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| Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
First things first. A disclaimer. I don't read of stories that just focus on romance and nothing else simply because I've never been a huge fan of them. The "he-said, she-said", *kissy, kissy*, "be still my heart" thing quickly gets stale for me when the story doesn't show anything else going on in the character's lives. That's not to say that I won't read them at all. It's just that I don't go out of my way to add the latest romance novel to my TBR list.
If and when I read a story that's mainly romance, I need for there to be a subplot or major theme going on to keep my interest. Like paranormal romance or urban fantasy for example. You have two (or multiple) love interests but then you also have major world building that needs to happen. And to make things more interesting, the world and its inhabitants have flaws that affect the main character(s).
And if it's not paranormal romance, perhaps it's a contemporary novel about spies, heists, secret societies, secret agents, etc. that just happens to have the romance thing thrown in there. Two characters are close to locking lips until something around them blows up, ruining the moment. Why did it blow up, who set it off and what's going to happen to them next.
On the other hand, the few romances that I've read (and the many that I've heard about) are mainly centered around white people. White man meets white woman and you know the rest of the story line. The same tropes are played out over and over again with many characters that can look similar over time. This is in YA, NA and Adult romance.
However...
YA is making major steps in bringing novels that center LGBT+ characters to light. Go to YouTube and search '2017 anticipated reads' and you'll see what I'm talking about. Also, check out Epic Reads too. More and more YA novels are including LGBT+ characters.
In adult, the romance books expand some. There's historical romances, paranormal, erotica, dark, contemporary and African-American. (To be honest, I really don't see why Af-Am romance has to sit separately from the rest of the romance novels but that's just me and we don't have to talk about that right now.)
So now we have all of these sub-genres, themes and subjects going on in romance novels. So what about two characters that are from two different cultures or whose skin colors just happen to be different? They have to be in there somewhere, right? Perhaps I'm not paying attention enough but I don't see a whole lot of mixed couples in mainstream romance books for YA, NA or adult. Especially showing black girls/women with a male love interest that isn't always black.
If I'm wrong and it turns out that there are plenty of interracial/intercultural romance books that are mainstream, please let me know what they are. I'd love to check them out.
"Why does it matter?"
Well, why does seeing more people of color and women in movies, tv and ads matter? Why does having a person of color or a female representative in politics matter?
Representation. I like to see people who sorta look like me getting the spotlight for a change and I'm guessing you do too. People aren't all one particular color, one particular gender, etc. When we hear a story, we want to be able to relate to the character on more than one level. We like to see little bits of our story being told to the world through a character that can identify with something with us besides a name or personality trait.
With all of that being said, there's one thing that I'd like to see become a norm across all genre of fiction and across multiple age groups: have more black girls and women becoming main characters.
Lose the stereotypical personality. Lose the stereotypical background/family life. Just like white people aren't all the same, people of color in any given race/culture aren't all the same either.
Now in YA and NA, I'd love to see more mixed couple romances... period. The issue of the book doesn't always have to be centered around racism. For example just making something up from the top of my head...
{YA action/adventure novel: girl gets an invitation to join a super secret government agency and is the first black girl to do so. She's tasked with trying to stop the potentially biggest heist in the country. But when she notices that the leader (who just happens to be an Asian-American guy) starts paying a little extra attention to her and her ideas, she begins to fall for him. Now she must learn to balance a potential relationship and doing well on her first assignment.}
Now doesn't that sound fun?
"So what needs to change?" First it starts with the reader. We need to voice our opinions. Write blog posts, start a forum discussion, post stuff to Twitter and Facebook then tag publishing companies in it. Make YouTube videos. Connect with the writers that are writing the kind of stories that we're interested in.
"Okay. And then?" Then comes the writer. Numerous authors have said in so many words to write the story that you want to read. Write that book and don't give up. (I know, I know. Easier said than done.)
"What next?" Then we need publishers that are willing to help get those books published and sold. We need representatives that are as diverse as the stories that we want to see and we need representatives that are willing to listen, learn and move forward. They're out there. I know it. On the other hand, maybe writing the actual book isn't your thing. Maybe it's in publishing.
"But what if the author I like is self-published?" Then support them. Follow their social media pages, buy their books and leave reviews on the appropriate sites. (I've heard from quite a few authors that just posting a review to Goodreads isn't sufficient enough.) If you love their book(s), submit a request to your local library to buy some copies.
Whew! This post quickly went from romance in books to representation. I guess in so many words, I'm saying that I'd love to be able to fangirl over mainstream books across ALL genres that feature black girls as the main character(s).
I've done enough talking. I want to hear from you all now. As a reader, what kind of untold or underrepresented stories do you want to see included in mainstream books?
If you're not a reader, (thank you for taking the time to read this long-behind post, by the way.) what stories would make you want to pick up that book? Cause ya know, everyone's a reader. Those that say they aren't just need to find out what books are for them. 😉
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