A couple of months ago I posted a survey on here posing the question ‘LGBT Main Character In Urban Fantasy – Too Niche For You?’ I got a selection of results, both on the survey itself and a few comments on the post.

Essentially, the responses were ‘go for it’. The overall trend now seems to be – in self-publishing at least – to find something that is niche and make it work for you. In contrast to the original advice I’d received, which was to make it more appealing to a general audience, this approach sits more comfortably with me anyway. The direction was there from the first draft, even if it hadn’t been my original intention in pre-writing. Stripping it out had made the book lose some of the tension.

All of which means I have been working on the process of adding back in the attraction between the two main characters. In this first book of the series, there is a lot of tension between them, even if nothing explicitly sexual actually happens. It is a fantasy arc, not a romance, so the romantic relationship between the two is not the central plot driver. In fact, they won’t actually face up to their attraction until book four, by which time they will have had to endure many more trials.

The good news is that the response seemed the same, regardless of the gender or sexuality. The most variation came in the level of sexual description that was thought to be acceptable. This ranged from mild to explicit and will therefore be the more difficult line to walk at the later point. It’s good to know in advance though that despite the Fifty Shades phenomenon, hardcore isn’t necessarily always a bigger seller.

Thanks to everyone who participated. This series will be a long one, so if this is something you’d like to share an opinion about, then feel free to drop a line in the comments or complete the original survey for more in-depth responses.