Background & Poll

Hey everyone! I think it’s time I did one of those longer posts that Aaryn is so famous for ;) I’m gonna take a page out of his book and go through my unfiltered thoughts, and my reason for ultimately deciding to create New Hope, and the other Apollo Studios content.

I originally joined the Str8 team because Aaryn trusted my creative eye, and valued my opinion when it comes to writing and narrative. But, that opinion didn’t come from nowhere. I’ve been an aspiring writer since I my first year of University. Now at the age of 25, it’s been 6 years since the start of that journey.

I started a series of novels, which for now I’ll keep to myself. These novels embodied everything about writing that I felt was missing from the mainstream LGBT+ content. But ultimately, I’ve had little luck with publishing. I’ve been offered several hybrid deals, but they weren’t in my best interests. I’ve also been offered a conditional deal, but the conditions being I limit the LGBT+ content and focus more on a heteronormative audience (or diverge completely and pander my LGBT+ content to strictly homophobia, bullying and coming out stories.)

Don’t get me wrong, it’s important we have those themes… but I think our community is more than that. I think we deserve super heroes, pop stars and even a great thriller! We deserve to have exposure in genres that typically use us as the ‘diversity grab’ or ‘the joke’.

So that’s why I created New Hope. I wanted honest feedback on my writing, but also to see the reaction to gay content that isn’t just hyper-sexualised or focused on the three points I stated earlier. The overal reaction has been extremely positive, and I’ve been blown away by the response to my little project.

I decided to then create Apollo Studios ~ with the aim of working on my writing and putting out different stories. The reaction to Blind Date, whilst positive, wasn’t as much as I expected. And I suspect that’s due to being Patreon Exclusive. I value all my Patreons and I appreciate your support more than anything! You help to keep these projects alive.

But I also need to focus on my main goal. To get as much feedback on my writing as possible, and grow a community that I can feel safe and supported by to self publish my multi-novel series.

So I’m opening this up to a vote - because I don’t want to offend or insult my current Patreon Supporters. I’d like you to comment below whether you would be ok if I publish my short stories publicly - once they’ve been completed. Patreons would still gain early access to these stories, but similarly to how the games released I’d also like to publish them publicly to gain more exposure.

As I’m writing this on my phone, I can’t actually create a poll. So write your thoughts in the comments below- or dm me on here or Discord.

Thank you again to all my supporters. You’ve shown me that my writing has value, and a place in this world.

- Love, Blayke <3