Folks, to be clear, I have no bias against, or complaint about, romantasy in any way, shape or form. I'm happy readers who want it have it, I'm glad its writers are seeing their books sell, and I'm happy bookstores have titles that bring folks into stores. I think it's great.
Comments
pant, pant..
(I say, as someone who wrote a fantasy-romance which has sex scenes. But, y'know, I did that deliberately and it doesn't bug me.)
Also, I may have spent several minutes trying to figure out what the tater tots vs the cream of mushroom soup would be.
If you aren’t a big name author, you might have to agree to add a sex scene to your book or the book won’t be published.
If I'm reading your book, it's because I want to hear what *you* have to say. It's self-defeating to try and puppet you while I do it!
As always it's not just one taste fits all, and I'm happy to have non spicy authors 😉
Btw. Love your books. K, thanks bye!
(I don’t mind the occasional spice, used sparingly, but not if it’s just tacked on for titillation and nothing else. Those books are not for me.)
Down the rabbit hole I go!
Cooking side note: For chicken casserole, Campbells makes a “cream of mushroom with roasted garlic” soup base, and it adds a fun twist to it!
…that’s an actual cooking tip by the way, not a weird euphemism.
She is a very prolific author! Don't let that scare you
Why on earth would someone DEMAND from an author things? People are quite OBSESSED with sex, why should it be EVERYWHERE?? Romantasy is everywhere, there are A LOT of romantasy series, don't they have enough? What can't we have some variety? Not everyone wants to read and/or write sex in books!
It is so rare to have books where a) queer people exist without it being their entire personality, and b) I get to be aware that they have sex without having to read descriptions of it. Fade to black is my preference, and that's valid.
Those characters annoy me. Seanan does not write such characters.
My spouse is a major @brandonsanderson.com fan, and he doesn't write romantasy scenes at all.
If you want romantasy, or more like sexmantasy, go sus out Laurell K Hamilton.
It felt manipulative. So I quit.
The Meredith series was sex from the start
Demands are for hostage situations and for wearing masks for COVID, and you're only the "good person" if you're demanding masks.
Steven Brust?
Or any books by women because we're obsessed apparently. Just a handy excuse for some to refuse to read women authors generally.
Which annoys me
No autocorrect I did not mean poem. I said what I said.
When I die that's how I want to go: "forgot food&water while reading"
I hate musicals
Let writers write sex! Let writers NOT write sex! Let writers write about their own demographic(s)! Let writers NOT write about their own demographic(s)! Let writers write…
Sure, I can wish for more stories about certain characters, but *demand* a scene?
Yikes.
not every story needs a blow-by-blow recounting and there's a good amount of magic in what you don't explicitly see
I have the smut in the text, and write the big story as the main focus, with little dirty bits hidden inbetween.
(It wasn't bad, just way out of tone. As in, "that one weird scene" in a series of 18 books & many short stories.)
I thought "oh, is this the direction things are going to go in?" and was pleased it was not.
See, that’s what I mean by “sex that isn’t doing anything”. It’s not terrible, just…superfluous.
But also i would understand if you used it to write a formulaic sex scene. Because that shit is funny. (Just label it: my publisher made me add this.)
It's not just about whether you *could* do it, but also whether you should.
You write so much, it's not like you're an unknown writer. Why ask you of all people to write something that's far out of your wheelhouse (and comfort zone)?!
I write at spice level 2 (using the https://romance.io chart) and I would be fantasy-with-heavy-romance. 🧵-->
Guess this one goes on the backlog.
Thank you for sticking to your guns. =)
This makes me much more excited.
Casserole is already unsexy-but-comforting. Adding cream of mushroom to the mix means you *will* unbutton your pants and pass out on the couch for an hour with the TBI kind of football on TV.
I've seen the packets of soup in Aldi but never considered using the powdered soups as an ingredient. I guess it would add umami. Casserole & rugby? Odd. I would not usually connect those two things. Thankyou for explaining!
Cream of X + protein source + starch/complex carb = dinner
(That green bean casserole every Thanksgiving…)
No, here they tend to be a (not very amazing) powdered soup, next to the (also dry) laksa & chicken noodle soups, etc. I had never considered using them as an ingredient, but I guess they are pretty much stock & noodles, or whatever.
Divided by a common language is definitely part of it.
Kidding. Mostly.
I don't need to read it or personally love it to buy it for folks. I hope they all dig it as much as I dig SF or Fantasy.
Reality:” this book is about a magical interspecies queer polycule orgy”
Which is fine, but I thought it was about werewolves and shit
Also: Seabiscuit, LOL. 🏇
My local B&N is down to two shelves, and half of that second shelf is pop culture tie-ins (Warhammer, Star Wars, Doctor Who, etc.).
The MilSF is mostly gone but so is a ton of other stuff.
Still a largish 'Supernatural Romance' section, too.
Same with, oh.. snark warnings, maybe.
I’ve got a fine imagination.
