Think Tank Tuesday: Relationships

If you can't smell it in the air, you can hear the legions coming. Ah, the scent of amour. They see each other. There is this instant attraction. They try to hide it. Oh, so flirtatious. Then BAM. Romance. Hopefully you read that in a really cheesy, bad French accent a la Genie from Aladdin.

But I'm serious, relationships in literature are great. Some of them make us go:

 Others make us go:

 Some of my favorites are more like:

And then there's always that one ship that's your NOTP and it just turns you into a pirate.

A good portion of readers, especially in the YA genre, read for the relationships. If you can't tell, ask anyone about The Hunger Games. Most of them will tell you, "I'm on Team Peeta", "I'm Team Gale", and then the original 'teams' of twenty-first century young adult literature, "Team Edward", "Team Jacob", "Team Guy-Who-Hit-Bella-With-His-Car" (Catchy, eh?) There's the coveted OTP, the relationship you want to be more than any other relationship, ever. The guilty pleasure relationships. Ahh, I'm getting all warm and fuzzy just thinking about them.

But wait, you think. It's Think Tank Tuesday, she'll have something to say about this!

Ding ding ding, winner, my friend! 

As great as YA relationships are, has anyone besides me noticed that they kind of take a similar route in most books? I referenced it at the beginning: Boy meets girl. Both avoid each other or otherwise attempt to hide initial attraction. Some event brings them together. FEELINGS. Awkward not-friends-but-not-together phase, then BIG KISS. Then relationship, ahh. Some end there, some go on to test the couple's relationship by adding love triangles, in which case it's the same formula with two boys at one time, where one kisses the girl before the other and somehow that 'wins' the girl for them.

Can we please freshen up the romance we've got going here? I'm tired of taking a look at a book and thinking, 'oh, this boy is strong and handsome and tall. He's totally going to get the girl over that scrawny, nerdy guy'. Most of the time (in my experience) the girl goes with the new guy come to town over her old asshole boyfriend, takes the new hottie over her best friend since FOREVER, or automatically gravitates towards the hottest guy in the room, who just happens to have a thing for 'average' girls like her.

Where are the best friend couples? What about the ones who met while one was chasing someone else and decided they liked each other better? Do I see the idiot couples who are completely stupid around each other but love each other anyway? Or the ones who fight but come back at the end of the day because no one will put up with them like they will (and love it)? Come on, now.

I'm all about literature that parallels life, and I don't know about you, but I don't see hunky, muscular guys as far as the eye can see stopping to check out the nice girl reading a book across the street. That would've made life so much easier for me. People are attracted to all kinds of traits in other people - kindness, intelligence, physical appearance (which is generally what a person sees first), etc. Now, I know that these successful books have to be commercial, so pandering to the heterosexual female audience with a 'hot' character makes sense, but who defines attractiveness? I'm all for rippling pectoral muscles, but I prefer a guy who is a good hugger. Personally, I'm very physically affectionate. Not everyone is, but why are all the characters super-stoic and good-looking? Where are the snugglers? The ones who make you laugh by making a fool of themselves? The ones who find something in your favorite color and gets it for you because it made them think of you?

I'm not telling you who to ship, or that your favorite male character's amazing six-pack isn't necessary, but...I'm just saying we need more Peetas and Erics (Twilight), more guys who aren't 'conventionally attractive' or super-masculine, who are more like...real guys. Jokers. Nerdlets. Jocks with such tight friends it's like a seven-way bromance. Gimme a heavy dose of male reality, YA industry. You're just killing me with the perfection.

May your ships always sail,

Brie