When you feel you have to defend art...

I got some feedback from my super awesome beta this morning that had my back up a little bit. I had to take a step back and realize that getting into a moral argument wasn't going to do any good and reading her email a third time showed me she wasn't trying to be moral about it.

One of my main characters is bisexual and she has a female previous lover who shows back up at a really bad time. (Do exes show up at any other time?) This relationship is integral to the story, the echoes of it have a place in the plot, in how the character reacts to other characters, and toward the end, will appear to be a Hail Mary at-the-buzzer-pass to save a life. (I'm not telling if they get that particular touchdown, sorry!)

In any event, this is the first time someone other than a friend has read original work, so it was the first time I've felt the need to DEFEND my work. That...is a weird feeling. I wrote her back with my reasoning and I hope she she agrees with me, but its so strange to feel something is so important to the book that my immediate reaction was "Nope, not removing it." I don't feel that way about a LOT of what I write.

I write quite a bit of angels and demons urban fantasy. I find myself fascinated by it (Thanks Legion/Dominion and Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters) Its just my 'thing' the way Sarah J. Maas' is territorial Fae bastards (If you haven't read Throne of Glass or A Court of Thorns and Roses, get on it!)

The point of this overly long ramble (its 5am and I haven't finished my coffee) is that this is MY art. I want to bring it to life, to have it published, more than anything. But I won't sacrifice the story as I've seen it to accomplish that goal.

For some reason, I feel good about that.