Which Genre Label Should I be Using LGBT+ or BL?

[foxnflames]

I had the same hesitation with my story. My story will ultimately have my main character end up with another man, but like yours, romance is a subplot and if i could, romance would be a 4th label. My story will involve some other LGBT+ characters but the reason why i chose to go with BL or LGBTQ+ was because the romance between the two characters is a huge part of the flow of the story and one of the takeaways. VVBG did a twitch stream for Fujocon and Michi made a good distinction between the two. BL does come with the tropes (good and bad) and is more so focused on the relationship between two male main characters (whether quintessential romance or not) and LGBTQ+ doesn't necessarily have to have romance. It better serves as a scope for representation of people within that community. So BL falls under the umbrella of LGBTQ+ but it still has its own little niche. (just the gist of it, she said it way better than that lol(

That being said, i think that with what you described about your story, it may be better to go with the LGBTQ+ label. When you add tags to your story, you can always add "boys love", "BL", "MxM", etc. I stuck with BL and put LGBTQ+ in the tags. And because your story already has them as an established couple, you can have more leeway so to speak that you might not get if it was just BL.

[Inspector_Spinda]

With the ability to have multiple genres tagged, does it matter anyway? I have my story listed as BL, LGBTQ+, and Romance.

I was about to say the same. My hesitancy comes here: will the BL label make people who don't like it less likely to click on the story even if it also has the LGBT label? How much do the BL and LGBT interests demographics overlap? That's the key here

[nostalgicroxas]

As a reader, I find more joy in reading M/M stories which is the only reason I go to the BL tag since I know it's male's. If I go to the LBGT+ I might be reading F/F, which just isn't usually my cup of tea. I have read a few trans that have been fine. So it'll depend on what the readers are filtering for, and why.
And again, are they filtering for smut/sex - which should not be a question on Tapas specifically since their rules state it should not be focus or graphic.

[Inspector_Spinda]

My story will involve some other LGBT+ characters but the reason why i chose to go with BL or LGBTQ+ was because the romance between the two characters is a huge part of the flow of the story and one of the takeaways.

point well made. suppose LGBT doesn't have to mean romance. Theoretically, a story could just be a LGBT culture story devoid of romance. Did not actually think of that because most stories here have some element of romance.

[Geek_Aflame]

For sure they do! like fantasy. the cliche would be farm boy gets village destroy and must then set out on a journey to defeat the dark lord with the help of a magic sword and a strong warrior woman who ultimately must be saved so there will be a romance subplot.

This is why I've edged towards using paranormal before fantasy when describing my genres. While my story is modern fantasy due to the hard magic system I feel overshadowed by the high/quest fantasy within the genre. My story is more the Dresden Files, Rivers of London, The Southern Vampire Mysteries/True Blood, Alex Verus, The Magicians, Supernatural or Shadowhunters type of fantasy.

[Inspector_Spinda]

This is why I've edged towards using paranormal before fantasy when describing my genres.

now if only tap had a paranormal genre. i need it badly

[nostalgicroxas]

Agreed. I'd say Supernatural is more Paranormal than Fantasy, when really it could encompass both. The problem is that, especially US readers, are geared to think of Fantasy as European fantasy of knights, castles, dragons, damsels in distress, or flat out magic of gods like The Lord of the Rings/Narnia. And there's no anything else in between, when ghosts/afterlife can be entirely fantasy.
It's also why High Fantasy does not equal Fantasy.

[Geek_Aflame]

VVBG did a twitch stream for Fujocon and Michi made a good distinction between the two.

I'd like to watch this if you still have a link, it sounds interesting.

[foxnflames]

I’ll have to find it. I’m thinking it’s still up

[foxnflames]

Most do and some have more intricate relationships that may take darker turns or not end with a neatly wrapped relationship. You can go a lot of places with BL

[Geek_Aflame]

100%. I recently swapped my main genre on another site to Paranormal because I feel like there's more of a place for the story I'm writing.

Even my second novel would work better under Paranormal as it's an urban fantasy focusing on Vampires. I used the Vampire genre on the other site for that story but had to place it under Fantasy here.

[foxnflames]

They haven’t posted the link yet but here are other streams that might be helpful

Twitch

[foxnflames]

Another suggestion: label it romance, mystery, fantasy or lgbtq+, mystery, fantasy. You can still put BL on the thumbnail to convey that relationship is present in the story. I’ve seen BL stories on here labeled as romance only. Like I said before, you can go a lot with BL; it can be romance, psychological, slice of life, comedy, etc.

[Bree_Mana]

again I think its more on if you want certain connotations attached to your comic, maybe look at a sampling of other BL works on tapas to see if your comic fits the archetype?

