Instance folks, I'm thinking we should have some kind of helpful message to send to new accounts here. What information would you have found most helpful when you joined?
@willaful I'm still not totally sure whether I belong. I don't know the trope names, I don't quite get where the break is between romance and smut, I feel really out of place.
I made one timid overture a while back but idk.
If there is some kind of orientation space that would help so much.
@pelielios Hmmm. I was thinking more about specifically adjusting to mastodon. An orientation space for the romance genre itself... I don't know if there's just one place. And a lot of it is subjective in any event.
Do you know the @romancelandia group? You can follow them and could direct specific discussion questions there. And you'd probably want to connect with other writers. The #amwriting hashtag is a good one to follow. Add #romancelandia to narrow it to other romance writers.
@willaful@romancelandia Romancelandia is specifically the group I had in mind. I've been lurking a while and just don't know where to jump in to that as a community.
Romance overall feels too broad, specific communities have their own unspoken rules and can feel very intimidating to newcomers.
Not a criticism, just wishing for a more structured inroad, you know?
The genre is so huge now! When I started reading romance, everybody read the same books and it was so easy to talk about. But of course, a lot of readers weren't being served, so in most ways it's a good change.
I'm not sure I could recommend an inroad unless I know where you're hoping to arrive?
Kind of a long-time dreamer, first-time writer situation, still trying to work out where I fit in with books that sometimes get explicit but it's also not exactly the point whether they do.
Most of the activity seems to be around existing fanbases, which is great! But also makes me hesitant to barge in as a total unknown.
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