Yeah, I have a little experience with this because I have a literary agent and a debut novel that never got published.

Most of the criticism I get (from straight people, btw) is that my stuff isn’t upbeat enough. As is, “Oh, we love this so much. It’s so well done, but we aren’t publishing this kind of story right now.”

So, sigh. Sometimes it feels like the gatekeepers are imposing standards they don’t personally comprehend.