I read a line like “she was nude beneath her clothes” and I can’t stop thinking about it. What else would you be under your clothes? Even more clothed? Like an infinite number of shirts? Everybody is naked under their clothes.
People really think Ryan Gosling and John Cena were forced into/humiliated by their Oscar ceremony contributions and those people are ridiculous and don't understand these guys at ALL. They are showmen. They are performers. They wouldn't do these things if they weren't all in.
Anyone who thinks romance novels have unrealistic plots should know that I am 44 and super cute and have never been in a relationship. I don't even date. I've been in the intro chapter of my rom-com for decades. So, yeah, older heroines with little experience DO exist.
I want one of my fellow South Asian authors to pen a cozy mystery series starring elderly desi aunties. Think of the punny title possibilities! CHAI AND PUNISHMENT. CHAAT THROUGH THE HEART. MASALA MOST FOUL.
Where do I sign up to be so oppressed that I’m mega-rich, have my own imprint, and use a team of ghostwriters? Please, please, oppress me like that. Marginalize me on several shelves in the bookstore and library, I beg of you.
This Mike Richards dude probably getting the JEOPARDY gig is a great example of when a company goes through the motions of interviewing diverse candidates and then just promotes a white person internally like they were planning to do all along.
With young adult fiction the only major category posting a decline, unit sales of print books increased 4.2% in the week ended Mar. 11, 2023, over the comparable week in 2022, at outlets that report to Circana BookScan.
Romance writers and editors, I beg of you, learn the word “placket.” That is where buttons or zippers go on trousers. A “placard” on one’s breeches would be a sign saying “it’s not gonna suck itself.”
You know one reason why we call out harmful rep so loudly and frequently? It's not because we're mean. It's because this stuff *normalizes* Othering us. To the point where these depictions of us are considered more believable than what we write about ourselves.
I would like a movie where Chris Pine and Pedro Pascal are part of a single fathers’ support group and they decide to co-parent their kids together. And they could fall in love with other people OR each other! And there are tons of scenes of them hot dadding hotly.
I'm starting to develop a theory. And it is that Christian Slater and Leonardo DiCaprio represent the actual cut-off line between Gen X and Millennial. Because I was a smidge too old to get swoon-y over R+J and TITANIC. Clearly this is anecdotal data, but I'm going with it.
Instead of the umpteenth Austen adaptation or LITTLE WOMEN remake, can a gal get THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND? With 200 percent more kissing than the book? I don't ask for much.
There’s a bullshit op-ed going around about getting “addicted” to antidepressants. What’s the alternative? Being addicted to misery? Fuck that. That book I just finished? It would not have gotten done without going on meds. Meds have saved my life. They save countless lives.
Oh. Hey. Now that BRIDGERTON is the most successful Netflix show ever, can they acquire some romance properties that have Black people in them already?
I am so demoralized by how we began with the most diverse Democratic primary slate of my lifetime and still ended up where we always do: with an old white man.
For my birthday, here is my wish: Start reading a book by an author of color. Buy it, get it from the library, borrow it from a friend...I don’t care. Support a BIPOC author and their work. And ENJOY it. It’s not homework. It’s a gift.
I join everybody in WTFing over the HUNGER GAMES spin-off. Of ALL the characters you could choose to publish a new series about...you pick the fascist white dude, Suzanne Collins? Like we need an origin story for a fascist white dude? Have you SEEN the world right now?
Have we thought about turning libraries into gaming hells owned by dissolute and disillusioned rakes who were raised in the rookeries after their duke father secretly wed but abandoned their actress mother, who then died tragically because of gin and tuberculosis?
I have no idea why Boomers kept telling younger Gen X and older Millennials that we’d get more conservative as we aged. We were radicalized by NEWSIES.
Rule no. 1 of reading historical romance: Never think about if they’ve bathed or not.
This thought has been sponsored by a blowjob in a cell at Newgate.
Just caught myself muttering “I’m going to keep reading romance novels until I stop wanting to die” as I reached for my Kindle and oh hello my lifelong coping mechanism.
Can we make 2019 the year where nobody goes "Have you tried...?" to somebody with a chronic mental or physical illness? Is that too much to ask? Jesus fucking Christ with Vishnu as a sidekick. Get a clue, people.
Could we please circulate an international memo clarifying that "Hallelujah" is a song about a relationship gone horribly wrong and not a wedding song or an inspirational anthem?
I love how romance readers and writers can ID a “someone definitely croaks in this” movie immediately. 😂 We are always on guard. My TL had the Bat signal up.
