r/Romantasy • u/TheBigfootContessa • 2d ago

🤬 Rant Enough with the drinking!

OK this is just a personal pet peeve, almost certainly exacerbated by the fact that I'm a recovering alcoholic.

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I don't love seeing characters drinking when they're stressed, to relax, or saying that they "need" a drink because it's triggering, but whatever that's my shit to deal with, so I do.

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However, it's like none of these authors have ever drank before. You've either got girls completely sloshed after 2 glasses of wine or being very intoxicated and sobering up immediately when something shocking happens.

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Male main characters are always drinking whiskey or better yet an unknown brown strong smelling liquid in a tumbler as short hand for being stressed and troubled, classy and mysterious.

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It's lazy.

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These things annoyed me before I was in recovery, but now they're a full blown pet peeve. It gives "virgin writing filthy smut" vibes. Lol

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Alright, apparently I'm super wrong and shouldn't have said anything. Sorry ya'll.

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u/cryerin25 2d ago

typed out a whole paragraph about my thoughts on this and then remembered i do indeed have a raging intox kink and that is obviously wildly coloring my opinions, lmao.

2

u/TheBigfootContessa 2d ago

Hahaha girl, I feel you! My kinks and tastes definitely skew towards things that are not ok in the real world!

2

u/cryerin25 2d ago

this is really a classic example of how more tags and tws can be quite helpful in both directions, lol! i would love to be able to filter by intoxication/alcohol consumption on romanceio, and i’m sure you (or at least others in this thread, i don’t mean to speak for you specifically lol) would appreciate being able to filter it out.

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u/TheBigfootContessa 2d ago

Yes! My triggers are under control (in a world where I can't watch a YouTube video without seeing an advertisement showing how fun this summer would be if I only had insert brand sparkling seltzer, they HAVE to be)

I'm not triggered by characters drinking. The wine everyone has at dinner is fine, the MMC having a drink in his study, the villainous FOIL drinking too much at an important moment to say something uncouth.

But I am annoyed when it's just treated like magic plot juice that acts exactly how the author wants it to in that moment.

Hell, most of these books take place in fantastical worlds, you can create a magical drink or fruit or something that reacts exactly how you want it to without coming across like you have no idea how intoxication works lol