'Thanks for listening: a novel' and 'Asexuality in young adult literature: how Ace/Aro YA challenges amatonormativity and expands possibilities'

Horan, M (2026) 'Thanks for listening: a novel' and 'Asexuality in young adult literature: how Ace/Aro YA challenges amatonormativity and expands possibilities'. PhD thesis, Bath Spa University. doi: 10.17870/bathspa.00017787

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Abstract

This PhD submission consists of a YA novel, Thanks for Listening, and a supporting critical thesis, 'Asexuality in Young Adult literature: How Ace/Aro YA challenges amatonormativity and expands possibilities'. Thanks for Listening is a YA romantic comedy, which follows asexual teenager Mia, the stage manager of her high school drama club, who feels like no one listens to her advice. Disenchanted, she decides to start an anonymous advice account on the short-form video app Tic Tac (an app very like Tik Tok), and soon everyone around her is finally listening to her - they just don't know it. As her account takes off, Mia is also juggling her first real relationship with piano prodigy Sadie, who swears that her asexuality is not a barrier to their relationship - but Mia isn't always so sure. She must also contend with the realization her best friends might take her for granted, and that she's barely noticed. At the start of the novel, Mia is comfortable in her own asexuality but not certain about how it will be received in the context of a romantic relationship, nor how she'll navigate a romantic relationship as someone who is ace. By the end of the novel, she no longer believes her own asexuality will be a strike against her in the context of a romantic relationship, and has learned to trust that her advice and insights are valuable and an important part of her, whether or not they are heeded. The novel is intended to tell the story of an asexual teenager who is not conflicted or traumatized by their asexual identity, as well as an ace character who is interested in pursuing romantic relationships even if they might prove complicated. The supporting critical thesis focuses on five young adult novels with asexual protagonists and explores how young adult novels without romantic plot lines challenge amatonormativity, the prioritization of a single romantic relationship above all others. Through this critical thesis I aim to illustrate ways these novels - through the absence of a romantic plot line - force the characters and authors to question norms and conventions around what must be found within a successful life and a successful narrative. Questioning these norms opens up a wide variety of narrative possibilities for the young adult author.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Note:	The document attached to this record is the contextualising research section of the thesis only. It does not include the creative component, which is the manuscript for the novel, 'Thanks for Listening'.
Keywords:	YA fiction; novel; creative writing; amatonormativity; asexuality; sexuality;
Divisions:	School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities
Date Deposited:	21 May 2026 10:16
Last Modified:	21 May 2026 11:19
URN:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17787

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