Recent reading

[luzula]

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite (2020)
For book club, my choice. An f/f Regency romance. There were various things I liked about it: the middle aged protagonists with other relationships in their pasts, the details of their professions (beekeeping and printing). The author clearly had fun with the latter. But still, it never quite gripped me, and I'm struggling to figure out why. I do wish more historical romances would lean into period language and writing style, because I just enjoy that more!

Our book club meeting turned into a discussion of the differences between romance in fan fiction and in published romance, because I was not the only one to enjoy romance in fan fiction but find it very hit and miss in published romance. Aside from differences in tropes and writing style, I guess there's the obvious point that often when I read romance in fan fiction I am already emotionally invested in the couple. Another point is that of course there's lots of fan fiction which I don't enjoy, but I know how to navigate fan fiction and find what I want to read, while I don't really know how to find romance novels I would enjoy.

Comments

[sovay]

I do wish more historical romances would lean into period language and writing style, because I just enjoy that more!

I was going to recommend Jeannelle M. Ferreira's The Covert Captain (2018) until I thought to double-check and saw you have already read it, but the author is working on a sequel!

[aurumcalendula]

I'm really looking forward to the sequel!

[luzula]

It has been a couple of years since I read it, but yes, I do remember enjoying it! Glad to know that there will be a sequel.

[author_by_night]

I feel like for me, a lot of it is the fact that most fic IS romance or smut. I know not all fic, don't hate on your friendly gen writer please, but most of the time it's romance or smut or both. So... I don't want to say I'm "forced" to read it, but that's just what I end up falling into. However, I prefer coming to romance from the angle of character exploration, and in both fic and general fiction (if you will? I'm starting to not like the term "original fiction") I MUCH prefer when romance is part of the thing, not the whole. Because I'm not against romance, which I feel like is a common misconception, I just like getting lots of elements in a story.

Another point is that of course there's lots of fanfiction which I don't enjoy, but I know how to navigate fan fiction and find what I want to read, while I don't really know how to find romance novels I would enjoy.

Ooh, I love this point and think that's a huge part of it.

[luzula]

Well, of course, you can't write a convincing romance if the characters are not interesting and compelling in their own right! So I suppose I agree with you about character exploration, and I do enjoy there being other elements in the story than the romance, as well.

[desireearmfeldt]

And then there's the thing that's been happening to me lately, where you read a couple of novels in a row and come away feeling "boy, I bet those authors came up via writing fanfiction, and not only that, they sure enjoy the same tropes..." :)

[luzula]

Well, there are various published (and unpublished) novels that I have read because I already knew I enjoyed the author’s fanfiction… So that can be a good thing, as well. : )

[desireearmfeldt]

I enjoyed both of the novels in question. It was just kind of hilarious to read them back to back. :) And also interesting, to have the sense that someone is writing "like fanfic"...sometimes in ways I can put my finger on, like the use of sex scenes (maybe, the assumptions about the role of sex scenes?) and what those scenes look like. But sometimes harder to articulate. And also, tropes that are not actually fanfic-specific, but are more common in fanfic than in, say, published science fiction novels.

I read a book review or something recently whose author felt that some elements of fanfic writing style were becoming more common in published fiction. The specific example that stuck with me was one-sentence paragraphs, which I suspect is as much influenced by the rise of writing to be read on a webbrowser as by fanfic style. It does surprise me a little when I encounter it on the printed page, but mostly I just wish authors would stop overusing it.

[luzula]

Huh, that's funny--none of the fanfic I read is doing the one-line-per-paragraph thing! It's fine one in a while for punchiness, but it would annoy me if it was done all the time. Maybe it's a particular demographic which is writing it that way...

[china_shop]

Another point is that of course there's lots of fan fiction which I don't enjoy, but I know how to navigate fan fiction and find what I want to read, while I don't really know how to find romance novels I would enjoy.

Oh, yes. Excellent point. (It feels to me like the emotional pre-investment is the big difference, but it's really not a level playing field, and also, I'm discounting the subset of fanfic where I'm preinvested in the characters and the fic still didn't work for me.)

[luzula]

the subset of fanfic where I'm preinvested in the characters and the fic still didn't work for me

Ha, yes, that is definitely a thing. Which can be because of the writing style, or because the author just wants something different out of the fandom.

[aurumcalendula]

I like Waite's f/f romances, but they didn't particularly grab me for some reason.

[luzula]

Sounds like the same reaction I had, then!

[cyphomandra]

I liked Waspish Widows more than Celestial Mechanics (although the cover is dreadful!!) but yeah, I was also ungripped. I would read another by her though.

[luzula]

Sounds pretty much like what I thought of it, then, but I don't think I'll read another? There are just too many other things I could be reading…

[maplemood]

This one sounds really cool--I'm always up for more genre romance with middle-aged protagonists!

I think I'm also just better at navigating fanfiction (in terms of knowing what I like and which tropes will and won't work for me), but I'm working to improve with romance, since I've read a couple in the past few months that I really did enjoy.

[luzula]

Well, you could try it? Another reader might love it where I only liked it.

[chestnut_pod]

Waspish Widows is my favorite of the three, in large part because she spends more time on the details of the professions than on the romance -- I am not rabidly in love with her romances. But the details on broadsheet printing... be still my beating heart.

[lauradi7dw]

I agree. I really was drawn into the printshop aspects (and the politics they were printing about).
If you're into romances in a print shop, Rose Lerner's "Sweet Disorder" has a M/F story with a printing plot line.

[chestnut_pod]

That's another favorite!

[luzula]

Hee. Yes, those details were a large part of what I enjoyed about it, too! : )

[regshoe]

Middle-aged protagonists and professional detail certainly sound fun! Yeah, I also find that romance in published fiction written as romance tends to grip me less than fanfic for pairings I already like, and find it difficult to pin down exactly why. (The lack of period language and writing style is certainly a big part of why I like modern historical novels less than older books, even if they have the pairings I want, but there's clearly more to the whole question...)

[luzula]

On the whole, I don't think I would recommend this one to you? As you say, it's hard to pin down why I am not gripped by a particular book. But I think you would not enjoy the style much, at least.