LGBTQ Mainstream Fiction?

Is there such a thing?

That is...

My novel is a couple of stories in one, and is based heavily on LGBTQ characters but not necessarily on their romances. Their being what and who they are plays a part in it, but it doesn't only boil down to gender and sexuality. One is heavily plot-driven.

But then, can LGBTQ or gender-focused stuff be considered mainstream, or is it still a thing of its own?

Totally! I'm writing a Mainstream Fiction book where the plot centers on the MC's fast unto death and how dying changes her life. However, she has a couple of love interests during her hunger strike to keep things interesting, and one of them is female -- she is in total denial and believes she is 100% heterosexual, and while she lives as a woman, she's always known deep down that that's not right. So one of the sub-plots is my MC starting to question both her gender and her sexuality. (Fast unto death, and you'll start questioning *everything* :p).

I don't see why it wouldn't be mainstream. Just because a character is gay doesn't mean that the book has to be tucked away in a back corner on a small shelf :)

I think LGBTQ or gender-focused literature can ABSOLUTELY be mainstream. Unfortunately, it's usually marginalized by book sellers or publishing houses. But it'll never be truly mainstream unless more writers include LGBTQ characters and story lines in novels and media intended for mainstream audiences. Write on!

Yep, I reckon the stories decide what category we place the books in. My first novel When No One's Looking has a strong queerness to it, but you never really knew if Joey was male or female. Same with the second book out, in that one the protagonist is simply known as Lucky. You get to read it how you want. I think the story is mainstream. I'd love someone to read these flying over to Europe and back. Its character driven...sounds like we all agree!
next topic?? he he

Yeah. My novel is mainstream, and while my MC is in a same-sex relationship, it's treated like it's the most normal thing in the world. (She happens to be living in a fictional country where same-sex relationships are seen as normal and perfectly acceptable, but whatever.) So in that sense, it does have an LGBTQ side to it, but the novel is not about their relationship. They're together throughout the entire novel, and that's just the way it is.

Egad, I hope so. My character has androgen insensitivity syndrome and goes back and forth between homosexual (or heterosexual depending on how you look at her gender) and heterosexual relationships as she tries to work out the dilemma that her genetics have put her in.

--JSC

My MC is a 15 year old girl who develops a romantic/sexual relationship with another girl and then is devastated by her as the main subplot, while the larger story has more to do with her loyalty to her male friends she's had since she was a kid and the crap that get's dumped on teenagers in general. There is also quite a bit of drugs and violence in 1st person POV.

Any ideas as to what genre this is?

It can be mainstream, but from a theoretical standpoint it offers a completely different view of reality than a heternormative perspective. So it can be mainstream, but there will undoubtedly be some alienating factors if it's written from a queer point of view instead of a heteronormative one. It's way more than hetero-stylized people who happen to be queer, it very much influences how they interact with the world in a holistic way.

My novels main focus is self-discovery & deals with subplots of personal identity, sexuality & how those are defined.

The MC experiments with every flavor of these aspects that the society he lives in has to offer. This is not illustrated in a debaucherous way, but within the safety of the fact that nothing is particularly wrong with figuring who you are. That, afterall, is the goal all the charcters are heading towards.

With the flux of genders & variety of options, I guess my MC would best be described [in our society] as "gay" with hints of "hetero" & "bisexuality" along the way. But that is really incidental to him discovering who he really is. He's a sampler - an encouraged trait in his world. How would he know whether or not he liked something if he never tasted it? It could have easily been spelled out with a "straight" character. But ohhhhhhhhh how many layers would have had to have been left out!

SOOOO... with ALL that being said. My novel with a "gay" MC is definitely meant to be 'Mainstream'.