Recently, I started getting feedback about my new novel about the lesbian breakup. I presented an early pitch to an agent, and she mentioned she would like to see me lean into the genre. I pitch the book as Jenny's Wedding meets the Break Up. The latter is solidly in the rom com genre. I've listed The Split as a comp, because the options for adult lesbian books that are not about coming out or family conflict are few - especially where there also is no male side romantic interest present. None of those themes are present in my book.
The goal of the book is to have light hearted elements. The antics of an ex-girlfriend trying to get her girlfriend back definitely weave a fun journey. But the story surrounds a main character who is progressively becoming undone by what life throws at her, including a terminally ill parent. The book is NOT about sitting at the bed of a dying mother every day. The book IS about complicated relationships during emotional stress and a dying parent. There is something inherently heavy about that which would not be dealt justice by trying to outweigh it entirely with levity.
On that note, I thought there could well be non LGBTQ books that deal with some of those themes. The Things We Left Unsaid seemed to touch on a complicated relationship between mother and daughter in the face of death, but appears to be more of a living with/ sitting by the bed of a dying mother.
I suppose a large part will be determined by those involved in the publishing process and what direction they might like to take it or edit it toward. I am still most comfortable, however, for it to straddle this space in both genres
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