This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/Moonymont on 2024-10-08 11:15:05+00:00.
INTRODUCTION
The advent of the world wide web fueled many hobbyist pursuits. People from the MENA region were no different, their main hubs being forums spread all over the internet, all with their main points of attraction. Anime/Manga, Movies, TV shows, and yes, literary work. Which is our main topic for today.
INFLUENCES & BEGINNINGS
Real stories and oneshots:
All forums had their own subforums for written stories, some more robust than others. Early on, there was no differentiation between what was a real story, or what was pure fiction. Forum visitors didn’t really care much about it, though, so it continued on that way for a while. The posted stories tended to be short and contained in the OP (unless the poster deliberately trickled it through multiple posts in hopes for more engagements). There was no regulation of story sources, and no rewards for posters save for very short and unspecific replies.
Translation of romance novels:
The translation of Harlequin Romance novels by the company branch in Cyprus into Arabic brought their novels into a new audience, and soon enough Lebanese and Egyptian publishers raced to get their hands on publication rights, adjusting the novels and neutralizing some of the references this new audience would be confused and alienated by. Internet forums had the lion’s share with driving the interest, posting the novels serially in written form and then later on by scans. Some even established teams to purchase and translate the original copies and post them in the same serial manner at first, then by downloadable word files locked behind reply-wall, therefore driving more traffic into their forums.
TV shows and series:
While the translated novels did ignite an interest in written romance novels in online spaces at the time, it’s the local TV shows that built the beats of the stories written. Now extending beyond a few posts, these new stories, closer to the people’s hearts by their familiar settings and beats, quickly gained an audience that rivaled and then surpassed that of the translated novels reigning over the literary sub-forums back then.
Societal issues and daily life:
If I were to describe Arabic web romance novels with a few words, they would be serialized women’s fiction. Not only are the relevant subforums and their management populated by women, the stories always talk about the challenges women of the region experience. Some extend beyond women’s issues, though, and would discuss societal and political issues at length, and in such a raw way that raised awareness to many tragedies the region faced and is still facing.
KNOWN CONVENTIONS AND TROPES
Arabic romance novels as published online tend to be long, the TV shows influence contributing in them having something like a slice-of-life/telenovela feel (those were popular, too, I should note. The Lebanese also brought them to broadcasting channels with their dubs. My mom used to watch Rosalinda and all the other Thalia works). The novels would star many characters, most of them to be paired up in the most dramatic plot-lines possible. There were fandoms and hatedoms for many of them.
A few other known tropes/conventions:
- Second marriage and its complications
- Marriage to quell a blood feud between two rival clans (most of them having a sorta Enemies-to-Lovers plot-line)
- Family drama of all shades and forms
- Depictions of strong familial bonds and female friendships
- Not setting the stories in one particular country and writing the story in Modern Standard Arabic*****
*****This is one point I want to talk more about, because it’s an interesting one and a convention I personally followed on a number of occasions and still do.
Anyway, I think it’s interesting because it has a marketing and escapism aspects.
Marketing, because novels written in local dialects tend to mostly attract those of the same locality, while those written in MSA would provide a writer a bigger audience.
There are outliers, of course. Egyptians have one of the most recognizable and easiest dialects (since they have a massive media industry), so stories written in Egyptian dialect tend to have a more diverse audience than say, a Khaliji dialect. There’s also the case when the story is just that good that people would read on regardless, like the time I saw Egyptian women casually waxing poetry about a Qatari writer’s works on a Facebook post asking for recs, only for their comments to be supported by others of different nationalities.
So yes, MSA + Unspecific Location combo became quickly accepted, so common in frequency that it became a trope itself.
Escapism, because using MSA kinda masks where a writer is from. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the ongoing wars and instability wreaking through the MENA region. This is only my theory, but I think this choice some writers make in using MSA and setting the story somewhere unspecific gives a sense of comfortable distance for the writers and their audience who are unknowingly experiencing the same grief. It gives them the joy of pursuing their hobbies without having to mind the reality of their situation.
Sometimes I would be following a story and later realize a writer is from a country undergoing hardships from her apology for the lack of updates. I remember this particular Libyan writer, pen-named Bard al-Mashaa’er (Coldness of Feelings) that used to post novels with a steady schedule, until she began her latest story, her epic political romance Junoon al-Matar (Madness of the Rain). She was away for years, leaving her readers wondering and praying for her safety, only to recently make her return and continue on with her novel.
Some writers, though, don’t return.
AUDIENCE
Passionate and unrestrained. Readers wouldn’t shy away from their critiques, and would analyze each chapter with words and words of predictions and cheers, which writers fueled with rewarding the correct ones with a mention at the relevant chapter update. Later on and with the rise of social media, Facebook groups became a new host for their discussions, with each writer having her own group.
CURRENT STATE
The status of the Arabic romance web novels scene changed. Most popular forums fell off radar. Rewity forum, being one of the biggest surviving forums, continues to host new and updating novels to this day. The rest are either on social media or on Wattpad.
For a decent time now, publishers have picked up on the potential market for online-published novels, actively browsing the forums and Facebook groups in search for writers with a considerable following to publish their works traditionally. Some even get adapted to the live-screen.
FUTURE
I think it’s a hobby with a massive industry potential, especially with the appearance of companies like the Jordan-based Abjjad offering e-book reading services in exchange for a subscription. Maybe the next step would be an e-book publishing service capitalizing on it?
For now, it’s a beloved hobby partaken by many in the MENA region, done for the very passion of it. I know it’s accompanied me in my teenage years, and developed my interest in both reading and writing. It’s introduced me to many great writers, many interesting intricacies, and many valuable perspectives.
Thank you for reading.