I hope Candy’s bitchfork is polished and her torch ready to be set aflame, as the RWA Board has released their recommendations for changes to the RITA® and Golden Heart® awards process. Included in these edits are changes to the categories for entry.
This material is only available on the RWA website for registered members. So I’m posting below what I transcribed, and if they ask me to take it down since it is ostensibly protected content, I will. I know that they’ll be sending it to me in writing sometime soon, so we’ll see what happens.
Discussion ahoy!
Aside from the questions addressing who can enter, when were they published and should they drop the lowest score the meatier part falls later: reformation of contest categories.
These recommendations are open for input from the members until May 15 (hurry up and get articulate) and will be discussed and voted into policy at the July board meeting. I think my flight arrives just in time for me to roll into the board meeting (literally!) as one travel-rumpled Smart Bitch.
Let’s get to the meaty part, shall we?
Contest Categories
The board recommends that the short Regency category be eliminated since there are no longer any major publishers printing this type of book. Any short Regencies remaining can be entered into the new historical categories.
The board recommends that the novella category be eliminated. The board recognizes the skill required to craft a short story. However, the novella does not fit the contest purpose of recognizing the best romance novel.
The board recommends that the Traditional category be folded into the new Short Contemporary category. While Traditional authors wanted a new definition that allowed for nonexplicit sex within the story, the board maintains a consistent policy that the level of sexuality should not determine a category.
The board also recommends eliminating the “Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements” from the Golden Heart – though that will remain as a RITA category.
And then comes a whole mess of bold face, underlined, struck and edited text and omg I need more caffeine. In a paragraph that could have stood for a bit of clarity and editing, the board writes:
The problem of word count has been an on-going problem. The board hopes to have books judged by level of complexity without basing the category definitions on series category romance lines, as well as allowing for overlapping word counts. This should eliminate this problem and allow the novel to be judged on the romance.
Judging on the romance? Or judging on the quality of the writing? Or both? Grk!
And onward into the part wherein I need more coffee omg move out of my way. The board recommends the following changes:
Best Short Contemporary –
The old definition as per the RWA website: Romantic novels released as individual titles, not as part of a series. The word count for those novels is over 70,000.
Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying.
Recommended Change: “romantic novels which focus almost exclusively on the hero/heroine relationship, usually with only one main storyline, very limited subplots and in which the level of sexuality may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
Judging Guideline Recommendation: “In this category, the love story is the principle focus of the novel, and the ending is emotionally satisfying. Such novels are typically 40,000 to 65,000 words, consistent with, but not confined to, shorter series lines. Entries are not required to be series romances as long as they meet the stated definition. These novels may or may not contain a high level of sexuality.”
Best Long Contemporary –
The old definition: Romantic novels in which sensuality may constitute a strong element in the romance. The word count for these novels is over 70,000 words.
Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying.
Recommended Change: “Romantic novels which focus primarily on the hero/heroine relationship, but often with a more complex structure than short contemporary, with at least one subplot, secondary characters and points of view and in which the level of sexuality may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
Judging guideline Recommendation: “Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the principle focus of the novel, and the end is emotionally satisfying. Novels with this level of complexity are typically 60,000 — 85,000 words, consistent with, but not confined to, longer series lines. Entries are not required to be series romances as long as they meet the stated definition. These novels may or may not contain a high level of sexuality.”
Best Contemporary Single Title –
The old definition: Romantic novels released as individual titles, not as part of a series. The word count for those novels is over 70,000.
Recommended Change: “Romantic novels which focus primarily on the hero/heroine relationship, but often with a more complex structure than short or long contemporary. These novels may contain one or more subplots, several secondary characters, and multiple points of view, and in which the level of sexuality may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
Judging Guideline Recommendation: “In this category, the love story is the principle focus of the novel and the ending is emotionally satisfying. Novels with this level of complexity are typically 80,000 words and up. In most cases, these are not series lines novels; however any novel may be entered as long as it meets the stated definition. These novels may or may not contain a high
level of sexuality.”
Best Young Adult Romance –
The old definition: Romantic novels geared to young adult readers. The word count for YA novels is a minimum of 25,000 words.
Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying.
Recommended Change: “Novels with a strong romantic theme geared toward young adult readers and in which the level of sexuality may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
Judging Guideline Recommendation: “Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is an important element of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying. The minimum word count for YA novels is 40,000 words. These novels may or may not contain a high level of sexuality.”
Additional information from the RWA Board: “Rationale for changing Young Adult category: The Young Adult novel is our best way to guide young readers toward adult romance. Most novels are geared more to the teenager’s journey and the story is not exclusively focused on the romance. However, these novels are still required to contain a significant romance in order to enter this category.”
Best Short Historical Romance
The old definition: Novels or sagas which have a strong romantic element throughout. The word count for these novels is 40,000-95,000 words.
Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying.
Recommended Changes:
New Title: Best Historical Romance to 1820
Description: “Romantic historical novel with a primary setting up to the year 1820. The story may take place at any geographic location. The level of sexuality may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
Judging Guideline Recommendation: “In this category, the story takes place primarily in years through 1820. The love story is the main focus of the novel and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying. If a book spans many years, the author should best determine the category in which it belongs. These novels may or may not contain a high level of sexuality.”
Best Long Historical Romance
The old definition: Romantic novels in which sensuality may constitute a strong element in the romance. The word count for these novels is over 70,000 words.
Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying
Recommended Changes:
New Title: Best Historical Romance from 1790-1945
Description: “Romantic historical novel with a primary setting in the years 1790 through 1945. The story may take place at any geographic location. The level of sexuality may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
Judging Guideline Recommendation: “In this category, the story takes place primarily in years 1790 through 1945. In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying. If a book spans many years, the author should best determine the category in which it belongs. These novels may or may not contain a high level of sexuality.”
Explanation from RWA Board (yes please, why the historical overlap?): “Rationale for changing historical categories: Again, the board wished to eliminate the word count problem. With numbers dwindling, we examined merging both short and long historical into one category but felt that the historical novel could grow in the future. We hoped to allow for the change in popularity of one time period over another by providing overlapping years. An author whose book spans many years should determine where the novel best fits.”
Best Romantic Suspense/Gothic Romance –
Old Definition: Romantic novels in which suspense is a major element of the plot. The word count for these novels is a minimum of 40,000 words.
Judging Guidelines: In this category, a suspense plot is blended with a love story, which is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying.
Recommended Changes: “Romantic novels in which suspense is a major element of the plot.The level of sexuality may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
Judging Guideline Recommendation: “In this category, a suspense plot is blended with a love story, which is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying. These novels may or may not contain a high level of sexuality.”
Best Paranormal Romance –
Old Definition: Time Travel, Futuristic, Fantasy, Paranormal. Romantic novels in which the future, a fantasy world, or paranormal happenings are a major element of the plot. These may be single-title releases or books published within established category romance lines fitting other category descriptions. The word count for these novels is a minimum of 40,000.
Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying.
Recommended Changes: “Time Travel, Futuristic, Fantasy, Paranormal — romantic novels in which either the future, a fantasy world or paranormal happenings are a major element of the plot. The level of sexuality may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
Judging Guideline Recommendation: “Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, but alternate worlds or paranormal happenings are an integral part of the plot. The end of the book is emotionally satisfying. These novels may or may not contain a high level of sexuality.”
Best Inspirational Romance –
Old Definition: Romantic novels in which one or more characters’ religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religion or spiritual belief system) are a major part of their developing relationship, not merely a minor element or subplot. All inspirational books, set in any place or era, shall be eligible for this category. The word count for these novels is a minimum of 40,000 words.
Judging guidelines: In this category, one or more characters’ religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religion or spiritual belief system) are blended with and form a significant and substantial part of the love story, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying.
Recommended Changes: “romantic novels in which one or more characters’ religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religion or spiritual belief system) are a major part of their the developing relationship between the hero/heroine. These books may be set in any time period or setting. The level of sexuality is usually non-explicit but may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
(To Which Sarah Said Out Loud: AWWWW YEAH BABY INSPIE HOT SEXX0RING! WOOT!)
