A Question For Those Of You Who Enjoy Romance Novels

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May. 25th, 2010 | 09:34 pm

So, if you want to punch the characters, is that a feature, or is that a bug?

Like, I'm reading this fantasy novel, which shall remain nameless, and it basically turns into a romance novel a third of the way through. Fine, whatever, I'll finish it. But the three main characters, two male, one female, are involved in a love triangle, and all three of them are idiots. The woman has apparently decided that the way to be a Strong Independent Female is to do stupid things while turning her life into a swirling vortex of drama. Both of her love interests are handsome, successful, rich - they could do way better Action-Girl Drama Queen (AGDQ). The ideal ending to the book would be for both of them to look at AGDQ, say "Y'know what? To hell with her", and then go out and get drunk together.

But I wonder if all the drama a result of bad writing or of design? See, some people (and most of them have two X chromosomes) really enjoy drama. So I'm wondering: do those of you who enjoy romance novels like the drama? Is that the appeal of romance novels? The drama? People acting like hormone-deranged idiots? Like, a romance fan would read about AGDQ, and instead of thinking "Idiot!"...would empathize with her?

And the AGDQ having two rich guys in love with her? Total female wish fulfillment.

On the other hand, Conan of Cimmeria boinks a different wench every story, usually after rescuing her from the bloodstained altar a depraved centuries-old sorcerer. So, male wish fulfillment, I guess.

-JM

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Comments {9}

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from: thralloflargo
date: May. 26th, 2010 02:43 am (UTC)
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Conan technically rapes most of them...

Maybe the novel will climax with a ménage à trois.

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from: jonathanmoeller
date: May. 26th, 2010 08:38 pm (UTC)
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"Maybe the novel will climax with a ménage à trois."

Good Lord, let's hope not.

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from: jonathanmoeller
date: May. 26th, 2010 08:46 pm (UTC)
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I only find romance palatable if there's blood & death involved. Both in fiction and in real life. Like, the last time I had a date, I took her with me to the ghoul-haunted Tomb of Sar-Zelial, the last sorcerer of the blood-drenched pre-Sumerian Empire of the Lightless Sun, and spent a pleasant evening fighting horrors that threatened to break into our reality from Outside.

I can't figure out why she wouldn't return my calls afterward.

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from: mrockwell
date: May. 26th, 2010 06:09 am (UTC)
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You're reading Twilight? 8O

(Oh, no, wait -- you said ACTION Girl Drama Queen. My mistake.)

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from: jonathanmoeller
date: May. 26th, 2010 08:48 pm (UTC)
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No. Just no.

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Al Harron says:

from: anonymous
date: May. 26th, 2010 10:04 am (UTC)
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Conan having sex with a new woman every story is an invention of the unimaginative dreck written by other authors. In the original Howard stories, nubile women only feature in about half of them (a sizeable number of tales don't feature women at all), and of that half, Conan only has sex with about a third of them. Sure, some might be implied as having a sexual relationship later in the story, but it's never stated with any certainty.

The Tor and later Lancer garbage might well be puerile male wish-fulfillment, but the original stories weren't.

Also, Conan never raped a woman, ever. He "never took a woman by force," and given his animal magnetism, it's hard to see why he'd even need to rape anyway.

The Book of Screed - A Question For Those Of You Who Enjoy Romance Novels

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