OPWA: Episode Nineteen

Overpriced Writing Advice
Where you can learn the stuff I paid thousands of dollars to have taught to me, for free.

...Or In This Case, I Share The Free Stuff I Find - Pt. 7
(AKA "Blog share: What Romance Isn't")

Hello everyone! Today we're doing a blog share on a topic that I'm sure will ruffle some feathers. The following three videos cover the topic of Romance... but they talk quite a bit about what isn't romance, and what to avoid.

I'd been wanting to do a post about writing romance ever since a popular Sunset/Fluttershy fic had me tearing out my hair in utter frustration over how unromantic it was. It wasn't going to be a hit piece, I swear! But I sort of realized that if the most popular genre on this website is romance, then gee... maybe I should talk about it? Because wow! A lot of people have no idea what they're doing. Consider this post a lazy raincheck on a very daunting project I hope to accomplish someday.

Anyways...

I find today's videos particularly interesting because they get into the nitty-gritty of the romance genre, but more importantly, the things people keep freaking mistaking as belonging to it.

Top 10 Tips For Writing Romance
From Jenna Moreci’s YouTube Channel

Jenna Moreci is a recent discovery for me. She's a best-selling author and popular YouTuber who has been posting writing videos for the last six years. I've watched only a few videos from her related to today's topic, but she's covered quite a bit of ground in terms of writing tips. She seems knowledgeable, she's got a great sense of humor, and her videos tend to be succinct. I think she's worth looking into!

Anyway, in this video she runs down some basic tips related to Romance-- though partway through she starts to focus more on defining romance as a genre rather than how to write it. I really thought this was interesting because you'd think everyone just implicitly understands what a romance is supposed to entail, but I think she does a great job outlining the reasons why (especially for marketing/promotion purposes) some things just don't make the cut.

10 WORST TIPS FOR WRITING ROMANCE

From Jenna Moreci’s YouTube Channel

This was a fun one. It's a sarcastic list of some of the awful things one encounters in romance (and apparently some people actually advise doing these things?!)

Killing Stalking and the Romancing of Abuse

From James Somerton’s YouTube Channel

And now for a longer, more serious look at what isn't romance.

James Somerton is another new find, and while his YouTube channel isn't very populated, he has quite a few views on his various videos regarding queer representation in media. I find he's pretty well-spoken and he's clearly very knowledgeable about media and storytelling.

In the video above, James discusses the popular Korean comic series, Killing Stalking, and its rabid base of fans who all seem to believe it's a romance.

Now, I've read some of Killing Stalking. Yikes! It's not at all a romance. It's a thriller, and there's a good argument that it's even a horror story. It begins with a lonely young man who "falls in love" with another young man. This isn't a healthy love, though. The protagonist stalks the other man, breaking into his house at one point... only to discover that the one whom he's become so fixated on is actually a depraved psychopath and murderer.

James spends an hour dissecting the story and all the various reasons why it shouldn't be seen as a romance. In this time he also covers the differences of the genre and other genres and speculates a little as to why so many young girls seem to ship the main characters as if they were a desirable couple.

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That's all I've got! As I've mentioned, I'd like to do a deeper dive into romance eventually, but in the meantime, I hope these videos were helpful to you!

If you liked this post and would like to see more writing tips, then click here!