Let's Talk, It's Tuesday #2

Hello lovelies! I know this is supposed to be a podcast, but if you've read my unintentional hiatus post you'll know that I haven't been able to get onto my computer and unfortunately, Blogger's mobile platform is just terrible so I didn't even try to tackle that (another reason I'm thinking of moving over to Wordpress grr). SO because of that, I won't be recording podcasts probably for a while. So since I won't be able to, I'll just put it in text form. I like talking more, but eh, whatever works.

Onward with the discussion!


Todays topic follows the series I started on my views with Young Adult fiction. Today's section is: Love. Insta love, slow burning love, all of it specifically in the Young Adult fiction genre.

So let me start off with saying that I love romance. I really like the cute romances that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and also make me cry and hurt because conflict. The reason I don't really like adult romances is because it gets sexual at some point (which all the more to you if that's what you like), but I've never really thought that all romances need to have a sexual element. So I stick to cute fuzzy romances. If you've ever seen my history in shojo manga, you'll know I'm a sucker for those kinds of romances.

Now, I say I love romance, but I feel like now in the Young Adult genre it's kind of a necessity rather than a writer's choice whether it's intentional or not. It's obvious that, considering the audience, some sort of romance is going to probably sell better than those that don't have it at all. I'm not speaking for everyone reading the books in the genre, obviously, but it's true. So as a writer, you have to think of it in that sense sometimes. Even when I started writing later in my teens, I felt that way. I felt that I needed to have some kind of romance or I felt like my stories would never get any kind of attention past publication (I never got anything published, but that was me thinking ahead).

It's kind of strange. I really like romances in stories, I think they make for really nice subplots if they're written properly and there's some justification--but I get really annoyed with romances that seem to spawn out of nowhere (cue the insta-love) and at times when characters have, you know, other things to worry about. Sometimes I feel like the publicist was like, "hey there's not a romance, sorry it ain't gonna sell" so the writers are scrambling and then you get a pretty half-assed romance that wasn't needed. Like at all.

Insta-love. Oooooh insta-love. That is probably my least favorite trope for YA romances. It's very Romeo and Juliet in taste, but even worse. I feel like it's almost like an epidemic in the YA genre. There's an idea that people need to have a romance, but it seems to come out of nowhere. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about fate or something like that. Being a theatre major makes me understand that it's a pretty common thing among stories to have fate or otherworldy powers bring people together, control events, etc. etc. I'm just talking about a romance that seems to be wedged in the story unwanted and unneeded so it's choppy, it's unrealistic, and it's just... really spontaneous with no chemistry to back it up.

Again, I really like romances, but I really dislike how it's become like a necessary part of every YA novel out there. Next week I'll talk about YA and kind of the community that is around it. Granted, this will be more of an....ignorant, for the lack of a better word, post because I haven't really been inside the community. I've kind of been on my own.

What do you think about romance in YA? Love it or hate it? I'd love to know!