Judging Guideline Recommendation: “In this category, one or more characters’ religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religion or spiritual belief system) are integral to the hero/heroine relationship. The end of the book is emotionally satisfying. These novels may or may not contain a high level of sexuality.”
Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements –
Old Definition: A work of fiction not belonging in another category that contains a strong romantic element, such that one or more romances contained in the story form an integral part of the story’s structure, but in which other themes or stories may also be significantly developed. The word count for these novels is a minimum of 80,000 words.
Judging guidelines: Any kind of fiction, of any tone or style and set in any place or time, is eligible for this category. The romantic elements, while not the primary focus of the story, should be an integral and dynamic part of the plot or subplot. The NR term does not apply to this category. Instead, the book may be judged NSRE (no strong romantic elements).
Recommended Changes: “A work of fiction not belonging in another category that contains a strong romance that forms an integral part of the story’s structure, but in which other themes or stories may also be significantly developed. The level of sexuality may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
Judging Guideline Recommendation: “Any kind of fiction, of any tone or style and set in any place or time, is eligible for this category. The romance, while not the primary focus of the story, must be an integral and dynamic part of the plot or subplot. The Not a Romance (NR term does not apply to this category. Instead, the book may be judged No Strong Romantic Elements (NSRE) . These novels may or may not contain a high level of sexuality.
Best First Book –
Old Definition: A full-length book entered in any of the other Contest categories, except Novella, which is the author’s first published novel shall be eligible for this award. If entered by a writing team, the book must be the first published novel for all members of the team.
Recommended Changes: “A full-length book entered in any of the other contest categories, and is the author’s first published novel from any publisher in any format shall be eligible for this award. If entered by a writing team, the book must be the first published novel for all members of the team. The level of sexuality may range from sweet to extremely hot.”
Judging Guideline Recommendation: “Judging guidelines: In this category, the love story is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying. These novels may or may not contain a high level of sexuality.”
You get all that? Holy cow.
Upon first reading and transcribing, my reaction? “We Are All Erotica!” The changes make room for erotica/romantica in every category (even Inspirational and I’m still giggling about that – “Oh God, Oh God” indeed!) and I can see why. How would RWA define a category of “Best Erotica?” Number of times the word “cock” is mentioned? Frequency of weeping overwrought va-hay-jays? “Romantic story with a driving sexual storyline (hur hur) in addition to the romantic storyline?” That could encompass stories that deal with sexual manipulation but aren’t erotica.
By making room for erotica in every category, there’s room, it would seem, for erotica authors to enter their books based on subject matter and plot – and let’s face it. Recent kerfluffles have addressed the lack of plot in some erotica releases of recent note, and those who crave good erotica say it’s not all about the Benjamins. It’s about plot AND sexuality.
WILL these changes make room for erotica in every category? Will erotica be found in next year’s finalists? Time will tell, I guess.
But let me just send up a hearty, “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” at the noted absence of “Best Gay/Lesbian Romance” – and lemme do it again: “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
While there’s no restriction on the gender of the romantic pairing, and the category descriptions leave room for the protagonists to be homosexual or heterosexual, allow me to don my Cape of Hypocritical Bitch and say, “BOOOOOOO!” one more time.
I’m cautiously optimistic about erotica and romantica finding a place in the finalist list next year in any category, but I’m not so optimistic about there being a gay romance appearing in that list.
Why? Because let’s be honest: past shenanigans paint a fairly clear message that gays=not always the most welcome. Sex has demonstrated that It Sells Well Holy Cow. Harder to ignore that.
Should Gay/Lesbian romance be judged separately? Or is that a condescending slap in the face of gay & lesbian romance – that somehow the romantic encounter between two men or two women is “different” than the romantic encounter between a man and a woman?
Ideally, Gay/Lesbian romance SHOULDN’T be an independent category, and shouldn’t have to be in the first place. But here’s my worry: so far, I’m down with this particular board. I’d buy it a big, big beer. And what these recommendations do is leave room for erotica and Gay/Lesbian romance by not defining (wisely) the gender or sex of the protagonists. What they don’t and can’t do is predict how these recommendations will be interpreted by future boards. There have been some hellabad presidents with agendas that made my hair curl and in the hands of the contest coordinators appointed by similar presidents? These recommendations are vague enough to exclude Gay & Lesbian romance easily and quietly. And in my opinion, including it is too important to leave it out. But therein you see very plainly my particular political agenda.
