There’s a great post over The Macaronis Blog about how the ‘happy ending’ is a somewhat bothersome institution in books categorized as ‘romance’. I’m inclined to agree, and while it works wonderfully in historic hetero romance novels and comics, it’s a bit harder to pull off in a believable fashion in gay theme romances. Sure, HEA crops up in ‘BL’ all the time, particularly in the teen-reader manga offered from companies like Juné or Deux Press. Even manga-ka writing for older fen and known for their angst-ridden stories [Kawai Touko, Sadahiro Mika, or Yamane Ayano] tend to deliver the happy endings—I learned that this is often due to editorial mandate. It doesn’t surprise me that the most popular manga featuring unhappy or unresolved endings are typically historical in setting. I’m not saying Japanese BL or even gay comics set in the past, don’t have their share of HEA stories—they do—but these HEA dramas tend to be unrealistic throughout; it’s a virtual requirement to suspend belief in order to enjoy them, since the relationships are so unrealistic given the reality of the time period. That’s the point right? Pure Escapism. Graphic novels written to remain as true to the time period as possible tend to have less than joyful endings, and the primary reason is obvious–it wasn’t easy being queer in the old days.

I’ve found tragic endings in historical-based romances occur with more success in western Gay-themed comics, then they do Japanese BL; BL from Japan was never about trying to depict what is considered ‘the gay male experience’, nor was it trying to really ‘remain authentic’ to history or real events. The ‘realism’ found in many historical BL today is something that’s come about only within the last few years; I’m curious if exposure of the genre to the west has anything to do with why mangaka and their editors are making attempts to be more realistic.

A funny parallel: While traditional Japanese BL is making more strides at realism, gay manga is taking an opposite road [differing greatly from the early angsty-realistic offerings]. Since the recent mini-renaissance of Gay manga in Japan, most of which is marketed as ‘BL’ despite being mostly drawn by and read by male readers, there’s an overwhelming amount of HEA and unrealistic erotic romances. This might be a direct result of gay mangaka [Tagame being one of the more notable hold-outs] trying to break with the gay genre of old. Current BL by gay creators and aimed at male readers is a far cry from the gay manga produced only five years ago; most relationships in these books were set amidst violent times and were taboo dramas where someone was either emotionally [and often physically] tortured, or died or lost someone they loved, due to their ‘forbidden passions’. I wonder if western male interest in BL has been instrumental in the sudden marketability of ‘gay manga’ and if so will mangaka will continue to throw realism out the window and deliver pure escapist fare for their male readers. Time will tell.

Form my own personal experience, I was asked to change the ending of Roulette because, according to my editor ‘no one dies in her BL!’ (^_^) I changed it, but I can’t say it’s a happy ending. No one gets married, moves in together, and defies the world with their love. LOL! I suppose if one sits down to write something with the purpose of making the reader close the book with a smile on their face, writing HEA is easy. Life for most of the gay men I’ve known and cared for, has never been easy. It honestly doesn’t occur to me to write stories featuring happy endings that I know just wouldn’t be possible considering the time period upon which my stories tend to play out. Am I capable of a happy ending? Sure. My upcoming novel ‘Lost Along The Way’ is contemporary work set in New York City in the early 90’s. Oddly enough, the ending is not a massive emotional let down and no one important dies because of love or lack of it. On the other hand, I took critical heat for ‘Only Words’ because of it’s ending [ungraciously spoiled by a reviewer at Amazon—who then preceded to enhance her review with how ‘she would have done it’. ] Most the ladies who read it and spoke to me at cons and via email, were not happy that I ended it the way I did. Some understood that there was no way a relationship between Koby and Oskar could’ve carried on considering the time and place it was set in. A few male readers [and one female friend in her review] pointed out that Oskar’s actions at the end seemed like just another case of self-hatred rather than acceptance—two went so far as to tell me I shouldn’t have perpetuated this notion. ‘In Motion’ didn’t have a happy ending either, and while no was physically hurt or killed or dying, our young hippie and ex-vet spent a passionate night together, and they said goodbye forever at the airport. It was 1971, no—they weren’t going to ride off into the sunset together. 0_o. Even my most accepting fans were unhappy about this, and felt they should have at least changed numbers and kept in touch. That’s just not possible given the time period these two men were living in, and the cultural climate reflected in their backgrounds.

To me, if the ending closes out on a happy note with all strings tied up nice and neat…then I walk away from the story after its initial reading, and never think about what transpired between the characters again. I want my characters and their drama to come alive in the minds of my readers—and stay there, long after when they’ve put the book down. I think historical gay romance makes it easier to write angst-ridden stories, and allows for a more palatable close…one that doesn’t need to be saved by a Happily Ever After.