[New LGBT+ Novel] Merfolk Fantasy Tale

[panpanwuv]

Hello,

I published my first novel here last week. I'm still fairly new to the platform so sorry if I'm not supposed to post something like this here
I just want to share my novel in case anyone is interested in something like it, and they simply haven't found it yet.

Stranded: A Merfolk Tale (BL)
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Mystery
Synopsis:

Geale, a merman attending an island festival, falls in love at first sight with a mysterious bar singer named Marnthe. He saves him from an accident, leaving them stranded on the island. But unlike Geale, Marnthe is cursed to remain permanently stranded there.

Will Geale's love be enough to save him?

Updates: 5x a week

Stranded: A Merfolk Tale (BL)

Geale, a merman attending an island festival, falls in love at first sight with a mysterious bar singer named Marnthe. He saves him from an accident, leaving them stranded on the island. But unlike Geale, Marnthe is cursed to remain permanently stranded on the there. Will Geale's love be enough...

www.scribblehub.com

The current rating is 3/5 stars (from a one 5-star and one 1-star rating). Not sure how things here work yet so if you can help me figure out the reason behind the extreme ratings, I'll appreciate it too Thank you!

 

[PrinceDinero]

5 stars for peak writing but 1 star for no say gex

 

[panpanwuv]

Thank you for the explanation, @PrinceDinero ! I appreciate it.
I hope you don't mind if I take this opportunity to learn more about this platform, since I'm new here.

So is "say gex" a must for BL works here? Like they should be on the first few chapters of a novel? I really just want to know. Are novels under the Shounen Ai category (focused on emotional connections and romantic relationships) not welcome here too?

 

[PrinceDinero]

Sorry I was slightly trolling in my response. But i believe that the extremeness of your ratings isn't a reflection of the quality of your work but rather a reflection of the people on this site. There are numerous reasons as to why your story got a 1 star despite only having four chapters. For example someone is purposely putting a bad rating because a) they don't like the BL genere b) they are doing it for shits and giggles or c) they read what you wrote and decided that it wasn't good (even if you had barely begun)

You shouldn't let ratings affect your motivation to write, if you continue to write then the quality will speak for itself and the good rating will outweigh the bad ones.

 

[panpanwuv]

Oh...I see...Sorry, I took your response too seriously.

This wasn't the first time someone expected my novel to have explicit content because it's under the BL genre. That's why when you mentioned it, I thought they were right: that I wasn't writing under the genre properly because I wasn't complying with the stereotype they had about LGBT+ works.

I've been trying out platforms to see where my work might reach the readers for it. I guess I just need to continue to share it and hope for the best.
Thank you @PrinceDinero! This was really helpful.

 

[avaseofpeonies]

Don't feel like you have to put sex in your story if that's not your thing. And yes, as @PrinceDinero said, those one star ratings are most likely trolls. Try not to worry about them (I know it's hard not to, but your target readers know that happens and won't hold it against your story).

There is a lovely BL community here on SH. You may want to follow the BL Palace profile https://www.scribblehub.com/profile/43734/bl_palace/

They do a newsletter as well as seasonal short story anthologies. They are gathering up stories for the winter antho now, if you might be interested in participating. There's info about that on their profile in the top message. There's also a lively discord server - link in the profile description.

Welcome!