Fic Talk > General Discussion
The romantic debate
mare:
Karah brought up a point in the fanfic survey about romance and how it gets a bad rep. I thought it would make for an interesting debate topic since we've been kind of dead and debateless lately.
So here are some questions for you.
How many of you read romance and or write romance on a regular basis? And do you feel like it tends to get a bad rep? If so what do you feel are some of the misconceptions out there?
How many of you have ever read at least one romance and what was it about it, that made you go back or stop?
Do you tend to leave reviews for what you read?
If you are someone who doesn't enjoy romance, why?
Rose:
How many of you have ever read at least one romance and what was it about it, that made you go back or stop?
I've read and written at least one romance. One of the more memorable romances is Kelly's "Not Your Average Cinderella Story" and another is Julie's "By My Side". Both are fantastic. Kelly's is the perfect example of taking a cliche and putting a fresh new twist on it, along with captivating characters who carry the story through. It was funny, cute and I couldn't stop reading. As for Julie's, there were a lot of issues that weren't strictly romance, that kept my interest along with characters who I'd fallen in love with in her story before that, "Broken".
Do you tend to leave reviews for what you read?
Yes I do.
If you are someone who doesn't enjoy romance, why?
Because if it's not done right, it can be so over the top. Issue after issue after issue. A lot of the time it's the same exact thing! Even the same situation, only the characters change. I mean a couple (realistically) can only go through so much before a relationship dies because of it. In so many romance fanfics they just keep adding on and on and on like a freaking soap opera. At some point it needs to stop, because it just gets repetitive.
Another issue is characters. Characters NEED to carry a romance story. There's too many cliches in the genre that makes characters the top priority. So many times it's a random Boy and then a bland girl who's either too perfect, or over the top flawed at the other extreme. Mary Sues are boring. If the character doesn't capture you, why bother reading?
Sequels! OMG Romance has the BIGGEST problem with this. Unnecessary sequels! Do we have to know how many kids they have in their happy little lives? Or how many times can you screw it up before it would need to end? And of course it doesn't which is just unrealistic and annoying. Authors in the romance genre tend to have the most issues letting go. So then they start sequels that shouldn't be started and it goes back to the repetitiveness that makes you wanna stab the story with a spork LOL.
And sometimes, there's over the top sex scenes. Another thing that'll make me click out. Now, there's a way to do them and keep it tasteful. Sex scenes can be necessary. But man some people use the WORST word choices or go way too graphic and it makes me wanna just click the X at the top of my window LOL.
Now mind you, there's good romances... but they're had to find.
mare:
I'm going to add on another question while i'm thinking about it lol
For those of you that write strictly romance, what is it that makes you stay away from the other genres? Which of the other genres do you find you want to skip and why?
julilly:
How many of you read romance and or write romance on a regular basis? And do you feel like it tends to get a bad rep? If so what do you feel are some of the misconceptions out there?
I don't do either on a regular basis but I have both read and written romance. Romance/love/relationships are a huge part of every day life. Much like movies, I think that it's normal for it to play a role in fanfic of multiple genres. I'm more likely to read a story that has romance as the subplot than a straight up romance.
I think it has a bad rep just because of romance being its own genre but also crossing over. People associate all FF that involves relationships or sex as being romance but it doesn't have to be. It's not all dimestore Harlequin paperbacks. One of my favourite Stepen King novels has romance as a major subplot but it's not all there is to it, it's just part of telling a real life story. Sex is just like swearing, everyone does it!
How many of you have ever read at least one romance and what was it about it, that made you go back or stop?
I've definitely read a straight up romance before, and I'd say it's the quality of the writing that kept me around or kept me coming back. Sometimes it just takes an interesting story written in an interesting way to make you forget that the main focus of the plot is romance. I'd say I'm definitely more fickle though, with a romance if I'm not convinced after the first chapter I'm done!
Do you tend to leave reviews for what you read?
I'm very open about the fact that I am a crap reviewer. I usually try to leave at least two though - one to let the person know I'm reading and another when I finish to let them know how I liked it.
If you are someone who doesn't enjoy romance, why?
Not Applicable! lol
julilly:
--- Quote from: Rose on July 04, 2011, 07:21:06 PM ---I mean a couple (realistically) can only go through so much before a relationship dies because of it.
--- End quote ---
I think this can be a really interesting approach for a romance too. It's rarely seen, most people tend to take the happily ever after route but I think that the destruction of a relationship has the potential to be as interesting as the establishment of one.
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