Comments | bethbethbeth: Why we read [what we read]

bethbethbeth

Why we read [what we read]

Feb 22, 2005 19:02

The other day, I was reading a new chapter from a pairing-specific WIP (which pairing it was is irrelevant, since I could be talking about any ship-centric story in HP - or any fandom, for that matter), and I found myself doing the fanfic equivalent of checking the clock to see if it was time to go home. Now understand, I'm not talking about a ( Read more... )

meta, meta_reading

Comments 51

meredyth_13 February 23 2005, 00:47:57 UTC

No - it's absolutely not just you. I also love good plotting, but I get bored by the plotting if it takes you away from the main pairing for any length of time. It doesn't matter if it's well written, or well thought out or anything. I just want to see what the pair are up to, and as you say, that can be any kind of interaction. I dont mind if it's one of the pair exploring part of the relationship by talking with someone else, or doing something else, as long as the focus remains on the relationship.

I think my other thing (and this is also purely a matter of taste) is when the author tries to match up absolutely everyone - whether het or slash, in the story. While an occasional side issue of romance or relationship is interesting, if a story is posted for one pairing, then that's really the pairing I'm wanting to read about.

Glad to know that someone else has the same reaction - I thought I was just being too particular (or had too little an attention span - which is probably true). : )

bethbethbeth February 23 2005, 12:29:08 UTC

Allowing for the fact that we may both just have short attention spans (*g*), yes...and I take your point where the multiple pairings are concerned. Of course there's more than a single couple together (or getting together or breaking up) at any given time in the real world, but in fanfiction, I'm usually distracted when there are two many developing relationships, especially if the story keeps forgetting about one or more of them.

Now, I don't have this problem with stories like McKay's (scribbulus_ink's) "Seasons of Mists," but she set that up as a soap opera, so I went in expecting to jump back and forth between story lines.

luthien February 23 2005, 01:02:10 UTC

You know, I get the feeling that the problem you mention is not a reader problem, or a labelling problem, but a writing problem. More specifically, a pacing problem. If the writer has the pacing right, then the reader *won't* get bored waiting for the next interaction between the two main characters. The leadup to their next encounter should serve to crank up the reader's expectation, not bore the reader into indifference.

If you're surprised when an apparently gen story suddenly develops a romance, or a romantic story suddenly develops a plot, then I'd say that the author hasn't built up to either thing properly. Shouldn't the sequence of events in any well-written story *seem* natural in retrospect, regardless of the genre of story?

(Apologies for any lack of coherence in the above. Am quite unwell today and probably shouldn't be attempting communication involving complete sentences. *g*)

tiferet February 23 2005, 01:55:29 UTC

Thanks.

My stories are partly gen and partly het and partly slash, but I have never had this problem--people don't seem to mind that the romances pop up when it seems to be time, and that the stories are not pure romance.

The only people who've ever complained are people who won't read het and people who won't read slash, because in my fanfic AU, as in the real world, both kinds of relationships do occur.

luthien February 23 2005, 02:14:01 UTC

people don't seem to mind that the romances pop up when it seems to be time

Then clearly the pacing works in your stories, and the progression of those events seems natural to the reader in retrospect.

bethbethbeth February 23 2005, 11:46:58 UTC

Oh, believe me...I certainlly don't object to part gen/part romance. In fact, as I was writing this entry, a couple of long stories came to mind (Gateway Girl's "Blood Magic" and Sam Vimes' "Stealing Harry") which both are very plotty, and yet both have developing/established slash and het relationships within the larger story. But yes, I'm all too familiar with people who are thrown out of stories just because of a particular genre of relationship because it's one they can't read for some reason.

Thread 5

valis2 February 23 2005, 02:17:59 UTC

I understand what you're saying. I've "skipped" past writing before to get to the main pairing because I really wanted romance, and I wasn't interested in the other characters.

In hindsight, I wish I had written my WIP differently. I would have left off the other plot entirely. After a year in fandom I realize that many people do not want to read a 100,000+ word romance and be distracted by too much extra plot. I'm certain that I've lost readers over it.

The next story I write will follow the label more precisely.

From Daily Snitch iczer6 February 23 2005, 03:55:33 UTC

After a year in fandom I realize that many people do not want to read a 100,000+ word romance and be distracted by too much extra plot. I'm certain that I've lost readers over it.

