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I don't like them and didn't realize the "women's fiction" I was reading, was considered in that genre. The writing was good, kept me engaged, the characters pretty well developed...
Then a few events that were so implausible, I felt duped and stupid just reading them.
So the single young woman goes up on her roof (and we know NOTHING good is gonna happen on a roof) and of course slips and slides off----right into the waiting arms of a Blue Angels fighter pilot who just happens to be standing there, unknown to her. And he is a perfect physical specimen with a perfect personality. And of course falls madly in love with her.
Next, they buy a storage unit sight unseen, which voila, happens to contain an original Picasso which they were able to sell for 11 million.
When I bemoaned this to DH, we both had an case of LMAO. We still joke about it now.
I mean, really. We all "agree" to suspend disbelief to SOME degree in novels, but c'mon. Do authors have to go THAT far out there, into the realm of near impossibility? Nothing anyone can relate to? Why not just start off winning the lottery----same odds.
Would you consider employing this kind of ridiculous over-the-top scenario in your book, if you write?
Does it bother you to read this kind of dreck? (the book was otherwise pretty decent and the author quite well-known).
The grasp of reality that many people have is tenuous at best. I am regularly astounded by people not being able to tell truth from fiction, and not caring about the difference anyway. As far as the outlandish plot devices, recognize that pornography is all about highly stimulating emotions and has next to nothing to do with plot or logic.
What people sometimes miss is that porno is not always about sex. Rabble rousing preachers are engaging in a form of pornography. Politicians engage in pornographic rhetoric all the time. A movie like "Billy Jack" is as much pornography as most X rated films. All the above, in some fashion, trigger a release of drugs in the body - endorphins, adrenaline, oxycontin; all exist without any pill or injection. Every one of the people in control that I mentioned is a legal drug dealer.
I read this kind of book quite a lot. You’ve heard the expression, “chewing gum for the mind”?Sometimes I just don’t want to have to think.
I swear, I’ve read the same book a dozen times, although they have different titles and different authors. This is how they all go....
A divorced career woman’s grandmother leaves her an old beach house, and enough money to maintain it. The beach house needs work. The local handyman/carpenter is ripped and handsome. He is not, of course, just a handyman, but a guy who sold his tech company/medical practice/yacht broker business.
Sometimes the woman starts a B&B, or a bakery, or a restaurant, but they always have the same ending. I’m pretty sure than quite a few authors who crank out formula books make a good living at it.
I read this kind of book quite a lot. You’ve heard the expression, “chewing gum for the mind”?Sometimes I just don’t want to have to think.
I swear, I’ve read the same book a dozen times, although they have different titles and different authors. This is how they all go....
A divorced career woman’s grandmother leaves her an old beach house, and enough money to maintain it. The beach house needs work. The local handyman/carpenter is ripped and handsome. He is not, of course, just a handyman, but a guy who sold his tech company/medical practice/yacht broker business.
Sometimes the woman starts a B&B, or a bakery, or a restaurant, but they always have the same ending. I’m pretty sure than quite a few authors who crank out formula books make a good living at it.
My sister-in-law is a major player and author in this field. She has given lectures how to do this. You are totally correct.
Truthfully, I just want escapism when I read, which means romance and adventure, and maybe some history on the side. Examples of what I like are Ken Follett, Pillars of the Earth series, and the Outlander series. Years ago, I loved The Clan of the Cave Bear series....suspense, history and a bit of bodice ripping.
I read this kind of book quite a lot. You’ve heard the expression, “chewing gum for the mind”?Sometimes I just don’t want to have to think.
I swear, I’ve read the same book a dozen times, although they have different titles and different authors. This is how they all go....
A divorced career woman’s grandmother leaves her an old beach house, and enough money to maintain it. The beach house needs work. The local handyman/carpenter is ripped and handsome. He is not, of course, just a handyman, but a guy who sold his tech company/medical practice/yacht broker business.
Sometimes the woman starts a B&B, or a bakery, or a restaurant, but they always have the same ending. I’m pretty sure than quite a few authors who crank out formula books make a good living at it.
I have a friend who edited books written in connection with the United Nations. International issues, laws, etc. She read romance novels in her spare time as an antidote to all the heavy, tedious reading she had to do in her work life. She wanted to not have to think.
The grasp of reality that many people have is tenuous at best. I am regularly astounded by people not being able to tell truth from fiction, and not caring about the difference anyway. As far as the outlandish plot devices, recognize that pornography is all about highly stimulating emotions and has next to nothing to do with plot or logic.
What people sometimes miss is that porno is not always about sex. Rabble rousing preachers are engaging in a form of pornography. Politicians engage in pornographic rhetoric all the time. A movie like "Billy Jack" is as much pornography as most X rated films. All the above, in some fashion, trigger a release of drugs in the body - endorphins, adrenaline, oxycontin; all exist without any pill or injection. Every one of the people in control that I mentioned is a legal drug dealer.
I remember a friend quite seriously asking me after I said I'd read The Da Vinci Code if I
"believed" in it. I replied that it was a novel and wasn't meant to be believed in. She looked confused. I think it was the word "novel".
I remember a friend quite seriously asking me after I said I'd read The Da Vinci Code if I
"believed" in it. I replied that it was a novel and wasn't meant to be believed in. She looked confused. I think it was the word "novel".
Dan Brown is an interesting author. FWIW, his main character was supposedly based upon Jos. Campbell as a somewhat tireless and adept repository of historical trivia sent on missions. If you know anything about Campbell, the idea is beyond stupid. His books are fun reads, most or all supposedly taking place within a one or two day period of time, which leads them to breathless plots and little time to think about facts.
In my mind, the only socially important book he wrote was "Inferno," which was along the lines of classical sci-fi in positing a "world" to get a conversation started on a taboo issue, without direct antagonism. It was largely ignored by public and press. The film version of the novel was the antithesis of it and deserves to be shoved into the deepest dankist vaults of Hollywood as a true stinker, worse than Da Vinci Code by far. It was after that film adaptation that I lost any remaining respect for Brown as an author, and placed him at the lower ranks of the class of "stories for money" that includes Geo. Lucas.
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I wish romance novels had an "R" for romance on the spine in the library. Usually, the cover art is a dead giveaway, so that's helpful.
Otherwise, it's all the same boring, tired story.
BUT, believability isn't necessary for me to enjoy a tale. If it's written in a way that you know we're all agreeing to a flight of fantasy, that's fine with me. Like Stranger in the Lifeboat or Lost and Found by Brooke Davis, or the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
I have never read a Romance novel. Guy here... I will only say this. The harder real life becomes, the more attractive fantasy becomes, in all of its forms.
I have never liked real life. It is too hard, messy, and unfair. I am a dyed in the wool escapist. I hate drugs and drunkenness, so my escape of choice is movies and books. Well made and with tongue firmly in cheek, I enjoy a movie or books that push the limits of how good the good guys are and how bad the bad guys are. Ditto for plot scenarios as long as they stay true to the characters. Often, characters are idealized, so they are better looking, braver, more honest, etc.
With feel good movies, it is even easier to accept an extreme of idealism in plot, character, and outcome.
We all have our limits on what we consider ridiculous, but a certain amount of fantasy is appealing, and the worse life gets, the more appealing it is to stretch fantasy to its limits. Life as we wished it would be. It is indulgent, but I can see the appeal.
Last edited by Igor Blevin; 01-18-2022 at 07:49 AM..
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If you know anything about Campbell, the idea is beyond stupid. His books are fun reads, most or all supposedly taking place within a one or two day period of time, which leads them to breathless plots and little time to think about facts. 
