I hope that this isn’t a repeat of another topic before…
I feel that most of the stories in Episode are based on romance. Even if the genre isn’t specifically romance, there still is some romantic (or/and sexual) themes associated with them.
There are very minimal amount of stories which I’ve found on Episode that fit the description above. One is Pitch Perfect: Online by Kayla Sloans (which is comedy AF!)
What do you think? Would you ever read a story without romance? Would you read a story where the MC isn’t portrayed romantically in any way and there’s no Love Interest?
There was a thread like this. It went well a lot of people had some good ideas. If you want to check it out. Here is the link.
I’m always down to read a story that doesn’t have romance in it. Romance isn’t a dealbreaker for me. So, regardless, I wouldn’t care. Also, yeah, I would write a story without romance.
Not trying to promote, but there’s a story called by the book written by Amberose, and it has no romance at all and it’s very good.
I write stories, but I hate writing clishe “i Love you”
I like stories without any romance!
It seems like some authors use romance And drama as a distraction from the main plot And to make the story longer And that’s annoying
Romance is one of the hardest genres for me to write in. I usually include some in every story but can never make it the main focus.
For my clue contest entry, I specifically set out to have no romance whatsoever in the plot and found that to not be a deal breaker for my readers which was surprising. I’ve also read Have You Seen Monday by Ruby Lee and that had zero romance too, purely comedy
^ Exactly the same for me. For me it’s because I can’t write about an emotion that I’ve never felt… (cough)
Personally, I like to read stories where romance is the secondary (not primary) focus. Idk why exactly. Makes me feel less lonely, maybe. .__. But having none at all wouldn’t be a deal-breaker. Having it as the primary focus, however, is often a deal-breaker for me lol. I can’t sit through another boy-meets-girl lol.
Please if u know any good comedy stories or adventure stories please txt me back I literally have no stories to read right now and I have 90 passes with nothing good to use them on🙊
My current story that I’m writing is a romance but after that I plan on writing one without romance and I’m actually really excited to write it because its going to be kind of like a game but still a story? If that makes any sense
People seem to love romance in stories, which I don’t really care. But I never actually saw a story that didn’t have romance except for horror and thriller.
Reading aspect: Yes, i’d love to read stories with no romance! I also think that stories with romance not being the primary (but secondary) focus are cool too. I just wish that non romance stories would be featured more. Some stories offer a learning experience/moral, so I enjoy it.
As for the writing aspect: personally, I’d like to try that challenge. I ultimately don’t care how many reads it’d get due to romance being the popular choice. Time for change!
Thank you @amberose for mentioning Have You Seen Monday? !
To join the discussion, yes I agree that most of the stories on Episode do revolve around romance and/or steamy content. I guess just by looking at the covers, we already know what the stories could be about. I believe like some of us already said, authors could be pressurized into adding romance into their stories (even if they initially don’t want to), because we know a majority of episode readers love romance (and s*x, ahem) and if authors exclude them entirely, it is even harder for them to attract readers. I have 1 comedy that have no romance at all, and another horror story with minimal romance (like 2%), and speaking from experience, I have to admit that this decision of excluding romance took quite a toll on my reads. I also have people telling me directly that they won’t read it because there is no romance. But no regrets. Basically, I feel most of us want to be safe and follow the trend to ensure our stories get recognized. I also do noticed that almost all featured stories have some romance element in it, and it seems to hint that (to me) stories without romance are less likely to be featured.
And yes, I definitely will read a story without romance!
For me it depends on how the romance is executed. I feel like a lot of episode featured or original stories force it way too much and there’s never any chemistry between the characters whatsoever. It’s always some love at first sight BS. And anything that they do portray is super sexual, as if that’s all a relationship consists of. I also don’t mind no romance b/c it leaves more room to focus on other plots and display that not everyone needs to fall in love (nor do they want to) to have a happy ending or a happy life.
I believe like some of us already said, authors could be pressurized into adding romance into their stories (even if they initially don’t want to), because we know a majority of episode readers love romance (and s*x, ahem) and if authors exclude them entirely, it is even harder for them to attract readers. I have 1 comedy that have no romance at all, and another horror story with minimal romance (like 2%), and speaking from experience, I have to admit that this decision of excluding romance took quite a toll on my reads. I also have people telling me directly that they won’t read it because there is no romance. 
But no regrets. Basically, I feel most of us want to be safe and follow the trend to ensure our stories get recognized. I also do noticed that almost all featured stories have some romance element in it, and it seems to hint that (to me) stories without romance are less likely to be featured.