I read very little romance because I find it disappointing.
Interesting, I feel the same way about historical and mystery/detective novels unless they are genre hybrids. But, this is what I think...
There are over 2 million romance and mystery novels published. Actually probably more romance novels due to the internet/self-publishing, and also it's a more supportive writing genre than the others, at least for women. And the best-selling of the genres, which is also somewhat interesting and blew my mind when I discovered it. But that's neither here nor there, just shows that it is possible that you just haven't hit the right one or the one that hits your buttons in the right way.
Again neither here nor there...because well, I think or so I've discovered at any rate, whenever I go into things with "expectations" I am either surprised or disappointed. The artist, writer, director, whatever....isn't trying to meet my expectations probably doesn't even know they exist, he/she is just telling their story. When I come to it, I'm bringing myself and everything I've learned to the party...and well, the degree to which I like it or not, has a heck of a lot to do with what I brought with me. My brother, a conceptual artist, used to say that it was impossible to view art objectively or not to interact with it. Even if you did a work of art that was sections of grass, flowers here and there, dirt and called it something -- people would interact, some would dislike it and see it as well dirt, grass, flowers, others might read things into it, and others might see what the artist was seeing when they put it on display. He actually did this for his undergrad thesis in conceptual art and design, and he was right, people did exactly that. My family did. My father saw grass, dirt, flowers...and wished my brother was landscape artist it was easier for him to appreciate this was hard. My mother thought it fascinating on a psychological level but couldn't see putting in her home. I thought it was a lot of work but also thought it was brilliant in various ways and was torn between envy and pride.
When I was listening to the Smart Bitches podcast, it was fascinating what each romance writer read, not what you'd think. Sherry Thomas writes across genres - YA Paranormal Fantasy , Contemporary Romance, Historical Mystery, and Historical Detective Novel Series - but as a reader, she's been on a science fiction binge, and has read Station Eleven, also the non-fiction novel Sous Chef, and two hot contemporary romances, one about a billionaire female Asian executive and white male writer who she knew as a child and is the sole support of his family. Thomas like's it when the romance trope is subverted a bit, much like I do, and she seeks out those novels that subvert it in some small way. Meredith Duran was reading Abraham Linclon's Team of Rivals, and a romance novel by Aiysha Cole, it;s a historical romance that takes place during the Civil War, between a female ex-slave and Scottish Union Solider, who are both spied for the Union Army, go back to the South and attempt to get information, one by joining the Confederacy, the other by allowing herself become a slave again. It's written by a black woman writer. Another writer who writes contemporary and 1960s astronaut romances, is reading YA Paranormal, and a f/f romance comedy novel.
During the podcast, the interviewer and Duran discuss the ex-slave/union solider spy novel -- and Duran tells the interviewer, she liked it better than the interviewer did because she prefers more plot in her stories, and the interviewer responded, that it wasn't that she didn't like plot, so much as she...wanted more emotion in there, she wanted the cake with icing on top and in the center...or as Duran asked, sometimes it feels as stuff is just happening to a character but the character isn't really changing or evolving. And that can get boring.
I think it depends on what people are looking for or need or desire from stories. Some people want "information" -- whether it be historical, how to, what others are thinking. Some want to solve a problem. Some want to understand an issue better or philosophy or means of developing. I think everyone comes to a story looking for something...which as a writer, I find a bit frustrating at times, because sometimes I just wish they came to it to hear what I had to say. Some do, but usually it's because they, on some level conscious or unconscious are looking for or need to hear whatever it was I needed to say. If they don't want to hear it, are resistant to it, or have no interest or are looking for something completely different -- they most likely will not like my story, and either have an ambivalent or negative reaction to it.
There are three episodes of Whedon's Buffy that never worked for me, but worked for others...Superstar, Storyteller, and The Zeppo, all are from a male perspective, all about female hero worship -- yet the need for the male nerdy sidekick to be the hero of the day. Very similar in a way to what was going on in Whedon's Wonder Woman script or the section I'd read of it. Of the three, I found the Zeppo the least irritating and offensive, but I brought my own baggage to each one. I wasn't open to the story being told. The characters of Jonathan and Andrew did not resonate for me, I find both to be whiny and annoying. I found their perspectives or their male gaze...irritating. Yet, in a way, all three episodes were great episodes...and I could from an objective perspective sort of understand why others loved them. But I can't watch them and despised them.
