The Hopeless Romantic

Co-authors of the upcoming Heart of the Steal, Avon Gale and Roan Parrish, join THR to chat about their cowriting process! They also talk about working with an agent, hideous hotel breakfasts, and how they got their starts in the queer romance industry. Amanda reveals she cries at every episode of Friday Night Lights, Roan is not a food snob, no one really knows how to write serial fiction, and we had to cut twenty minutes of material because Skype made us all sound like robot demons.

Content warning: this episode (briefly) mentions fisting and choking, calls certain Overwatch characters Daddy, and generally features a lot of irreverent filth. Welcome to Hopeless After Dark, a new subset of THR that isn't exclusively dedicated to queer romance. We reached out to Twitter to ask some of our listeners what they'd like to hear us talk about, and we tackled Overwatch and Austin's burgeoning obsessions, AUs of Peter Darling and the origins of Coffee Boy, and finally failed to create a Captive Prince coffee shop AU. We hope you enjoy our strange venture. If not, the next episode of THR will be back on brand.

Content warning: There are a few mentions of racism and a mention of rape in this episode. THR talks tropes! From their favorites (ask about Austin's love for cowboys and Amanda's for arranged marriage) to their least favorites, when a trope can be neutral, and when it can be potentially harmful. They also cover some tropes that intersect with or differ from those in fan fiction. Also, for some reason Austin attempts to say some stuff in German. Tune in to find out how that goes.

Co-host Austin Chant's novel Peter Darling was released in February, and Amanda and Austin break down the editing process over many months and three recording sessions. Hear them stress over deadlines, complain about talking whales and Hook's outfits, give props to the Captive Prince trilogy for various inspiration, discuss the versions of the book that weren't, and totally contradict themselves from session to session! The episode is an in-depth look at what it takes to bring a novel from first draft to publication. It does contain spoilers for the book.

Megan Derr, CEO of Less Than Three Press and a prolific author of high fantasy and spec, covers world building, including where she starts, info dump, winging it, dialog, and languages. She also talks about ace rep, including what she's looking for at LT3 and as an ace reader. The group also discusses how Amanda's got a ton of unread books on her Kindle, but Megan's seated atop a mighty hoard of books and definitely has her beat.

Content warnings: The Captive Prince series contains dark subject matter, including sexual and physical abuse, so please proceed with caution as we briefly discuss some of those elements. The Captive Prince started life as a free online serial and became a best seller. Author C.S. Pacat talks process, plotting, her influences as a young queer person, what the 80s covers of the books would look like, Amanda's thing for icy blonds, and the delight that is Yuri on Ice in THR's longest episode to date. (We all had a lot to say about who we romanced in Dragon Age.)

Taking up where [part one][1] left off, Amanda and Austin discuss contracts and what some of their clauses may mean, the rundown on royalty rates and payment schedules, the editing process from start to finish, social media etiquette for beginners, and even how to address your submission email. (Pretty obviously, no one at THR is a lawyer, and we can't give you legal and/or tax advice. We're relaying very general info from our personal experiences of working in the queer romance industry. Please seek appropriate professional guidance when it comes to contracts and taxes.)

Content warning: Austin and Amanda are tipsy/drunk in this episode. They also discuss the TV shows Hannibal and Attack on Titan briefly, which feature morbid subject matter. (Amanda's generally a creep, too.) It's THR's one-year anniversary! In celebration, Austin and Amanda got drunk and talked about abandoned projects, tried and failed to plot a project, and discussed how Korean dramas are basically just serial romance novels. Lots of inappropriateness was had.

Content warning: There is a brief mention of slurs in the episode. Richard Comspon Sater retired from the US Air Force Reserves having served twenty-four years under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." His debut M/M romance novel "Rank" deals with a second lieutenant in the Air Force falling in love with a brigadier general. Richard talks about writing, serving under DADT, how its repeal changed the book, and it's determined that Austin's father is the personification of a soft, old sweater.

For anyone new to the queer romance industry or thinking of joining it, this episode, the first of two, is basically a 101. Part one covers what authors need to know prior to submission--everything from defining the genre, HEA vs HFN, the role of editors and betas, author mills, and the community itself. Part two will cover everything authors need to know after submitting their work.

Author Jordan L. Hawk brings her expertise to the program to talk about her own beginnings in self-publishing, the decisions authors must make in regards to what they can do themselves, and the group discusses the importance of treating publishing as a business. There's also a call to action for more queer romance in the historical-specfic genre. Go get writing!

THR returns from summer hiatus with Jim Grimsley. He's the LAMBDA Literary Award-winning author of "Dream Boy" and "Comfort & Joy." The group discusses the tragic and ambiguous endings Grimsley is known for, the history of publishing's attitude toward queer fiction, and everything from the North Carolina bathroom bill to how your family lies to you. Be sure to listen to the bonus content after the credits!

Content warning: This episode of THR contains frank discussion of sexual assault, sexual violence, and similarly dark, potentially triggering subject matter. Heidi Belleau joins the show and Gets Very Real with THR about her history of writing grimdark fiction and the growing pains of leaving some of that behind. She talks about the perils of using the same penname for drastically different works (romcoms and dark fiction like The Flesh Cartel), what her personal limits are, bringing humor into darker material--and when it's best to pull back. Heidi compares the process of growing as an author, in public, to the reality of contemporary teenagers growing up on tumblr. (Anyone with a defunct Livejournal and a long fandom history can probably relate.) Most authors can probably relate to the quandary of growing as an artist in such a public sphere. The important and validating realization for Heidi, and maybe for other authors who feel pigeonholed into a darker genre, has been that she can write lighter stories and people will also appreciate them.

Villains, antagonists, and anti-heroes are the topic of the day. Austin and Amanda critically run through a roster of their favorite queer or queer-coded villains in media. Cartoonish homophobia and transphobia, coded Disney villains, the lack of female villains, how queer villains are seen as especially evil for their sexuality, redemption stories, how a main character can be the antagonist of their own story, and bisexual murder pits are all discussed. Amanda has a revelation about how straight people consume media while discussing Lex from Smallville, Austin recounts the suffering he endured while watching Downton Abbey for Thomas Barrow, and the two roll around in their general love of villainy.

Tracy Timmons-Gray, the director of Gay Romance Northwest conference, joins THR to discuss characters with disabilities in queer romance. The gang shares recs, talks about tropes, including the love interest grappling with the reveal of their partner's disability, the narrow span of disabilities portrayed, the sanctification of disabled people, and how often disabled fiction is inspiration porn. The conversation tackles sex scenes, A/B/O, disabled characters in fandom, and resources for writing disabled characters. Amanda, Tracy, and Austin try their best to be positive despite being Cranky Fans. Also, Tracy details GRNW's inception and history and how the conference will change going forward. (Fun fact, GRNW is how Amanda and Austin met!) Tracy and Amanda talk about the upcoming GRNW conference and the charity anthology "Magic & Mayhem." (Pssst, put GRNW 2016 on your calendars! 9/24/16 at the Seattle Public Library! It's freeeee.)