Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Hands up who reads romance novels

After a brief discussion with Marilyn, I wanted to amend my earlier post to indicate that my reflections are the amalgamation of (unfortunately) several plagiarized stories by several romance writers and not one, specifically. Secondly, the expression "reams and reams" is an illustration of the use of hyperbole.

But the point of my message stands: Quality varies widely.

Sherry

Well, of course.

But is that really THE point? There is something like a couple of thousand L&C stories on the archive, are there not? How would the fans here react if someone read two or three of those, decided they were horrible and subsequently made it sound as if ALL stories there were just as bad?

It wouldn’t be pretty.

So, the core issue isn’t whether quality varies widely in romances but whether it varies any more widely PERCENTAGE-WISE than in any other fiction genre? Quite literally, there are simply more romances all the way around to choose from than ANY other genre, past, present and most likely future, and so, sure, it’s going to be much easier to luck up on duds and a lot more work to find the gems. The gems ARE out there, however, as well as a great number of satisfying, well-written romances and even unintentional blanket statements dismissing the supposed quality of a few of them as representative of them all are guaranteed to raise the hackles of their “fans”, too.

Besides which, consider this - if we wouldn't accept judgment of L&C fan fictions as a whole from someone who has only read one or two, just how many romances should someone have to read for a comparative "fair" sampling of that genre? It boggles the mind . . .

Beverly :-)
http://www.booksanctuary.com

Beverly wrote:

Oh I volunteer for that job. Good, bad, or indifferent quality, I just wanna sit around and eat bon bons and read romances all day. (Are there romances on tape? Can I redeem myself by listening to them on the treadmill?) Then I'll deliver my opinion when I'm good and ready. (Per where I started my post, I average one or two category romance a year...but I'd gladly suffer more.)

Sherry (Who thinks there ought to be an RWA reading room somewhere...with an espresso maker, of course.)

That's what my best friend did, and now no matter what I tell her she thinks fanfic has no quality and all the authors either have no imagination or no basic grammer skills. :rolleyes: *sigh* This is the longest standing arguement we've ever had.

Quite a few, actually, but I'm not sure if they'd be as readily identifiable as romances as paperbacks would. One would probably have to be able to recognize the names as "romance" authors to find them. I know Krentz has several of her newer books in audio format under both Krentz and Amanda Quick. Nora Roberts and Linda Howard would also be good ones to look for in audio because they're both as prolific as Krentz. I'm thinking I've heard both Jo Beverley and Mary Jo Putney talk about audio versions of some their recent books but don't quote me on that. And even if there aren't "commercial" audio versions available, a lot of single title romances have been converted to audio for library "books on tape" through the years, so one could ask at the local library.

Beverly
http://www.booksanctuary.com

[QUOTE]That's what my best friend did, and now no matter what I tell her she thinks fanfic has no quality and all the authors either have no imagination or no basic grammer skills. :rolleyes: *sigh* This is the longest standing arguement we've ever had. /QUOTE]

Exactly. It can be like banging one’s head on a brick wall. Now multiply that frustration level by about a million and it comes close to what romance readers face all the time.

Just for comparison and to put this in some type of perspective, ROMANTIC TIMES is the best-known print magazine focusing on and/or reviewing on romance novels, even if it isn't the most respected, which is a completely different discussion that I won't get into here. Anyway, RT makes the claim, or it used to, that it routinely reviews at least 150 NEW romances each month . . . and that doesn't even cover ALL romances published each month. Now, multiply that by every month for the last decade, much less the last 30 years going back to the historical romance boom in the 1970s, and the numbers are staggering.

And yet, romance readers routinely, and I literally mean routinely, have people come up to them and say some variation of “I don’t read romances because they’re trash.”

Excuse me? They don’t read them, have never read ANY, and yet they KNOW they’re trash? We’re not even talking about sampling one or two or even a fair representative sample out of MILLIONS as a basis for passing judgment on an entire genre. We’re talking about a total lack of information. Period.

Oye doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Beverly :-)
http://www.booksanctuary.com

One of my friends has people who comment about how she "cranks those things out." She simply smiles sweetly and says "I don't crank. I write." Another friend had 6 books published in a 7 month period in category romance. That's the page equivalent of "Gone with the Wind." It's work any way you slice it.

On a different note, I got an email from a reviewer this morning that he'd received "The Call" from a publishing house earlier this week and will become their first male romance author. I can't wait to see his take on romance.

I thought everyone might enjoy this.

I know I'm coming to this conversation a little late, but I wanted to respond, so... No, I don't read romance novels. My reading tends to be more of the thriller variety. I do enjoy a good love story (like anything by Nicholas Sparks), but that's as close as I get to the romance genre. I read lots of Christian fiction, with Dee Henderson being my favorite, and even though her books are geared toward young adults, I love anything written by Lurlene McDaniel.

Jana (who is off to read The Wedding, which she received for Christmas)

I personally don't read romance. I read mostly science fiction and fantasy, as well as novels by Dean Koontz and Stephen King. I even read the occasional Tom Clancy novel (I like the Jack Ryan series, but not any of the others). I also read poetry once in a while.

Oh, alright, I suppose I should weigh in here...

Yes, I read romance novels -- I usually prefer the little category romance ones, actually, since they're shorter and there's less chance for pointless angst Longer stories don't require stupid conflicts, but they seem to be a favorite fill material for some writers. I will read full-length stuff if it's an author I trust. I'll read pretty much anything by Jayne Ann Krentz (and also whatever she writes as Amanda Quick or Jayne Castle) -- she writes to a fairly predictable formula, but what the heck, I like the formula <g> And she usually has some sort of intrigue/mystery plot going. The only thing I don't like is her recently developed habit of writing books that are only half a romance -- H & h are probably sleeping together by the end of the book, but she makes you wait til the sequel for anything like mutual "I love you"s and committment. ) since my early teen years -- loved Isaac Asimov and most of what I saw by Robert Heinlein. Loved Anne McCaffery, Robert Aspirin and then moved up to Lois McMaster Bujold. But again, I probably won't read a new SF novel unless it's an author I trust.

Of course, these days, I do most of my reading online <g> so I haven't got as much time for novels...

I've read a smattering of mysteries, all of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books, some P.G. Wodehouse & E.M. Forster, political humor by P.J. O'Rourke, and the "Mrs. Pollifax" series of spy novels by Dorothy Gilman, about a 60+ lady who volunteers to work for the CIA and turns out to have a talent for it. And all sorts of other odds and ends.

I prefer fiction, but I do like non-fiction about the craft of writing, social-sciences topics, and various other things.

On the book-owning debate, I have to confess I prefer to own my books, so that I can go back and re-read whenever the urge strikes (assuming I can *find* the book I want ). But I also have to confess that I'm looking at taking some of the ones I haven't looked at in years to the used-book store... so that I can buy new books, of course!

PJ

I also prefer to own my books, though I wonder if that's entirely wise, as I lost most of mine in the fire. I'm going to have to work on replacing my collection now.