[Maxedrox]

I personally think that LGBT genre is for stories that include one or more LGBT characters, even if the MC is LGBT, but is not necessarily romantic, could be a friendship o just a gay single superhero that saves the world, he maybe gets some crushes but never a relationship because he is a superhero and that create trust issues to meet new people (it's just an example, but if someone wants to use that idea, go ahead )

BL is more focused on Boys Love, the MC and the Love interest, nothing else, the story is about them in any scenario, but at the end is the story about male x male romance, it can be sexual, it can be just innocent moments, it can be half of the comic the characters separated and the other half they as a couple. Just ignore the fear of BL being infamous because some toxic fans, did you know that some people are really trying hard to find a good BL story? and you could be that person! So don't be afraid to classified as BL if your story is about a male x male romance.

[darthmongoose]

I always think of it like this:

BL and GL are generally when the genre of the story is Romance, but it's a m/m or f/f relationship. Readers will generally expect the story itself to be equivalent to the Romance genre, with the relationship being the core driving part of the narrative and the central conflict and stakes all revolving around "how do they get together?" and "what threatens their relationship", it will be assumed that by the end of the story, the characters will be together.

LGBTQ on the other hand, I'd assume the story involves one or more LGBTQIA characters, and it might even have a relationship or two, but the core story isn't about that romance.

So let's imagine there are two comics about a superhero guy who falls in love with a supervillain guy.

In comic number 1, through a series of funny and dramatic encounters they fall for each other and eventually the villain is redeemed by the power of love leading to a dramatic climax where the villain's jealous henchwoman tries to break them apart, but fails. There's a happy ending. This one is a textbook BL with Action elements.

In comic number 2, the hero and villain keep meeting and having these encounters and even have sex, but then realise they don't really love each other, they're just obsessed, sexually frustrated and lonely. The villain redeems himself, realising that his internalised homophobia and isolation were the cause of his hatred of society, and there's a happy ending where they both go out into the world as better people and get into fulfilling relationships with lovely guys... but they're not with each other. This one is more LGBTQ/Action, because queer identity and relationships are very important to the plot, but it's not a Romance and the stakes were "can this villain be redeemed before he destroys the city" not "can their love bloom before they're driven apart?".

[kmlangleyauthor]

I wondered the same thing. I guess I agree with others saying that every genre has its own crap and stereotypes to deal with. I try to give every story that sounds interesting a chance, regardless of what genre it’s labeled under (unless it’s horror - I can’t stomach that, personally).

[kmlangleyauthor]

Honestly, with how @foxnflames @Maxedrox and @darthmongoose all broke down the differences, it could be either, but leans slightly more towards BL (but, hopefully, a healthy, non-toxic version of BL). I’m all for trying to break down stereotypes and I know I’ve found some really interesting stories under both BL and LGBTQ+ tags. I’ve also found absolute crap under both of them. And some that existed solely to be smut So, I think, at least for the time being, I’ll keep my main tag and hope for the best, although I might need to rewrite my summary to better portray the various aspects of the story.

[foxnflames]

Also, because you label something as BL, don’t feel the need to make it “racy”. I have seen some authors put a note at the beginning to let their audience know not to expect a typical quick paced, smutty story. From a lot of the BL novels I’ve read on here, many have actual non romance focused plots. The ones where you forget you’re reading BL because you’re so engrossed in the story. So I agree, it is beneficial to remold, so to speak, the genre and put out more enthralling stories. For comics too, but there’s something for everyone. I don’t mind a smutty good time in something like Dirty Vibration or a wholesome, cute story like Path to a You.

[Geek_Aflame]

Thank you everyone who responded to this thread you were a huge help.

I hope an update is okay.

I've taken a month to think about it and decided to try using BL over LGBT+. Romance is a major subgenre of The Small Town Horror but both LGBT+ and Romance are too broad. While I'm not writing traditional BL my main target audience is people who like Paranormal Fantasy and won't nope out the moment they see LGBT+ content. Less common on this site but I'm sure it still happens. I'm not using traditional BL tropes, the main plot isn't romance nor are there explicit scenes, but does that matter? The main romance is MxM eventually MxMxM the best genre fit might be BL.

I don't want Fantasy to be my main genre because Modern/Urban Fantasy often gets buried by High Fantasy. The moment there's a Paranormal genre on this site I'm swapping from Fantasy. Placing it in the BL genre places it in front of people who are okay with LGBT+ content. It’s still hard to market a novel with a MxM relationship towards the average readership of the Fantasy/Paranormal genre.

I was hesitant about the BL genre because it’s seen as over popular on this site. Plus, I’m writing a Paranormal Fantasy with Romantic subplot rather than typical Romance. I felt like I was cheating by placing my story in the BL genre. I definitely need to think about how to target my target audience.

The Small Town Horror (The Southern Magicks #1) | Tapas