Every time I think I understand romance...

I'm baffled all over again. If I didn't know better, I would have thought the romance novel I'm currently reading had been calculated to be unromantic. He's a merchant, nothing wrong with that, but he disdains the nobility and their ostentatiousness; he always wears clothing as plain as he can get away with. So I guess he's secretly sneering at all the noblewomen who come to his shop and put money into his pocket for fancy silks and tailoring services. *eyeroll* He talks to the heroine as if she were a child, criticizing her behavior and being rather insulting - she remarks that he is doing this three times, yet somehow she fails to actually be angry about his attitude. The heroine totally fails to stand up for herself in any effectual way and seems to have no talents or skills. By page 110 basically no plot has occurred. The author has at least two other books published, so someone keeps buying the things. Why?! *headdesk*

Anyway let's turn this into a group rant thread. What moments of bafflement or forehead smacking have you had recently at the contents of a romance novel you were reading, or maybe a fellow romance writer's statements about romance?

Irysangel said:

Do we have to rant about romance on the romance board? It always feels like enough people rant about romance novels as it is.

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I think there's an important difference between ranting about romance novels as a genre, and ranting about a specific instance in which one failed at being a good romance novel. As romance writers, we should help each other understand what makes a good romance novel, and how the psychology of romance should work within the story. You would not be able to find a group of people who love romance more than the people in this forum, that's why it's an ideal group of people to talk about how to do romance right.

Stacia Kane said:

I think the problem is that it's such a wide genre. Sunandshadow, it's fun to rant about books we disliked or things that made us roll our eyes, but maybe that's not a romance in general thing so much as just one badly-written book, or one book that just doesn't appeal to us?


I know I used to get kind of frustrated at some of the things that seemed to be popular, when they were things I just didn't understand, sigh.

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Did I imply I was talking about a romance in general thing? I didn't intend to. I thought I had been specific that I was talking about one book where I wasn't sure whether it was badly written or something I didn't understand. I wanted to invite people to explain, if they saw why it might have been done that way.

Stacia Kane said:

Well, you actually invited people to rant about bad romances or things other romance writers have said, rather than asking for an explanation, but my point was more that as a moderator I wanted to make sure we all saw the thread as being one for fun rather than genre-bashing, since at least one member already didn't quite get your point.

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What I actually intended the thread for was catharsis and education. I personally see nothing wrong with complaining about a particular 'romance done wrong' especially if the title and author aren't named. I wanted to hear other people say, "I read a romance the other day and in my opinion it failed because it did X, Y, and Z." The someone else could respond, "I read a romance which did Z well because it made sure to do A and B."

Stacia Kane said:

And there is nothing wrong with that, as I believe I've said. I was simply clarifying for the benefit of all of those who didn't see what your intent was, as it was not clear from your post.

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Ok, so long as it's all clarified now. Probably no one is even interested in the topic anyway, lol.