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I used to read a lot of romance novels. After I became a romance writer this stopped and now I can't remember the last straight romance I read (although I still read SFF/R crossovers).
But my romance instincts are still there, and they kicked in this week. Just as part of the fun of a mystery is spotting whodunit and then seeing if you guessed right, part of the romance reading experience is spotting the potential pairs and guessing who is going to fall in love with whom.
Sometimes in a romance it's completely obvious, and sometimes you have to work for it. But that recognition moment when you say "Yes, this is the moment when the romance begins" is always there. Just as the moment in a mystery when you say "Ah ha, here is our killer." You can be wrong, of course, and that's part of the fun, but if you're wrong you'll have another moment when you say "No, I see where I went wrong, it's really this person instead."
Currently I'm reading and enjoying C.E. Murphy's Urban Shaman. But as I was reading I had a peculiar mental itch that wasn't satisfied until I was able to pair Joanne up with a potential love interest. And the reason I was looking for that love interest was the Luna label on the spine. My reader expectations included the idea that there would be a love interest, and I felt a mental click of satisfaction when I spotted that person.
Which got me to thinking that the reason why I was looking for the love interest was the Luna imprint. If the book had been published by Bantam, DAW, Tor or any other SF house, I wouldn't have had the same sense of looking for that person. I still would have enjoyed the story, but I wouldn't have had the sense that something was missing until I spotted that person. If a romance had developed that would have been fine, but I wouldn't have been actively hunting for it.
No deep conclusions here, just a reminder of how powerful reader expectations are, and how they shape the reading experience.
But my romance instincts are still there, and they kicked in this week. Just as part of the fun of a mystery is spotting whodunit and then seeing if you guessed right, part of the romance reading experience is spotting the potential pairs and guessing who is going to fall in love with whom.
Sometimes in a romance it's completely obvious, and sometimes you have to work for it. But that recognition moment when you say "Yes, this is the moment when the romance begins" is always there. Just as the moment in a mystery when you say "Ah ha, here is our killer." You can be wrong, of course, and that's part of the fun, but if you're wrong you'll have another moment when you say "No, I see where I went wrong, it's really this person instead."
Currently I'm reading and enjoying C.E. Murphy's Urban Shaman. But as I was reading I had a peculiar mental itch that wasn't satisfied until I was able to pair Joanne up with a potential love interest. And the reason I was looking for that love interest was the Luna label on the spine. My reader expectations included the idea that there would be a love interest, and I felt a mental click of satisfaction when I spotted that person.
Which got me to thinking that the reason why I was looking for the love interest was the Luna imprint. If the book had been published by Bantam, DAW, Tor or any other SF house, I wouldn't have had the same sense of looking for that person. I still would have enjoyed the story, but I wouldn't have had the sense that something was missing until I spotted that person. If a romance had developed that would have been fine, but I wouldn't have been actively hunting for it.
No deep conclusions here, just a reminder of how powerful reader expectations are, and how they shape the reading experience.