I’m well aware of the flaw in my reaction here – I’m ok with the inclusion of a Sex-o-meter that allows for erotic content in every category (Even Inspie HAHAHAH) but I’m not ok with the exclusion of Gay/Lesbian Romance as an independent category. And it does beg the question – do there have to be “African American” “Asian” “Latina” “Lithuanian” “Mutant Goatse” romance categories if there’s a Gay/Lesbian category? If they represent one minority with a category for independent judging, do they then have to represent them all? Difficult prospect, I realize.
Taking into account past history and agendas espoused by the past presidents, I’m dismayed that there wasn’t more of a declaration in terms of Gay/Lesbian romance. But on the whole (and in the hole), I’m pleased that there’s room for a variation in sexual content in each category.
Are same sex romance books and authors acceptable to RWA or not? I’m kind of getting mixed messages on that one.
Or is it case of welcome in the door, but if you nominate a book in our awards, our ladies probably won’t want to read your icky stuff?
I’m confused. Does RWA accept gay and lesbian books and authors or not?
Or is it a case of welcome in the door, but if you nominate of your books for our awards, our ladies probably won’t want to read your icky stuff?
Um… ignore one of those, I thought the first didn’t post. Sorry.
You know that somewhere out there is a list of Inspirational readers and writers who are having a major debate and WTHey? reaction to the definition for their category.
I wonder if the bits with the specific term “hero/heroine relationship” were written by one person, and the bits that don’t get that specific were written by someone else. (I also wouldn’t necessarily take it as an exclusion of Teh Gay so much as someone just making a heteronormative assumption because they were in a hurry. Now that y’all have brought the situation to light, it will be interesting to see if the final version allows for gay relationships in all categories…or is worded so as to exclude them in all categories.)
The problem with making specific sub-categories is that you prevent those categories from ever becoming center. Some years the Best Picture should really be some foreign film, or a documentary, but because there are categories for foreign film and documentary, those will never win the BP Oscar.
A more hopeful parallel is in the Best Actor/Actress categories. It was a long series of jumps from Hattie McDaniel to Sidney Poitier to Louis Gossett Jr. , but not too many years from Gossett to Denzel to Cuba Gooding, and it is now unremarkable for an African-American to be nominated for and/or win an Oscar. The question with regard to the RITAs is how long will it take before a romance that doesn’t have a white, hetero couple wins, and how long before such a winner would not be considered unusual.
“Either wordcount matters (in which case the historicals and other categories need to be sorted accordingly) or it doesn’t”
I agree with this. Having looked at the changes my biggest question involves trying to distinguish “short” contemp from “long” contemp by “subplot” and characters.
I thought one of the problems with this year’s RITAs was novels of the same line in two different categories. H/S structurs category lines to be similar.
Blazes should be with Blazes, Desires with Desires. Any non category book – take your pick. But at least with H/S you can say Presents, Desire, Amercian -go here. SRS, Blazes Supers go there.
Because we’re trying to do our best to ompare apples to apples right? If an Intrigue wants to compete in the Rom Suspense – I’m all for it. Other than that the lines need to be clarified as short or long. If not I think this will only open the door for more “gamesman ship”. If you end up with any lines being entered into either category – then there is no point in having a short or long. It should all just be “category” romance.
Steph
“I thought one of the problems with this year’s RITAs was novels of the same line in two different categories. H/S structurs category lines to be similar. Blazes should be with Blazes, Desires with Desires.”
I don’t think RITAS should be bound by the structure used by category publishers. I want the judges thinking “Was this the best Romantic Suspense I read last year?” instead of “Was this the best Harlequin-Blaze-like book I read last year?” If Harlequin winds up (for example) publishing a kickass suspense and a kickass historical in Blaze, they should be judged by the type of book, not by Harlequin’s marketing category. Otherwise, the RITA has to be constantly rewritten to match the current category lines.
