#kingmaric

51. If you had to be named after a city, state, or country (etc), which would you want it to be?

Maybe Sydney. It sounds cool.

81. Do you believe honesty is the best policy?

Yes. Lying about big things gets you nowhere, and I usually feel really bad afterwards.

Thank you! ^^

never played | want to play | terrible | boring | okay | good | great | a favorite

exactly. it’s true that romance isn’t always needed but when it IS present in a book that doesn’t mean it’s automatically horrible. i think many people today associate romance novels with badly written YA fiction and fail to realize that there are some geuninely good romance stories out there.

I’ve made several posts on the subject of me learning to openly appreciate romance as a genre, and the extension of that feeling has had the effect of making me more open to romances as subplots or subtle flavorings to a story. So that’s where I’m coming from with that particular post, but you bring up a really good point: people associate romance novels with the wrong thing. Romance novels have existed long before romance as a genre was a technical thing--Jane Austen wrote satires and romances, the Brontes wrote their own mix of the genre; Edgar Allan Poe was haunted by his lost love so intensely that half of his writing is about lovelorn grief; Shakespeare is known for his comedies (which always ended in weddings) and his tragedies (which ended differently). Lady Murasaki Shikibu in medieval Japan wrote Genji Monogatari, which is an epic story about--surprise surprise!--a handsome man and all the troubles he gets into with his lovers, because fate isn’t always kind to brilliant people.

Fast forward to today, with The Shape of Water, which is del Toro’s blatant romantic fairytale, and some of Tumblr’s reaction to it. It’s out and out, slightly tongue in cheek acceptance and celebration. And that’s a fucking love story! Joke about fish fucking all you want, y’all, you’re all hyped for a damn love story. And however much I thought Crimson Peak was flawed (and that, too, has that damnable love triangle), that was also a romance.

But I digress. To your point: YA with frustrating ‘love triangle’ gimmicks seemed to have been in vogue some years ago, and I’d like to think the popular thing in YA has moved on since then (I don’t even know what the ‘new thing’ in YA is now. Have we finally swung towards the dark and magical [SIX OF CROWS and THE RAVEN BOYS, etc.?]). Luckily the YA genre is so big that people can find books that don’t really have that triangle stuff in it--or, in the case of ASH by Malinda Lo, it’s done in a surprisingly satisfying way.

But I wonder how much of this “no romance!!” backlash is a mixture of undue dislike for romance as a genre (since it’s typically female-coded, with stories mainly written for women, about women, featuring women, with little deviations from that [but they exist!]), and people who are aro/ace genuinely wanting strong platonic love stories? I’m not saying the latter doesn’t exist, and I think a story featuring those things would be absolutely beautiful (Whouffaldi, one of the ships I’m ride or die for, was basically the most romantic thing I’ve seen on TV in years but didn’t have a single love confession or a [proper] kiss). I’ve even made a post on this very blog years ago, saying how I’d like to write something like that. I’m just saying I don’t think enough people are separating unfair, undeserved hatred for the romance genre from that other demand, and that’s not right. It’s especially ridiculous considering a large part of Tumblr’s fandom userbase is all about Bioware’s dating sims, IMO.

ship: ew / nonono / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / MY HEART your blog: ew / nonono / cute / great / flawless / OH EM GEE— me, on my death bed: the lesbians i deservedhonestly though we were so robbed and i’m forever bitter but hi anna, i love you lots and you’re a gem

5. Which fandoms have your written fanfiction for?the first fic i ever wrote was for twilight lmao... then there was tvd, supernatural, american horror story, very briefly reign, and now the raven cycle. also this christmas i wrote fics for my sister for the witcher, mck, and dishonored, but these were never posted anywhere

13. Any NoTPs?a few... the biggest ones are sarchengsey, delena, ted/robin, kösem/kemankes, and olicity

27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?huh, i don’t really hate either. writing summaries is usually easy for me so definitely not that and while coming up with titles can be time consuming sometimes, i often enjoy it 

PRAISE! the real stannis would never burn his daughter. the real stannis would die to get shireen on the throne.

The knight hesitated. "Your Grace, if you are dead — "

" — you will avenge my death, and seat my daughter on the Iron Throne. Or die in the attempt." -- Theon I, The Winds of Winter