Quote:
Originally Posted by Sil_liS
I don't see why people would have a problem with formulaic stories. Most TV shows are formulaic and there are plenty of people watching them. How many versions of CSI are there?
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There are plenty of people not watching any of them, too
It's more a matter of different people preferring different levels of formula vs. novelty (in genre theory you hear a lot about
convention vs.
invention). It's the readers who prefer very high levels of invention and those who prefer very high levels of convention who have the most trouble communicating.
Also, while I would propose that formula is at the crux of the OP article and the phenomenon it analyzes, we're seeing some people respond to "genre" as a reference to speculative fiction, as opposed to realist fiction, when in fact genres like romance and mystery belong to the latter category.
My hypothesis is that people who respond strongly to formula also tend to read a higher volume of material. In other words, a romance enthusiast is more likely to always be reading a romance, and to move through them quickly. A general reader is unlikely to match the pace of the romance (or mystery, or thriller) enthusiast, and even if they do, their impact on sales is not as focused. The performance of genres that include highly formulaic sub-genres is driven to a large degree by outlier enthusiasts.