1 🌶 spice is innocent (glimpses and kisses), 2 🌶 is closed door, 🌶🌶🌶 is explicit, above that is more frequent.
I personally write at 🌶🌶, and usual prefer to read at that level too.
Yes
Am I glad women are getting more representation and support from literary efforts?
Yes
Do I wish the basis for that success was not largely pornographic and objectifying?
Yes
Do I care enough about what adults do with their spare time to lecture?
No
I write love poems. LOL. And I love in the real world, but...anyway, people enjoy different things.
Romance takes an actual affinity & dedication to make it work.
An actual section I saw in a Barnes & Noble once…
My wife is a school librarian (was, she just retired), and she feels the same way about Captain Underpants and and all sorts of other children’s literature. As long as it gets kids interested in reading, she’s all for it.
I recently started an excellent fantasy novel, excited because it was a trilogy, then BAM!!!
I don't read fantasy novels for sex scenes like that.
That's what penthouse letters are for
(Which to be clear I absolutely adore smut, but if it’s not what I’m looking for in the moment, it’s not what I’m looking for)
I've also read a few books because the warnings sounded interesting, so... Win\win?
That is the one that caught me. I had no idea what I was getting into. All of sudden it was WAY outside my comfort zone.
I finished all three books in record time though. ☺️
Like I have said, I loved the story and world building.
I guess I am getting prude in my old age
Excellent novel.
I just did not enjoy the sexy bits.
And I am a card carrying perv
Still, I got about ten more pages in than I did with the first book of the Wheel of Time, so I think I gave it a chance.
Feels like you have more to say. 🤷🏻
Have you read any of Kingfisher's Temple of the White Rat world?
I don't worry about that, it's all about the execution.
Serials on sites like Royal Road are the current spaces for such.
It just takes more work to sift through it.
Maybe i want "spicy" romance with "light" SFF elements. Maybe i want "deep" SFF with "mild" romance.
But definitely few and far between!
https://www.romance.io/books/5456667187eac33e571077b1/good-intentions-elliott-kay
Maybe i'd like both those books! Maybe neither! But there's so many coming out now it's impossible to do in-depth research on every single title.
https://www.romance.io/books/545548108c7d2382c5297a10/troubled-waters-sharon-shinn
If i could easily find more stuff like that i'd be gobbling it up!
If you like (much) spicer stuff, i mentioned Elliott Kay elsewhere in this thread.
But yes... forever forward and onward... there by the grace of God does John go. 😉
John continues... my story is done, but John's story is a work in progress.
John... you've unwittingly empowered me. Perhaps my story is not yet over.
Because it didn’t fit.
I mean. It’s a vampire book and people assume that means it’s super spicy but it’s actually a meditation on mortality. It has a surprisingly high body count…
Yeah, tonally it didn’t fit.
(And yeah, they’re immortal, so everyone else dies. Parents, siblings, mortal children, pets, anyone with a lifespan shorter than a vampire. 💀)
(And I do love my newsletter extras!)
Sometimes you want FTBO. Sometimes light flirting is all you want because defeating the alien overlords and kicking their fascist asses out of our galaxy is what you need.
IOW, … YMMV.
This is in contrast to Epic or Heroic fantasy. "Romantic Fantasy" suggests an old school chivalry and knights fantasy story.
Ugh.
Where's my alpha woman romance stories?
Has some VERY detailed sex scenes - but I was so invested in the characters and relationships that I didn't hate those scenes. (I am not personally a fan of sex scenes)
Each book is a different couple, but part of a larger story.
Some she pursues him and some where he pursues her. Usually her family, friends and society are the obstacles.
Romance is a big part of their work, but only one thread in the story. The woman are as skilled and strong as the men. Sometimes they're in a new place and need help. Sometimes they help the men.
Preferably all in the first sentence.
Any good editor will take one look at it and say, "Please never do this again."
Problem solved.
But yes, read what you like, but read!
I appreciate the sentiment, though. ❤️ Diversity, inclusion, and respect are important in the world of books too. 🥰
https://youtube.com/shorts/93v8MNez8R4?si=7YvWIZRfqRtJTQgT
Romance covers a broad spread, as does romantasy. There's also nothing wrong with porn, though that's not what most of these novels are. It may not be for you, but that's no reason to be rude about it.
This is part of why i like to promote https://romance.io; a 🌶 or 🌶🌶 story is not explicit, 🌶🌶🌶 or up has explicit scenes. They are all romance.
"Same", not sane. I hate auto wrong.
Right now it's expanding from mostly vampires & werewolves to epic fantasy, but it's always been outperforming many others.
Even non-fantasy romantic fiction like Brynn Weaver has a high demand. Cool to see!
I love the "young person goes to Dragon Academy*," books. And I have to stop on most series at about half away through the second book when they young people catch the "feels," for each other. Just gets weird. 😂
Reading is fundamental.
If your in opposition to something, dont read it, just dont tell me what I can or can not read. The first thing fascists do, is get rid of all the intellectuals, ban & destroy books!