Odd: adjective. Different from what is usual or expected; strange.

Romance: noun. A feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.

Odd Romance: phrase. Undefined.

For Valentine’s Day this year, I figured I would do something different: acknowledge it. I don’t celebrate this, nor do I condone its continued existence. Maybe I’d feel otherwise if it weren’t so damn commercialized. This may seem a little out of left field for some of you reading this, but you can have feelings of love and/or admiration for someone without buying them overpriced flowers, chocolates, and stuffed animals every February fourteenth. We can stop here and talk about showing your feelings all year round instead of just one day—two if you have an anniversary to celebrate. But that’s a blog for someone else entirely—maybe your priest.

This blog, as you guessed by the title, is about the importance of having some odd romance in your story plots. I’m not talking about that gross stuff in the Fifty Shades series, but I’m not looking down my nose at you if that happens to be your thing. I’m also not claiming queer or polyamorous stories are “odd” in a bad way, which is why I started this piece with that particular definition. Odd isn’t bad, it’s just different.

I’m not going to start a long, ranting paragraph about the importance of queer romance in stories. You should know how important this is by now, and I’m not going to repeat what’s been said by people better at saying it. What I will do, however, is reiterate how it’s more important than ever to put out stories featuring romance between queer and trans characters. The mainstream wants those voices stifled and—dare I say it?—canceled. These stories are being banned from libraries, burned in effigies, or straight-up touted as evil.

So keep writing those queer stories! The world needs them, and I’ll support and keep reading them until my eyes melt out of my skull. Then I’ll listen to them on audiobooks until my ears implode. Also, yes, I assume all my worldly pleasures will be destroyed by this apocalyptic scenario where my body is slowly and completely obliterated.

Getting back on track, I wanted to do this piece for those of us writing outside the norm of romances. I’m talking about the monster-fuckers, the polycules with two centaurs and a mermaid, and the pansexual werewolves who inexplicably fall for the twinkish vampire. Those are the odd romances we need to see more often! Yes, it may come off as a little odd that I’m looking for these types of stories, but it’s all an allegory, isn’t it? Wait… Isn’t it?!

Let’s back up a bit here. Before getting into all that with your current WIP, you should take a step back and calibrate your mind to relationships out of the ordinary scope of what’s considered “normal”. There are tons of us out there who don’t fall into the “boy meets girl” or the “meet cute” scenario in our real lives. So why would we write something like that? It’s not like our target audience is Hallmark Channel junkies in heat. I mean, they might be who you’re targeting, and there’s nothing wrong with that. For the rest of us, we need to focus our energies on relationships outside that norm.

Media likes to portray queer and polyamorous relationships as something taboo or perverted. Yes, they’ve gotten better, somewhat, but they’re not quite there. Queer relationships have been cropping up more and more with the advent of streaming series and movies. The representation can still feel a little cringy depending on how it’s written and who’s doing the writing, but it’s been getting better. It’s refreshing to see two guys in a relationship on prime-time television without it being a joke or making them out to be degenerates. Sure, that’s still out there in newer media—more than I’d like to admit—but we’re getting there. Bisexuality in men still hasn’t been wholly accepted by the media at large, and neither has non-binary characters, but shows like Big Mouth, What We Do in the Shadows, and others are blazing that trail.

Let me make a side note here. This is all from my perspective. I don’t have time to watch a lot of shows, let alone everything available. There is a lot I’ve missed and a lot I don’t know exists. You can disagree with me on what I said in the last paragraph, and I welcome the discourse however you want to give it to me. My opinion on that matter, however, is that if I have to dig deep to find it, it’s still not being presented well enough.

One of the things I want to see more of is ethical non-monogamy (which I’ll continue to call ‘polyamory’ to save space and time) in media. Most of the time when you see someone in an open relationship or acting as a “swinger”, they’re often portrayed as perverts or sex pests. Those of you who got this far into my piece or have read my books already know that not all of us who consider ourselves poly are perverts or fiends. I work a regular job and keep normal acquaintances. I don’t go advertising my shit for all of them to judge, nor do I feel the need to rub what I do in any of their faces. As much as it is a part of who I am, it’s not for everyone, and I plan on keeping it that way.

Alright, I realize I went off on multiple discourses there, so let’s get back on topic. Romance comes in all shapes and sizes. We all know this. Whether you’re in a straight marriage, a polycule of five people, have nothing but friends with benefits, participate in a coven of lesbian witches to practice sex magick, or any combination of scenarios, you and your lovers are a hundred percent valid. And THOSE are the types of romances I want to see on the page! It’s your story, and there are no rules when it comes to plotting the romance of your main story or subplot. I’m not even going to count how many books I’ve written now (twenty-one counting short story collections with thirteen of those books self-published). I’ve been sprinkling odd relationships all over them. It seems the deeper I get into this writing thing, the odder they get, too.

Later this year I’ll be publishing a book called Who the Fuck is Rocky Phantasmic?! which features a queer man in an open marriage to a straight woman (it happens). It’s an interesting dynamic for the story, and it makes the characters pop. It also shows the ins and outs of making a love of that caliber work. That’s just one example and the tip of the iceberg. I won’t list every odd relationship I’ve ever written here. If you want to read more, you’ll have to check out my catalog and dig for those gems.

So let your freak flag fly free! Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t write. I want to see more odd romances in books, shows, and movies. The more we write about what we want, the more normal it becomes. There’s no room for stigma anymore. It’s unnecessary, so throw it all away. If anyone is offended by it, that’s their problem. Those teacup poodles didn’t have to read it in the first place if they’re so easily offended by something as natural as a woman dating two non-binary people at once or a mad scientist inventing a time machine for the sole purpose of having gay caveman orgies. Put it in your story, and make it a normal part of that character’s life. Why? Shit, because it should be!

-Daniel Aegan 2/14/24

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Looking for a Valentines Day read with a vampire branch, a queer priest battling danger and his celibacy, a werewolf with e penchant for pissing everyone off, and Soprano wannabe brothers trying to save a day not theirs to save?

If you attempted to answer that question, make sure to check out The Blood Drive Thrillogy!