BL culture starts in Japan around 60's or 70's, and the first works under BL is rather... dark, or so I should say (I do suggest you do read them. One of the earliest is kaze no ki no uta and another title that I completely forgotten but it have been rebooted a few times by the author. But warning, they mixing up all of the f*cked up aspect on those comic)
They have targeted BL for female reader. I have no idea why. But the manxman things have been deep rooted in the Japanese culture . Alike kabuki etc. Not to mention male prostitution (around 18th or 19th century?) but after the west culture seeps in, they leave the male prostitution business to die away.
BL genre comes to around the world with some help of the manga and anime culture (I think part of it).
The BL is against norms nowadays (at least the bigots think so), and the 'forbidden' type of love is very likable (cause). But now that its got more accepted, the suppressed fans can finally shows their love more?
Maybe it just because our impulses to ship.
I honestly don't know what I'm talking about XD .
- What do I like about bl stories and dislike.
I... honestly don't know why its so enchanting. The BL. I just got swept away by it one day when looking for comedy manga and stumble around His Most Favourite... I read it not knowing what BL is, and for some reason I can't stop reading it. I research BL (yaoi), and the deeper I got in, the harder it is for me to get out.
So for the answer for that, I could only say that I honestly don't know.
Now about what I hate... is the common trope and cliche. Like, honestly, you can't just rape somebody and after saying that 'I DID IT BECAUSE I RABU YOU~~~' that guy will forgive you and you became a happy couple forever and after.
No, that guy will at least have some trauma. That's not how real world works.
I hate it when the authors make some unrealistic situation and promising it would be happy end in the story.
The older manga were like that, but nowadays, they made it more better with a real psychological things in the works, though most of it still as f*cked up, but I appreciating it than the tropes coughharada*cough*.
- What would I do to make it differently.
Twist the tropes. If the guy got raped, I definitely won't be pairing it with that d*ck a*s st all (but because me myself is kinda f*cked up sometimes, I might pairing them under very very special circumstance). Or twice the tropes from the story. There's still many ways to make the plot going than rape.
(All in all I still love BL X3 )