Omg, do it.
And then the next topic ends up being about romance. 8D
Oh, fine. I suppose I'll rant/talk about what I think of the romance genre. If a question comes out of it, so be it. Keep in mind the romance genre is not just reserved for books, I have just as much issues with romance movie as I do stories.
And this turned out to be a story time in the life of Miss KP. Whoops, I apparently can't rant very well without getting personal xP. OH WELL, this is a mafia, we're all technically family now, so might as well spill some beans.
Possibly due to how I've been brought up in the household (I was somewhat sheltered up until high school), and because I stick to my personal beliefs, I view love as something that's pure and at times sacred. I was raised to believe the word “love” means to care for others. Thus, I believe there are three types of love in this world: familial love, friendships, and relationships (such as couples, dating or married). Familial love is that platonic love that deals with family, from mother to child, father to child, sibling to sibling, et cetera, we all know of this. Friendships are similar to familial love, only it extends to members outside of your own family. And I don't have to explain the relationships, we see it every day.
Call this insight/belief immature/childish/innocent/Disney-inspired, however you wish to call it. Especially since I've not once ever been in a relationship and thus have no such experience in this sort of thing, but whatever. That's something else entirely.
As some of us know, the romance genre wasn't always about love. It was common in days of the Renaissance to have a romance be about chivalry, or rationalism, or of the mysteries of humankind... in a way. (I have something open in a window right now that I'm looking at, and I'm trying to word it in my own way, and from remembering English in senior year of high school.) Over time, the romance genre slowly but surely became what we know of it today, in which it focuses on the essence of life in general: our feelings for one another.
It used to be taboo to show a kiss onscreen for longer than a few seconds. Nowadays, people hardly bat an eye when the couple are figuratively eating each others' faces. It used to be taboo to show a
married couple on TV in the same bed. Nowadays, you can see people romp in bed on TV (depending on the channel). Don't get me started on the sexual jokes.
Society today throws around the idea of love and sex like nobody's business, both in the media and in literature. This personally bothers me, even though I'm legally an adult and thus am exposed to this every day, and thus shouldn't bi
tch and moan about it (which I hope I'm not) and just deal with it. Yes, as a kid I looked away from a single kiss from a movie, cartoon, and even my own parents because I thought it was gross (who hasn't as a kid?). I still squirm a little in place whenever I see kissing, and I can't bring myself to actually
say the words “kiss”, “lips”, or “love” in casual conversation, or talking in general. I don't know why, I just don't.
When I was about twelve, I vowed I would marry when I grew up. I also vowed to not kiss until my wedding day, and so far I've kept my word. It was around this time in my life I started getting into the romance genre, slowly but surely. I'd seek out movies and books, sometimes even asked questions out of the blue about it, and in later years found the piano and violin romantic and sought that kind of music out as well. When I discovered fan fiction, this was the genre I looked for and wrote the most, and still do. For the most part, a lot of this flew over my head.
Then when I turned sixteen, I started showing a dislike for the romance genre. Not because I was getting tired of love, but because I wasn't liking where the concept of love was going. I
know this isn't anything new, but I was noticing it around this time, and came to the realization the meaning of love in the eyes of others was extremely different from mine. I don't mind different opinions, I like listening to other people's opinions, but I'm particularly sensitive when it comes to romance. I remember just surfing through FanFiction.net one day in the romance genre (“M” rating off, mind you), clicking on stories here and there, and I very rarely liked what I saw. Not saying the people were bad writers, a lot of them were good, I just didn't like how the romance was portrayed in a lot of them. This is
extremely common in the M-rating section, which is why I avoid it as much as possible (though curiosity killed the cat several times).
So on that particular day, I told myself, “I'm sick of what I'm seeing. I'm going to write a romance, but in the way
I want it to be. I want it to stand out above all of this, to be different. I want to show people what true love really is, and just how important it is.”
Thus,
Forsaken came to being—a story on romance, love, and sex in the way I wanted it to be portrayed.
It sounds like a selfish, anvilicious reason, and it probably does, but I don't regret writing it. I'm actually really glad I wrote it, because every time I go back to it, despite all that I'm exposed to every day, I'm reminded of how important this particular topic is to me, and that I cherish it and want to protect it. I want to keep it pure.
And so far... from what I've been told from my readers, I think I succeeded.
So... I guess this calls for a topic question (sorry if it sounds weird):
Did you ever write a story to tell a story, or to make a point about whatever, or both? How subtle were you? Did it go well, or did you slip?