Future Writing Problems

I hope to someday publish fiction in the urban fantasy and young adult fantasy genres. Mainly because those are my favorite genres, but also because I feel like my writing style fits those the best. However, I realized recently that I might run into some problems trying to publish in these genres. Let me explain a little, and I'm generalizing a lot to make this point.

In most, if not all urban fantasy stories, the main male character, whether the point of view character or the love interest of the point of view character, has a certain look, a certain personality, a certain feeling; strong, protective, slightly overbearing, manly.  The UF male, sometimes called the Alpha male, usually has scruff, fills out whatever clothes he's wearing, and can take care of himself in a physical fight. A lot of times his eyes 'smolder' and he makes the UF female feel both irritated at his overbearing-ness and unable to control her lust for him.

In most, if not all young adult novels, the main male character, usually the romantic interest in what I read, also has a certain look and a certain distinction that sets him apart from all the rest; he's the teen who doesn't look like a teen, he is sometimes a bad boy, and he always falls for the main girl in a way that is totally different than any of the other many girls he's been with before. His eyes also smolder. What is with eyes smoldering?

So, now that that explanation is out of the way, here's why this is a problem. While yes, some of those things are attractive -- I'll admit, if someone looked at me with smoldering eyes I would probably melt right there -- that's not what I'm most attracted too. Sure, I get a little giddy when I'm reading, because what red-blooded woman doesn't? But over the past three years my taste in men has changed, and in corresponding with that, the male characters I write about has changed as well. And unfortunately I realized today that it has changed in such a way that I'm  not sure I'd be able to get them published. Because my taste in men is so wildly different than the majority of everyone else.

Let me illustrate: I haven't come up with a story for him yet, but I've had a male character in mind for the past few days. He doesn't have a name yet, other than the nickname Deer. He's a senior in high school, he's not short but he's not too tall either, he has thick brown hair that he usually doesn't bother too much with so it does it's own little wavy thing, he's pretty athletic, so he's lean without being gangly, and he has a bright smile and quick laugh that always lightens moods and cheers people up. But here's where it gets different than what you'd find in most fiction nowadays. He may be athletic, but he doesn't actually look it, instead he looks delicate, with small hands, a thin frame, and if people didn't know any better they would assume he was younger. And he has these wide dark brown eyes that look like doe eyes. He wouldn't ever be called gorgeous. He wouldn't ever be called hot, or even handsome. Maybe adorable, cute even, but not anything else.

And a character like that would never cut it in the cut-throat world of publishing among all the tall, dark, and handsome ones out there. Which is unfortunate, because there are men out there just like him, don't they deserve to be the hero too?

I'm probably going to keep writing characters like him and others that I have, because maybe by the time I'm ready to publish the market will have changed enough to allow him a fighting chance. I hope so.

Do you like reading about characters that are different than normal? There's a lot of minority out there that rarely, if ever, gets represented. Is there some minority that you would like to read about more?

Thanks for reading!