Wow, this thing really spiraled out, didn't it? I'm glad no one told me this.

(though to be fair I muted all my tweets & forgot it was happening) https://twitter.com/SisterQuill/status/1320447698256957440

Romance is barely a genre. It's a 8,715 niches strung together with the shared understanding that some combination of people (or monsters, or aliens) are going to decide they're happier together, for whatever definition & expression of "together" gives them joy.

People react like this to attacks on the HEA because if you snap that one terribly fragile thin, everything flies apart. People who seek out these stories are looking for that ONE PART and will jump from niche to niche on the strength of that promise.

*terribly fragile thin thread, obviously. lol

That's why "romance readers" are so eclectic and voracious and also ALREADY EVERYWHERE. Many want to read about the future and the past and earth and not earth and fantasy earth and mars and robots and aliens and dragons and and and and...

The reason your Hot Romance Take got attacked so swiftly is not because Romancelandia is roaming around looking to get offended & assembled to come get you. It's because you didn't realize your audience already had a bunch of romance readers you just pissed off.

Since this is getting RTd, I'm adding @racheline_m's brilliant thread to the end that explains the tension within romance. https://twitter.com/racheline_m/status/1319657948264660999?s=19