I’m also curious about the “hero/heroine” thing up there. Will be interesting to see what comes of this, because I’m not a member of RWA currently.
If the material makes you wanna barf (too much sex, an accidental gay, a multi-racial relationship that makes ya go ick), you can send it back and refuse to judge it. Oh gosh, I have one of those coming out! (Forbidden Shores, Oct. 07) and I think it would also qualify as an erotic inspirational since the hero quotes Psalm 102 (and spends a lot of time on his knees).
But aside from incidental pimping, I think, apart from the historical dumbness, the recommendations are certainly better than what we’ve had. I’m disappointed, though, that the recommendations did not openly acknowledge the existence of erotic romance and for some reason the term “extremely hot” makes me snort tea through my nose. What is bizarre, though, is that Harlequin’s stranglehold on the whole short/long contemp categories may well now be challenged by Black Lace and others—and that’s strange bedfellows indeed.
Janet
“I don’t think RITAS should be bound by the structure used by category publishers. I want the judges thinking “Was this the best Romantic Suspense I read last year?†instead of “Was this the best Harlequin-Blaze-like book I read last year?—
I don’t have a problem with that either if category chooses to run in either the paranormal, or suspense categories.
My question is – and not to pick on Blaze or any one line is – if we end up with Blazes in both the “short” and “long” categories – that seems strange to me. How is a line that is structured to be similar in style – considered both Long and Short? I get what happened this year with the word count issue – but going forward I thought these changes would address this. Instead I think it’s only going to make it worse.
We’re leaving it up to the author to decide – how complex she/he thinks it is – and I don’t think it’s necessary.
A simple line drawn between the category lines indicating you guys are short – you guys are long would make things simpler.
The point of having two categories is so that books can be “grouped” as fairly as possible so that we’re comparing like books to one another.
If short and long turn into a mishmash of Blazes SRS Intrigue SSE (all those lines that can possibly straddle the fence) then what’s the point of a short vs. long?
Steph
My question is – and not to pick on Blaze or any one line is – if we end up with Blazes in both the “short†and “long†categories – that seems strange to me.
What happens is authors enter based on heir manuscript / computer word count, and not the designations of the lines as set out by Harlequin. Blaze is currently 60K – 65K, but in the past I think the guidelines stated 70K. That meant some authors would have computer word counts of say 71K and some 69K, which put some in short and some in long.
Sensuous Inspirational—just had to comment here. Remember my book that you reviewed ages back—White Tigress? It IS a faith based journey of a TANTRIC. I struggled and struggled with what category to enter it into. Honestly, it was SUPPOSED to go into inspirational, but I just couldn’t believe that anyone judging that category would roll with the SEX AS A WAY TO HEAVEN concept. I know others who have considered entering Wicken-faith based books into inspirational. So…under these new guidelines, would I now enter my newest Tigress books in inspirational? They do say the books can be very hot. But still…I just can’t see someone who signs up to judge inspirational as flowing with tantrism as a viable faith.
So…do you think I’m misjudging the judges?
Jade, I don’t think you’re misjudging the judges at all. For the foreseeable future, regardless of the contest category definition, people who gravitate to inspie will still be thinking “Christian.”
Deciding which category to enter involves gaming the system a bit. I entered Strong Romantic Elements based on the category definition (mine’s a fantasy first and a romance second). I had to balance the risk of getting an SRE judge who doesn’t like paranormals vs. the risk of a Paranormal Romance judge who wants the romance as the main plot.
It’s largely a crapshoot, and all we can do is try to find a friendly croupier. (OK, maybe that metaphor got a bit stretched.)
“What happens is authors enter based on heir manuscript / computer word count, and not the designations of the lines as set out by Harlequin.”
I understand that that’s what happened this year when H/S changed from the “estimated” count to actual computer count. That’s why I think doing away with the word count language works fine.
Because you can’t tell me that based on the intent of separating the categories so that as much as possible books are being judged fairly against one another – that a 1000 words makes the difference between a story being ‘long’ verses ‘short’.
However, my problem with using the “complexity” argument is going to be the author who says – well I wrote SRS – but didn’t have a subplot – so I’m short. But my word count is 66,000 so maybe I’m long? It’s too arbitrary.
