Okay, so, obviously this isn't, more likely than not, isn't going to be my "final" post about "The John Green Effect". 

And by now, I kind of take that most of you have at least heard about The John Green Effect, which is pretty much how John Green is this person who did so much for writing, and how he saved this and that genre, and etc. and so on and so forth. 

Now, while I understand and agree with a lot of the criticism toward John Green, I have to admit I kind of dislike the subsequent stigma "sad stories" are getting. While in the grand scheme of things, I do admit it's probably one of the last things on the list that's affected by The John Green Effect. Basically, authors who are women, authors who are people of color, authors who don't write "serious fiction", and the list goes on a lot further than that are highly more affected by it, which is why I'm glad the #WeNeedDiverseBooks/#DiversifyYourShelves campaign was started and successful.

With all of that being said, I do have to admit that I kind of dislike how some people are using "The John Green Effect" to kind of devalue any story that is tragic, or sad, or isn't to their "standard of happiness" that a book should have. This isn't to say a book should be 98% sad all of the time, nor should a book or story forcefully use all of these tactics to make the story sad and beautiful and more romantic. I'm not saying that at all.

What am I saying is that if a book is sad or tragic, and it's not done to sensationalize it or the characters or to say one of the characters is beautiful because of this "tragic" reason or the character that loves them is such a good person because they love this person with this issue, then I feel as though it shouldn't be devalued or anything like that. If it's a good book, even if it's sad and doesn't do any of what I said above, then it's a good book.     

I admit it. I like reading books that are sad, or tackle a serious subject (correctly), or that aren't always upbeat for a majority of the novel. (NOTE: THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT NOVELS THAT ARE UPBEAT AREN'T GOOD EITHER; THEY ARE JUST AS GOOD.) 

I, personally, just feel like saying that all "sad" books, just like with "non-sad/happy" books, falling into one area/extreme is too much in my opinion. Not all sad books are bad/shouldn't be read, just like not all sad book are good/should be read. I feel the same way about happy/upbeat books. 

Anyway, just a random thought I had. Hope I made some sense. 

Currently, I'm more or less auto following anyone who follows me, or anyone I recognise from other sites. 

I realise eventually that will lead to madness, so I'm going to say this upfront - when there are groups and pm's and all the other shinies that BL have promised us, I'll probably do some unfollowing. Or follow more people, who knows.