Quote:
Originally Posted by Bilbo1967
My only beef is with the argument in your final sentence. The equating of popular with good is just wrong. The most popular newspapers are not the best; by that logic, Dan Brown is one of the best modern writers and the best TV programs are all soaps and reality shows. You are correct, I just think your method of argument is flawed  |
Have you read any romance? I'll stack up some of Nora Robert's best against some of the better mysteries or SF out there. She's brilliant at writing friendships and family relationships. some of her plotting (not all, of course) is as rich and intricate as they come (I highly recommend Blue Smoke and Northern Lights to any male who wants to try them).
Not all romance is great stuff - some of it is drek (what's Sturgeons' Law again? 90% of everything is drek?). A lot of "historicals" bear only the sketchiest resemblance to real history. but romance readers, are, by and large, fairly picky in that even if the history doesn't ring true, the relationship arc has to ring true, to be satisfying. Just a happy ending isn't enough... there has to be some belief, garnered from characterization and dialog, that the main characters deserve each other, that they have a chance of being happy together.
I've read SF where the "willing suspension of belief" means suspended by the neck until dead. I've read mysteries where the mystery was solved by a deus ex machina, and not always believable ones. But any romance that doesn't have a *satisfying* ending will hit the wall just as hard.
And no romance has yet left me feeling like I should just slit my wrists. (see the thread on whether modern sf is too pessimistic.)