timepiececlock (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timepiececlock) wrote2008-05-26 07:11 pm
timepiececlock) wrote2008-05-26 07:11 pm
Entry tags:
Male leads in romance novels vs. fanfic
I'm almost halfway through the Key of Light in audiobook format by Nora Roberts, and I'm enjoying it. I don't think I've ever read Nora Roberts before, but she's good. I can see why people like her. Her narrative is smooth, and she builds decent characters. Good dialog.
The story is a little cheesy, but that's okay.
One thing that I forgot, not having read a real "romance" genre book for a long time, is how perfect all the characters are. Especially the men. There's like a set of perfect "types" and all male characters must fit one of those types, and in addition they must be independantly successful, handsome, charming, and nice but not too nice.
Sometimes fanfiction makes you forget what certain book tropes are like, because you end up reading romance stories for what in the actual show are minor side characters, and thus sometimes you end up reading about people who aren't so perfect because they're not the main heroes, but in fanfic they can get their epic romances too.
Kinda spoils you, actually. Now I'm reading about this male character Flinn, who runs a newspaper and has a big dog and is a reporter/editor and decent and noble and sexy, and they just introduced his childhood friend who inherited the family company and is wealthy and sexy and handsome and "the family prince", and I have to roll my eyes.
I mean, these days I'm writing/reading romantic fanfic about male characters that are:
1) a socially retarded, introspective, perverted, and probably clinically depressed ninja assassin whose sense of self-worth is defined by his job
2) a selfish teenage exiled royal with serious anger problems whose face was mutilated so badly by fire that his eye and ear on one side are deformed, in a way that no one would ever call pretty or handsome.
3) an alien who can't stand to stay on the same planet for more than a week and jumps through space and time and is afraid to be intimate and probably has a God complex and definitely has a superiority complex (although he also good and true mostly nice and very fun to be around).
In terms of character importance in their respective series, that's one minor character, one regular supporting character, and one lead character. Naruto, Avatar:TLA, and Doctor Who, respectively. None of them are exactly ideal or stellar examples of what lead characters in a romance novel would be. Interesting how fandom has altered and shaped our tastes, isn't it?
The last romance book where I fell in love with a "perfect" male lead was The Time Traveller's wife, and that probably had more to do with the fact that he was a librarian who had time-travelling adventures as much as the fact that he was supposed to be attractive and charming. I do have a weakness for Indiana Jones-style adventure geeks.
The story is a little cheesy, but that's okay.
One thing that I forgot, not having read a real "romance" genre book for a long time, is how perfect all the characters are. Especially the men. There's like a set of perfect "types" and all male characters must fit one of those types, and in addition they must be independantly successful, handsome, charming, and nice but not too nice.
Sometimes fanfiction makes you forget what certain book tropes are like, because you end up reading romance stories for what in the actual show are minor side characters, and thus sometimes you end up reading about people who aren't so perfect because they're not the main heroes, but in fanfic they can get their epic romances too.
Kinda spoils you, actually. Now I'm reading about this male character Flinn, who runs a newspaper and has a big dog and is a reporter/editor and decent and noble and sexy, and they just introduced his childhood friend who inherited the family company and is wealthy and sexy and handsome and "the family prince", and I have to roll my eyes.
I mean, these days I'm writing/reading romantic fanfic about male characters that are:
1) a socially retarded, introspective, perverted, and probably clinically depressed ninja assassin whose sense of self-worth is defined by his job
2) a selfish teenage exiled royal with serious anger problems whose face was mutilated so badly by fire that his eye and ear on one side are deformed, in a way that no one would ever call pretty or handsome.
3) an alien who can't stand to stay on the same planet for more than a week and jumps through space and time and is afraid to be intimate and probably has a God complex and definitely has a superiority complex (although he also good and true mostly nice and very fun to be around).
In terms of character importance in their respective series, that's one minor character, one regular supporting character, and one lead character. Naruto, Avatar:TLA, and Doctor Who, respectively. None of them are exactly ideal or stellar examples of what lead characters in a romance novel would be. Interesting how fandom has altered and shaped our tastes, isn't it?
The last romance book where I fell in love with a "perfect" male lead was The Time Traveller's wife, and that probably had more to do with the fact that he was a librarian who had time-travelling adventures as much as the fact that he was supposed to be attractive and charming. I do have a weakness for Indiana Jones-style adventure geeks.
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Which is not to say romance heroes don't have flaws--but they're not insurmountable. In fact, after 60,000 words, those flaws HAVE to be resolved, or the happily ever after ending won't work.
I have that problem with my heroes--I want to make them "real" but publishers don't buy reality--they buy romance.
Sigh...I'll have to figure out how to make a Zuko-esque character more likable, I guess....
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In fact, after 60,000 words, those flaws HAVE to be resolved, or the happily ever after ending won't work.
I feel like, though, that they DON'T have to be completely resolved. Like, the major flaws that inhibit the relationship from occurring should be resolved, but it's okay and normal if the some of character's flaws continue even after the romance is in progress. It's part of having fully-fleshed out characters. And I don't just mean "personality" flaws that are also seen as benefits, like "he talks too much" or "she's too bossy." Those obviously are never going to change, but it's okay if the two people at the end of the story aren't quite "settled" and "perfect" yet. I'm probably spoiled for this because of fandom, but I feel like I identify better now with characters who aren't settled and perfect even at the end of the day. Because I'm not.
the typical alpha male, as you describe, has to be someone you want to fall in love with, whereas in fanfic, people seem to gravitate toward heroes we can help fix--people who are seriously flawed.
"heroes we can help fix" is a perfect way of describing a lot of the more popular "types" that people write fanfic about, especially the male characters. We do love our woobies, especially if they come with floppy hair. I also like that about female characters too; I liked it about Buffy, and I like it about Sarah Connor (Terminator), and I although I'm on/off with BSG, I know there are lot of Starbuck fans on my flist.
Funny enough, one of the classic romantic novels, Wuthering Heights, had Heathcliffe as an extremely "flawed" main character, but instead of embracing that, me and my entire AP English class thought he was a scary abusive stalker psycho. My teacher was like, "None of you found him dark and attractive?" And we were all... "...No. Serious no."
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A got a kick out of the book itself (I liked it better than Jane Eyre) because it was so over the top with the EPIC DRAMA OF EPICNESS and of course the pretty language. But I was never at all attracted to Heathcliffe.
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