Posts
Manga
and Romance: Yaoi
"What is
Yaoi?"
Yaoi, also
known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional
media that focuses on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually
created by female authors. Source: Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi
My m/m romance
influence actually came from yaoi anime and manga. I started out with a
slightly less 'risque' branch of it called shounen-ai in the form of the
cat-eared anime Loveless. After I finished the series, I became voracious for
more of the boys' love anime and started hunting through websites looking for
others, eventually stumbling on a forum dedicated to everything yaoi,
Aarinfantasy.com/forum.
Aarinfantasy is
actually where I started writing my own original yaoi fiction (screen name
LovelessSoubi). I started posting stories on their forum and receiving
feedback, motivating me to keep going. Eventually I submitted Touch Me Gently,
originally posted on their original fictions section, to Dreamspinner Press and
from there you know what happened! :-)
Yaoi also is distributed in the form of
manga. Popular yaoi manga distributers include DMP (Digital Manga Publishing),
June (Digital Manga's imprint for yaoi manga), and DMG (Digital Manga Guild). Of
course there are many others, but these are the biggest distributors.
Western m/m romance differs from Yaoi in
a significant manner, at least from my own personal perception. Yaoi usually
has an older, more masculine seme or top with a younger, slightly more feminine
uke or bottom. There are exceptions to that fact, but in most cases it tends to
be masculine/feminine characters. Western m/m romance novels lean more toward
masculine characters and plot lines. My first novel Touch Me Gently was written
along the lines of yaoi as that was the major influence of my writing at the
time. Yet my latest WIP His Salvation, which is still pending acceptance, is
written more in the western m/m influence.
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Most readers of western m/m romance tend
to be overly critical of novels written with a yaoi influence as the uke/bottom
tends to be more feminine. One of the reviews I read for Touch Me Gently
basically said I should stick with heterosexual romances because of how
feminine Kaden appeared in the novel. It was obvious that person had never read
yaoi manga or watched a yaoi anime. When I subbed Swift's Temptation to Silver,
I had to explain to the editor I worked with at the time what yaoi was and why
Xavier was such a prick toward Fagan, and why it was okay! LOL.
I have an e-book of Touch Me Gently in
the Hop's grand prize package,
but I also am offering up my own blog prize of
one of my cell phone/purse/whatever you want to use it for swag charms. Your
choice of charm and color. I have a cowboy hat for Touch Me Gently (not
pictured), a unicorn for Fragments of a Unicorn's Soul, a snowflake for White
Rain, and a feather for Chasing Seth. I will be randomly choosing a winner from
the comments on my blog so please leave your email address for me to contact
you!
I hope this was an informative post for those who have never heard of yaoi, heard of it but didn't really know what it is, and might even start reading the mangas or books related to yaoi!
Be sure to stop by the other blogs and read what others had to say about Manga and romance. :D
Kisses,
J.R.
Yaoi is where I started reading too. :D I started with anime and have read manga online, many of them part of the anime I'd watched and wanted more of! I see no problem with one character being more feminine. Gay men come in masculine and feminine and balances between the two. Why shouldn't fiction reflect that? ;)
ReplyDeleteOff to see what's on the other blogs!
I've got Touch Me Gently (loved it!) but love the charms!
lina7391(at)hotmail(dot)com
It's very true about gay being both masculine and feminine. I've met a range of gay men over my life. Been to a few events where the biggest, manliest men were snogging and another where they were all dressed in drag and looked better in a dress than I do! Of course that's not that hard to do! LOL.
DeleteThat's why when I read the review about sticking to hetero romance, I started laughing because I knew the person leaving the comment wasn't really informed and was speaking from ignorance.
Thanks for stopping by! ;)
J.R.
Hi JR! I've been following you since the Aarin days; I posted my own stories on there too. Yours were always the stories I looked forward to the most -- and I still do! ^_^
ReplyDeleteThose charms look awesome! Have you made them yourself?
Hugs!
TT
ttkove AT gmail DOT com
Hi TT! I remember your name commenting on my stories. :D I was on Aarin the other day actually. Sadly I have one I can never finish as it was written with someone else and she refuses to finish it or relinquish it to me to finish.
DeleteI actually did make the charms myself. I'm waiting for some more lanyards to come in the mail because I have only just gotten the cowboy hats for Touch Me Gently and only had a few lanyards left for them.
Kisses,
J.R.
So cool that you remember me ^.^ Oh, that sucks. Why doesn't she want to finish it or see you finish it? Do you plan on submitting your other old stories for publication?
DeleteLike Trace's story, His Father's Lover?, Summer Vacation, Stargazing or Bonds of Blood? I'm just listing my favorites here :P Bonds of Blood was a really amazing story!
That is so cool! ^.^
Kisses,
TT
I have not read any books dedicated to Yaoi but have read books where it was mentioned. I am definitely going to have to explore this. IF any out there has suggestions as to where to start and what author I would appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteThe charms are beautiful!
Yvette
yratpatrol@aol.com
I know I can't help but be influenced by my experience reading yaoi over the years (and Loveless, btw, is one of my favorites). Yaoi has colored how I look at gay relationships, and although it tends to be a stereotyped approach to those relationships, many of the elements really ring true. I can't help but think that we as MM romance writers owe a great deal to the genre - it's helped paved the way for our work.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post! -Shira
Hi J.R. Thanks so much for sharing this. Loveless is a great one! I love the art. Have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeletecharliecochet(at)gmail(dot)com
I love yaoi manga and anime. I recommend "Tyrant who falls in love" both the manga and anime.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the giveaway!
Tabatha Hansen
mmparanormalromance@gmail.com
mmparanormalromance.wordpress.com
Hi J.R.! Love the pic of Loveless. I so agree about the western view of the feminine style bottoms. I think that's one of the reasons I love it so much! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI'm learning new things at each stop on the hop and I'm off to the next one.
