No, I recognize that I am not Rimbaud, but his image helps me build up my lineage.  The young, conflicted gay writer telling his story.  Or at least that is what I thought…

And then I went to the library and checked out a couple semi-recent young adult novels with a gay male coming-of-age/coming out theme and realized that my story ain’t all that extraordinary.  So many of the mulling emotions these various narrators expressed still resonated with me and my almost 30-year-old self.

However, this actually settled my mind rather than depressing it.  Sure this means that some of the initial (surface-level) themes that seem important in my writing are really quite standard and perhaps too sexually-focused.  But it also has worked to free my mind a bit as I explore situations to look for deeper literary relevance.  And it also helped me realize that my audience might not be who I have previously/pretentiously imagined.

Should I be writing a young adult novel?