True.

I think it depends on why you're reading the story. If you're reading it for the pairing then you probably don't want to have to wade through page after page of plot or rambling about characters and situations you're really not interested in.

[This is part of the reason why I burned out on GW fanfic. It seemed that every decent romance was some looooonnnng plotty piece where it took five chapters for the main pairing to meet, and twenty for them to kiss, and 30 before they had sex. It just got so tedious].

On the other hand if you're reading a gen fic then you are there for the plot and things like romance can bog it down and get in the way. [Not always though.]

Re: From Daily Snitch bethbethbeth February 23 2005, 15:49:11 UTC

It's interesting that you and I both use the phrase "wade through" and that you also include "...bog it down..." because reading long stories that are 'off,' for whatever reason, can absolutely feel like trudging through molasses/treacle.

GW...that's Gundam Wing?

auctasinistra February 23 2005, 08:48:48 UTC

After a year in fandom I realize that many people do not want to read a 100,000+ word romance and be distracted by too much extra plot.

The phrase "extra plot" makes me smile. We don't want extra, we want exactly the right amount of plot. :) I agree with Beth that sometimes the story leaves the people we're interested in and goes off to do other things, and I too will skip along to get back to the good stuff. That's not too much plot; as someone else said, it's a failure to write the story well. Plot isn't the opposite of romance, or the contradiction of it. You can have them both, at whatever level you want, as long as you weave them together effectively.

Thread 12

shayheyred February 23 2005, 02:28:32 UTC

Well, see, now I am perplexed. Sound like you're saying there's a difference between a well-plotted story with a slash romance and a slash romance that happens to have a plot. I agree with you that all elements have to be integrated, but what does that make of a story where -- from time to time -- the plot must be advanced as well as the romance? Are those stories you really don't want to read? Or is it just fanfic of which you speak?

bethbethbeth February 23 2005, 12:45:13 UTC

I was going to say that there's a difference between fanfic and pro work in this regard, but maybe there's not. I think it's about how the story is introduced in the first place. So...with Pride and Prejudice, for example, there's more happening in the story than just the Elizabeth/Darcy relationship, but all the other plot elements tie into both the (titled) theme of the novel and to the developing relationship between the main characters. That's definitely a romance novel (as I define them), but with plotty elements which support the romance.

Then there are stories set up to be read as character-specific tales. I don't know if you've read Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles, but the focus is definitely on Lymond himself, regardless of the wonderful supporting characters (or the presence of a number of romantic relationships, not all of which directly involve Lymond ( ... )

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bethbethbeth February 23 2005, 12:50:34 UTC

Your second point, yes. *g*

But, see...I've been reading far too many stories recently which start out by developing a relationship and then wander off into politics or a mystery or whatever, and leave the primary relationship gasping for air.

Believe me, there's nothing more annoying than rushed, out of character stories which almost scream "Screw setup! Here's the good stuff!" but the reverse can be almost as frustrating to read.

bluemeanies4 February 23 2005, 20:16:56 UTC

I guess it ties into a common problem. There are enough people in fandom who don't want to read a story with a pairing they don't like, so a het or slash or pairing label is frequently requested and granted so that people know what to skip. This can lead to mistaken impressions if the story really is about, say Snape as he is viewed by the trio where Ron and Hermione are dating but not the focus. The writer feels obligated to put the R/Hr (or H/Hr, or D/H, or ect.) in neon lights cause some people will rant in a review, or complain about having been lead in and investing time to only have to hit the back-button. So what was essentially a Snape story, or a complex multiplot story gets billed as romance because it is expected that a ship be declared to draw readers who will and prefer to read the pairing in and warn those who have a viscerial dislike for a pairing to stay away. This might lead to eronneous expectations.

bethbethbeth February 23 2005, 20:20:52 UTC

Absolutely...and this seems to be one of the most often seen complaints from the gen-focused people: that unless a story is 'marketed' as a romance (or as smut), almost nobody's going to read it.

To be honest, there are pairings I automatically shy away from myself, but when forced to read some of those stories later, I often find I made a big mistake. Mind you, I often find I made a big mistake by reading stories which feature pairings I *like*, but that's another story. *g*