Recently on GoodReads, fellow Apocalypsie Jay Kristoff wrote the following rather provocative status update:
This started an intense debate in the comments about genre definitions, expectations, and the marginalization of female sci-fi writers. Author Phoebe North has a great post about the debate at the Intergalactic Academy. In it she questions the idea that the presence of romance in a dystopian work makes it somehow less sci-fi and states that woman writers get called out for including romance while male writers do not. She asks:
"Calling your book a dystopian when it’s actually just a romance with dirty windows is kinda like lying."
This started an intense debate in the comments about genre definitions, expectations, and the marginalization of female sci-fi writers. Author Phoebe North has a great post about the debate at the Intergalactic Academy. In it she questions the idea that the presence of romance in a dystopian work makes it somehow less sci-fi and states that woman writers get called out for including romance while male writers do not. She asks:
"Will women who write YA sci-fi have to try twice as hard to justify their genre credentials? Will they have to squeeze in an explosion to counterbalance every kiss lest their work not be seen as worthy of meriting intergender appeal?"
It's an interesting question, to be sure.
For what it's worth, my genre definition of dystopia is fairly inclusive. During my Dystopian theme months at Presenting Lenore, I include dystopians, post-apocalyptics and even some sci-fi with dystopian elements. Having read well over 100 novels of this persuasion, I've discovered that dystopians can fall into a number of sub-categories, from horror (Alexander Gordon Smith's ESCAPE FROM FURNACE series) to satiric comedy (Megan McCafferty's BUMPED and THUMPED) to action/adventure (THE HUNGER GAMES, among many others).
Some dystopian novels definitely come off as more romance-driven than others, but that doesn't mean they aren't "real dystopians." Though, as more publishers try to cash in on the label dystopian, often mislabeling books just to ride the trend, I can see where readers would feel betrayed. BUT this is not limited to the sub-genre romance. In fact, my problems with mislabeling have come far more with action/adventure type books than anything else.
Fortunately for readers, it's usually pretty obvious from the cover and summary of a novel what the main focus will be. So if you don't want to read a "dystopian romance," stay away from "girls in pretty dresses" covers and run if the summary mentions "a mysterious boy".
What do you think? Should there be a separate category for dystopian romances? What about dystopian horror? Dystopian action/adventure? Dystopian comedies? Would stricter labeling be useful to you as a reader or a burden? Tell us in the comments!
