She realized that she could use her position as a widely read author to help teach people with vulvas about sexuality. "The woman-loving woman romance has the potential to, in the fun packaging of a rom-com, teach people to have better sex if they have a vulva, or if they are with someone who has a vulva. A lot of our tips about how sex is, what sex should be, what constitutes losing your virginity, it's all focused on the penis and penetration," she said, noting that most romance media struggle with decentering themselves from heteronormativity.

"That leaves folks with clitorises often unsatisfied because the sex that works for the penis is not as good for folks with clitorises. So, taking the scripts about the penis and penetration out of the picture — [I'm] not saying there isn't penetration in the story, but it just isn't the defining feature of sex — ...and showing this clitoris-focused sex rewrites some troubling messages we get about sex and what it should be," she says.

Stetz-Waters says that the messages about sexuality she hopes to convey to her readers go beyond just women-loving-women (WLW) sex. "I hope, and my dream is — especially because Satisfaction Guaranteed made such a big splash in the media — that we have plenty of folks that are not LGBTQ reading it. I hope that through the packaging of fun romance, it will help some of us have more fulfilling sex."

Kindness is sexy
The theme of Satisfaction Guaranteed is sex positivity. Stetz-Waters packages the rom-com in a fun way for the reader while also providing messages about accepting yourself wherever you are on your sexual journey. She also debunks ideas around promiscuity and sexual experience.

"One of the characters has had very limited sexual experience, and that's a source of shame and anxiety for her. Part of the story is her coming to accept her own experiences and then also going on to have more... that are more fulfilling and more fun," she explained.

While sexuality is the theme, she also hopes readers will take away the gentle and kind tones she incorporated into her writing. "Most of all, I want [readers] to feel the book's kindness. A lot of bloggers and book reviewers mentioned in one way or another that the book is kind. I think that's the biggest selling point. It's funny, but it's also gentle and very loving to all the characters."

Creating a kind book was an essential part of writing a Queer romance for Stetz-Waters. She wanted to write something that she needed as a young adult. "I grew up in Oregon in the '90s, in a vicious anti-Gay time in Oregon's history, and came out during all of that. I just loved the few Queer books that I could get ahold of, and I wanted to be a writer, and I wanted to tell Queer stories... I wanted to do the stories that people could not get ahold of and were hard to find when I was growing up. Since I was 15, that's been my dream."

Now, she is working on creating stories that highlight marginalized identities so that everyone has a chance to see themselves in the pages of a kind and joyful book. "First of all, it's always important to represent diverse people in literature so that folks can see themselves. Also, so that people who don't belong to whatever group it is — whether it's LGBTQ+ or BIPOC or neurodivergent folks — it's important that people outside those communities can see us, and see how much fun we are and feel empathy," she said as she laughed.

Sappy stories for all
Although representation is important, Stetz-Waters also believes that the types of representation people can see matter. "I think with a rom-com, it's particularly important to have Queer characters, because for so long we didn't have any happy endings. When we started to see more Queer books come out, they were often pretty serious and centered on serious issues. That's so important, but it's continued this trend where if you had a Queer character, something bad was going to happen to them.

"I also think it's so important for folks from marginalized communities to see happy endings for themselves, because if you can't picture a happy ending, it's harder to get to it."

Stetz-Waters knows her books are sappy and predictable, but she believes that makes them that much more special for marginalized readers. "I think about all the activists I know who work so hard and deal with so many things, and also just folks who are trying to survive in parts of the country where they're not accepted, and they need a little place to rest. And I think the rom-com is that. It's a place to rest your heart. You know it's going to come out okay, so you don't have to be anxious, you just destress with a rom-com."

With two books in the editing stages now, Stetz-Waters says she will continue to write sugary rom-coms for Queer women. "I think that my characters will probably all be women, cis women. That is my comfort zone; it's a demographic I feel comfortable writing. I have characters who are Lesbian, Pan, and Bisexual, and one character who is undefined — there's one woman in her life who she falls in love with, although she might not, if asked directly, identify as Queer. It's kind of a non-issue for her. So, definitely in the Queer-women spectrum."

As for her next book, Stetz-Waters is happy to announce that it is another sex-positive story, this time centered around the porn industry. "The next story is about a workaholic adult film director who is working hard to bring ethical porn into the spotlight, porn that is not exploitative, that's responsibly filmed, 'cliterate,' and presents a diversity of people. So, she's a workaholic, and in over her head with various projects, and gets the help of a business consultant who's very good at her job but feeling a lack of excitement in her life. Together, they [build] this ethical adult film company, and of course, fall in love."

While she has branched out into other genres, including thriller and YA, Stetz-Waters says she feels most at home with rom-com, "I think that I will stay in rom-coms for the foreseeable future. I love it so much," she said.

Tired tropes
Stetz-Waters' favorite tropes in rom-coms are forced proximity and the popular fake dating. However, her keen romance radar also picks up some of the most tired tropes, ones she says need to hit the road.

"I am not a fan of the 'we hate each other and we annoy each other, and somehow that creates sexual tension.' I like 'opposites attract.' I think it's kind of normal that characters don't immediately connect. I think that makes sense. But that whole 'we hate each other, and that somehow leads to love'? I just don't think that is the beginning of a healthy relationship," she said, laughing.

"Even though I've read some of those that I've enjoyed, there's this little voice in my head that says, 'This relationship is just not going to last.' And some books overdo it. I read one where the woman was physically violent to the man and hates him until the last page. I was just like, 'This is not a portrayal of a healthy situation at all. In real life, this would be bordering on abuse, and it's not sexy.' So that's the one that I think gets overdone sometimes."

She admits her possible aversion to the trope may stem from the fact that the "hate-to-love" trope is often very heterosexualized.

"In that 'we frustrate each other then we fall in love' trope, often that frustration comes from gender roles — like the woman is frustrated with his maleness, and he is kind of frustrated with her womanness, and that, of course, doesn't play out in Queer romance."

One thing that makes Queer romances so special is the way they can subvert classic and problematic gender norms. Stetz-Waters has become a pro at decentering heterosexual ideals in her romances — from making sex clitoral to ditching gendered clichés.

As she brainstorms her next projects, she hopes to continue Queering up the romance genre, this time with some friends-to-lovers.

"I would like to see more friends-to-lovers in LGBTQ+ romance. I think there are a lot of straight romances where the woman has this wonderful cohort of super tight female friends, and I would love to see a romance where it was one of those super tight friends that she falls for... That's one that I think would be good and I [couldn't] see enough of."

If you're interested in picking up a copy of Satisfaction Guaranteed, read along with us this week on Instagram @SGN_books, and keep your eyes open for Karelia Stetz-Waters' fifth release in the "Out in Portland" series, coming in late 2022.