If we define which lines go into which categories – then we know at least that all books in the line are competing against one another – UNLESS the author chooses to compete agianst ST books in the specifc paranormal/suspense lines.
If we leave it as it is now – there will be more cross entry not less. And if that’s the case – and all the lines may or may not fit into either category – then I don’t think there is a point to having two.
Stephanie
Oh, I’m not arguing one way or the other, just explaining how books from one series line could end up in two different categories.
If we define which lines go into which categories – then we know at least that all books in the line are competing against one another
Remember, tho, that not all books entered are category romances from HQ/Silh. There are books from Avalon, for example, or other small presses that are RWA recognized and put out print books in time to meet the deadlines, etc. Some of those run around 50K words or so, and will be single title releases, but will only fit in the short contemporary category.
Thanks for the informative post! I wonder about the YA category changes. I was hoping to see them address the exception to verse novels. Perhaps I missed it, becaues I think there used to be a stated exception—although exception aside, the 25,000 word count being raised to 40,000 may cut them out nevertheless.
Isn’t that *special!* Those clever ladies—they found a way to weed out all those nasty erotic books and the eviyal same-sex ones at the same time… while appearing to be inclusive. Let everybody enter the regular categories, and then eliminate anything that they don’t like. Like the RT review policy—‘our readers’ don’t want that, ‘our judges’ won’t read it, “someone” complained that it was icky… I don’t think putting erotic romance in with the fade-to-black is doing erotica any favors.
And “Inspirational”—Code for “Fundamentalist Protestant…” Feh. I’d love to see them inundated with Wiccan, Tantric, Buddhist, Native American—or even “with my body I thee worship” but odds are it would be a waste of the contestant’s entry fee.
Are writers really going to buy into this?
Anyone care to start a pool on how many erotic books even make it to the finalist level? Some, I’m sure—it would look funny otherwise—but how about the winners’ circle? How many same-sex books will be washed out by the ‘hero-heroine’ clause? Not that I have any books to enter (or would enter them if I did) but if they take out the boy-girl cause in the final wording I’ll be astonished.
I’ll bet the phrasing in the YA categories is simply irrelevant—can you see the ‘inspirational’ faction allowing a teenage gay romance within spitting distance? Horrors. Better to see gay teenagers committing suicide at several times the average rate than give them something to dream on.
I suppose it’s the old ‘the game may be rigged, but it’s the only game in town.’ I’m glad I have no temptation to even walk into the casino.
Since those of us on the RITA/GH committee have been given the green light to talk about the work we did, I will say right now that although the decision wasn’t unanimous, the vast majority of us on that committee did vote to establish a new ER category for both the GH and RITA.
i don’t get to spend as much time here as i’d like—here being both SBTB and the romance world in general—so this is an issue that may not fit best here, but what the heck, this is an old post so no one will see my comments, right? when i submitted my first (whee!) novel to an agent, they said that (besides the um, bad first novel writing stuff) gay best friends were overdone in romance land, and i’d have to rewrite him and his love interest to get it published. now i’m curious if i should have marketed it as gay/lesbian, even though the primary love interest is mainstream/heterosexual? *are* there a surfeit of gay/lesbian best friends in contemporary books that i missed while i was locked in my garret writing? i plan on starting novel #2.5 once adored but demanding toddler starts nursery school this fall. my goal is to write a publishable (heck, a movie rights sellable) romance. but i don’t want to cut off 10% of the reading public. any readers (still reading this overlong post) want to reassure me to stick to my guns and write about all sorts of love? or not?
Someone saw your comment—me! It used to be one of the “definitions” of chick lit was that the heroine had a gay best friend. Shows how hip your heroine is. Now that Chick-Lit is a dying/dead genre, that convention has gone away and is actually very cliche. And as for making it a gay/lesbian novel, not if the main couple is heterosexual.
I know it sucks, but lots of us have bad to okay books under our beds. Go on to the next book as soon as nursery school starts. you may be able to resurrect this book later, but for now…go on. Write something new. That’s my advice for what it’s worth.