I wish as a species, humans were less self-involved and more open to things...but I wonder sometimes if such a thing is biologically possible? We don come close at times...(shrugs)
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2017-06-18 01:29 pm (UTC)Interesting, I feel the same way about historical and mystery/detective novels unless they are genre hybrids. But, this is what I think...
There are over 2 million romance and mystery novels published. Actually probably more romance novels due to the internet/self-publishing, and also it's a more supportive writing genre than the others, at least for women. And the best-selling of the genres, which is also somewhat interesting and blew my mind when I discovered it. But that's neither here nor there, just shows that it is possible that you just haven't hit the right one or the one that hits your buttons in the right way.
Again neither here nor there...because well, I think or so I've discovered at any rate, whenever I go into things with "expectations" I am either surprised or disappointed. The artist, writer, director, whatever....isn't trying to meet my expectations probably doesn't even know they exist, he/she is just telling their story. When I come to it, I'm bringing myself and everything I've learned to the party...and well, the degree to which I like it or not, has a heck of a lot to do with what I brought with me. My brother, a conceptual artist, used to say that it was impossible to view art objectively or not to interact with it. Even if you did a work of art that was sections of grass, flowers here and there, dirt and called it something -- people would interact, some would dislike it and see it as well dirt, grass, flowers, others might read things into it, and others might see what the artist was seeing when they put it on display. He actually did this for his undergrad thesis in conceptual art and design, and he was right, people did exactly that. My family did. My father saw grass, dirt, flowers...and wished my brother was landscape artist it was easier for him to appreciate this was hard. My mother thought it fascinating on a psychological level but couldn't see putting in her home. I thought it was a lot of work but also thought it was brilliant in various ways and was torn between envy and pride.
When I was listening to the Smart Bitches podcast, it was fascinating what each romance writer read, not what you'd think. Sherry Thomas writes across genres - YA Paranormal Fantasy , Contemporary Romance, Historical Mystery, and Historical Detective Novel Series - but as a reader, she's been on a science fiction binge, and has read Station Eleven, also the non-fiction novel Sous Chef, and two hot contemporary romances, one about a billionaire female Asian executive and white male writer who she knew as a child and is the sole support of his family. Thomas like's it when the romance trope is subverted a bit, much like I do, and she seeks out those novels that subvert it in some small way. Meredith Duran was reading Abraham Linclon's Team of Rivals, and a romance novel by Aiysha Cole, it;s a historical romance that takes place during the Civil War, between a female ex-slave and Scottish Union Solider, who are both spied for the Union Army, go back to the South and attempt to get information, one by joining the Confederacy, the other by allowing herself become a slave again. It's written by a black woman writer. Another writer who writes contemporary and 1960s astronaut romances, is reading YA Paranormal, and a f/f romance comedy novel.
During the podcast, the interviewer and Duran discuss the ex-slave/union solider spy novel -- and Duran tells the interviewer, she liked it better than the interviewer did because she prefers more plot in her stories, and the interviewer responded, that it wasn't that she didn't like plot, so much as she...wanted more emotion in there, she wanted the cake with icing on top and in the center...or as Duran asked, sometimes it feels as stuff is just happening to a character but the character isn't really changing or evolving. And that can get boring.
I think it depends on what people are looking for or need or desire from stories. Some people want "information" -- whether it be historical, how to, what others are thinking. Some want to solve a problem. Some want to understand an issue better or philosophy or means of developing. I think everyone comes to a story looking for something...which as a writer, I find a bit frustrating at times, because sometimes I just wish they came to it to hear what I had to say. Some do, but usually it's because they, on some level conscious or unconscious are looking for or need to hear whatever it was I needed to say. If they don't want to hear it, are resistant to it, or have no interest or are looking for something completely different -- they most likely will not like my story, and either have an ambivalent or negative reaction to it.
There are three episodes of Whedon's Buffy that never worked for me, but worked for others...Superstar, Storyteller, and The Zeppo, all are from a male perspective, all about female hero worship -- yet the need for the male nerdy sidekick to be the hero of the day. Very similar in a way to what was going on in Whedon's Wonder Woman script or the section I'd read of it. Of the three, I found the Zeppo the least irritating and offensive, but I brought my own baggage to each one. I wasn't open to the story being told. The characters of Jonathan and Andrew did not resonate for me, I find both to be whiny and annoying. I found their perspectives or their male gaze...irritating. Yet, in a way, all three episodes were great episodes...and I could from an objective perspective sort of understand why others loved them. But I can't watch them and despised them.
I wish as a species, humans were less self-involved and more open to things...but I wonder sometimes if such a thing is biologically possible? We don come close at times...(shrugs)