All the queer ladies: How sapphic romance is paving the way for LGBTQI female characters

Three queer romance writers share their experiences with the genre, and their approach to creating LGBTQI icons for book lovers

Sapphic romance is no longer just the stuff of fanfiction (Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash)

Not too long ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find any books with queer leads in major bookstores near you, since most LGBTQI content was relegated to the depths of fanfiction websites and overly erotic self-published novellas.

But in 2021 authors of queer stories were doing actual promotional events with bookstores and libraries, big publishers are compiling lists of LGBTQI books to read, and over in the US, Target are putting up whole video displays to advertise the latest sapphic romance.

So, what has changed in the past half a decade? We go straight to the source, as it were, and chat with some of our favourite queer romance authors about the world of publishing, and how LGBTQI stories are gradually chipping away at the walls of bestseller lists.

Breaking down the barriers

There are now so many queer stories that publications ranging from Harper’s BAZAAR to Men’s Health are making entire lists. While it would be lovely to assume that these titles are genuinely breaking into the mainstream, there’s always the doubt that they’re just getting dusted off by publishers for Pride Month.

During our interview, Alexandria Bellefleur, author of Written in the Stars, voices similar concerns. “I have noticed that there is a vocal uplifting of queer books during Pride,” she says, “but it tends to dwindle once the month is over, and some readers unfortunately won’t diversify their reading again for another year until Pride rolls back around.”

Even so, Alexandria admits that big strides have been made when it comes to queer romance visibility. And she’s not the only one to notice. Talia Hibbert, author of Take a Hint, Dani Brown, tells us they have spotted the positive trend by looking at rankings on sites such as Amazon, where books are split into different categories, from general ones like contemporary romance to more niche groups such as black romance, or indeed LGBTQI.

“When I started, it was a lot more common that you could be number one in your LGBTQI category, and you wouldn't show up anywhere on the contemporary list because it was just full of all the more popular heterosexual books,” Talia says. “But now I think more and more, you're seeing marginalised books show up on the contemporary mainstream list, which to me is indicative of just more people in general buying them.”

And although when we ask whether the growing popularity of LGBTQI stories is thanks to the contemporary romance genre the author admits that they can’t conclusively confirm that, it certainly seems that way. “[Queer stories are] breaking out and getting more visibility from that more popular list,” they point out.

There’s more to queerness than coming out

As well as growing in numbers, queer romances are also getting more diverse in content, and we love to see it. This seems to be particularly true in the Young Adult corner, where Isabel Sterling, author of These Witches Don’t Burn, tells us she’s noticed LGBTQI characters are no longer being boxed into one “coming out” narrative.

“There's a ton of queer witch books, there's a ton of queer vampire books coming out ... It's going to be a great couple years and I'm so excited for that,” she laughs with genuine joy, before adding that there have also been more nuanced takes on coming out, like Jennifer Dugan’s book Some Girls Do.

According to Isabel, the book explores the contrast between being “super out” and not being able to come out for safety reasons. In essence, it’s a story about ways to find pockets of happiness when coming out isn't an option.

“I think that was a really needed addition to the canon,” she says. “Because sometimes you can have a happy relationship, even if one person has to remain closeted while they're still living at home with their parents. I think that's a reality for a lot of teens.”

“We just need all [the different types of representation],” Isabel concludes, “because there are so many different ways to be queer and ways to be coming out.” We couldn’t agree more with you, Isabel!

Are gay novels leading the way?

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that stories about gay men sell more. When we ask Isabel whether that rings true, she calls the subject “thorny”, before confirming that gay romances historically tend to sell better.

“I think that becomes a self-perpetuating cycle,” she adds. “Publishers think they sell better, so they put more effort into marketing them and therefore they do sell better.”

Looking back, Isabel tells us she remembers a time when the best way to make a living writing queer stories was to write about queer men, because it would pay more. “But I think that is starting to change,” she adds cheerfully.

As any of our fellow book lovers would know, the type of content available in turn impacts what readers buy. “I think part of [the gay romance’s popularity] was the fact that five to ten years ago, if you wanted to find queer content, all you were going to find was queer boys,” notes Isabel. “So, you had to learn to see yourself in them.”

There are, of course, a whole host of issues that stem from that, as you can easily discover for yourself if you engage with bookish communities on social media. “Gay couples tend to get squealed over by the readership, and that can be almost dehumanising when it's taken to an extreme,” the author points out, adding that sapphic characters don’t seem to generate the same reaction outside of the queer community.

Talia agrees that gay romance seems to be the most popular, at least partially because people fetishise it more. “Sometimes you see really disturbing language around these gay romance books,” they confirm.

