Lose the Love

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash and edited by me

Currently reading: We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

I am not heterosexual. 

Now that I’ve chased away a good amount of the population, hear me out: I’m done reading forced straight romance. Especially in fantasy, especially when the stakes are super high. 

If I wanted to read a romance, I would read a romance. Stop offering me a fantasy novel and giving me romance with a prettier cover and reskinned elves. \

I don’t mind when a fantasy book—this applies to anything, but especially speculative fiction, meaning fantasy and sci-fi—contains romance. It’s expected. I often include romantic relationships in my stories, though I usually have them established beforehand so I don’t have to navigate the talking stage. 

My issue is when a story takes place in the middle of a war, lives are being lost, or the magic is fascinating, or the world is so fresh and new, and the author chooses to focus on two pretty teenagers falling in love. 

Boring!

I don’t mind love. Romance can be done right in so many ways. Romantic relationships can add tension, create pining, provide growth. But they can also draw away from what the story should actually be about. 

Try focusing on the world or the characters instead of the relationships between two of them. Especially if the characters are straight—not every story needs a boy and a girl kissing! 

I’m not saying that romance can’t exist in speculative fiction. It totally can. A romantic subplot is not a drawback, as far as I’m concerned. 

But if you bring me in with a hook of raw, real hardship, like war or power struggles, or with the exploration of an incredible new world, only to lead me to another dark-haired boy with abs and a tragic backstory who now is the MC’s main priority, I will be massively disappointed. 

Overdone! 

Romance can be the main focal point, but make that clear at the start. I might not read it then, but at least I’m not being tricked. It’s just kinder to your reader to be true to the genre in which you choose. 

This is a short one because it has an easy solution: make romance part of the story, not the whole story. Let the characters lead the romance, not the other way around. 

And please don’t make me read them kissing every other page. 

Thanks. 

-Rachel, a gay