Looks like the werewolf is finally out of the bag! I have a PNR series coming out with
@SourcebooksCasa
in 2021. Bad lawyering, danger-boning, and bears, oh my! Thank you to
@millercallihan
and
@CatClyne
for helping bring my bonkers romantic suspense books to all of you! 💃🏾💃🏾💃🏾
We've devoted a lot of airtime to a white male scammer taking advantage of RWA's inherent structural weaknesses. I want to take a minute to love on some books by fierce WOC who've been been hurt or overlooked due to RWA's practices. Here's a positive Thready McThreaderson!
Kylo Ren is a poster boy for toxic masculinity (and, oh, A PATRICIDAL MASS MURDERER), and it galls me that so many people came out of THE LAST JEDI not just adoring him but actively 'shipping him with Rey.
I feel like I say this any time some white dude kills POC and gets cuddled after, but I have mental health issues and have never killed anyone. I’ve had so many bad days, and I’ve never killed anyone. The only people who get to use those excuses for violence are white men.
People are becoming so hypervigilant about everyone social distancing now, it’s like, “I saw Goody Procter in the woods, consorting with the Devil—and they weren’t six feet apart!”
As someone who spent the years around my paperback debut suicidally depressed, cycling through five different meds, and frequently drunk—but somehow never sabotaged anyone—I call extreme bullshit. This fauxpology needed a dev edit and some margin notes.
Here's the thing: You can dislike Courtney Milan and/or have had beef with her and STILL recognize that what was done here by RWA was bullshit. If your butthurt about that one time she hurt your feelings is more important than systemic bias in RWA, that's a YOU problem.
I don't know who needs to hear this, but I am not trying to escape the cage of my brownness via writing romance novels, nor are my characters trying to escape that cage. I'm trying to celebrate my brownness. And to share it with readers.
This entire debacle began because folks were like "Hey, Suzan Tisdale! You hired Sue Grimshaw, a Known Racist. Maybe don't do that?" And instead of being like, "Oh, my bad! Fixing it!" her response was "How dare you? Some of my best friends are racist!" And now here we are.
Every time people are surprised that Rage Against the Machine and Tom Morello are deeply political, I wonder what machine they thought was being raged against? The microwave? They furiously demand you make tea with a kettle?
dont know much but i guess romance writers kicked out lady because she asked them to do better at proving love? but it has brought to my attention that there is scoundrel name of damons that likes attention and is saying he knows chuck for attention. i do not know him he is lying
PSA: There is an interracial f/f Christmas movie on Netflix called A NEW YORK CHRISTMAS WEDDING. With an AfroLatinx bisexual lead. It's really sweet. And somewhat angsty. And deals with Catholicism and gay marriage. But there IS a happy ending. And also a cute doggo!
Thread. And I'll add one provable lie that relates to me:
Damon Suede took credit for RT Book Reviews beginning to review gay romance. I instituted that change when I began there as features editor.
I need some of these white women writing their ~exotic~ biracial characters to do some basic genetics research. I realize blond Asian men might give you a ladyboner, Becky, but even with one white parent, odds are their hair will be dark brown. Dominant genes are a thing.
Can't stop thinking about how RWA still can't even publicly admit what they did to Courtney Milan, much less apologize to her. But they made sure to praise a useless white man for his service.
Some white folks think POC get ~so many deals~. They’re wrong. And also overlooking that if a book by a POC fails to earn out, it means even *fewer* deals for POC. Pubs go, “Welp. We tried.” If a white book doesn’t sell? No publisher stops acquiring more white authors.
Wait. "Grosvenor Square" is pronounced "Grover"? This is another one of those Cholmondoley-Chumley situations? Why are the British constantly putting letters into words and not using them?! Is it like colonizing for spices and not using those?
I hope Nick Jonas is taking note of all the smoke Joe is getting. Because if he fucks up with Priyanka, the response will be exponentially worse. The Bollywood fans alone will flay him and wear his skin like a lungi.
It would’ve been easy for all parties concerned to profit off POC while also uplifting POC. Do “The Bridgertons Present” and have a Black author write the prequel. Have a South Asian author write about the Sharmas. But no. God forbid.
I'm trying not to be insufferable about BIG BAD WOLF but MY FIRST PAPERBACK WITH A TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER OMG. And before I turn into a total basketcase on Tuesday, thank you to everyone who's believed in me and rooted for me over the years. I couldn't have done it without you.
