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Why Yaoi?

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My name is Alex. I’m a Bay Area filmmaker and a guy. And I’m putting a great deal of time and money into writing and publishing a series of Yaoi graphic novels — “Yaoi graphic novels” being boy-on-boy romance comics traditionally created by and for women.

What am I thinking?

Why Not Just Create “Gay Comics” there, gay boy?

Well, it all comes down to the subjective matters of tone and form. When it comes to the type of stories I like to read, I’ve found that Yaoi stories are just more in line with what I’m interested in.

Why?

Yaoi focuses more on character and relationship.

On a forum I frequent, a fellow Yaoi creator once referred to gay male comics as “hairy-butthole comics” stating “No, thank you, I really don’t need to see that hairy butthole up close!” That might not be an entirely fair assessment of gay comics, but in my experience, not all, but many “gay comics” are mostly focused on the physical, superficial and occasionally the cultural aspects of male-male romance.

For most Yaoi, while some stories are quite explicit, it is the emotional impact and connection between the characters that is primary.

Yaoi is more inclusive.

I might have larger ambitions (ruling the world from my vast Yaoi publishing empire comes to mind) but ultimately I write my stories for my friends, who include women and men, both straight and gay. The fact that the Yaoi audience is predominantly female but not exclusively so means the stories should by their very nature be more accessible and universal. They should be “fun for the whole family.”

I can’t write slash fiction.

Every time I watch a new anime series or read a new manga, I get tremendously inspired. I find myself writing new episodes in my head, often several episodes. The problem is, the more I flesh them out, the less they have to do with the actual characters in the series, until before long, only my characters remain. Clearly a big no-no for slash fiction. But I still want to tell these stories — original Yaoi graphic novels seem like just the right home for them.

Yaoi is just more fun.

Alright, so we’ve gone beyond the world of subjective to downright opinionated, but for me, this is true. I like the sci-fi and fantasy worlds I read about in manga. I like the way fans have played with the characters from those worlds in Yaoi and slash. I like the art. I want in. I want to join the fun.

So, that’s why!

I’m sure some people will find things to disagree with regarding my take on gay comics, manga or Yaoi overall. That’s fine — I’m not claiming to be an authority. I’m just happy I now have a home for stories I’ve wanted to tell for a long time. And I look forward to sharing my adventures creating these stories with you through this blog.

EDIT: This was my first stab at trying to explain why I’m creating yaoi books, but some readers still had questions, so for the whole picture be sure to also check out The Sweet Yaoi Action You Can Expect From Me where I tell the story of how I came to do this and Why This Gay Man Is Creating Yaoi, where I answer the reader question: “Why romance comics for women? Why not just write for other gay men?”

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