“Love me, love me”: this is the long-awaited title of the saga written by Stefania S., which has won over the youngest readers and which will soon become a television series. A teen drama that, in addition to traditional romantic thrills, tackles delicate topics, from eating disorders to self-harm. “Otherwise, it would have been impossible to tell the stories of thirteen teenagers who speak in the first person: I couldn't pretend that adolescence was all sunshine and roses,” the author explains to Republic. In his frank portraits of youth, sex is not even missing: “The first sex scene is autoerotic, it is part of life. But yes, deep down, it is perhaps also a feminist choice.”
An imperfect heroine
The writer still maintains partial anonymity: she has only revealed half of her name and sporadically shows her face on social networks. A choice made to “protect my personal, emotional and family life”. However, she says she obtained her degree in foreign languages and literature in Turin. Having first emigrated to Spain, she has now lived in Dubai for two years. She chose to give life to an imperfect heroine, June, “like the rest of us. The message is that we are okay like this, even when we fall.” But the possibility of identifying with the fallibility of the characters is not the only secret of its success. The flavor of the lyrics receives, as already mentioned, a zest of chili: “Love me love tells me about many forms of love, even queer. There is a three-way sex scene which has sparked some controversy: but if the woman is consenting, what's the harm? Mine n “It's not a black romance, even if I wrote one: here there is neither violence nor coercion.”
The male protagonist
However, the other half of the apple, the male, is not neglected: James, the male protagonist, “is nevertheless the most fragile. He is bisexual and struggles with toxic masculinity. I wanted to give a lot of space to the masculine world: boys are victims of expectations that they should be strong, virile, dominant. But it hurts a lot of them. My protagonists take a journey and shed this burden. » To emphasize his intention to break the mold, in the third book, James promises June that he will take her last name.
The payback
Stefania S. says she is “happy and honored” to be one of the many writers who are relaunching the genre romance: he defines it as “revenge”. And he recognizes the impact that platforms like Wattpad have had on the sector: “They have also made writing meritocratic, because it is the readers who choose. I continue to write on the platform because I'm used to it and because it's a gym. I chose to leave the entire saga on Wattpad to give those who have followed me since the beginning, and who cannot afford the paper version, the opportunity to continue to enjoy it.” But she likes to read other types of books: “Great Italian literature formed me: Verga, Pirandello, Calvino. But also Susanna Tamaro: my favorite novel is Go where your heart leads you. But I must say that the TV series like Skins have particularly influenced my writing.” A varied cultural background that allowed him to succeed. So much so that she can now devote more and more time to writing: “my childhood dream”.
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