Introduction
I found a great blog the other day. As I was reading through some of the posts, this one caught my eye (kudos to Twi for writing it): Clean Romance Rant. After I finished reading it, I thought to myself, “Hey, I should write a post about this on my blog! It’d be pretty easy to write, since I am so passionate about it.” Thus, this post is born.
All that to say: the inspiration came from Twi at Bookish Productions! So credit given there. 😉
The Problem
I’m just going to say right now that I’m not a romance reader. Occasionally there’s a good romance subplot in another book that keeps me hooked, but for the most part, I tend to get bored with romances. I know in the end the guy and the girl are going to get together and be all happy. I do sometimes like love triangles, if they’re done well, but if they aren’t, then I cringe. I wince with the sappy speeches and skip the parts where I feel like I’m intruding on something private. When that proposal finally comes, I tend to either roll my eyes or just skim it.
That said, I haven’t read much in the romance genre. But I have read stuff in the non-romance genre that had romance in it.
I was not pleased.
Do me a favor: the next time you’re at your local library, go to the teen section and pick a book at random. Skim through it a bit, and I’ll wager you’ll find at least one of three things.
Cussing
Witchcraft or extreme goriness
Kissing/sex scenes
When I find any of those, I put the book back on the shelf. Which is why I’ve gone through the entire teen section in my local library so fast.
Junk. Why is there so much junk in the world?
Ok, I’m getting a little off-topic here. *reminds self I’m talking about specifically romance, not all of the other nastiness out there*
Out of all of those three things up there, #3 is the worst for me (aside from witchcraft). I’m very passionate about purity – keeping oneself pure until marriage. No kissing, no touching, nothing beyond a hug. And, unfortunately, those things are appealing to the secular world these days. So they’re written about by authors who think that’s what teens need to read about.
They’re wrong.
See, the thing is is that what teens need to read about and what teens want to read about is very different – trust me, I know. I’m a teen, and what I want to do/hear/read/watch is very different from what I need to do/hear/you-get-the-point.
Basically, if you want to get the sales in, write a book full of junk. If you want to change just one kid’s life, write a good book.
Which brings us to our solution!
The Solution
Write.
You. Whether or not you write romance specifically, whether or not you think you can, whether or not you’ve dated, write. Write about a heroine who longs for love but decides to wait for it instead of following her heart into disaster. Or, write about one who ends up following her heart, then show the consequences. Write a story about purity.
Write a clean romance. (And, if you do, I’ll read it!)
The Sad Truth
There’s a lot of dirty romance out there. Romance where the main characters kiss when they’re only fourteen, where the heroine gets pregnant and decides to abort, where the entire internal monologue is made up of thoughts about this guy or that girl, where the plot is about one girl getting the guy of her dreams, finding out he’s a jerk, then ditching him and falling into another guy’s arms three hours later.
Yuck.
I tend to be the type of person who prefers to fight the darkness not by destroying it, but by drowning its voice out with a flood of light. I’m probably not going to write a romance any time in the near future, but I know there’s plenty of you romance authors out there, and I have a feeling y’all are as passionate about clean romance as I am (though maybe not as extreme XD).
So write. Drown out that dirty romance. Scrub the romance genre clean.
Thank you.
Wrap Up
These are all my opinions, so feel free to argue about it in the comments! I know I’m a lot more stingy about this subject than a lot of people out there, so I won’t be offended. (Also, go check out Bookish Productions!)
So there you have it: my rant about romance. Hope it made you think!
Take courage, pursue God, and smile while you still have teeth!
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