Queer Romcoms + Writing for the US Market feat Sophie Gonzales 

A Retelling of 'Grease' as a Queer Romcom?! That is a really GOOD IDEA! I can picture in my head and it totally works. Wishing you much success. (The fact it wasn't Beauty and the Beast, already is thinking outside of the box.)

Alexa is such a wonderful interviewer!! I can totally see the journalism background and it’s excellent!

Loved this, thanks so much y'all! As an educator and someone who's ace, the increasing queer representation has meant so much to me. When I was my students age, I didn't know people like me existed. It means a lot that the students at my (admittedly very queer) school are having a different experience in that regard. I feel like representation in media is particularly important for identities that fly more under the radar because it can be trickier for adults in kids lives to be out. I could casually mention a girlfriend or wife, but if I'm single or in a mixed gender relationship (as ace and bi folks often are) it's harder to come out to students in a way that feels appropriate and reasonable. (Obviously being able to be out to students in any sort of way is a huge privilege that all sorts of educators don't have) But if I was teaching 10 years ago, I would have no idea how I would have been able to bring ace representation into the classroom and it means a lot that it is becoming easier for adults to create those spaces because of the work being done by writers and other creators.

A quick note about bisexual representation: You don't have to show a bi character kissing a person of their own gender to get the point across that the character is bi. I would like to see bi representation sometimes where the bi character never has same-gender romantic experiences. That's bi representation too.

As someone who bisexual I feel the that lack of community you’re talking about. Some people assume that I’m just waiting to go full lesbian & others think I’m lying or it’s “just a phase.” I feel cut out of both communities because my current partner is a male, but I still am open about also being attracted to women. It hurts, its almost as if people feel that I’m not allow to like women unless I also don’t like men.

Ah, finally a video made just for me. I write more for the gays than Carly Rae Jepsen.

What a wonderful interview! I adore Only Mostly Devastated! :)

Amazing video! Useful and informative. Thank you for creating and sharing!

Thank you so much for including my questions! The answers were very helpful and encouraging to hear. ❤️❤️❤️

I'm writing a witch/fantasy book that's got a comic book superhero feel. The main character is gay so this is a perfect video! It's very hard to decide how 'gay' to make the love scenes. They're very tricky to write

Im sorry Alexa, but your cat stole the show. (Jk great video!)

I love these. Yay an Aussie author

When Sophie talks about believing both sides of the fight in a romcom, how much of a reverse Jenga is it to build such an even dialogue? How much mapping does it it take, and can I do it through Ouija boards? Cuz that’s how mysterious it seems to me haha

WHY DOES THIS VIDEO HAVE THUMBS DOWN??? I'MMA FIGHT SOMEONE. This is a very interesting interview. Lots of things I hadn't thought about. Thank you for setting it up!

Sophie, I think that some of the most interesting and complex characters are the ones who make decisions for themselves. That is the fun of fiction, we get to explore those things that we wouldn't do in real life. This was a great interview! Thanks Alexa! :]

Gosh, I love listening to British and Australian English. XD

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OMG! A Queer Retelling of Grease?! I'm so in!

Thanks for the tip, now to suppress the memory of clicking the video.

Because of the camera positions, she seems sooo small and cute. XD Like a hobbit/halfling.

Did she say who she got a book deal with in the US?

Sorry but why does my comment get deleted?

I disagree that all stories must have a "why". I mean. Unless the "why" is simply: I wanted to write about this. I mean, I have no other reason for writing my vampire story, or the story about rampaging demons hunted by the police. It's just fun. Some stories should definitely have deeper meanings than that, but I think that reading a story just for the funsies is more than enough most of the time. Not everything needs to have a deeper meaning or second thoughts behind it.

I realize you haven't had a lot of interviews on your channel. As a long-time viewer, I value your perspective on writing and publishing, but you really should have done more research before conducting this interview. She comes across as a "Karen" type trying to insert herself into minority communities because she couldn't get traction when writing about other kinds of people/characters. M/M Romance, written by biological women of whatever sexuality or fluid gender, is offensive to the vast majority of gay male readers and viewers. Maybe it's not as contentious with M/M YA Romcoms, I wish you asked her about the issue and what she did to research her characterization. Yes, she touches on a few generalized things, but I wish you pressed her more. You can't do a Google Street View of gay male culture, and it sounds as if she made assumptions about what a closeted teen might experience rather than interview one or watching a documentary or reading a memoir or whatever. You never once questioned her definition of the word queer, which is still hyper cringe and super offensive to the vast majority of the population. It's an especially hurtful word to gay men of a certain age and is often flagged as a slur on many websites. To pretend that the term is now "inverted" or somehow cleansed of its former status is not only wrong, it's also bullying. The way she describes her characters, they are gay teenagers. To label them otherwise is pushing a dangerous and divisive political ideology. The way she describes her project, she is basically erasing gay identities and grifting on the gay experience by using the term queer either exclusively or interchangeably with the word gay. As presented here, I don't understand why you are promoting such anti-gay authors and normalizing homophobic material like this.