What do you read romances for? I started out as a teen reading romances because that's what my friends were reading. Then I fell in love with the wonderful, escapist stories. Over the many (many!) years since, I've stuck with romances for the most part because the authors told such wonderful stories that I could relate to. I wanted to become that heroine or experience her story as told by the author.
My tastes in reading varies. I read everything: suspense, romantic suspense, paranormal, historical, and erotic. I read everything except literary or mystery for the most part. Don't like first person stories. The time I limit myself on reading is when I'm writing a new book of my own. What I've noticed in the last few years that publishing houses seem to be pushing stories and writers farther than ever before. No one can have a simple werewolf or vampire story any more. It's got the be the most fantastical, outrageous, brutal, unbelievable story ever written with myths that are so complicated the reader can't keep up with the story line without a companion book or taking notes.
Has anyone else noticed this trend? I recently read two books by different authors, published by the same house. They must either have the same agent and/or the same editors. Both books were so depthy, steeped in their other-world cultures that they were frankly a pain to read. I don't want to have to take notes in order to remember who did what to whom, why this particular magical component won't work against what particular villain because he's immune to whatever because he once drank from the lake of villain-immunity. Really, it's starting to get that complicated.
I honestly, am not interested in such wildly complicated stories because it's exhausting to read them. It's a book. It's a story. It's not life, andthese two books are going to go into the pile for my writer's group giveaway. I won't keep them. Many times I SKIPPED through the mind-numbing scenes. That's not the essential part of the story for me as a reader. I want to know what's going on between the hero and the heroine and what's going to be their struggle. The other stuff interferes to a degree in what I'm reading that book for.
And it's getting annoying because it seems that more and more good stories are getting buried in the craziest plots, the wildest sexual encounters with highly improbable mythical creatures, and the beauty of a good story becomes lost.
Is this really what readers are preferring these days? Am I being old fashioned in my search for a wonderful story that doesn't depend on gimicks or other-worldly legends and myths to hold it up? Is the story really about the story, or is it about all of the bells and whistles that accompany a good story?
I wonder if this is what the author had in mind when he/she sat down to write the original story. Was it what the publisher shaped it into or is it the demands of the marketplace that makes necessary these types of stories?
I don't have the answer to this and I'm only speculating based on my own interests. If one person has this opinion, surely there are more with the same interests.
I'd love to hear what readers think about this topic.
8 comments:
Hi Molly,
I definitely think books can be realistic and enjoyable. I don't need otherwordly stuff to hook me in, but I thin the preponderance of superhero movies has had an impact on what gets published.
I write medical romance and boomer lit, so I prefer to stick to reality. Though most of my heroes are otherwordly - since no one can ever be that perfect!
In our dreams ...
IMHO, I like a sotry that can take me from this world into another--it doesn't have to be paranormal, but I like parnaormal. But I read romance to escape, and when I have to deal too much with the down side of life, the book never makes it to my keeper shelf. Too much baggage is heavy.
--Gabi
Molly, I think that if a book is well crafted it gets the balance right between the other world and the romance and is a joy to read. If I don't find it a joy, I put it down and pick up another
Lynne,
most of the time I'm with you, love a little reality in my reading. I write the medicals and think that we in the medical profession do input the flavor of what it's like to work in a hospital or clinic. That's the reality of it. The fantasy of it is putting that fabulous hero right in the middle of it.
In the medicals I think that we do have a good balance of both.
some of the stuff I've read lately though has me shaking my head and I can usually suspend disbelief quite a lot.
Gabi,
I'm all for taking me from this world into another where the cleaning, cooking, and laundry are done my some mysterious means and leaves me free to do whatever I feel like or chase down a bad guy or two.
Perhaps I'm reading the wrong kinds of paranormal. Some of the stuff I just can't believe, even though it's the type of paranormal I thought I would like.
Anyway, I'll keep trying. There's always another book out there to be read.
Fiona,
you are so right. I used to read every word of every book, wanting to get my money's worth out of it. Then I had a trend that if I wasn't engaged in the first three chapters, I put the book aside and started something new. Now, I'm back to wanting to read every word. some of the books have engaging story lines, but seems to have gotten lost in the world-building. I continue to read thinking that "it's going to get better, isn't it?" But sometimes it doesn't.
I think I'm going to follow your lead and put aside a book that doesn't truly engage me. Unfortunate truth there.
Hi Molly,
I like to read books to escape, too, and I read all sorts, depending on my mood. I guess that's why my TBR pile has so many different types waiting for my attention - from contemporary to medieval. I'm not fond of stories told in the first person, or mysteries and I've recently found a few paranormal/fantasy authors whom I really, really enjoy. But I guess I'm more reality-based, and as a fellow med author I like to take a believable situation and turn my larger-than-life hero inside it!
I guess that's why there are so many different types of books out there, to satisfy many different types of readers.
We will keep writing those wonderful meds and continue to inject a dose of reality in the fantasy of romance.
Thanks for all the input everyone.
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