Pretty in Pink
As
I stated in an earlier post for the blog tour, I absolutely love
rom-coms--hence the title of the book! Hopeless
Romantic acted as my chance to write a work packed with cheesy moments
alongside 1980s retro nostalgia and pop culture references and package it with
a queer bow. Nick and Katie are some of the cheesiest characters I've written,
but they're also highly aware that they're cheesy (which really, I find makes
all the difference). Early on in their relationship, they get into a playful
fight about what rom-com is the best. I've written a post on my relationship to
Lloyd Dobbler, but another romantic comedy deserves its spot in this tour: Pretty In Pink.
I
can't even say the name for it without getting the title song in my head. The
soundtrack for the movie is one of the best ever written, and so much of it has
to do with how the song emphasizes the film's narrative arc. And I nearly named
my book Pretty In Pink instead of Hopeless Romantic because I love the
song, the film, and the gendered implications of the name. But I didn't, and
mostly that's because my partner, who is the inspiration for Nick, is a huge fan
of the Romantic poets, and well, the pun was too good to pass up.
But
back to Pretty in Pink. As a phrase,
I felt as if it described Katie so well. Katie is a trans woman, and
effectively has had to renegotiate her identity and her gender expression when
she transitioned. Most of that major decision making is done by the time she
gets together with Nick, but there are still hints of that process. She still
sees doctors for hormones and she still struggles with some official ID, but
people in her workplace accept her and so do her classmates/friends. Being
'pretty' is more than just looks--its acceptance by her friends and family. And
being 'pink' means that she can be who she wants and express her gender however
she wants--whether that is in a super feminine pink dress that she wears on one
date with Nick, or in jeans and t-shirts for her favourite bands, which she
does a lot more.
For
my own trans identity, pink has been a difficult colour. I was assigned female
at birth, but eventually transitioned socially as a trans person, settling on a
nonbinary identity. I used to hate pink because it meant being a woman,
something I didn't want but didn't know why growing up. When I settled on my
identity as nonbinary and came out, I was afraid of pink because of what it
could signal to everyone else. So being 'pretty in pink' for me has meant
finding out that I like pink, because it's nice, and wearing it without fear,
because I can adorn myself however I want. And why should I be afraid of being
pretty when the word 'pretty' itself doesn't have to have a gender associated
with it.
So
I feel like the only fitting way to end this post, and this blog tour, is to
post the music video that encapsulates so much of what I wanted to say. And
let's face it--the song is also in my head right now anyway.
About Hopeless Romantic:
About Francis Gideon:
Thank
you all for reading!
About Hopeless Romantic:
Nick Fraser is a true romantic. He wants the guy instead of the girl,
but other than that, he wants everything his favorite rom-coms depict: the
courtship, the passionate first kiss, the fairy-tale wedding. But after
breaking up with the love of his life, Nick wonders if anything fairy-tale will
ever happen for him.
Then he meets Katie, who’s just like a rom-com heroine. She’s sharp,
funny, sweet, and as into music and punk culture as Nick is. What’s more, he’s
incredibly attracted to her—even though she’s a woman. Nick has never
considered that he might be bisexual, but his feelings for Katie are definitely
real.
When Katie reveals that she’s transgender, Nick starts to see how much
he doesn’t understand about the world, queer identity, and himself. He is
hopelessly in love with Katie, but this isn’t a fairy tale, and Nick’s friends
and family may not accept his new relationship. If he wants it all, he has to
have the courage to make his fantasy a reality.
Now available from Riptide Publishing and Amazon.
Francis Gideon is a nonbinary writer who dabbles in romance, mystery,
fantasy, historical, and paranormal genres. Francis credits music, along with
being an only child to a single mother, as why they write so much now. Long
nights at home were either spent memorizing lyrics to pop-punk bands or reading
voraciously. Add a couple of formative experiences in university, a network of
weird artist friends, and after years of writing stories Francis never showed
to anyone, they now have books to their name.
After receiving an MA in English literature, Francis wanted to do
something a bit more fun. They soon found the LGBTQ romance community and fell
in love on the spot. Since then, Francis has attempted to balance writing
romances with as many different types of couples as possible while also
attending school for their PhD. When not writing fiction or teaching university
classes, Francis works on scholarly articles on everything from character
deaths in the TV show Hannibal, the online archive of Canadian poet and artist
P.K. Page, and transgender representation on YouTube. Francis is a middle name,
used to keep students from Googling their teacher and asking far too many
questions.
Francis lives in Canada with their partner, Travis, where they often
spend nights disagreeing about what TV show to watch and making bad puns
whenever possible. Travis receives dedications in Francis's novels because he
tolerates Francis's long hours and listens to random story ideas late into the
night. Francis also might be a bit of a hopeless romantic—as if you didn't
already guess.
Connect with Francis:
- Website & Blog: francisgideon.wordpress.com
- Twitter: @francisgideon88
Giveaway:
To celebrate the release of Hopeless Romantic, one
lucky winner will receive a $10 Riptide
credit!
Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest.
Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on April 15, 2017.
Contest is NOT
restricted to U.S. entries.
Congrats and thanks for Pretty in Pink. So many movies I like from 80s along those lines, like Breakfast Club. Or cheesier, Blue Lagoon. Or poignant, Dead Poets Society. And my fave, Ordinary People. I've also seen what you said elsewhere about memoirs, in fact recently read Balls: It Takes Some to Get Some by Chris Edwards. I learned from it and want to keep learning, and I like the idea of putting that in story format, vs. memoir. So the book sounds great. - Purple Reader,
ReplyDeleteTheWrote [at] aol [dot] com
Congrats on the release, the story sounds fun!
ReplyDeletelegacylandlisa(at)gmail(dot)com
Thank you for the post and video. It's been a fun tour =)
ReplyDeletehumhumbum AT yahoo DOT com