And while some people would read any good queer literature, the romance author tells us others avoid certain types of queer stories, usually due to specific forms of queerphobia.

“People [seem to] find it easier to fetishise gay relationships than they do [sapphic] relationships,” Talia shares, adding that they often see people saying: “I don't want to read about vaginas!”

Queerphobic readers aside, the author does point out that over the course of their career in publishing, they have noticed sapphic romance becoming more prominent. Talia gives One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston as an example for the increased visibility of these novels. “I saw on social media that they had a video advertisement in Target,” they tell us enthusiastically, “which is a pretty big deal for a romance with two girls on the cover!”

Sapphic romance as a safe space

Even though they write different stories for different genres, all three of the authors we spoke to have one thing in common - the positive experiences they want to create for their sapphic characters.

In fact, Isabel tells us that the story behind These Witches Don’t Burn stretches beyond the characters on the pages. The first draft of the novel was written before she was out, in the days when the author considered herself a straight ally. “Once I was actually out, and was dating another woman, I realised how much I didn't know. So just living my life as an out queer person really influenced so much of the nuance in the book.”

The main character, Hannah, is a lesbian and establishing her as very “out and proud” from page one was Isabel’s way of creating a world where readers feel safe in the knowledge that this character isn't going to be hurt because they're queer. The author also wanted to include a bisexual character (Hannah’s love interest Morgan), since she herself identifies as bi, but beyond that, she steers clear of making either character’s sexuality a sticking point in the book.

Talia, who is also bisexual, has a very similar stance about their romance novels, like Take a Hint, Dani Brown. “I never want bisexuality to be a point of conflict between my main characters, because that would suggest one of them is biphobic,” they admit early on in our chat.

Much like Isabel, Talia doesn’t want their characters to be forced into queerphobic interactions on the journey to a happily ever after. “I'm writing books that I want to be a positive blueprint of the lives that people can have and deserve,” they say, adding sagely that a lot of people get these LGBTQI stories to see reflections of themselves just existing.

Our third author Alexandria’s novel Written in the Stars is another example of casual representation. “Not all queer romances need to be about coming out or have the characters grapple with their queerness or prioritise angst,” she says. “Those stories are absolutely valid and necessary, but I wanted to contribute to the idea that queer joy is worthy of representation, too.”

Deliberately setting off to write a story where the protagonists’ sexuality is not a source of conflict, Alexandria tells us she is trying to challenge the belief that if a character’s queerness doesn’t factor into the conflict, the book isn’t queer enough. “I feel very strongly that characters need no reason to be queer other than that they simply are queer,” she declares, and we couldn’t agree more.

LGBTQI representation falling short

You might not know this if reading is a recent lockdown hobby of yours, but sapphic romance hasn’t always been … well, sapphic.

“A few years ago, I would just grab some of the real cheap romance e-books,” reminisces Isabel, “and sometimes you'll get a [sapphic] book which is so clearly written by a cis heterosexual dude who has no idea. It's so clearly written for male titillation.”

Luckily, we’re now seeing more LGBTQI stories by queer authors in the mainstream, which means that readers have more authentic choices they can look towards. But the work is far from done.

Alexandria and Isabel both bring up intersectionality as one of the main issues that mainstream LGBTQI representation still needs to tackle. “Queer BIPOC authors and their stories need to be supported to the same degree their white counterparts are currently being uplifted,” says Alexandria.

Isabel agrees that LGBTQI literature is still very white, though she points towards authors like Leah Johnson, Adiba Jaigirdar and Kalynn Bayron, who are making inroads as we speak. “There are definitely people who are pushing in that space,” she says, “but publishing really needs to do a better job of opening up to more of those voices.”

It’s not just BIPOC authors and characters that are missing when it comes to queer stories either. According to Isabel, it's really hard to find books featuring trans women, or stories that are not able-focused. “We need more of all those intersections,” she concludes wisely at the end of our conversation.

Talia, meanwhile, addresses the elephant in the room. “I think the biggest problem is always going to be the issue of queerphobia,” they say. Even though people within publishing are working really hard to change things, they're not working without pushback, the author observes, because the entire industry is biased towards a heterosexual perspective.

“It feels like a guerrilla uprising,” Talia muses. “There's always a tipping point when you're trying to change something. And it feels like we are at that tipping point where a gate is going to open and we're going to rush towards another level of progress.”

Whether we reach this tipping point in a year, or a decade, one thing is for sure - LGBTQI representation is seeping into contemporary romance, gaining support from the publishing world and audiences alike. And swept into this tidal wave, queer women are showing up on the pages more than ever before. To quote Talia one last time, “Long may it continue!”