The Question of Compromise

[sartorias]

Yesterday's discussion about synopses led to this exchange, which I thought might be useful for further exploration.

green_knight made a response to a line from fashionista_35's comment, I fall firmly in the shooting myself in the foot category in that I refuse to compromise.

by saying: It's a continuum. I've looked at some of the things I've written on this topic (

Comments

[kateelliott]

[sartorias]

Oh, I remember that! I think the gatekeeping changes for different people, not just because some handle iffy subjects better than others (or appear to) but because an author with a following will light up the "market" side of the editorial brain, where a new writer won't.

[kateelliott]

I remember that Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer caught quite a bit of flak for a scene in one of their collaborations, where a willing woman throws herself at the male protagonist and he sleeps with her, even though he will end up with someone else. The hero is not in a relationship and has only just met his future love by this point, he is not in love with her yet. Yet some readers felt he was being unfaithful by sleeping with the other woman and infidelity is a hot button issue for many habitual romance readers.

Cora

[ex_fashioni]

Oh Lordy, ain't that the truth, Cora? It boggles (not to mention frustrates) me no end when the diehard romance readers can't look beyond "but he's MET the twuuuuue wuv, he can't possibly sleep or even look at anyone else!"

Because that takes a valuable sheen of realism off-- and it's so odd how so many readers demand the fantasy in the contemporary (should be realistic) romance but are willing to let all manner of tropes be bend any which way in paranormal and fantasy romances.

It makes my head hurt.

[kateelliott]

If I recall their blog correctly, Bob Mayer fought for the "hero has sex with other woman" scene by arguing that no unattached straight male would pass up a willing woman waiting for him in his bed. But of course, Mayer does not originally come from the romance genre

[sartorias]

Yes--this is exactly why I tend to skim over a lot of cross-over novels that lean heavily on the romance tropes; these constraining rules make the stories too much like one another, too predictable.

[kateelliott]

The saddest thing is that you hear a lot of romance readers complain that they are sick of paranormals (or regencies or romantic suspense or whatever), because there are too many of those books and they're all the same. Yet those same readers often balk at anything that touches upon one taboo or the other.

Cora

[sartorias]

Yep. Talk about sending mixed signals!!!

[ex_fashioni]

And not just that, but the editors, when asked at panels what they're looking for, will inevitably say something to the tune of, "Oh, we're looking for something different-- something a little out of the box, that pushes the envelope." And you send them what they say they're looking for, and it oftentimes gets turned down with the excuse of "It's too different. It'll be too difficult to sell to our readers."

AUGH!