Romance: The Bleeped Upon Genre No One Respects

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arm.</p><p id="25a0">I remember when Twilight first came out. Actually, before it was released I went to an author talkback session with Stephanie Meyer at Changing Hands, knowing nothing of her series, just knowing that she was a youth writer who was poised to take the world by storm.</p><p id="b4a1">At the time, I was also writing for youth, transitioning from non-writing. I found so much to admire about this author: the story of how she wrote the whole saga with a baby on her knee; her ninja-like marketing team, who packaged her story in a way that it would succeed with adults as well as teens; and her clarity of vision all impressed me greatly.</p><p id="946b">When Eclipse came out, I remember seeing people reading the book at a Denny’s, waiting for the bus, and at the MVD. I was floored that she had cracked the code.</p><p id="c9fc">Then, when the backlash hit, primarily from the other fandoms, it was all in the form of “take down the love story” and “love stories are evil.” There was a meme that went around showing ghastly occurrences, with the label “Still a better love story than Twilight.”</p><p id="2617">Meyer was crucified by the other fandoms because she represented a dominantly female-driven art form, which has historically not been taken seriously. And yet, Jane Austin comes from this tradition, so it is not inherently non-li

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terary or poorly written.</p><p id="88c3">Twilight has gotten a bad rap. It got too big, too powerful, too popular to stay contained by the romance genre. How DARE that series make as much money as it did? The intolerance is palpable.</p><p id="813d">We must support each other’s work as authors. Even works that aren’t what we would choose to read. The act of reading for pleasure is becoming less dominant. We must all protect and promote one another.</p><p id="2318">Thank you for reading.</p><p id="d27a">If you’d like to see more of my work, please visit:</p><div id="90fa" class="link-block"> <a href="https://ilanalydia11.medium.com/my-work-on-medium-organized-by-subject-matter-17fb37f0d6f3"> <div> <div> <h2>My Work on Medium, Organized by Subject Matter</h2> <div><h3>Here’s where to find more of the stuff you like</h3></div> <div><p>ilanalydia11.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*r_ou3GokGDCsHati)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><figure id="9acb"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*fUuVmxamN4jEifoJguOxHQ.png"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></article></body>

Or, in defence of Twilight

I consider myself a sci-fi girl, with some experimentation in fantasy and horror. Despite that, I do not trounce upon romance as a genre. Why? Because I think it gets the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

We are a hardened society. The feminine is not valued as much as the masculine, nor feel-good stories as much as rational ones.

Okay, fair: romance doesn’t do itself any favors by choosing bodice-ripper covers. As one librarian quipped about the romance section, it could also be called the sea of “Dude, where’s my shirt?”

And it has become unpopular to tell stories of true love. For good or ill, this generation is over that, and many consider the concept to be flawed, if not straight-out deceitful.

And still, despite all this, I would argue romance should not be burned to the ground, and it does more good than harm.

I remember when Twilight first came out. Actually, before it was released I went to an author talkback session with Stephanie Meyer at Changing Hands, knowing nothing of her series, just knowing that she was a youth writer who was poised to take the world by storm.

At the time, I was also writing for youth, transitioning from non-writing. I found so much to admire about this author: the story of how she wrote the whole saga with a baby on her knee; her ninja-like marketing team, who packaged her story in a way that it would succeed with adults as well as teens; and her clarity of vision all impressed me greatly.

When Eclipse came out, I remember seeing people reading the book at a Denny’s, waiting for the bus, and at the MVD. I was floored that she had cracked the code.

Then, when the backlash hit, primarily from the other fandoms, it was all in the form of “take down the love story” and “love stories are evil.” There was a meme that went around showing ghastly occurrences, with the label “Still a better love story than Twilight.”

Meyer was crucified by the other fandoms because she represented a dominantly female-driven art form, which has historically not been taken seriously. And yet, Jane Austin comes from this tradition, so it is not inherently non-literary or poorly written.

Twilight has gotten a bad rap. It got too big, too powerful, too popular to stay contained by the romance genre. How DARE that series make as much money as it did? The intolerance is palpable.

We must support each other’s work as authors. Even works that aren’t what we would choose to read. The act of reading for pleasure is becoming less dominant. We must all protect and promote one another.

Thank you for reading.

If you’d like to see more of my work, please visit: