CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Ok I am a 17-year-old girl who loves romantically inclined books but is sick and tried of all the junk that’s out there, but yet I never got into any of the Christian stories because they turn into preach offs (or just down right depressing) Anyway I also love to write.
What I’m suggesting here is to gather armature romance authors (or readers) and make a think tank so to speak.

First thing we are going to do is talk about what we like and dislike in secular realm of romance or in the Christian realm and then discuss how to make better stories.

Secular dislikes : when the hero of the stories is a rake (example: He is the count Mac Doven a notorious playboy who has many conquests and conquers our heroine and yet decides to stay with her.):shady: *snorts* Yeah right! he’s just going to dump her at the nearest post office and mail her home. Over Sexualized language or sex (ex. nuff said .) Negative attitudes pertaining to chastity or Christianity .

Secular likes : This is a needle in a haystack to find but a dark but honorable man (they have those but they are often vampire/slayers and are in the occult) really intrusting plots. And just a touch of passion/mush. #^_^#

Christian dislikes : WAY too preachy. Boring or depressing plot lines.

Just in general dislike: I really dislike it when the heroine is way tuff or aggressive. It annoys the heck out of me.


Now a story I would be interested would be a mystery story with a fight between and good and evil though at first our heroine can’t quite tell at first. And the last thing she expects is to be caught up in this adventure with a man she hardly knows...... your turn you guys
what do you like or dislike and what kind of story you would be intusted.
If you don't like romance stuff then don't bother.

I think a story about a guy who is attracted to a girl, gets into an activity she's into to get closer to her, then ends up being happy as just her friend and finds a new interest to boot. That would rule.

.rai//

Dislikes: Pretty much any romance novel ever found in grocery-store paperback size.

Likes: Intriguing plots with depth-filled characters. Unfortunately, these books can usually no longer be considered "romance novels" and are relegated to the "Drama" or "Fantasy" sections of the bookstore.

I like stories about characters who change foreachother. Like a character you originally consider bad slowly changes due to being in love. Cliche`, yes. Butit always gets me.

I also like good comedy thrownin with my romance.

I suppose a mystery-type setting would be the best suited

im way to cynical to like romance novels. romance shromance. no such thing as happy endings in real life

I wrote a 200+ page action/semi-romance fanfic. I would take the time to get it printed if
1. I wouldn't have to swim through Copyright River
2. I could look back on it and say that I'm proud of my writing style 3 years ago

[quote="Lynx"]im way to cynical to like romance novels. romance shromance. no such thing as happy endings in real life ]
You should tell that to all the happily married people out there. They might disagree. I for one believe very much that a happy ending is possible.

And anyway, as Christians, aren't we heading towards an eternal happy ending as well?

ANYway.... I tend not to read books that are explicitly romance, since they are usually not written with a male reader in mind. But I am a huge fan of injecting a lot of good romance into a story of another genre (such as those you list above). Romance is beautiful <sigh>.

The main reason I wote this is to inspire other wirters. You see some romance novels become a from of emotional (not to metion physcal) porn for woman and I got caught in the trap a couple of times(mostly by fanfiction). If there was place where it was not only good romance but wholesome that would be awsome and where better to host it on CAA?

[quote="Lynx"]im way to cynical to like romance novels. romance shromance. no such thing as happy endings in real life ]
Uh huh, like you've been to the end of your life

I'm going to laugh like a monkey when it gets to the end of your life and you're totally happy. Which is possible, and weird that I'm thinking this. It's 2AM! Cut me some slack

I confess, I like a good book, and if it has a little romantic secondary storyline, all the better. I'm really girly about romantic sub-plots, and I read such a wide range of genres that I voted for all four options... heh... ^^;;

Personally, I like it better if there is a primary storyline not driven by romance. Most of my favorite authors are more subtle about the romance in their books, not in-your face-romance, or the ever horriffic thing known as 'smut' (which I refuse to even touch let alone read XD ).

I'll come back when I'm more coherent, and can put together a more thorough post.

I perfer either a Sci Fi or Fantasy setting with probably a tinge of horror and plenty of humor.

Ditto, Mitsuki Lover. With the romace as a part of the plot but not the sole plot. And no smut. Although I've always liked Jane Eyre and that's pretty much a straight up romance novel. I also like it when people really come to know each other's deepest flaws and, even thought it is scary and painful, they stick together. Kyo Sohma and Tohru Honday, anyone?

And, yeah, I believe in happy endings. Sloppy, rough, imperfect, but happy endings.

If you like historical periods, then I would recommend "The Mark of the Lion" trilogy by Francine Rivers. It manages to be inspirational and romantic without being preach-offy (in my opinion).

Anyway, just thought I'd suggest it to you. Its one of my favorites series.

I personaly perfer clean comedy scifi-fantasy romance because they're sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!!! yah ok I'm done....

