I'm asking for a test audience so we can let these girls kiss
If you didn't know, uh, I'm an author in my Other Life and I have a new YA novel that needs test readers. This is a far-future science fiction coming-of-age type story with a sapphic romantic storyline and a lot of queer rep. Includes lesbians in spaaaaace.
You should volunteer if any of these apply:
you have experience beta reading
you think you can give good commentary (not looking for "editing"; just your thoughts and advice)
you can say more than "I liked it"
you are willing to not share the manuscript with anyone
you have experience being a gay teenager
you have experience being raised in a religious household
wanna read something gay af
you think the story sounds cool
So about the story (sorry, want to be very vague, for Reasons):
A girl from a humanlike race of aliens is struggling with how to achieve maturity. Her species worships a goddess and is obsessed with fertility, which defines their adulthood and inspires all their rituals. This becomes a problem because the girl is realizing she's gay and that's an issue for a race that thinks typical procreation is everything. She probably wouldn't even know being gay was an option if she wasn't getting her education outside her commune at a mostly-human school. And that's where she meets . . . the new girl.
The aliens have a complicated history with humanity. Humans nearly caused their species to die out 600 years ago, back on their home planet that also embodies their goddess. But her school isn't there, or on Earth; it's another new world that the two races are colonizing together. So when the protagonist develops feelings for the new girl in school, it's not only weird to like a girl, but weird to be getting close with a human.
While she's trying to figure out what all this means and begins secretly dating the human girl, her home life is also getting more complex. Her family, especially her grandmother, expects her to go through a series of rituals and participate in life-giving ceremonies, and it's becoming more and more difficult to avoid just declaring interest in a boy from home and move forward in her life. And she DOES find her people's religion fulfilling in most ways; she just wants to be allowed to explore it on her terms, and that doesn't seem to be an option.
She and her girlfriend have to figure out where they go from here and whether their love will require a revolution.
What will happen if you volunteer:
I'll send you 3 chapters to see if you like it
You send comments and thoughts, and constructive criticism if you have it (feedback can be provided any way you like, from Word comments to rambly e-mails)
You decide if you want the rest, and if you do, I send it for more of the above
I incorporate your thoughts as appropriate
I finalize the draft and send it to my agent and she likes it and we go on sub and get published????? I have done this before. I know what I'm doing y'all
You can be in the acknowledgments if you want?
Just send me a private message with contact info for where to send the chapters or if you want to ask me stuff first you can.
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