Meryl Wilsner on the possibilities of queer happy endings
Meryl Wilsner’s debut novel, Something to Talk About, was the first queer romance novel published by their popular romance label. Since then, they’ve also published Mistakes Were Made and Cleat Cute. When asked about happy endings in their books, Wilsner said, “What makes a queer happy ending is what queers want for themselves. Sometimes that looks just like a traditional happy ending in a heterosexual love story, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
“I think queer people, because of their queerness, are forced to confront things that society tells us are true that straight people don’t. While that may start with questioning sexuality or gender, it can continue throughout our lives,” Wilsner shared. “There will never be a set way that a happy ending should be written, because there are countless ways to be happy. What I want for my characters (and myself!) is for them to find the happiness that is right for them, that they choose it for themselves, not because society tells them they should want it.”
Timothy Janovsky on queer happy endings that exceed all expectations
“I think a queer happy ending is fundamentally different from a ‘traditional’ happy ending to a heterosexual love story because queer people experience time a little differently than our peers, not just in narrative space but in real life,” said Timothy Janovksy, author of five romance novels including Never Been Kissed, New Adult and his latest release You Had Me at Happy Hour. “Our first moments and coming-of-age moments don’t always happen in the same order or at all, and the traditional ‘relationship escalation’ of meeting, dating, marriage, kids, etc. doesn’t always apply.”
Janovsky explained how contemporary queer experiences can change our ideas about happy endings in literature. “In a world where we have language and literature for different paradigms like civil partnerships, open relationships, and polyamorous polycules, it’s hard to define ‘happy’ in a consistent way because love is an unlimited resource.”
When creating happy endings for his characters, Janovsky asks fundamental questions like: What kind of intimacy do these characters crave and what kind of relationship structure would they thrive in? “Sometimes that means long-distance, like my heroes in The (Fake) Dating Game. Sometimes that means being monogamous and moving in together, like my heroes in You Had Me at Happy Hour,” he said. “I think because there are fewer expectations of assimilation, a world of possibilities is open to the characters in queer romance novels.”
Dominic Lim on his coming out in “Queer Happy Endings”
“It’s tempting to say that a queer happy ending should be the same as a straight one, but the truth is that LGBTQIA+ characters have other things to consider,” said Dominic Lim, author of All the Right Notes and soon to be Karaoke Queen, when asked what sets queer happy endings apart. “Like acceptance by others and coming out – not just to other people, but to yourself.”
Of course, coming out is not a prerequisite for a queer happy ending, and it is important to show queer characters feeling loved and valued regardless of their choices regarding their coming out. But for Lim, it can also be a beautiful part of his characters’ journey. “In The right notes“Quito Cruz and Emmett Aoki’s happy ending is only possible if Emmett, a famous Hollywood actor, decides to come out so that he can be completely with Quito and not have to hide who he really is,” says Lim.
Taleen Voskuni on family in Queer Happy Endings
LGBTQIA+ characters’ relationships with their families are another aspect of queer happy endings that can look different than what we traditionally see in romance novels. “In my books, my characters are Armenian, which complicates the queer aspect of romance novels,” said Taleen Voskuni, author of Sorry, Bro and Lavash at First Sight. “Queerness is still not widely accepted in the Armenian community, so I needed to write books that addressed that reality.”
Some queer love stories deal with complicated family dynamics through the found family, while others give a character’s family of origin space to grow and learn. For Voskuni, it is important to portray positive family relationships for queer Armenian protagonists. “A family that accepts their child’s queerness with open arms, or a coming out that doesn’t shake up the family dynamic, is not the norm,” Voskuni shared. “Since my books are love stories and not literary fiction, part of the happy ending is that everything turns out well with the main character’s family as well. I needed a happy ending for the family relationship as well as the romantic one. Without that, it wouldn’t feel like a comfortable feel-good book.”
TJ Alexander on happy endings for transsexuals and polyamorous people
TJ Alexander, author of Chef’s Kiss, Chef’s Choice, Second Chances in New Port Stephens and Triple Sec, four love stories featuring nonbinary and trans characters, does not believe there are fundamental differences between happy endings in “traditional” heterosexual and queer love stories.
“Everyone wants to be loved at the end of the day. Everyone wants to be safe and happy and appreciated. Those things are a constant, no matter what sexuality or gender the characters are,” Alexander explained. “I think what queer HEAs do, though, is they allow us to imagine the many different forms that happiness can take. It used to be that an HEA meant a monogamous bond, marriage, kids, all the fantasies of a nuclear family. And there’s nothing wrong with those fantasies, queer or straight, if it serves the story. But our definitions of happiness, of what a ‘successful’ relationship looks like, can evolve, and I think queer romance novels are particularly embracing that right now.”
When writing Triple Secof her new polyamorous romance with three protagonists, Alexander said, “I knew it wasn’t going to end in monogamy or marriage for obvious reasons. This happy ending had to be different, and I had to come up with a satisfying ending that fit the characters and challenged some of those ideas. It had to show commitment, care, and love in a new light. A romance doesn’t have to be queer to do that—but it certainly helps. If your story is already set up to subvert some expectations, you might as well go all out.”
Claire Kann on Ace Happy Endings
“I think queer HEAs offer more flexibility in what that can look like for the characters,” says Claire Kann, who has written a variety of books for different ages, including two adult romance novels with asexual protagonists, The Romantic Agenda and Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places. “Often ‘the end’ is actually the beginning. That’s one of the reasons I almost never write epilogues – marriage and babies don’t have to be the end, but I’m very aware that that’s the genre expectation.”
When crafting happy endings for her asexual protagonists, Kann said she looks beyond romantic attraction and considers things like communication, problem-solving, politics, hopes and dreams, and other aspects of building a long-term relationship. Kann also noted that queer happy endings typically involve more than just a romantic relationship between two characters. “I’ve noticed that in queer love stories, there’s more emphasis on building in and maintaining friendships,” she said. “Platonic relationships are very rarely abandoned in the pursuit of romantic love. If anything, they’re built into the journey. The protagonist won’t make it to the end without his friends.”
Andie Burke on dreaming of a queer future
Andie Burke, author of Fly With Me and the upcoming Fall for Him, recognizes that queer happy endings are often a radical thing. “Given a media landscape that favors tragically buried gays or agonizing coming-out dramas, writing LGBTQIA+ stories with a final act of reciprocated love and hope for the future feels almost subversive—though it shouldn’t,” Burke shared.
“Most straight people never have to spend weeks wondering if it’s safe to put a photo of their spouse on their desk at a new job. That’s why, for me as a bisexual author, my characters’ happy endings have to go beyond personal declarations of love,” Burke said. “I want my readers to see a future filled with beautiful acceptance, whether that’s through their found family, affirming biological families, or a broader queer community.”
A Jane Austen fan, Burke added, “Until the truth that LGBTQIA+ characters deserve happy endings is as widely accepted as the truth that a wealthy single man can’t find a wife, I will continue to fill the ends of my books with as much radical queer love, joy, and acceptance as will fit on the page.”
More than queer happy endings
So are queer happy endings really different from what we expect from “traditional” heterosexual romance novels? In truth, I believe it’s less about differences and more about expanding our understanding of what a good life can look like. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a monogamous, heteronormative marriage with children, but that’s not the only form a dream life can take. I believe that by writing a wide variety of happy endings for LGBTQIA+ characters, queer romance writers are contributing to a broader conversation that asks readers to think about what the characters they’re reading about—and, to take it further, themselves—really want from love and life.
Thank you to the generous and exceptionally talented authors who shared their views with me for this article.
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