People keep getting caught up in the "niceness" of TED LASSO, in how it's kind and therefore lacking in conflict or tension. You know what they're missing? The tension and conflict in how kindness takes a toll. Ted's been teetering on the edge from the first ep and he WILL fall.
They're really advertising the WEST SIDE STORY remake as "the greatest love story of all time"? It's based on Romeo & Juliet. They barely know each other. He dies. It's not even the greatest love story of the last five minutes.
I will never understand why supposed literary tastemakers and "cool" people persist in ignoring genre romance just so they can rave about the one book a year that they realized has a decent orgasm in it. For people who sneer at a sexy genre, they sure like making things hard!
Romantic suspense skews super-white and pretty pro-cop and pro-military. Mine...is none of that. lol. So if there are outlets who'd like to talk about BIG BAD WOLF in all its brown, liberal, sexified glory, I'm here for that!
The book where the “hero” kills a bunch of Native Americans in the prologue. While pitting Bible quotes against a Sioux holy man. Your new awards, folks. Just like the old awards.
Managing depression is like being Mad-Eye Moody. It requires CONSTANT VIGILANCE! Or you'll end up trapped in a dark hole while a monster pretends to be you.
Scarlett Dunn is a Kensington author. And she writes inspies...in case you didn't already know that inspirational romance is a haven for white supremacist "Christian" narratives.
Remember: Damon Suede and Carol Ritter are out, and that feels like a victory, but RWA is STILL not trustworthy. They still have oodles of member money, still have racists in their midst, still don't know wtf they're doing.
(Link to announcement: )
I probably lost some fans of That Show and That Author last night. 🤷🏻♀️ Here’s the thing that applies to SO many fandoms: Own what’s terrible. Admit you like a problematic thing. Instead of gaslighting everyone like “no, the villain’s just misunderstood” or “that’s not rape.”
I just saw a guy tweeting that he wants to write romance because he “thought it would be easier,” and my brain might actually explode from the melty rage.
Have we hit that point yet wherein “pro-life” people realize they can’t get D&Cs, will die from or be investigated for miscarriages, and they stand there with a shocked Pikachu face like “I thought they’d only ban the *slutty* abortions!”?
I just saw something tagged as a "reverse portal fantasy" and I think we need to take the word "reverse" away from indie authors because this is getting beyond ridiculous. A portal opens in both directions. What the fuck is the reverse of that? Going nowhere?!
Tired: Assholes co-opting the Punisher for their racist bullshit.
Wired: Me writing a book where a character inspired by the Punisher hates authority and loves eating pussy.
Look for BIG BAD WOLF in January 2021!
If you're complaining about content warnings, consider why you always ask if the dog dies. And why that's okay but warnings for violence against humans might ruin the reading or viewing experience.
All these jokes about height disparity in romance, and women being tiny in comparison to male leads. But seriously. I’m 5’1 and I know absolute fuck-all about writing tall women. IDK what y’all are doing up there.
I just want more romance content on TV and in movies. Tentative handholding. Finger flexes. Pining. Kisses that go on and on. That moment before and between kisses where they take a breath. A mouth pressed to the pulse of one's throat. A shirt being ripped open. GIVE IT TO ME.
How is Janet Evanovich STILL dragging out this Stephanie-Joe-Ranger thing? It's been TWENTY-SIX BOOKS. Why are they not all banging? It's almost 2020 in the Darkest Timeline. We don't have time for this bullshit. Threesome with swords crossing or GTFO, Stephanie Plum.
Woke up to the news of Johanna Lindsey's passing. 💔 SECRET FIRE was the first romance novel I ever got from the library (and got caught reading and wasn't allowed to finish...oops!). Her impact on the genre, on writers who came after, was enormous.
#RIP
#MyFirstJohanna
As a longtime reader of it, I think dark romance should be called something else that’s not romance. Like “Deeply Fucked Up People Fucking Deeply.” Or “Erotic Thriller” or “These People Should Not Procreate.” Or “At Least They’re Not Real.”
BREAKING: A full-scale manhunt is underway for members of the mob that attacked the Capitol.
On top of the damage done inside, sources tell CBS News that a laptop possibly containing sensitive national security information was stolen.
@NorahODonnell
reports from the Capitol
Yes, I am aware it means no underwear. You can stop replying with that. The phrase itself, however, is extremely weird when you think about it. Thank you for making me explain a clear shitpost.
Periodic reminder that we absolutely need Jon Bernthal in a rom-com. Preferably one where he blushes and stammers and puts his hand behind his neck as he shyly ducks his head.