As Someone Who Works In A Bookstore I Will Say The HEA Rule For Romance Will Probably Always Apply But

As someone who works in a bookstore I will say the HEA rule for romance will probably always apply but I think the monster lovers are coming out of the closet(or maybe cave). More people are admitting to reading it, so more readers are talking about it and recommending it.

🌼?

🌼 -- least favorite genre to write

SO I'm actually gonna say Romance and Erotica, which is a shame because I actually enjoy writing romance and sex, but I find the expectations readers have for those genres to be so strict that I don't think I'd enjoy writing a ROMANCE novel if you get me

like I see romancelandia refusing to accept or read books with characters that don't look a certain way -- last I saw people were outright saying they just recast every man as Henry Cavill if he doesn't have That Look or refusing to read it if he doesnt and I dislike that a lot? Like obvi I get people will see characters as they do but to get a character description that like, you don't like and just deciding oh he's Henry Cavill now, idk man

I also really dislike the requirement for every book to have a happily ever after or a happy for now to be Hella stifling because it limits what KINDS of romance I can write, maybe I wanna write something more tragic idk

the rigid and strict expectations and refusal to accept deviations in the genre make writing for it feel really stifling and unsatisfying, but that's just me -- I know a lot of folks love writing it snd hey that's great, I just don't don't enjoy it personally