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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Books / LGBTQITSLFA After Gay Controversy, Romance Writers Contest Canceled

Posted by on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 2:32 PM

Galleycat tells us about a dumb contest with a dumb name that got cancelled because of a dumb rule:

The Romance Writers of America has cancelled its “Where the Magic Begins” writing contest after their refusal to accept same-sex entries created a controversy...The cancellation comes after authors around the blogosphere expressed anger about the new rules. Author Courtney Milan blogged: “You can write about aliens from another planet who have tentacles, or barbed sexual organs. You can write degrading rapes. None of those things are barred from entry in the More than Magic contest, and if you write them, they’ll try to find judges who are predisposed to like your books. But they won’t do that if you write same sex romance–even if it’s a sweet romance with no sexual contact whatsoever.”

On their blog post announcing the end of the contest, Romance Writers Ink seems to not get the point. As an excuse for ignoring same-sex romance, they say, "we also opted not to accept YA entries." Because barring young adult fiction from your contest is the exact same thing as discrimination.

 

Comments (7) RSS

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Alicia 1
It's especially maddening since this same contest has had lgbt romance winners in past years.
Posted by Alicia http://aliciaaho.com on February 8, 2012 at 2:57 PM
undead ayn rand 2
"Please note: our contest coordinator, Jackie, is a chapter member who graciously volunteered to collect entries and sort by category. It is unfortunate that she has become the object of personal ridicule and abuse. "

"How dare you people! How dare you make Jackie cry! You people should be ashamed of yourselves!"

Of course, the organization didn't list an alternative contact for criticism, the ones who made the decision, or leave any possibility of working with the people excluded from the contest.
Posted by undead ayn rand on February 8, 2012 at 3:04 PM
3
RWA, of which I am a member, sometimes has its head FIRMLY up its ass. They were very, very slow to accept e-publishers with no print arm, because they traditionally don't award an advance on contract. Of course, the advance of $500 I got on a short story I wrote THREE YEARS AGO hasn't earned out yet, meanwhile every e-book I wrote prior to that still nets me a couple grand every year, paid out monthly.

Which is neither here nor there. My point: head firmly up ass is nothing new with this crew.
Posted by Hannah in Portland on February 8, 2012 at 3:11 PM
Dougsf 4
And all this time they could have just canceled marriage? Lawmakers sure took the hard way.
Posted by Dougsf on February 8, 2012 at 3:47 PM
5
It's the Oklahoma chapter of the organization. What do you expect?
Posted by SoSea Resident on February 8, 2012 at 4:04 PM
rob! 6
Ah well, there's always nifty.org
Posted by rob! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZBdUceCL5U on February 8, 2012 at 4:19 PM
Chris in Vancouver WA 7
Sadly, there are still many people who feel there's no such thing as same-sex romance, there's only dick-sucking.
Posted by Chris in Vancouver WA on February 9, 2012 at 9:10 AM

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