A lot of people assume that I write romance novels. Or, they are shocked when I tell them that, so far, my stories do not contain any romance at all.
I have been asking myself if I am one of the few female novellists out there that prefers to write about adventures rather than love stories. I have nothing against a romance plot (So long as it is not the main focus of the book), but I find it disconcerting that so many books seem to portray that finding the right mate is the most important thing in life, especially to the under 18 crowd.
Shouldn’t more young adult novels focus on the character’s personal development or some cool journey that they must face? Sure, if they meet someone along the way, I suppose that is okay… but why must so many people always make it the main goal of the protagonist?
I want to to give teens, especially girls, something to read that doesn’t focus on all of that mushy stuff. I think with all of these romance books and movies, young girls can feel pressured to find that perfect guy, or that they are missing out on something because they don’t have a boyfriend. The opposite is true. I think what they need to see more of are books that contain strong, ambitious female characters that do not always fall in love by the end of the book, where she might even choose to NOT chase romance for a little while in order to get to know herself, see the world, go on an adventure or two.
I mean, let’s face it. Bella (Twilight series) clearly would have been better off doing her own thing.
Again, I am not dissing romance as a concept. Just saying.
On rare occasions my books will hint at chemistry developing between two characters, but so far I am not willing to give in and make it more than a backstory.
I would rather write:
Musings Of A Wildflower 
Ditto. The last three seem far more exciting. Also a little hint of romance can be the most appealing.
So true! And that is what I loved about your book. The romance in each life, if there was any, was always hinted without it being the main focus. It was the perfect balance! 🙂
Oh, thank you so much for that. That means so much to me since I find that it is so hard to write romance. So many things seem cliche. I love a slow, romantic undertone. It’s what made Jane Austin so great. Well, one the things. She was so gifted. I really can’t wait to read your book!
oops! That’s Jane Austen. Jane Austin might be great too..haha
My book is planned to be launching in early March. 🙂
I agree with you about Jane Austen’s greatness (I wonder if there is a Jane Austin out there who writes). They say that she was the one that founded modern prose. Pretty awesome!
Sara
That’s a great post and I look forward to seeing more work along the lines you posted about. I’m pretty far from a fan of the romance slanted supernatural YA out there (just as an example) but have been looking at some from indie authors I’ve networked with and now that my 12 yr old girl is getting into e-reading she’s always asking me what to download.
I honestly swear on my life that I DO NOT think I can read another blurb that goes:
Paige must solve the mystery of her hidden past while learning how to use her supernatural abilities before the (fill in the blank with evil creature) sworn to destroy her special kind find her.
But FIRST she must WIN Drake’s true love! Only together can they survive!
Just at a glance (with no statistical analysis of any kind being done) it seems that about 90% of the indie female writers out there are doing this stuff. write what you like…write what sells…fine, cool, no stone throwing. My blurbs probably look just as contrived to others.
That said I think it’s great to see someone writing against the popular conventions. Best of luck
Dave
Thanks Dave! I share your sentiments on those much too common blurbs.
I hope to read some of your writings one day as well.
Hi Sara, I completely agree with Dave. And with you. Same old same old gets tiring.
Glad to hear it. 🙂
I’m very glad to read this. I agree completely on the whole romance/erotica not being the foundation of a story. This is why I’ve struggled so much with some of my writing. The dragon stories started as a rewrite of a previously completed book but I had several readers ask me to put more romance in my writing. So I did and none of the people that convinced me to do this for them ever came back to read the story or they will drop in and out. That leaves me second guessing why I did that in the first place. Balance is key and I think you have the right approach. This has helped me convince myself to get back to my core beliefs about what my story should be about and focus less on the physicality and more on the spiritual connection the characters have with each other. I’m at the perfect point to make that transition now. I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted to proceed until now. What a help this has been. 🙂
Aha! I found your missing comment at last. I thought that there was another one I had missed replying to! 🙂 I am sorry for my delayed reply!
I liked reading your Return of Dragons stories a lot! I am intrigued that they were a rewrite of a past book you had completed & then you ended up evolving it based on some of your reader’s suggestions. I honestly found Return of Dragons refreshing, because while the focus was on romance, there was also a lot of dark undertones and the female characters were intelligent warriors. My mom bought me a lot of romance books growing up and that’s where a lot of my distaste for the genre came from LOL!!
But I have to say that your writing style in Return of Dragons had a lot of depth and I enjoyed the storyline regardless of it being focused on romance. You just have a way with describing the way your characters are sensing things that draws me in.
That is a shame that many of your readers ended up not returning to read the story after you added more romance at their request. I lost a good number of followers about 1.5 years ago due in part to me posting some human rights posts unrelated to writing, but that makes more sense to me than people not following along with your story after they asked you to add more romance. But finding your voice in your writing does take a lot of experimentation. And Return of Dragons was well written if you ask me.
I’m honoured that you found my post about non-romance genres to be helpful in discovering the approach that you want to take with your writing. Our writing styles can always evolve and change as we write more and more!
Thank you, Sara! I was a little disappointed but in the end I tell myself I’m writing for me and there were people who did like the Dragons and always came back to read it. I decided to give it a break because work leaves me very little time for writing. The shorter pieces force me to focus on the fine details of the sentences to tell the story better and more efficiently. And, It works within the limited time I have for writing.
Your post helped me focus on how I would like to approach my writing. Evolving and broadening our ability to address a wide variety of subjects helps keep our writing and mind flexible even if we chose a specific genre to stick to.
Mhm that’s true about shorter pieces allowing you to focus more on finer details in your writing. I love doing flash fiction as an exercise! 🙂 I hope that in the near future, you will have some more time to write. And I agree with your outlook on constantly evolving writing to address different subjects.
At the moment, I find myself obsessed with otters 🙂
It’s funny, because the two things I’ve often looked at when I need a laugh are ferrets and otters. Needless to say, all of your otter stories make me feel giddy and warm on the inside, and your writing is very descriptive and often witty with these ones. 🙂 Perfect combo! Cute otters and good writing!
Ha ha ha! Those otters are writing their own story. I see those pictures and the words come to me. They are so expressive. 🙂
They really are expressive little characters. 🙂