Young Writers Society

Every book I read seems to be the same thing. Girl meets boy and falls into a forbidden love. Somewhere in these books there seems to always be a vampire, ghost, or werewolf. Does anybody else get what I'm saying?

I know what you're saying, definitely. The market for those types of stories is huge right now, so for worse or better (I'd go with the first), there's a lot of them being published right now. You can thank the success of Twilight and other franchises like that for that.

However, try looking at different genres -- there are a lot of books that don't fit what you're saying as well. If you're looking for some books to read that aren't like that, feel free to PM me and I can offer some suggestions.

If in the YA section, avoid any book that mentions a special person in the blurb (with the sole exception of certain authors who do a brilliant job of deconstructing romance tropes— ie John Green)

Unfortunately this removes most books in the section. But it's a start when it comes to breaking formula.

Even as a big lover of the vampire genre...I do know what you mean. BUT I do have some suggestions for something different for you;

Patrick Ness (pretty much anything he's ever written)
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Anything written by Garth Nix. Especially the Abhorsen series!

Another tip is pick something you would never normally go near! I've found some of my all time favourite books that way.

Olive<3

Do you ever get that queezy feeling when you go looking for a new book, but you just skim the blurb and then decide you might not like it, so you put it back down and after half an hour you find yourself standing in front of the same familiar old stories?

I do that, especially with comic books and movies. I'm worried I'll spend ages reading it and then not like it, to the point where I'll read the same book again.

Quite often when breaking into a new genre, style or author, I have to make a conscious decision that I'll pick up three books I normally wouldn't read, choose one and then spend [x] amount of hours reading it before I put it down.

A new house never really feels like a home until you settle in and familiarise yourself with its whispers and creaks, right?

no, i don't get what you're saying because i don't read romance novels. you know there's other genres, right? like, lots n lots of other genres.

try not reading a romance novel. it's easy:

step 1. identify genre of book you're looking at.
step 2. if romance, put back down.

it's that easy.

@horrendous, you are aware that romantic subplots are the single most common subplots in existence, especially if the story has a female protagonist, therefore that plotline is by no means exclusive to any sort of romance story?

People use romance as a cheap thing to hook readers and sell books. It's annoying, and it spreads across all genres. While supernatural romance is one of the more popular genres in existence, the whole "boy meets girl" thing comes up in a ton of novels across all genres.

The Hunger Games, for example, is not a romance novel. It is a post apocalyptic dystopian. Would most people believe this? Probably not, considering the whole idea about Gale and Peeta took over the public consciousness, and was a big part of how people interpreted the novel before reading it.

I recently got a novel about an assassin trying to find a great evil within the castle. Not a boy in sight for the first book. Second book sticks in a romantic subplot. The first book did mention boys, but only in the two line hook. Not within the summary itself. The second book did mention boys. I'm sighing, because this means romantic subplot that could be very heavy and I didn't sign up for that. I signed up for a political action/adventure story.

So, no, you cannot avoid romance if you simply avoid romance novels. You have to deal with romantic subplots, and those are fairly common, especially in young adult lit. (There is also adult lit with women throwing themselves at men because the man is Such a Hero but that's a whole other kettle of fish)

Rosey Unicorn (@ don't work cause of the space in your name i think) i'm going to admit that almost exclusively read Stephen King, an author who doesn't deal with romance plots or subplots too often (exceptions of course: Wizard and Glass was a book entirely based on a romance plot).

so i'm no expert on the subject, but the OP also mentioned werewolves and vampires, a hook that *can* be very easily avoided.

%20 instead of a space for my name.

Even then, my dad once read a steampunk/gaslamp fantasy (Victorian era with magic, and I forget the name) that was an epic clash of worlds involving vampires and werewolves, and yes it did include some romance. So even avoiding supernatural romance isn't a guarantee.

Start browsing bookstores and libraries. Read summaries. Start counting how many mention a special person, and what gender the protagonist is. Chances are, a female protagonist in the novel will have a romantic subplot that takes uncomfortable precedence over the main plot.

It's sad, really.

I didn't enjoy the last two hunger games as much as the first because of how romance heavy it was.

If you're looking for something specific that completely ignores the romantic subplot or plot, might I suggest The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Dianna Wynne Jones? Granted, the books are aimed at people between 10 and 15, so you might not be interested.

So, I'm a little late to jump into this discussion, but I will anyway since I know exactly what you're talking about.

I used to be the girl that could easily spend hours in the YA department of the book store, trying (in vain) to find a book that was interesting and not romance-heavy. Here's the thing about romance, though—it's everywhere. As already said, romance sells, but also I think plenty of writers not only enjoy writing romantic subplots, but need them in order to fill a book. Think about it—how empty would YA novels be without those pesky romance subplots? And if they were taken out, what could they be replaced with?

My advice would be to forget YA and branch out a bit. That's what I did. Even though romance still plays a key role in books of all different genres and demos, I find that it's much, much easier to avoid when you expend your horizon into adult literature or, if you'd prefer, children's books (no shame in reading stuff meant for a slightly younger audience—I'm nearly fifteen and I do it all the time).

However, if you don't care for adult literature or children's book and only like YA (no shame in this, either), I'd recommend trying other genres or looking online for books that have no romantic subplot in them. A simple look on Amazon or Kirkus Reviews (right here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-revi ... ens-books/) should help a great deal with weeding out the romance or supernatural stories you dislike.

no, i don't get what you're saying because i don't read romance novels. you know there's other genres, right? like, lots n lots of other genres.

try not reading a romance novel. it's easy:

step 1. identify genre of book you're looking at.
step 2. if romance, put back down.

it's that easy.

As Rosey Unicorn said, it's definitely not that easy. If it was that easy, the world would be a much better place. (Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but you get what I mean.)

I know you said you read mostly Stephen King (love his writing so much), so I get why you wouldn't know this. But let me tell you, YA has become something of a wasteland for romance novels, or at the very least novels that heavily feature romance and/or supernatural elements (i.e., vampires, werewolves, ghosts and even zombies).

Hopefully, in a few years, we'll get to a place where this kind of discussion won't exist. Until then, I'm staying away from YA and focusing on adult literature.

Until then, I'm staying away from YA and focusing on adult literature.

This could actually make the problem worse.

Publishing is a business, therefore people publish what sells. If you move away from YA when you're tired of romance, you basically remove your dollar from the vote. More money, then, goes towards the romance, which means publishers look at what sells and see romance up, so more romance centric stories get bought, which means there's even less choice...

If at all possible, hunt for non-romance YA. Buy it. Get your dollar voting for diversity.

Rosey Unicorn wrote:If at all possible, hunt for non-romance YA. Buy it. Get your dollar voting for diversity.

Yes, of course, @Rosey%20Unicorn (had to see if I could successfully tag you lol). I still do browse the YA section and try to find books that aren't the teenage girl, romancy (totally a word) cliché, but it seems like those books are getting increasingly hard to come by. And quite honestly, I'm really bored with all YA books being basically the same thing.

Yeah, it is fairly unfortunate. That's why I put it as a general thing to buy— and write— non-romance stories. The only way things are ever going to change is if the population changes.

Sadly, with the general thought process that YA lit is for girls, and girls like to read romance, and that's all they care about, this perception would take a massive cultural shift.