ReplyDeleteWe've already discussed this but Loveless was the one anime that almost sent me running AWAY from yaoi lol. I'm so glad I didn't but it still makes me laugh to think of the different stories one anime can have with its audience.
ReplyDeleteThanks for participating :)
That's cuz you paid too much attn to Ritsuka and Soubi's age. :p But you and I have extremely different tastes which we know anyway. lol. I think for me, it was just easy to ignore the age difference, and it's not like they straight out had sex or anything. A few years and it won't matter the age difference. XD
DeleteIt wasn't only the age...There was the creep factor that would still be there even if it wasn't illegal. lol.
DeleteLOL, I think I ignored that fact. It was too innocent for me to be skeeved out by it. It wasn't really meant in a sexual way for me. Maybe for others. I just didn't see it as more than affectionate. *shrug*
DeleteI think life history for me goes into the pot on this one. xD
DeleteThanks J.R. for a wonderful post and your charms are gorgeous! ♥
ReplyDelete~Night
NightTempestBlog@gmail.com
I did think of the manga "Loveless" when I first saw your name while reading Chasing Seth. I didn't know that there was an actual connection though ^.^
ReplyDeleteI've been hopping all day and it's lovely to see that I wasn't the only one who came from yaoi to m/m. I've also been accused of making a feminine male, but although I didn't reply directly to the review, I did so on my blog. The thing is that there's no one right way to write a man. There are butch men out there, there are effeminate men and everything in between. There are tough emotional guys who don't say a word, there are guys who break while reading a touching poem and speak their emotions, and there is everything in between (I know a guy who breaks down while reading a touching poem). I say that those who say a man can't be such and such and has to be blah and blah should be careful, because they're belittling those who ARE such and such and making them feel inadequate as men. Sure, the majority of men wouldn't do X, but there ARE men who would, so why not in a story?
Okay, I could go on and on about this, lol. I made a 3-part post about this on my blog, couldn't fit it all into one post without it turning into an essay.
Erica
eripike at gmail dot com
I agree with you wholeheartedly. When I wrote Touch Me Gently, I wrote it from the perspective of Yaoi. And I have seen some yaoi animes which the guy was very feminine. In fact, there are several animes I can think of off the top of my head where one of the main characters cries. Gravitation, Junjou Romantica (more than one chara actually), Okane ga Nai (the one chara is extremely feminine), and many others like it. That's why I laughed when they told me to stick to het.
DeleteThere's so many people who read western m/m that don't even know about eastern Yaoi. Or they do and hate it. Which is fine. To each his own. Everyone has their own tastes.
Thanks for replying, Erica. :)
J.R.
OMG~ I squeed so much when I saw the first pic in your post! And then I squeed some more reading it.
ReplyDeleteLoveless is not only my favorite manga in the BL/yaoi/etc. category, it's also one of my favorite manga OF ALL TIME, definitely in the top five. I love the anime too, despite the shortness of it. Soubi's voice, dear god <3
Unfortunately, since Tokyopop shut down (ALL THE TEARS D:), the manga is on hiatus. I heard tell of another company picking it up, but that was a while ago... I want my Loveless back T_T
I've not had experience with hard yaoi, except for Gakuen Heaven Vol. 1. But I want to read more. I have read plenty of slashfic and fanfic though XD
I actually befriended you and started reading your stuff on Aarinfantasy. I remember back before Touch Me Gently came out and then when it came out I was super excited! I loved the story and I loved Chasing Seth! Thanks for participating!
ReplyDeletetiger-chick-1(at)hotmail(dot)com
This was a fun post to read. I'm a big yaoi manga and anime fan (which led to my love of m/m novels). Two of my favorites are Junjo Romantica and the Finders series.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Tracey D
booklover0226 at gmail dot com
Very interesting post! I never realized that people were critical of m/m stories with a yaoi influence. That's really a shame, because I'd hope the genre would be more willing to support a wider range of variation in characters. I have no problem with effeminate men as long as they're still believable as characters. Honestly, that's the main criteria I have for any character, male or female, effeminate or masculine.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm an m/m writer who's also written and participated in various yaoi doujinshi anthologies over the years, and they types of characters I felt comfortable writing for the doujinshi are quite different from the characters I write in m/m fiction.
Love the post! I've yet to read any Yaio but I love your explanation of it and how it influenced your writing. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAJ
angietate2002@yahoo.com
I am very glad you didn't let a bad review throw you off of writing. Sometimes people can be just mean. I admire the fact that you've worked your way up from forum stories (something I've yet to do) I feel kinda inspired! Maybe I'll start writing my ow-Ya, no. That'd be work, lol! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteManda
krowhop@gmail.com
I just finished reading your novel Touch Me Gently and I loved it. The entire time I was reading it I kept thinking about how it would make a great Yaoi. I absolutely love yaoi, I spend most of my day reading yaoi. I am %100 addicted, have been for 5 years. So I was very surprised that in your little bio that it stated that you liked yoai and anime. I was even more surprised that you like Doctor Who. I have never heared of someone who likes yaoi and scifi besides me and one other friend, usually those worlds do not mix. You are now one of my favorite authors and I think you are a very cool person. Keep up the writing, i`m looking forward to reading more from you.
ReplyDeleteOh if you have not read Junjou Romantica I highly recommend it. You can read it at Mangafox.com. Oh and it has a spin-off that is just as good.
One more thing. I also find it to be very awesome that you name is Loveless, couldn't help, but think of the manga because even though I am not into it, I was at one time and my friends are now. I wish I had a name that was a manga :(
Dean
tamashiigirl@gmail.com
I was wondering what bonds of blood was about?
ReplyDelete