The review of SOMEONE LIKE YOU that Tim mentioned in this LJ entry made me think of a review for THE DEAL. In that one, the reviewer said we used a “token straight couple.”
Let me set the record…er…straight. From our earliest interviews and comments about our novels, whether the ones written by two people or four, we have always said and been honest about a single feature of the stories. We write FICTION that reflects the reality of our lives. That reality is that we have a very diverse group of friends, some of whom become our family. And within our biological families, there are people who accept us and others who reject us for certain truths about our lives.
The characters, the plots, the settings–they grow out of our imaginations. Even when we draw from our life experiences to create them, in the end, it’s just storytelling. Everything is meant to serve the story, not some author agenda, and also not any potential reader expectations beyond, “Is this a good story?”
If you don’t like the stories, that’s fine. If you don’t like the writing, okay. But it’s inaccurate to suggest that the writers have set up arbitrary “quotas.” A TJB or L&C novel is about people falling in love; and making and keeping friends; and being or discovering themselves; and not trying to measure up to anyone’s idea of what it means to be of a certain gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, political persuasion, or region.
In our particular case, for all four of us to have the same “agenda” we’d have to agree on it. No matter what sensibilities we share, Tim, Jim, Timmy, and I are unique individuals who by no means agree on everything. Among the four of us, there’s a lot of love and a lot of understanding and acceptance, but there are also marked differences because of the range of our individual backgrounds. I believe all of that ultimately serves our friendships AND our stories.
On a personal note, you know one fun thing about writing with other people? The number of times I’ve asked a writing partner, “Is he gay?” or “Is she a lesbian?” and I never got an answer. Yes, there are characters in our novels whose sexual orientation remains a mystery to me and THAT IS JUST LIKE LIFE.
One of the reasons I adore the TJB/C&L books is that they’re not happening in a gay bubble. There is no real gay bubble, and it always feels false when they exist, in a novel or film or otherwise. Put simply, I don’t really have gay friends (or at least, very few that I’m all that close to), and for the most part, I spend my social life and work time with my straight friends and co-workers. I enjoy your novels since they reflect this.
Thank you.
We’re a gay author, and immediately politicized. We must have an agenda, right? We’re only supposed to write inside a gay microcosm, hermetically sealed from the realities of ethnic and sexual integration? What world do the reviewers want us to write about? One that doesn’t exist?
Xorxos!!!!!!
ROFL! My home planet…