it’s just so difficult to find black romance literature that isn’t written with one specific dynamic. they’re always very “urban” and atp it’s so saturated that it’s incredibly difficult to find something that ISN’T that. sometimes it’s even so exaggerated to the point it starts to give caricature when the only way conversations between the couple go is “fuck you n*gga!” “you fuckin w that ugly hoe?” “i’ll beat you and that bitch ass if she look at you again.” (this has nothing to do with the general use of aave, as i use it daily, i’m purely talking characterization here.) if you don’t understand what i’m talking ab, go to wattpad and try to find a black love story. in the tags of the ones that came up for me it said “#hoodlovestory #gangs #druglord #ghetto”. why is it nearly impossible to find a textbook, cookie cutter love story like “the notebook”, or a fantasy love story like Twlight but just with black people and some lingo??
but yea this is the entire reason i came from wattpad to tumblr bc wattpad has absolutely no diversity when it comes to this. they only portray one kind of black girl (or guy) who looks, speaks, and acts one way, as if we’re all the same. and the way these stories damn near romanticize domestic ab*se/toxic behavior and make it as if that’s all black love can be is really really odd (but i digress).
it’s honestly why i started writing bc i could never envision myself when reading. what we see in the media is not representative of everyone and this can also tie in to how hard it is growing up as a neurodivergent or even just a nerdy/alt/whatever black girl in a world/community that expects and thinks black people act as a monolith and—*mic cuts out*