HisaishiFan wrote:Ditto, Mitsuki Lover. With the romace as a part of the plot but not the sole plot. And no smut. Although I've always liked Jane Eyre and that's pretty much a straight up romance novel. I also like it when people really come to know each other's deepest flaws and, even thought it is scary and painful, they stick together. Kyo Sohma and Tohru Honday, anyone?

And, yeah, I believe in happy endings. Sloppy, rough, imperfect, but happy endings.

*Gasp* Another Jane Eyre fan! Wow, I looooove that book, I've read it twice. It's. So. Amazing. Starstoryteller, if you want to know how to write a good romance, read Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte did EVERYTHING right when she wrote that book.

So anyways, I've thought LOADS about this subject, and here's what I've come up with--

Dislikes: When EVERYTHING works out for the young lovers. They never have problems with one another, and if they do, they settle it by saying something stupid like, "We were both wrong, but I hate not talking to you. Can we pretend it never happened?" How unrealistic. Couples do not do that when they argue.

When the guy is so sappy with the girl that it comes across like she's practically an invalid. And I'm not talking about a guy being a gentleman and opening the door or something like that. A prime example would be Dee Henderson novels (sorry if I step on any toes by saying this)-- when she writes, AT LEAST 20 times a chapter the guy "brushes her chestnut brown hair from her face" or something like that, and I want to barf! First off, you'd think if the girl wanted her hair out of her face, she'd push it back herself. But beyond that, no guy does things like that THAT much. Be realistic. Some expressions like that are OK, but too many authors go into overd-rive on it, and it just gets irritating.

When either the guy or girl is able to make every single one of the other person's problems go away. Par example (and here we go back to Dee again): In pretty much every one of her books, you'll find at least a handful of lines where the narraration says that the guy is going to "make sure she has a good time." Her life stinks, but he's going to make sure she has a good time. Um, how exactly does he plan to do that? There's no way to gauruntee it, so stating it in the narration just comes across as cheesy. I think the reader should be able to tell that that is the characters intentions without the character actually having to come right out and say it. If they do have to, then it's just bad writing.

When the romance is the main plot. That's OK for something like "A Walk To Remember," but a lot of times, authors try to write mysteries or suspense novels and keep romance as the main plot. That comes across as too forced to me. I think it works much better when the author lets the romance be a great supporting side plot. Just a few days ago I read a book called "Comes a Horseman" by Robert Lipraulo, and he did a great job with what I'm talking about. The plot was great on its own, but the romance just added nicely to it.

Likes: Uh, take the reverse of everything I disliked and you've got it. :-P

Um.. A gingerbread man falls in love with.. a gingergirl... and then he like.. get's eaten by a ravenous racoon... Yep.. that's my kind of romance story...

Yumie wrote:*Gasp* Another Jane Eyre fan! Wow, I looooove that book, I've read it twice. It's. So. Amazing. Starstoryteller, if you want to know how to write a good romance, read Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte did EVERYTHING right when she wrote that book.

I should read that someday.

Speaking of classic romantic novels. Anyone else a fan of Jane Austen? Pride and Prejudice has long been a personal favorite of mine.

Hahaha...remind me, and I will send you my story. It seems to fit your idea of a 'good' romance story. I'm sorry, but if there's no romance inside a storyline...I can't write a story about it. Lol.

I think that's why I'm such a big Inuyasha fan and am so interested in Fushigi Yugi too as they both have elements of what I talked about.
As to a more literally sense,I have to confess that if I were a girl I would be a real Jane Austen fanatic.
I think she has a really witty sense of humor about romance.

I've written three short stories (its a series), and found myself backed into a corner on number four. I didn't really know what I'd done until the gals who read #3 started clamoring for the next one. Then I reread it and found out that I'd inadvertently started the wheels of romance turning faster than I'd wanted to. =P So now I'm stuck writing a romantic short story or I'll be murdered in my sleep.

Dracula can be considered a romance in a way.

For me to enjoy a romance story, there must be some action somewhere in between so that one person shows how much they love someone else. Instead of just smoochie smoochie or anything like that, I prefer "hey, I'll fight to save your life because I love you" or something like that.

Just don't put Romance of the.. in the title as it's rather been used up to pieces.

actually I already have writen a clean romance fantasy story with Christian morals to, currently I am working on the follow up to it, and plan to write at least 2 more of this serise. *thumbs up*

if you like manga try checking out from far away, it is pretty clean explecially compared to most manga, there is however one scene (if you are interested Pm me and I will tell you about it so there will be no spoilers) but it is a fantasy romance...and its awesome!!

Steeltemplar wrote:I should read that someday.

Speaking of classic romantic novels. Anyone else a fan of Jane Austen? Pride and Prejudice has long been a personal favorite of mine.

I dearly love that book. I also enjoyed Great Expectations. Personally, I like writing romances, but there has to be action involved in it somehow. *could not write something like Kare Kano*