Maybe my mistake was assuming the lesbian love story I’m writing needed to be heteronormative.

Or even remotely close to what passes for mainstream prose.

The key isn’t writing “for everyone.” It’s writing for the nerdy, observant, journalist lesbian who notices pacing, silence, consent, and the space between moments.

And maybe that’s still too broad.

What I keep learning is this: stop writing toward what should work, and start walking directly into the places prose is usually afraid to go.

Just because one model gets repeated doesn’t mean it’s universal.
It just means it’s familiar.

— Anna
Unspoken