I responded to one of my commenters on today's chapter of The Werewolf of Beacon and I wanted to clip this section where I explain my feelings about major character deaths and shock-value plot twists in media.

More info below!

Here's a YouTube video from @OSPyoutube that discusses this further:

I mostly saw plot twists this way before seeing this video, but it's excellently crafted and helped me better vocalize this opinion.

The fact that modern media (especially things like Game of Thrones) has made people SO expectant of ludicrous, senseless plot twists/deaths to the point that my fanfiction readers thought I was going to kill my perspective character in a romance novel makes me *genuinely* angry

I will also vaguely gesture at the Bury Your Gays trope, and the fact that we LGBTs are so conditioned to seeing our representation be killed off that, again, some of my fanfiction readers were *surprised* that I didn't kill my *perspective character*...

in the middle of a "will-they-won't they" romantic dance in a ROMANCE NOVEL.

*sigh* i have so many feelings about this subject