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Romance, love triangles etc in YA


Michelle

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Ok, so those of you who read YA, how much romance do you want to see? It seems to me that the vast majority have a romantic element, and it's becoming overdone. The other day I picked up a YA Fantasy book, only to put it down again because the majority of the blurb talked about the dashing hero and the romance. I know it can be an important element, but I often feel it takes over, and it can very quickly put me off.

 

And love triangles? As I said in another thread, a group of teens were asked about this in a book group, and they are all fed up of them. They said it's rare enough to have one person like you when you're a teen, let alone two!

 

Readers, do you like the romance element, or do you feel it's being overdone?

 

Authors, is there pressure to add that romance element?

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Overdone by a long margin.

 

I have enjoyed the YA novels I have read to date, but am now looking forward to greater creativity with regard to young relationships. I don't mind a dash of romance here and there but the constant stream of 'torn between two lovers' style has definitely started to grate.

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I quite like a bit of romance, but the love triangles are getting a bit tiresome. I also don't think that every book needs romance, sometimes it's nice to read a book that doesn't include this element. I like it though that a lot of books do have this element, but it shouldn't be overdone too much and it should fit in with the story.

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I quite like a bit of romance, but the love triangles are getting a bit tiresome. I also don't think that every book needs romance, sometimes it's nice to read a book that doesn't include this element. I like it though that a lot of books do have this element, but it shouldn't be overdone too much and it should fit in with the story.

Of course, there is some romance out there that can get overly corny or predictable too. I guess for me it just depends on the book.
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Romance is incredibly important during teenage years, so it's no surprise that it gets such coverage (though I'd argue it doesn't get any more coverage than romance in adult books).

 

What IS problematic is the incessant overuse of the love triangle. I don't know why that's become such a big thing but I suspect that's a remnant of Twilight.

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I think it exists in such a massive amount because:

 

1) The YA market is driven by female readers

2) Publishers think that's what they want to read.

3) Sales figures would suggest that in a lot of cases, the publishers might be right.

I'm female and I prefer the adventurous YA over the female YA most of the time. Mainly boys read Lord of the Rings and Redwall, and I'll take those over Twilight.
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I avoid most regular romance, and I haven't noticed it sneaking into the fantasy YA genre yet.

But I can see why it would be done a lot. When I actually was a teenager I did like to read about it.

Nowadays I prefer anything that covers unusual and alternative styles of relationships. The whole heterosexual monogamy thing is just too laden with clichés for me, but obviously YA rarely dares to go beyond that.

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