Why I'm writing a solarpunk romcom
Also, what the heck does that word mean, and other stuff
My journey into romcoms
In January 2023, Talia Hibbert ruined my life.
I picked up Act Your Age, Eve Brown, on a whim. I don’t actually know what inspired this—no one had recommended it to me, I thought romance novels were pretty tacky, and I’m not a huge fan of books with main character names in them.
(I was six when I first learned about Harry Potter but it took me another two or three years to actually start the series.)
I suppose it was some combination of my doomscrolling-induced anxiety and its availability with no holds on Libby. But whatever it was,
I
was
RUINED.
I spent the next two years (and counting, now that we’re in 2025), searching for romcoms with brown main characters, quirky health issues that didn’t define them, and wholesome love interests.
After reading 200-300 romcoms since then, I’ve found a few gems like:
Ali Hazelwood’s STEM protagonists who actually have relatable thoughts
Chloe Liese’s neurodivergent but completely badass MCs
Charlotte Stein’s fluffy romcoms (why is fluffy good when it comes to a cake but bad when it comes to a book? I LOVE FLUFF. FLUFF IS FANTASTIC. And just like a cake, her fluff has so much substance and warmth and joy)
Sangu Mandanna’s absolutely perfect witchy romcom with the most wholesome found family
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center, which was marketed to me as a romcom but really felt like a book about falling in love with yourself. Kinda same with
But overall, I was dissatisfied. The romcoms weren’t doing it for me. I kept reading anyway, to find The Perfect Romcom.
One theme started emerging out of my web of frustration: I was quitting books because they glamorized all the things I hate most about contemporary society.
Cars. Overconsumption. Fast fashion. Treating your friends as secondary. Calling the cops without a second thought.
I kept thinking… in a world of your own making, why would you CHOOSE TO BE STUCK IN TRAFFIC?
I live in Seattle, and my breaking point was reading a novel where the protagonist drives from her house (which, in the book, is pretty close to mine) to downtown. I had to put it down because WHY WOULDN’T YOU JUST TAKE TRANSIT?
I love fiction because it unlocks new possibilities.
In our time of inevitable polycrisis, fiction has the power to change the way we interact with ourselves, each other, and the world.
SO WHY ARE WE STUCK IN TRAFFIC?
Prentis Hemphill writes in What it Takes to Heal:
“The first step in any change is imagining that something else is possible for you and for the world. Recovering our ability to imagine what doesn’t yet exist and committing ourselves to what we envision are what carry us through the hardest moments.”
This is fiction.
We’re out here hallucinating entire books.
Entire stories.
Entire worlds.
So, again, I ask:
WHY. ARE. THERE. CAR-CENTRIC CITIES. IN YOUR FICTIONAL WORLD.
Even if other people haven’t articulated my frustration the same way, I do think the emergence of romantasy as a constant NYT Bestseller-topping subgenre reflects that we are all feeling the same way.
We want escapism, but still with stakes.
We want new possibilities, not just for love, but for the place we live.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the witchy romcoms living rent-free in everyone’s brains are in small towns where you can walk or bike or roll everywhere.
Okay but what is a solarpunk romcom
Andrew Sage is best person to explain to you what solarpunk is. His honey waterfall voice doesn’t hurt, either.
Solarpunk is a shining vision of a positive future, a literary and visual genre, and real movement for change, influenced by a diversity of aesthetics and grounded in our existing world, that emphasises the need for environmental sustainability, autonomy, and social justice. Solarpunk is everything from a positive imagining of our collective futures to actually creating it. It derives its name from the cyberpunk genre, but it aims to go beyond what is to what if. Solarpunk inspires a mosaic of possibilities that centre human flexibility and nature’s bounty, which our present world is organised to destroy, but our future world must prioritise.
The romcom I’m writing takes place in a solarpunk San Francisco.
Critically, it is based in the PRESENT, not in the future.
I love Becky Chambers and everything that’s going on with the monk and robot series, but I don’t want this romcom to be in a post-apocalyptic world.
I want to speculate on what if, RIGHT NOW, we build a city that actually works for ourselves, our loved ones, and our lovely planet.
A note on my hopes and dreams
Worst case: I write a mediocre romcom that joins the ranks of all the mediocre romcoms that have come before me.
Middle case: I write a mediocre romcom that gets published and still inspires a handful of people—emerging writers and voracious romance readers alike.
Best case: This romcom (working title BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN) is picked up unwittingly by your average reader who’s not looking for any specific themes, just your well-loved enemies-to-lovers trope. Because the book is wildly commercially successful, we trick millions of readers into realizing WE DESERVE BETTER.
In the best case scenario, you nominate BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN for your spicy guilty pleasure book club and everyone walks out mulling over…
What if we have cities where we can get around without depending on a personal vehicle? Why can’t we have this?
What if we expect our government officials to have a plan to keep us safe during inevitable, more frequent wildfires? Why isn’t this already the default?
What if we had 24/7 libraries, flower-lined bike paths, and affordable mixed-use housing for all? Why doesn’t this exist everywhere already?
And then, these questions live rent-free in your heads until, at the next book club meeting, you decide it’s up to YOU and your friends to create this future together.
Out of the pages, and into the real world.
That’s my dream!
Why Drafting in Public
All this brings me to my newsletter.
The audience is: myself.
(Literally, no one follows me on here and I have 60 followers at @raveenaromance on IG)
I grew up with the tech/startup mentality of “building in public” and it’s done wonders for my personal and professional growth.
So, I’m going to be drafting in public!
Follow along if you want to get unfiltered (and maybe unhinged) writing insights from an author who is attempting to hallucinate her first manuscript draft in 2025.
I'm sorry my book has the main character's title in it, but also I comp Hello Stranger in my query letter, so hopefully that helps? 😂 Cheering you on!