This thesis is a Composition and Rhetoric study of the monster romance genre, a growing yet often misunderstood site of rhetorical activity. It centers on a survey, “Reader Perceptions of Shame, Empowerment, and Genre in Monster Romance Fiction,” distributed through Instagram to 176 readers. From this data, the project analyzes both quantitative trends and qualitative responses to examine how readers describe their emotional and interpretive relationships to the genre. Grounded in rhetorical genre theory and affect theory, particularly the work of Kenneth Burke, Carolyn Miller, Charles Bazerman, Anis Bawarshi, Sara Ahmed, and Eve Sedgwick, this study approaches genre as something shaped through social interaction and emotional experience. The analysis identifies four central themes in reader responses: identification, comfort and desire, shame and stigma, and empowerment and belonging. Together, these themes show how readers use monster romance to explore non-normative identities and desires while also navigating and reworking cultural stigma. Ultimately, this thesis argues that readers do not simply consume genre, but actively participate in creating it. It concludes that monster romance operates as a participatory rhetorical ecosystem shaped through reader engagement, and points to the need for further research into reader-driven genre formation.
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My place within the community is what inspired me to create this project, which consists of a sustained analysis of survey results gathered via social media. Through this survey, I gathered 176 responses from other readers within the monster romance community. I asked detailed, but open-ended, questions to investigate how readers interact with the genre and how they articulate that interaction. (2)
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This project is guided by three interconnected research questions inspired by my own positionality as a reader within the community: 1. How do readers of monster romance articulate their emotional relationships to the genre? 2. What role do readers play in shaping monster romance as a genre? 3. How does monster romance function as a site for transforming stigmatized emotions into sources of empowerment and belonging? (3)
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Monster romance is a subgenre of romance fiction in which one or both romantic partners are non-human creatures. While paranormal romance (often featuring vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural beings) has existed for decades, even centuries, monster romance distinguishes itself through its embrace of radical physical difference. The monsters in these narratives are not simply humans with fangs or the ability to transform, they are genuinely, visibly non-human. (4)
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many monster romance stories feature the “fated mates” trope, which means that the monster recognizes the human as their desired partner for life, often through some kind of supernatural or biological mechanism (soul bond, mating bite, resonating chest parasite). (5)
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Another mainstay within the genre is a frequent and explicit conversation of consent. While some texts do not adhere to this convention, there is a concerted effort within many representative works (such as Ice Planet Barbarians and Duskwalker Brides) to make sexual encounters a matter of choice, even within the bounds of romantic compulsion or “mate” bonds. The monsters may be physically powerful, possessive, or dangerous, but they negotiate boundaries with their partner and honor them. This combination of intensity and care is essential for the genre and is displayed throughout many of the given examples. (6)
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Body diversity among human protagonists also appears frequently in monster romance. Plus-sized heroines, disabled protagonists, neurodivergent characters, and gender non-conforming characters are somewhat common in monster romance in ways that readers celebrate. When the love interest is a monster, the protagonist’s size sixteen body or chronic pain or social anxiety becomes less remarkable, and is less of a barrier for desirability. (6)
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perhaps most importantly, the monster’s difference from humanity is treated not as something to overcome but as part of their desirability. The monster is not still handsome despite their tusks or claws, but they are attractive because of their entire monstrous being. Readers are not asked to imagine the monster as secretly human, not asked to wait for the Beauty and the Beast transformation, rather they are asked to desire the monster in their monstrous form. (7)
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The boundaries of the genre remain very fluid—is it monster romance if the creature is a vampire? Werewolf? Gargoyle? Lovecraftian horror?—and though a full accounting of these questions is outside the scope of this project, this ambiguity is itself productive for genre analysis. (7)
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as Charles Bazerman (2011) and Anis Bawarshi (2001) have argued, genres emerge from and are sustained by the social actions and practices of the people who use them. Readers are not passive consumers of genre conventions; they are active participants in creating, maintaining, and transforming what a genre is and what it can do.
In the case of monster romance, this reader-centered understanding of genre is particularly important. This genre has developed largely outside traditional publishing. (9)
Here's the abstract:
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