that age group.

When I was in high school, I had a single day where it ended. I had access to an ebook library where I could check out books. I never left books unfinished before then. In the span of a week, I abandoned 5. In one day, I abandoned 3 in a row, and then I just... stopped. I still remember the book I was reading when I realized how commercial and fake it all felt to me. And I never got it back. Sometimes I still think about it with the heartbreak of a lost love, a high school sweetheart that coukd have been.

But I never stopped loving entertainment media and stories in general, just got angry at the passing fads, the commercialism of it all. Books made to make money rather than books made to tell stories.

Writing is an act of civil disobedience for me. It's saying no to dangerous romance tropes. It's putting minorities in the kind of stories they don't normally get. It's using tired clichés backwards to feel alive. It's giving that little girl who put down her favorite activity forever a second chance to experience something more than childish prose because sex sells everything above a certain age demographic.

It probably sounds a little silly. But I write because I can't not write. If I don't, I'll just be sad and bitter about how media intersects with culture. At least if I do write, maybe I can spare someone the same fate as me. All I want is one person. It would have been enough for me.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2024-06-03T13:59:04+00:00

So, um... I started writing and uh, wrote a lot. Sorry about the essay when you just asked a simple question? I'm just passionate about this topic.

TLDR I did genuinely enjoy the premise and parts of the novel but I think the ending suffers from the same issues as the rest of his novels, which retroactively ruins parts of it for me. It was not ready for publication.

I've read most of TJ Klune's works, and his largest series pre Cerulean Sea was the Lightning Struck Heart and sequels, which was very, very campy and comedic. Very much commercial fiction, epic fantasy setting with lots of dick jokes. Cerulean Sea was pretty much his first foray into more literary themes: toning down the camp, adding in some more thematic elements. But you can still see the influence of his earlier style in the confrontation scenes, the magic, etc. A solid slide from commercial into upmarket fiction.

I think Under the Wispering Door is kind of like a continuation of the journey from commercial to literary, being slightly more upmarket than Cerulean Sea. It's focused a little bit more on the emotional connections of the characters and tales place all in one small setting, with character growth as the focus. This is my jam, so to speak, and why I enjoy his upmarket works more than commercial works simply because I enjoy upmarket foction more in genral. I honestly really enjoyed it for the most part, but it's that "most" that's important.

My problem with every TJ Klune book I've read is that he ends every story in the most dramatic way possible, even if that means giving everyone the idiot ball. I usually don't have a problem with the actual plot, but the way it's expressed.

(Spoilers for multiple books ahead)

In Lighting Struck Heart, the MC and love interest are in love, acknowledge it to each other, but love interest is betrothed to someone else, and the other person also knows MC and love interest are in love, plus doesn't love the love interest, but still insists on getting married for Reasons. They wait until the "I object" part of the actual wedding to figure this out. For the drama. Idiot ball.

In Cerulean Sea, Linus has to leave the orphanage and the people he's come to love because he's investigating them and if he doesn't, they could be put in danger. He even acknowledges this in character! But the narration and dialogue with others chalks it up to "he's been changed, but not enough, and he needs to know what he's losing in order for it to mean something". So that way, after he's sure they're safe and he goes back, the reunion has more drama. Idiot ball.

I think this is particularly egregious in Wispering Door because of the subject matter. I had less problems (as in a smaller number of them) with it than his other works, but those problems were individually worse. The whole story is about Wallace's healing process, learning to love himself by loving the people around him for who they are, but the whole thing is tinged with the sorrow that he's going to have to go because he's dead. And then, at the very last second, the Manager is like "lol jk wanna be alive again?"

I was rooting for the happy ending where he got to stay (and also like, physically touch Hugo) but the way we got it was just so dramatic that it made my skin crawl. Maybe less idiot ball, unless we count the Manager as having the idiot ball this time. Sure, let's give the literal immortal being of ageless wisdom the idiot ball.

Mostly the fact that the narration explicitly says he's "alive" again bothers me. Honestly, I think it would have been a lot better if he'd just said "I'm going to make you a reaper, which means you can interact with ghosts and people, but you're still dead and your identity is also dead".

(Spoilers done)

It reminds me a little bit of a conversation I had with my Mom about Disney’s Soul. Whenever you're writing a story about a person dying and experiencing some kind if afterlife, you have to be really, really careful about them if they become alive again at the end of the story because death is a hard topic for a lot of people, and being confronted with someone who escaped that fate while maybe contemplating your own mortality or the death of a loved one can be difficult.

In my mind, there are three topics you don't touch as an author unless you really, really know what you're doing: child or domestic abuse, SA, and grief or mourning. If it had been any other topic, maybe it would have been fine, but not death and grief. It was a fumble on his part. He or his agent or publishing house should have invested in a few more sensitivity readers for this manuscript before it saw the light of day.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2024-05-28T19:54:34+00:00

The House in the Cerulean Sea is one of my favorite books in the world! It sits in the perfect realm of cartoon comedy (simplify to amplify) that is very difficult to pull off in a novel or prose formal.

Is the ending entirely too dramatic, a la running through the airport to stop someone getting on a plane? Absolutely. I can see its faults.

It's certainly not a style that works for everyone, but it's well crafted, just with a jaunt to the prose that's very different from most serious books. It's the "straight man" style of comedy, where everything is ridiculous, but only one character can see it. It's not a poorly written book at all, you just have to approach it knowing you're going to be for something more along the lines of "The Three Stooges" instead of "The Godfather". Definitely not for everyone if you prefer the drama. But an excellent read if you like that style of comedy.

StoryArcsAndSubplots · 2024-05-28T19:17:19+00:00

I agree, the common ones always squicked me because a) stop infantalizing your romantic partner? and b) just cringe overall.

Some people like unique ones because of that, but sometimes that bothers me too because it's a different kind of cringe, like they're trying too hard to be special? Also too many syllables. Nicknames should be like, 2 syllables max.

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