Twitter never seems to fail me. Especially this month.
There was a post last week where a man (his name was inked out for anonymity) who asked the following question regarding the romance genre:
“Why do readers want books where they can be promised a certain ending? Isn’t part of the experience to wonder where it’s going and how it will end?”
If I may, I’d like to give my take on this answer.
The romance genre is very formulaic. Part A is before part B and part C must come after. One of the core tenants of romance novels is that it must have a happily ever after. Does it make them less worthy to read? Absolutely not.
Plenty of books are formulaic. I have never read a John Grisham novel, but I have seen the movies. Even then, I can tell you exactly the formula for every Grisham novel. Does it make his books any less worthy to read? Absolutely not and his numbers, his NYT Best Selling lists and his profits off of book and movie deals back that up. However, you can’t tell me that the readers of Grisham’s novels don’t know what’s going to happen at the end of his books.
Ever person who has read a Nicholas Sparks book knows what’s going to happen somewhere towards the end of the book, everybody who has read a Tom Clancy book knows what’s going to happen, everyone who’s read a J.D. Robb book knows the formula for it. Most bestselling authors have a formula for their novels because they know what works and they stick with it.
With nonfiction, most people know the entire basis of the story before they pick up the book, why read them? Because they’re interesting, that’s why.
It’s not the formula of the books. It’s how the characters get through their problems to achieve the desired result at the end. Romance novels are no different. Yes, we know the main characters are going to get together at the end, yet the journey is important and necessary to believe the ending. It’s the character development that we see in romance novels, the shy bookworm or the desperate woman who takes over her family’s farm/shop. The brooding, arrogant leading man who learns that the attitude he takes with his employees or friends is not going to win him the heart of the main leading woman. The journey they both take to meet halfway that makes the inevitable getting together and happily ever after believable.
Not all romance books are the same despite the promised happily ever after at the end of the novel, just like all detective novels are not the same despite the detective figuring out who did it and the bad guys getting caught in the end. Each romance novel has its tropes, it’s basic idea. While I am not a fan of the “alpha male” romance novels, they are extremely popular. The same with Christian romances, shapeshifter romances, supernatural, military, the list goes on.
Books are windows to imagination, to education. They are there to expand horizons, entertain, make you think, give you scares and keep you awake long after the last page. They are there to let you turn off your mind from the outside world just for a little bit and immerse yourself in another realm, another world, another time.
My suggestion to men who ask this question is ask the women in your life what they like, and then read one. Any one, it doesn’t matter. You won’t lose “man points” for reading a romance novel, it doesn’t work that way. Also, books on tape or Audible are things. You might be surprised.
Everybody knows the end of their destination, it’s the journey that’s exciting. Why not enjoy it?
That’s it for this week my friends. As always, get a comfy chair, your favorite drink and settle in with a good book.
Mouse's Reading Nook 